ARA-pro

Incoming alarms

As soon as an alarm occurs at a location, the alarm dialer reports this to ARA-pro. ARA immediately records the moment of receipt in the logbook. You can determine how the alarm is processed from there on, depending on your service organization.

Automatic call-up of service staff

ARA-pro calls up service staff by pager or mobile telephone. The method and order in which they are called depends on the urgency level assigned to the alarm (8 levels). The number of service staff to be called up can also be programmed.

Manual processing after local on-screen reports

If you program ARA-pro to generate an operator report when it receives an alarm, an alarm window opens on the screen of your PC. You can use this as an additional means of notification while ARA calls up the service staff. However, it is also possible to disable the automatic call-up option based on the duty roster at times that your planning department is staffed, allowing your planners to process the incoming alarm manually.

Verification using up-to-date overview of alarms

The updated alarm overview allows you to view the status of an alarm directly. You can see which alarms are active and whether the call-ups are still in process. If your on-site dialer can also send repair reports, you can also see whether the alarm has been resolved. This allows you to follow the status of the alarm processing.

Call-up of service staff

In the event of an alarm, ARA-pro will use the duty roster to determine which service employee to call. This service employee receives a clear description of the location and the alarm on the display of his or her pager or mobile telephone, so that the situation is immediately apparent. Next, the service employee must phone ARA-pro back to accept the alarm, using a unique acceptance code that changes continually and is sent along with each service staff call-up. This allows ARA-pro to know precisely who responded to which call, to that each call's acceptance can be registered in the logbook without the possibility of errors. If the call is not accepted, the alarm will automatically be repeated, if necessary to the next service employee in the duty roster. With the optional speech add-on, it is also possible to send the alarm to telephone sets.

Local on-screen reports

In the event of a local alarm, an alarm window opens on the PC's screen, optionally accompanied by an acoustic signal. The operator must confirm this alarm using the keyboard, adding any comments deemed necessary. The moment of confirmation is recorded in the logbook, with the comments entered.

Updated overview of alarms

The alarm status screen offers you an up-to-date overview of active alarms. When an alarm is received that has been programmed to appear in the alarm status screen, a line with the alarm status in red and the location and alarm name immediately be shown. While ARA is calling up service staff, the reporting status is also shown. If ARA receives a repair report, the status line changes to the green idle status. Alternatively, you program the alarm to be removed entirely from the list. This allows you to follow all status changes in real time.

Service groups

With ARA-pro, the available service staff can be divided into service groups. Alarms are then linked to such service groups, making it possible to categorize incoming alarms by region or specific service tasks, for example. You can determine for each group whether the first person within that group is always called up, or whether the persons called rotate in order to divide the calls equally.

Duty rosters

Detailed duty rosters can be programmed for each service group, stating whether a particular person is free, is on first-line service or is on second-line service. First-line service means that calls are sent for all alarms, whether urgent or non-urgent. Staff on second-line service only receive calls for urgent alarms. The starting and finishing times of each shift are freely programmable, and weekend and holiday shifts are easy to include. When the duty roster is being programmed, ARA-pro offers a clear overview of the staffing within the service group. Extensive copy and selection functions make it easy to program the duty roster. This allows temporary changes to the duty roster (for example if an employee calls in sick) simple to enter.

Logbook

The ARA-pro logbook is a record of all incoming alarms. All events, such as the occurrence of the alarm, its acceptance by the operator, the forwarding to the service employee, its acceptance, etc., are registered in the logbook, with date and time. This offers a good overview of such matters as the frequency of alarms at a particular location, or how a certain alarm was processed. ARA-pro features a number of standard filtering and reporting functions for this. Another possibility is to export the data to various Windows® programs for further analysis. ARA-pro also offers the option of sending all events to a printer at the same time as they are being registered in the logbook, so that the current information is available on hard copy at all times.

24-hour verification

ARA-pro features a verification option for the on-site alarm dialers. Each alarm dialer that is monitored by this option must report to ARA-pro once every 24 hours. If no one is on-site, these reports are sent using a local alarm and/or telephone-based service report.

Reliable

ARA-pro can operate entirely without human intervention. In order to prevent the processing of alarms from stagnating if the PC shuts down, the PC is continually monitored by the fully autonomous telephone line interface. In the event of a PC or mains failure, this interface automatically starts up a local alarm and a telephone-based service report, so that action can be taken immediately.

Compatible with all types of alarm dialer

Unlike similar systems, ARA-pro is capable of receiving alarms from virtually any brand of alarm dialer. Every alarm dialer with features for sending alarms to the Semadigit or Semascript is compatible with ARA-pro. This makes it possible to integrate multiple systems into a single alarm network, allowing existing systems to be replaced in phases and so offering budgetary benefits.

Models

Various versions of the ARA-pro software are available, for use at anywhere from 20 to a maximum of 1,000 locations. Each model requires at least 1 telephone line interface. This number may be increased in the event of a high density of telephone traffic. With the ARA-pro speech option, service staff can be called up with a programmable spoken message to a fixed or mobile telephone. To use this option, the PC must be fitted with a sound card. With the ARA-speech option, the location and alarm descriptions programmed are automatically converted into speech, using speech synthesis. ARA-dde allows links to other software, for example for starting an ARA calling cycle from SCADA or alarm management software. Basically, ARA-pro offers you everything you need to optimise your alarm management!