Issues triggers & alerts
Last updated
Last updated
Issues are what it’s all about in the Withthegrid platform. As long as there are no issues nothing needs your attention. The overview of issues is always visible on the right hand side of the screen. This shows the locations where something unexpected has occurred.
Issues can be triggered automatically by setting issue triggers. Issue triggers are defined by setting thresholds on the measurement values coming in. There are 3 urgency levels of issues:
Critical (red)
Serious (orange)
Info (blue)
When setting thresholds there can be an upper bound level and a lower bound level. This creates 4 possible thresholds that can be crossed. The info severity level can only be added manually.
It is also possible to manually add an issue.
Device reports do not generate issues in the first hour after installation.
The Issue Delay feature allows users to control when new issues are created. This helps reduce the amount of newly created issues. Delays can be edited in the Issue Triggers section of the Settings menu.
Consequently, in the bottom row you are able to fill out after how many reports AND after how much time (set in seconds, minutes, hours or days) you want an issue to be generated. There is no possibility to leave either the number of reports or the time value empty. E.g. you could set reports at '2' and set a time for 2 days. Meaning that when the value for that quantity is exceeded for 2 consecutive reports AND for 2 days an issue will be created. Be aware that it counts consecutive reports with measurements that exceed the treshold. See scenario 1 till 3 for illustrative examples.
Hence, a report with a 'non threshold passing measurement' sets the counter for both reports and time back to zero. This is the default setting, but with Issue Delay Reset toggle, you can choose to allow issues to be opened even if a less severe measurement occurs within the series of measurements. This provides more flexibility in managing your thresholds and issue triggers. See scenario 4 for illustrative examples.
For clarification consider the following scenarios Scenario 1 The threshold value is set at 5 Issued delay is set at 3 reports & 2 hours The device reports every 30 minutes Measurements are: 4 at 09:30 -> not triggered 6 at 10:00 -> not triggered 6 at 10:30 -> not triggered 7 at 11:00 -> not triggered (it is three times but not 2h) 6 at 11:30 -> not triggered (it is three times but not 2h) 6 at 12:00 -> triggered (there are three or more consecutive threshold passing measurements and there is no non threshold passing measurement in the last 2 hours) Scenario 2 The threshold value is set at 5 Issued delay is set at 3 reports & 2 hours The device reports every 24 hours Measurements are: 4 at 09:00 16-05-24 -> not triggered 6 at 09:00 17-05-24 -> not triggered (it is 2 hours but not 3 reports) 6 at 09:00 18-05-24 -> not triggered (it is 2 hours but not 3 reports) 6 at 09:00 19-05-24 -> triggered (there are three or more consecutive threshold passing measurements and there is no non threshold passing measurement in the last 2 hours) Scenario 3 The threshold value is set at 5 Issue delay is set at 3 reports & 2 hours The device reports every 30 minutes Measurements are: 4 at 08:30 -> not triggered 7 at 09:00 -> not triggered 6 at 09:30 -> not triggered 7 at 10:00 -> not triggered (it is three times but not 2h) 4 at 10:30 -> not triggered (counter is restarted as the measurement is below threshold value again) 7 at 11:00 -> not triggered 6 at 11:30 -> not triggered 6 at 12:00 -> not triggered (it is three times but not 2h, as the counter was restarted) 8 at 12:30 -> not triggered ((it is three times but not 2h) 7 at 13:00 -> triggered (there are three or more consecutive threshold passing measurements and there is no non threshold passing measurement in the last 2 hours)
Scenario 4
The threshold value is set at 5 Issue delay is set at 3 reports & 2 hours The device reports every 30 minutes
Measurements are: 4 at 08:30 -> not triggered 7 at 09:00 -> not triggered 6 at 09:30 -> not triggered 7 at 10:00 -> not triggered (it is three times but not 2h) 4 at 10:30 -> not triggered (counter is NOT restarted while the measurement is below threshold value again) 7 at 11:00 -> triggered (there are three or more threshold passing measurements in the last 2 hours)
It is also possible to set an Issue Delay for an individual quantities on a port. Just click the three bullets button on the top right of the graph, select 'Edit issue triggers'. Toggle the quantities you want to override with an Issue Delay.
The filter option allows you to filter the issue triggers in the settings menu issue triggers tab by type. Using this you can only view Environment issue triggers or Location Port issue triggers.
You can sort issues on values for “Critically low”, “Low”, “High” and “Critically High”. Just click on the table header to sort on these values.
An issue has a type field, which depends on the way issue was created. Currently we have four issue types:
Manual - issue created manually in AMP
Connectivity - issue created by Connectivity issue trigger
Measurement - issue created by Measurement issue trigger
Internal channel - issue related to internal channel (e.g. battery level)
The respective threshold value is displayed in the dialogue for issues concerning measurements that exceed a threshold, allowing users to understand the extent of the issue.
Users can directly access the affected port and the linked line from this screen.
Additionally, this screen provides links to location and line graphs where the measurement is centered within a range equal to the environment's default graph time range (which can be set in the monitoring environment's settings). If the issue involves multiple measurements on the same port with different generation times, each offending measurement receives a personalized link to its respective graphs.
Once an issue is triggered an issue can be analysed and commented on. Anybody who is subscribed to the group that the location is part of will receive a notification. You can communicate with your colleagues on what happened and what needs to be done. On basis of this you can leave the issue open or close it. You can always re-open it later.
You can add files as attachments to issue comments.
Clicking on the marked area will open file selection dialog. After submitting the files they can be downloaded by other users. If you will attach any images they will be shown inline after the text of comment instead of attachments bar.
Issues can be assigned to a specific user. You can also assign an issue to yourself.
Users can create and assign labels to issues. An overview of labels can be found under settings where new labels can be added and managed. The map color of a location or line is still determined by the priority of the issue as noted in Setting issue triggers.
The Automation feature allows users to control the way new issues on a location are created. This helps reduce the amount of newly created issues. The Automation feature allows for 3 options: 'No', 'For missing measurements', and 'For serious or critical measurements' which are further explained below.
'No' automation option will not re-use the currently generated issue. This means, that every new issue-trigger, even if repetitive, will generate a newly created issue. This is not the default and will likely not be used often.
'For missing measurements' automation means that the triggering process will re-use the original issue. The priority of the issue (serious/critical) will be automatically updated instead of opening a new issue.
'For serious or critical measurements' automation allows users to re-use the issue for certain quantities. If quantities within the list pass the set issue-triggers, no new issues are generated. If a quantity that is not listed triggers an issue, the application will create a new one. The priority of the issue (serious/critical) will be automatically updated.
If you do not adjust the Automation, updates of issues will continue to be made automatically.
You can select to be notified of issues via e-mail in case you are subscribed to them. You can subscribe to issues on group level.
It is possible to search the issues with different constraints such as whether the issue was created manually or by a device, before a certain data, by a specific device etc.
To manage your issues there is the possibility to edit them in bulk. Open the right side panel with the list of issues. Consequently, click the arrow in the middle and the panel will expand. At the top you'll find the filter options you have to create a selection of issues. Once you have applied the filters, you can click the checkboxes to select the issues you want to perform a bulk action on. Or you could select all, 'all' meaning all the issues listed visibly in your screen. Consequently, click one of the icons in the topbar to either "Mark them as done" or "Re-open" the issues.
It is possible to subscribe to all issues in an environment. With every new issue, or only with issues of a certain priority, you will receive an email. Go to issues and click 'subscribe':
A critical (red) issue is now generated when the platform has not received 13 or more measurement reports from a sensor and the sensor has not come online for at least 30 minutes. A serious (orange) issue is generated when the platform has not received 2 or more measurement reports from a sensor and has not been online for 3 days or more. Lear more about issue triggers and alerts here or watch a short video!
