VCC: Alert Handling

Alert Handling

A hurricane warning was issued by the National Weather Service, and Visual Command Center SaaS has generated al alert. This means that the Alert exists on the map because you have assets in the area affected for this winter storm warning.

First, look at which assets are potentially affected by the hurricane warning. Select the Alert directly on the Map, and its details will display in the Items Panel. (Be sure to enable this panel by clicking the control at the lower left-hand of the map view.) The information collected on the Alert will help us understand how close the hurricane is to your assets, its severity, and when the event will end.

Acknowledge an Alert

In this scenario, the hurricane warning is near enough to your assets to generate an Alert, but it is far enough from your assets that no action needs to be taken. You can Acknowledge the Alert within the details in the Alerts feed.

From the alert details menu bar, choose Acknowledge.

This opens a dialog box where you can select a disposition. Depending on your assessment, choose the appropriate disposition from these options:

• Relevant – No known impact
• Relevant – Some Impact
• Relevant – Significant Impact
• Relevant – Duplicate
• Not relevant or False positive

For this scenario, your assets are nearby but not affected so the most accurate disposition to choose is Relevant – No known impact. In the Additional Information text box, add any information that clarifies why the Alert was acknowledged.

Reinstate Acknowledged Alerts

You may need to reinstate an acknowledged alert in order to gather data about nearby risk events even if they do not affect your assets. In other cases, you might acknowledge an Alert prematurely and its color will change from red to grey on the Visual Command Center SaaS map view. Note: The acknowledged Alert will only display if the Acknowledged Alerts feed item is active under the Context feed; the appropriate Risk Category is active as well.

Acknowledged Alerts will remain on the map view for 30 days before they are removed entirely. You can select the desired acknowledged alert on either the map or the items panel. By selecting the acknowledged alert on the map, the Alerts feed will show its details as before.

From the alert details menu bar, choose Reinstate.

This opens dialog box where you can enter Additional Information in a text box. Then you can choose to Reinstate Alert and the Alert will display on the map as it did before it was acknowledged.

Launching an Incident from an Alert

In the situation where your assets are being affected by the winter storm warning, launching an incident directly from an Alert can keep the right people informed and protected.

As before, a hurricane warning was issued by the National Weather Service, and an Alert has been generated by your Visual Command Center SaaS instance. This time you determine that the winter storm warning is affecting people and assets directly.

Select the Alert to display its details in your enabled panels. Under the Alerts feed and from the alert details menu bar, choose Launch Incident.

This opens dialog box that allows you to select the desired Incident Category and Incident Template. Optionally, select the checkbox Close incident after launch. Then choose Launch Incident. Note: Categories and templates are configured by administrators on the Everbridge Suite side of Critical Event Management.

Add a Note to an Alert

You can continue to add additional information for an alert’s log. From the alert details menu bar, choose Add Note.

This opens a dialogue box and enter any desired text then choose Save to Log.

You can view all notes and actions taken within the alert by choosing Log in the alert details menu bar.

Snooze and Alert

Occasionally, you will come across alerts that overlap. This can happen when risk events are near each other or when assets are affected by multiple risk events.

It can be easier to handle one alert at a time by snoozing an alert. In the alert details menu bar, choose Snooze.

A dialogue box will open, and you can enter an optional note. Then you will need to select the duration for how long the alert will be snoozed. The options are:

• 5 minutes
• 30 minutes
• 1 hour
• 4 hours
• 8 hours
• 12 hours

Snoozing an alert temporarily acknowledges an alert for the selected duration, and thus clearing out its information from the map view.

Fit an Alert into the Timeline

Fitting an alert in the timeline lets you visualize items in the context of time.

In the alert details menu bar, choose Fit in Timeline.

When the Timeline panel is open, it displays items from the alert turned selected.

By clicking and dragging the mouse within the timeline, you can go forward or back through time. If you wish to be brought back to the current date, click the Now button. Alternatively, click Set Range to specify Timeline data between two dates.

View an Alert’s Log

Viewing an alert’s log lets you track actions with the alert from start to finish. The alert log displays actions like, when the alert was created, when it was acknowledged, or when an incident was launched.

In the alert details menu bar, choose Log.

Understanding Assets

Assets are what your organization values. Assets include data entered through Everbridge Suite and data entered through the Administrator Console. All Asset data added into your organization will display on your Visual Command Center when enabled from the feed control. Visualizing your assets allows you to assess their surroundings, preparing for risk events and acting when alerts are triggered.

Buildings

Visual Command Center displays the locations of buildings that your organization adds to Everbridge Suite. Since buildings are assets that hold value in multiple forms, buildings are an “alertable” data type.

This means that a risk event near your buildings can trigger an alert letting you that there is a potentially threat to your assets.

Contacts

Visual Command Center displays contacts that your organization adds to Everbridge Suite. Since buildings are assets that hold value, contacts are an “alertable” data type.

This means that a risk event near your contacts can trigger an alert letting you that there is a potentially threat to your assets.

Using the Risk Events Feed

Visual Command Center Risk Events visualize information locally and globally, that may affect your assets. Risk events can include weather events and local advisories from a variety of sources.