Smart Alert field definitions

Description

A Smart Alert is a logger rule that sends a notification when a condition on live values stays true. This article explains each value on the Smart Alerts tab. For the procedures, see Set up a Smart Alert.

Alert States

The badge on each row of Your alerts.

Watching: the alert is on, and the condition is false or the time is not in Only during.
Triggering: the condition is true and the Must hold for (s) timer has started. The logger has not sent a notification.
Active: the condition stayed true for the hold time, and the logger sent the notification, unless a mute rule on the Notifications tab stopped it.
Clearing: the condition is false and the Clear after (s) timer has started. If the condition becomes true again, the alert changes to Active again.
Needs attention: the alert cannot read a value, for example a value that the plant no longer reports. The row gives the reason.
Off: Enabled is not ticked. The logger keeps the alert but does not check it.

Repair all alerts that show Needs attention. It sends no notification until it can read its values again. An alert that was Active or Clearing stays in that state until then.

Severity

Treat it as: Info, Warning or Error. The default is Warning, or the level of the template.
Stripe: the colour on the left of the row. It shows the saved level, not the state.
Category: all levels use the Smart alerts category. The level does not change how the system sends the notification.

Timing

Must hold for (s): how many seconds the condition must stay true before the logger sends the notification. With 0, the logger sends it at the first true reading.
Clear after (s): how many seconds the condition must stay false before the alert changes to Watching again.
Notify once, do not track clearing: the logger keeps no live record and sends no clear record. The alert changes to Active. After the alert clears, it can operate again.
Only during: a time window and the weekdays for that window. When the time is not in the window, the condition is false. The default is 18:00 to 06:00.

Condition Rows

IF: the first row.
AND, OR: connect a row to the row above it. The logger reads the rows in order, from the first row down, with no brackets.
Rows: up to 8.
Value groups: Plant, Computed, Device data points, Digital IO, User variables.
(offline): shows after a value that has no correct reading at this time.
(missing): shows after a value that the logger no longer reports.
Comparisons: >, <, >=, <=, =, !=.
is, is not: replace the comparisons for an on/off value, and show its two states by name.
Fixed value: a number that you type.
Variable: a second live value.

Delivery

Message: your notification text. If you leave it blank, the notification shows the alert name, the condition and the hold time.
Insert into message: one pair of chips for each condition row. Click a chip to insert it at the cursor.
{A1}, {B1}: the left and right side of row 1. {A2} and {B2} are row 2, and so on.
{A}, {B}: row 1 only. The legend shows this form for logger software older than 9.335.
?: appears in the sent text in place of a placeholder that has no value.
Open on tap: what the notification opens when you tap it. On Automatic, it opens the device if the condition uses only one device, and the plant dashboard if not.

Placeholders follow the row position, not the value. If you delete a condition row, the placeholders after it read a different value.

Notification

Category: Smart alerts.
Recipients: all persons with access to the plant, directly or through an organisation. SolarMD staff without a row on the plant get none.
Default channel: the in-app bell only. See Choose what you are notified about and Notification categories and settings field definitions.
Cooldown: 60 minutes by default. If the same alert operates again in that time, the system does not send a new notification.
When the alert clears: no notification.

Tips

The line at the top of the tab shows how many alerts there are, how many are Active, and when the list last updated.
The list updates at 5-second intervals. When you open the tab again, or click Refresh, the value lists also update.
If you save an alert while it is Active, it starts again from Watching.
When the logger restarts, all alerts start again from Watching. If a condition is true at that time, the alert sends again after Must hold for (s).
A logger holds up to 32 alerts.