You can configure incident management automation workflows to manage camera offline incidents efficiently.
Automation workflow design considerations
There are different approaches that you can take to configure automation workflows to resolve a Camera offline incident.
In this example, when the IP camera goes offline, the Genetec Mission Control™ Rules Engine evaluates the Connection lost event generated by Security Center and triggers the Camera offline incident.
- Automatically resolve and close the incident if it is a systemic glitch.
In this case, operator intervention is not required.
- Request help.
Automation workflow for Camera offline incidents
- Notifying the operators of an active incident.
- Validating the incident.
- Resolving the incident.
When the incident is triggered, the operators must be notified of an active incident but action is not required yet.
In this example, an active incident notification is executed using the Column color activity and Change description activity.
You can associate different colors with different actions and incident priorities to inform your operators how to handle active incidents.
In this example, the incident is highlighted in the Incident monitoring task incident list, to indicate that an incident has been triggered but does not require operator intervention.
Step 2: Waiting to see if the system auto-corrects
You can use the Parallel tasks activity as logical IF to determine the path the system should take to resolve the incident by clearing the Exit when all branches are completed option.
In this scenario, the system waits to see if the camera comes back online within a preset time. If the 3-minute delay transpires or if the Wait for event activity detects the camera connection reestablished, the system exits the Parallel tasks activity.
If the camera connection is reestablished, the automation workflow directs the system to change the incident state to Resolved. However, if the camera does not come back online after the 3-minute delay, the system moves forward to the next activity.
Step 3: Verifying cause of camera signal loss
If the incident remains unresolved, the system executes either the Signal found: Camera online activity sequence or Video offline: Dispatch to facilities activity sequence. The operator's response to the dynamic user procedure determines which parallel task in the automation workflow is taken.
When the incident is a false-positive
If the camera connection is reestablished after the 3-minute delay, you can still dismiss the incident as a minor glitch and your automation workflow can direct the system to close the incident without any operator intervention.
- Display the camera at the incident location.
- Change the incident state to Resolved.
- Export the incident to a predetermined location.
- Send an automated email with a selected list of information to selected recipients.
- Close the incident and remove it from the incident list in the Incident monitoring task.
By automating these activities, your operators can save time and focus on higher-priority incidents.
When the incident requires manual intervention
If the operator verifies that the camera is still offline after a 3-minute delay, there is a malfunction that requires maintenance. You can configure the system to wait for operator verification using the Wait for dynamic user procedure steps activity. For more information, see User Procedure for Camera offline incidents.
- Change the incident state to the Repair needed custom state.
For more information, see Custom incident states for Camera offline incidents.
- Use the Change priority activity to increase priority of the incident to High.
- Email selected recipients with information about the incident.
- Trigger the dedicated Camera maintenance incident.
Linked incidents
You can track all the incidents linked to your primary incident from the Related incidents page as shown in the example here:
