How do I acknowledge an alarm?

In the default setting an alarm cannot be acknowledged by an operator. Therefore it will activate and deactivate automatically, when the underlying alarm parameter measurements falls outside or within the defined thresholds, respectively.

However, it is possible to enable acknowledgement on alarms. Alarms with acknowledgement enabled will require an user-interaction, before the alarm can return into an inactive state. It allows you to check the alarm and ensure that the situation have been handled, before the alarm goes into the inactive state again.

All users in the Consibio Cloud project are able to acknowledge alarms. However, you're able to select which users should be contacted once the alarm have been triggered and requires acknowledgement.

You're ready to enable acknowledgement once you have followed these simple steps to set up an alarm.

The responders can be contacted by call, sms or email. If you decide to use the "Call" option, we'll make a Automated Consibio Cloud Alert Call, once the alarm have been triggered.

For your safety, we'll never ask for your login credentials (ie. email or password) in a Automated Consibio Cloud Alert Call. A automated call will only require you to press "1" on your phone, in order to acknowledge the alarm.

Enable acknowledgement

To enable acknowledgement on an alarm, open the alarm (or create a new one) in Consibio Cloud and:

• Click "Require acknowledgement" and press "Save".
• Press "Add the first acknowledge person"
  • Select a user in the "Name" column
  • Define how we should contact the user in "Notify by"
• If you need more responders, press the "Add acknowledge person"

Adjust an alarm with acknowledgement enabled

Edit the delay between notifications

When multiple people are listed as responders, they will not be contacted at the same time. The first person in the list will be contacted immediately, when the alarm activates. The next person in the list will only be contacted, if the first person has not acknowledged the alarm within a defined period. The third person will only be contacted if the second person hasn't responded within another period and so on.

This enables you to define first line, second line responders and so on.
You can adjust this time period between responders by opening your alarm in Consibio Cloud and:

• Find the "Delay between responders" field
• Adjust the time
• Press "Save"

Disable acknowledgement on an alarm

If an alarm does not need to be acknowledged anymore, you can simply disable the acknowledgement flow. To do that, open your alarm in Consibio Cloud and:

• Find the "Require acknowledgement"
• Click the toggle, so it turns gray.
• Press "Save"

The acknowledgement will be disabled for alarms in the future. In other words, if you are disabling acknowledgement on a alarm which are currently active, that alarm will still have acknowledgement enabled until it is deactivated again.

How the acknowledgement flow works

Once the alarm with acknowledgement becomes active, responders will receive a phone call, SMS or email, depending on the settings defined for the given user.

An alarm is acknowledged in different ways depending on how they have chosen to be contacted.

Respond to acknowledgement with our automated "Consibio Cloud Alert Call"

If you have selected "call" as the "Notify by" option, we'll call you, once the alarm activates. It is important that you listen carefully, after you have answered the phone call.

• Wait for the alarm name and project name to be mentioned.
• Press "1" to acknowledge, once we ask for it.
• Wait for our confirmation. This step can take at least 10 secounds, and you need to wait on the line.
• Once we have confirmed the acknowledgement by saying "The alarm is now acknowledged in Consibio Cloud", you can end the call.

If we hang up mid-way in the call (of if you do that by accident) you need to go to Consibio Cloud and acknowledge the alarm manually as described here: Respond to acknowledgement in Consibio Cloud.

Respond to acknowledgement in Consibio Cloud

If you selected "sms" or "email" as the "Notify by" option, we'll send you a message via the selected channel with an acknowledgement link to Consibio Cloud. Click the link found in the SMS or email, and:

• Wait for the alarm to show up. If it does not show up automatically, fell free to open up the alarm by clicking on it, at the "Alarms" tab.
• Click on the "Acknowledge alarm" button at the top of the page.
• Confirm by pressing "OK" in the popup.
• At the top of the view, you'll see who acknowledged the alarm and when.

Frequently Asked Questions, FAQ