Adding Annotations to Alert Events

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for adding annotations to alert events on Telemetry2U. Annotations are organised and made available in audit reports and can also be reviewed on the charts and reports pages.

Summary

It’s common for users to configure alerts when sensor inputs drift beyond limits on Telemetry2U. Alerts events can be used to send e-mail, SMS or voice notifications as well as trigger actions that can be used of automation or controlling the outputs of other devices.

In certain applications, like cold storage temperature monitoring in hospitals and laboratories that may be required to meet standards according to NATA, NIST, FDA or TGA, every alert event must be recorded and explained.

Adding annotations to alert events on the T2U IoT Platform is easy, and annotations can be reviewed in multiple ways. This bulletin will cover how to both add and review annotations.

Prerequisites

  1. A fully configured account onTelemetry2U's IoT Platform.
  2. The Add Annotations role assigned in the User Access settings found on the User Maintenance page.

Adding Annotations to Alert Conditions

You can easily see when a senor is in an alert condition on the Dashboard, Chart or Reports pages, but you can only add annotations to alert conditions on the Reports page. The reports page is colour coded so you can easily see when an alert condition has occurred.

Reports Page Icons and Colours

An orange background on a record indicates that the node has a sensor input that has triggered an alert condition, but has not yet had enough 'Consecutive Readings' to trigger any notifications.

A Red background on a record indicates that the node has a sensor input that has triggered an alert condition enough times in a row to exceed the 'Consecutive Readings' setting and notifications have been sent.

A Green background on a record indicates that the node has has recovered from an alert condition.

If the user has the Add Annotations role assigned in their User Access settings, the below warning icons will also be visible on any row where an alert condition was triggered. Clicking on these icons will bring up a new page where the annotations can be added and recorded.

Warning Icon

The Yellow warning icon is always on the Red background and indicates that a sensor has gone into alert. Click on the Icon to leave an annotation.

Recovered Icon

The Green warning icon is always on the Green background and indicates that a sensor has recovered from an alert. Click on the Icon to leave an annotation.

The annotation page will show the time the alert event was triggered as well as a summary of what notification where sent. Enter any details about the alert in the Annotation field and hit the Save button.

Add an Annotation
Annotation Icon

Once an annotation has been left by any user, the warning icon(s) on the reports page will change into a Pin-Board icon, indicating that an annotation has been added to that alert event. Click on this Icon to either edit or delete the Annotation.

Annotation Added to Reports Page

Viewing Annotations in Audit Reports

The best way to view a summary of all annotations for any particular node is in an Audit Report. If the Audt report has been configured to Include Annotations, you'll see a date/time ordered list of the annotations for that node below the chart.

Viewing Annotations in Audit Reports
Note:

Audit Reports can only be modified by users who have been assigned the Audit Admin role in their User Access settings.

For more information on creating and editing Audit reports, please refer to Section 5.0 - Audit Reports in our documentation.

Viewing Annotations on The Charts Page

Alternatively, annotations can be quickly viewed by any user on the charts page by hovering over the Asterix icon.

Viewing Annotations on the Charts Page

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