Action types - All actions in Security Center are associated with a target entity, which is the main entity affected by the action. Required parameters are indicated in the Description column. All parameters must be configured for an action to be valid. - Security Center 5.13

Security Center User Guide 5.13
Product
Security Center
Content type
Guides > User guides
Version
5.13
ft:locale
en-US
Last updated
2025-03-11

All actions in Security Center are associated with a target entity, which is the main entity affected by the action. Required parameters are indicated in the Description column. All parameters must be configured for an action to be valid.

Action Description
Acknowledge an intrusion alarm Acknowledges the alarm on an intrusion detection area.
Intrusion detection area
Select an intrusion detection area.
Add a bookmark Adds a bookmark to a camera recording.
Camera
Select the camera.
Message
Bookmark text.
Add plate information to a hotlist Adds the information received from a License plate read event to a hotlist. For more information, see Adding conditions when creating event-to-actions for license plate reads.
Hotlist
Hotlist to update.
ALPR Manager
ALPR Manager used to sync the hotlist.
Arm an intrusion detection area Arms an intrusion detection area.
Intrusion detection area
Select an intrusion detection area.
Master
Arms all sensors in the selected intrusion detection area. Any sensor can trigger the alarm when activated.
Perimeter
Arms only the sensors designated to be on the perimeter. Activity on sensors inside the area, such as motion detectors, is ignored.
Instant
Arms the area immediately.
Delay
Arms the area after a delay. If you do not specify a duration, the panel's default is used.
Arming mode
Normal
Arms the intrusion detection area normally. Areas with active or troubled sensors remain disarmed.
Force
If the area is not ready for normal arming, this option forcefully arm the area. Force temporarily ignores active or troubled sensors during the arming sequence. If an ignored sensor ever returns to a normal state while armed, future activity can trigger the alarm.
Bypass
If the area is not ready for normal arming, this option automatically bypasses active or troubled sensors before arming the area. Sensors remain bypassed while the area is armed. Disarming the area removes the bypass.
Arm a zone Arms a virtual zone.
Zone
Select a virtual zone.
Block or unblock video Blocks or unblocks a camera from other users in the system.
Block/Unblock
Select whether the action should block or unblock the camera.
Camera
Select the camera.
End
Select how long to block the video for:
For
The video is blocked from users for the selected amount of time.
Indefinitely
The video is blocked from users until you manually unblock it.
User level
Select a minimum user level. All users with a level lower than the one you select are blocked from viewing video.
Bypass an input Sends a command to the intrusion detection unit to bypass the selected input.
Device
Select an input of an intrusion detection unit.
Cancel postponed arming of intrusion detection area Cancels the postponed arming of an intrusion detection area.
Intrusion detection area
Select the intrusion detection area.
Clear an input bypass Sends a command to the intrusion detection unit to resume the normal function of a previously bypassed input.
Device
Select an input of an intrusion detection unit.
Clear tasks Clears the task list in the specified Security Desk monitors.
Destination
Select one of the following:
User
All monitors of all Security Desk applications connected with the specified username.
Monitor
Specific Security Desk monitor identified by a machine name and a monitor ID.
Disarm an intrusion detection area Disarms an intrusion detection area.
Intrusion detection area
Select an intrusion detection area.
Disarm a zone Disarms a virtual zone.
Zone
Select a virtual zone.
Display a camera on an analog monitor Displays a camera on an analog monitor in a canvas tile.
Camera
Select a camera to display in the analog monitor. The camera must be supported by the analog monitor, and use the same video format.
Analog monitor
Select an analog monitor to display the camera on.
Email a report Sends a report (based on a saved reporting task) as an email attachment to a list of users, cardholders, or specified email addresses.
Report
Select a saved public task.
Recipients
Select the users, user groups, cardholders, or cardholder groups to send the report to. You can only select cardholders if you have the Send an email to cardholders and external recipients privilege.
External Recipients
This field is available if the user has the Send an email to cardholders and external recipients privilege. Enter one or more email addresses for recipients outside of Security Center. Use commas, semi-colons, or new lines to separate multiple addresses.
NOTE: When saving the action, the external recipients list is saved comma separated on one line.
IMPORTANT: For cardholders and external recipients, you must first set the User profile for securing emails in Report Manager to enable or restrict access rights.
Export format
Report format, either PDF, Excel, or CSV.
Email snapshots Sends a series of snapshots of a video feed as an email attachment to a list of users, cardholders, or specified email addresses.
Camera
Select the camera.
Snapshots
Specify the snapshots to be sent in terms of relative time in seconds. Snapshots can be captured from 300 seconds before the send time to 30 seconds after. You can configure up to 5 snapshots.
CAUTION:
No snapshots from the past can be produced if there is no recording for the selected camera. For cameras that record on events (manual or motion), ensure that the Time to record before an event setting guarantees that all snapshots with a negative relative time can be produced.
Recipients
Select the users, user groups, cardholders, or cardholder groups to receive the snapshot. You can only select cardholders if you have the Send an email to cardholders and external recipients privilege. An email address must be defined in the properties of the entity: user, user group, cardholder, or cardholder group.
External Recipients
This field is available if the user has the Send an email to cardholders and external recipients privilege. Enter one or more email addresses for recipients outside of Security Center. Use commas, semi-colons, or new lines to separate multiple addresses.
NOTE: When saving the action, the external recipients list is saved as a comma separated list on one line.
IMPORTANT: For cardholders and external recipients, you must first set the User profile for securing emails in Report Manager to enable or restrict access rights.
Export format
Available image formats: PNG, GIF, JPEG, or Bitmap.
NOTE: To send snapshots, the Enable thumbnail requests option must be turned on in the Resources tab of the Archiver or Auxiliary Archiver that is managing the camera.
Export a report Generates and saves a report specified by a public task.
Report
Select a public task.
What to export
Data
Export the data and select the export format (Excel, CSV, PDF).
Charts
Export any associated charts and select the export format (PNG, JPEG).
Orientation
(PDF only) Select whether the PDF file should be in portrait or landscape mode.
Overwrite existing file
Select whether to overwrite a previously saved report in the destination folder.
Forgive an antipassback violation Forgives an antipassback violation for a cardholder, or cardholder group.
Entity
Select a cardholder or cardholder group.
Go home Commands the PTZ camera to go to its home position. Not all PTZ cameras support this feature.
Camera
Select a PTZ camera.
Go to preset Commands the PTZ camera to go to the specified preset position.
Camera
Select a PTZ camera.
Preset
Preset position (number) to go to.
Import from a file Imports a file and sends the import results to a user. This action is equivalent to using the Import tool for importing cardholders and credentials.
Recipient
Select a user.
File name
Opens the Import tool window, where you can select the file that is used to import the data.
NOTE: Consider the following when using the action in a scheduled task:
  • If you are using a network path, you must enter it manually and include the full file name of the CSV file, including the suffix.
  • By default, the CSV source file is automatically deleted after a successful scheduled import; you must generate a new source file for the next scheduled import.
  • If the import fails, the source CSV file is renamed to include the word "Errors" in the file name. You can use the Windows Event Viewer to see why the import failed.
Ingest an event Saves an event to a system record type so you can perform correlation queries using the Unified report investigation task.
Role
Select the Record Caching Service role used to manage the cached data.
NOTE: The event is stored to a system record type named after the event that triggered this action. Regardless of the event type, the data format for this record type is always as follows:
Id
Unique ID of the event.
Timestamp
Event timestamp.
Latitude
(When available) Latitude. Available on ALPR events and camera events, when the video unit has a geolocation.
Longitude
(When available) Longitude. Available on ALPR events and camera events, when the video unit has a geolocation.
Event type
Name of the event in English, without spaces. For example, for the Access denied event, the value of this field would be "AccessDenied".
Source entity
GUID representing the internal ID of the source entity.
Payload
Serialized XML version of all event properties and data. The XML string can be exported to an external system if necessary.
Ingest a file Import records from data files through a specified record type.
Role
Select the Record Caching Service used to manage the cached data.
Record type
Select the record type used to store the cached data.
Path
Select the data file to import. If you specify a folder, all data files matching the format of the specified record type are imported.
Execution timeout
The maximum time allotted for the execution of the import operation. The system imports the records in batches. If the timeout occurs before the entire operation is complete, only the last batch of inserts that has not yet been committed is rolled back. Set the timeout value to "0" if you do not want the operation to time out.
Delete files after
Enable this option to delete the files that are imported successfully. This option prevents you from importing the same file twice.
Ingest from a web request Import records from an external web system through a specified record type.
Role
Select the Record Caching Service used to manage the cached data.
Record type
Select the record type used to store the cached data.
URL
URL of an external web system that returns properly formatted JSON records.
Execution timeout
The maximum time allotted for the execution of the import operation. The system imports the records in batches. If the timeout occurs before the entire operation is completed, only the last batch of inserts that has not yet been committed is rolled back. Set the timeout value to "0" if you do not want the operation to time out.
Request method
Select either HTTP GET (default) or HTTP POST. For more information, see HTTP request methods.
HTTP POST payload
Enter the payload body of the HTTP POST request. Use it to pass arguments to the external API call.
Auth header
The HTTP header needed for authentication to the external system.
Override with event recording quality Sets the Boost quality on event recording to ON for the selection camera and applies the custom boost quality recording settings. Selecting this option overrides the general settings for event recording. The effect of this action lasts as long as it is not modified by another action, such as Recording quality as standard configuration, or until the Archiver restarts.
Camera
Select a camera.
Override with manual recording quality Sets the Boost quality on manual recording to ON for the selection camera and applies the custom boost quality recording settings. Selecting this option overrides the general settings for event recording. The effect of this action lasts as long as it is not modified by another action, such as Recording quality as standard configuration, or until the Archiver restarts.
Camera
Select a camera.
Play a sound Plays a sound bite in a user or user group’s Security Desk. This action is ignored if the user is not running Security Desk.
User, User group
Select a user or user group.
Sound to play
Sound file (.wav) to play. For the user to hear the sound bite, the sound file must be installed on the PC where Security Desk is running. The standard alert sound files that come with the installation are located in C:\Program files\Genetec Security Center 5.13\Audio.
Postpone intrusion detection area arming Postpones the intrusion detection area arming.
Arming mode
Either Master arm or Perimeter arm.
Intrusion detection area
Select the intrusion detection area.
Postpone for
Set how long to postpone the arming for, in seconds.
Arming delay
Set the arming delay in seconds.
Reboot unit Restarts a unit.
Entity
Select a video unit or access control unit to restart.
Recording quality as standard configuration Cancels the effect of the Override with manual recording quality and Override with event recording quality actions and restores the standard recording configuration.
Camera
Select a camera.
Reset area people count Resets the People Counter in an area.
Area
Select an area.
Reset parking zone inventory Resets the parking zone inventory to zero so that the reported parking zone occupancy can be re-initialized.
Parking zone
Select a parking zone.
Run a macro Starts the execution of a macro.
Macro
Select a macro.
Context
Specific value settings for the context variables.
Run a pattern Commands the PTZ camera to run the specified pattern.
Camera
Select a PTZ camera.
Pattern
Pattern number to run.
Send a message Sends a pop-up message to a user’s Security Desk. This action is ignored if the user is not running Security Desk.
Recipients
Select a user or user group.
Message
Text to be displayed in the pop-up message.
Has timeout
Select how long the message is shown for.
Send an email Sends an email to users, cardholders, or specified email addresses. The selected user must have an email address configured, and the mail server must be properly configured for Security Center, or the action is ignored.
Recipients
Select a user, user group, cardholder, or cardholder group.
External Recipients
This field is available if the user has the Send an email to cardholders and external recipients privilege. Enter one or more email addresses for recipients outside of Security Center. Use commas, semi-colons, or new lines to separate multiple addresses.
NOTE: When saving the action, the external recipients list is saved comma separated on one line.
Message
The email text to be sent to the recipient.
Send task Sends and adds a public task to a Security Desk application.
Task
Select a saved public task to send.
Destination
Select one of the following:
User
All Security Desk connected with that user.
Monitor
Specific Security Desk monitor identified by a machine name and a monitor ID.
Set parking zone occupancy Sets the occupancy of a parking zone to the desired value.
Parking zone
Select a parking zone.
Occupancy
Desired occupancy value.
Set reader mode Sets the reader mode for accessing doors.
Location
Select an area, door, or elevator.
Reader mode
Select whether access is granted using Card and PIN or Card or PIN for the selected area, door, or elevator.

This action only works with door controllers and readers that support this feature.
Set Security Desk background color Sets the background color of all Security Desk workstations.
NOTE: If a threat level is activated, its color overrides the color set by this action.
Color
Set or clear a color.
Color picker
Select a color.
Set the door maintenance mode Sets the Unlocked for maintenance status of a door to on or off.
Door
Select a door.
Maintenance
Desired maintenance mode: on or off.
Set the entity maintenance mode Sets entities other than doors to maintenance mode.
Entities
Select one or more entities to set to maintenance mode.
Maintenance
Enable or disable maintenance mode. Disabled by default.
Manually
The maintenance mode must be manually turned off.
Duration
Maintenance mode is turned on for the number of days, hours, or minutes that you select.
Reason
Specify the reason that you are setting the entity to maintenance mode. You can select a predefined reason or enter a custom reason.
Set threat level Sets a threat level on your Security Center system, or on specific areas.
Area
Select which areas to set the threat level on. Can be your entire system, or specific areas.
Threat level
Select which threat level to set.
Share entities Share a list of entities with selected users by displaying them on their Security Desk canvas, with one entity per tile. This action is ignored if the user does not have a Monitoring task open in Security Desk.
Recipients
List of users or user groups to share entities with.
Entities
List of entities to share. Each entity is displayed in a separate tile.
Display options
Select one of the following:
View in a free Security Desk tile
Only use free tiles.
Force display in Security Desk tiles
Display in free tiles first. When there are no more free tiles, use the busy tiles following the tile ID sequence.
Enable camera audio
This option enables audio automatically when associated video is displayed. This option is only available if one of the selected entities is a camera.
Show original streams for all tiles Displays the original streams, as opposed to the privacy-protected streams, for all tiles of selected Security Desk users.
Recipients
Select users and user groups.
Show protected streams for all tiles Displays the privacy-protected streams, as opposed to the original streams, for all tiles of the selected Security Desk users.
Recipients
Select users and user groups.
Shunt a reader Sets the reader of a door or elevator as Shunted or Active.
Location
Select a door or elevator.
Reader side
For door readers, select Enter, Exit, or Both sides as the Reader side.
Reader
Select whether you want the reader to be Shunted or Active.
Shunt inputs Sets the inputs under areas, doors, elevators, or zones as Shunted or Active.
Inputs
Select whether you want the inputs to be Shunted or Active.
Location
Select the areas, doors, elevators, or zones, that the inputs are under to shunt those inputs.
Silence a buzzer Resets the buzzer output defined for a door. This action sets the Buzzer option to None in the Hardware tab of a door in Config Tool.
Door
Select a door.
Silence an intrusion alarm If there is an active alarm on the selected intrusion detection area, stops the siren on the intrusion panel from beeping. Depending on your intrusion panel and the type of alarm, this action might also acknowledge the alarm.
Intrusion detection area
Select an intrusion detection area.
Smart zoom Turns all PTZ cameras that support position feedback to a selected location on maps, if their field of view is not obstructed by walls. The cameras' field and view and viewing range are defined in the selected maps.
Use specific map
ON
Applies to the cameras configured as map objects on the selected map.
OFF
Use the maps defined in the Record Fusion Service by the Map Manager.
Use event's location
ON
Uses the location where the event occurred. Works only if the action is triggered by an event with location.
OFF
Uses the specified coordinates.
Maximum radius
Considers all PTZ cameras within the specified radius of the selected location. The included cameras must be able to turn to the selected location and their field of view must not be obstructed by walls.
Sound a buzzer Sets the Buzzer output defined for a door. The buzzer sound is specified under the Buzzer option in the Hardware tab of a door in Config Tool.
Door
Select a door.
Start a transfer Starts an archive transfer.
Transfer group
Select a transfer group to begin the transfer for. The transfer can consist of retrieving video recordings from units, duplicating video archives from one Archiver to another Archiver, or backing up archives to a specified location.
Start applying video protection Starts protecting upcoming video recordings against deletion. The protection is applied on all video files needed to store the protected video sequence. Because no video file can be partially protected, the actual length of the protected video sequence depends on the granularity of the video files.

When multiple Start applying video protection actions are applied on the same video file, the longest protection period is kept.

Camera
Select a camera.
Keep protected for
Duration of the video protection.
Specific
Sets the protection period in number of days.
Infinite
The protection can only be removed manually from the Archive storage details task.
Protect video for next
Duration of the video to protect.
Specific
Sets the duration in minutes and hours.
Infinite
All future recordings are protected until the action Stop applying video protection is triggered.
Start recording Starts recording on the specified camera. This action is ignored if the camera is not on an active recording schedule. Recordings started by this action cannot be stopped manually by a user.
Camera
Select a camera.
Recording duration
Sets the duration of the video recording.
Default
Sets the duration to follow the value defined in Default manual recording length configured for the camera.
Infinite
The recording can only be stopped by the Stop recording action.
Specific
Sets the recording duration in seconds, minutes, and hours.
Stop a transfer Stops an archive transfer.
Transfer group
Select a transfer group to stop the transfer for.
Stop applying video protection Stops protecting upcoming video recordings against deletion. This action does not affect the video archives that are already protected.
Camera
Select a camera.
Stop in
Sets the video protection to stop Now or in a Specific amount of time in minutes and hours.
Stop recording Stops recording on the specified camera. This action only works if the recording was started by the Start recording action.
Camera
Select a camera.
Stop in
Sets the recording to stop Now or in a Specific amount of time in seconds, minutes, and hours.
Synchronize role Starts a synchronization process on the specified role: Active Directory or Global Cardholder Synchronizer.
Role
Select a role that needs synchronization.
Get image
(Active Directory role only) Enable this option if image attributes are to be synchronized as well.
Temporarily override elevator schedules Temporarily locks or unlocks an elevator for a given period.
Elevator
Select a elevator.
Lock mode
Select Unlocked or Locked.
For
Amount of time in minutes or hours.
From/To
Date and time range to unlock the door.
Temporarily override unlock schedules Temporarily locks or unlocks a door for a given period.
Door
Select a door or an area with doors.
Lock mode
Select Unlocked or Locked.
For
Amount of time in minutes or hours.
From/To
Date and time range to unlock the door.
Trigger an alarm Triggers an alarm. This action might generate extra events, depending on the alarm configuration.
Alarm
Select an alarm.
Acknowledgment condition
Event type that must be triggered before the alarm can be acknowledged.
User acknowledgment required
Select whether the alarm must be manually acknowledged, or if it is automatically acknowledged by the system after the acknowledgment condition is cleared.
Trigger an intrusion alarm Triggers a physical alarm on an intrusion detection area.
Recipient type:
Type of alarm trigger, either the intrusion detection area or a specific alarm input.
Intrusion detection area
Select an intrusion detection area.
Trigger an output Triggers an output behavior on an output pin of a unit. For example, an action can be configured to trigger the output pin of a unit (controller or input/output module).
Output relay
Select an output pin (unit).
Output behavior
Select the output behavior to trigger.
Trigger past read matching Triggers the ALPR Manager role to compare new or updated hotlists against previously captured license plate reads. For more information on how to use this action, see Configuring past-read matching on the ALPR Manager.
Role
Select the ALPR Manager role.
Trigger a read Triggers a license plate read on fixed Sharp unit.
Device
Select an fixed Sharp unit.
Unlock door explicitly Temporarily unlocks a door for five seconds, or the Standard grant time configured for that door.
Door
Select a door.
Unlock area perimeter doors explicitly Temporarily unlocks an area's perimeter doors for five seconds, or the Standard grant time configured for those doors.
Area
Select an area.
Update unit passwords Sends password update requests to the selected units through their roles. The passwords are automatically generated by the system.
Entities
Add one or more units.
NOTE: The system does not validate whether the selected units supports password update or not.
Upgrade firmware Upgrades an ALPR unit firmware.