Topic
Understanding the Boolean operators and related logic used when determining the impact of a risk event on contacts and assets in Visual Command Center (VCC).
Description
In Visual Command Center (VCC), you can report on and trigger alerts based on the impact of a risk event on contacts and/or assets by defining your criteria in CEM Orchestration workflows as follows:
Log into the Everbridge Manager Portal and select your Organization.
Select Settings > Everbridge Open > CEM Orchestration > Workflows > {edit an existing workflow or select + New Workflow to create a new workflow}.
Selecting Impacted Contacts
You can select contacts by choosing from the different Contact Groups AND Contact Types AND the Location Options. You must make a selection for each of these, and they work together using AND logic.
In other words, for a contact to be considered impacted and eligible for inclusion in an alert, all of the following must be true:
The contact is in at least one of the selected Contact Groups, and
The contact has one of the selected Contact Types, and
The contact matches one of the selected Location Options (for example, Static, Last Known Location, or Expected Location) and is inside the risk event polygon/shape.
Selecting Impacted Assets
You can select assets by choosing the different Asset Types AND Asset Tags. You must make a selection for each, and they work together using AND logic.
For an asset to be considered impacted:
The asset must match one of the selected Asset Types, and
The asset must have at least one of the selected Asset Tags, and
The asset must fall within the risk event polygon/shape.
Assets that do not meet both the type and tag criteria will not be included in the impact set for that workflow.
Why an Asset Can Be Impacted but Contacts Are Not Included
Because of the AND/OR logic and workflow configuration, it is possible for an asset to show as impacted by a risk event while contacts in the same area are not included in the alert. Common, non-exclusive reasons include:
Workflow scope (assets only): The workflow (or the specific rule that fired) may be configured to include only assets and no contacts. In this case, contacts will not be notified or listed even if they are in the impact area.
Different risk event sources and workflows: Different feeds (for example, NIFC Wildfires vs. Everbridge Risk Events) can be routed to different workflows. One workflow may be configured to include contacts while another, for a different source, may include only assets.
Asset-driven impact vs. contact criteria: Asset selection uses AND logic between Asset Types and Asset Tags. A workflow might be driven by impacted assets, but the contact criteria (groups, types, locations) may be more restrictive or not selected at all, so associated contacts are not pulled in.
Risk event polygon behavior: Both assets and contacts must fall within the actual risk event polygon/shape to be included. Being "near" an event boundary is not sufficient.
Location type and role limitations: If the workflow does not include the relevant location types (for example, Static locations only, with no Last Known Location), or if the operator's role does not have permission to view certain contacts, some contacts will not appear as impacted.
Environment/organization differences: If you are viewing VCC in a different organization or environment (for example, a Test org instead of Production), the visible feeds, workflows, and their behavior may not match what is configured in the intended environment.
Using AND and OR with Negative Conditions
When defining workflow filters, be aware that AND and OR behave differently with negative conditions such as Does Not Contain. OR conditions are evaluated independently for each line. For example:
Location DOES NOT CONTAIN United States
OR
Location DOES NOT CONTAIN Texas
This filter will include any contact that satisfies either condition. A contact with a location of United States - California would be included because the second line ("Location DOES NOT CONTAIN Texas") is true.
If you want to exclude contacts that match any of several values, use AND between multiple Does Not Contain lines so that all negative conditions must be true for a contact to pass the filter.
The below screenshot illustrates the AND/OR logic used to construct the query results.