How your alarms flow through GC Surge
On this page
What this covers
This document follows one alarm from your camera to your alarm system. It names each stage, tells you where you can see it in the app, and tells you what to check when an alarm does not arrive where you expect it.
Who it is for
Admins, shift supervisors and technical contacts of the monitoring centre.
The path of an alarm
Watch:
Stage | What happens | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
1. Received | Your device sends the alarm with its pictures to GC Surge. GC Surge accepts it immediately. | Device status Receiving alarms and "Last alarm" in Sites & Cameras. |
2. Recorded | The alarm is stored with its pictures: before the alarm, at the alarm and after the alarm. Every alarm is stored, also the ones that are filtered later. | Recordings. Alarm detail: Event received at. |
3. Filtered | NOVA99x checks the alarm. A false alarm is filtered. It stops here and no operator sees it. A real alarm continues. | Home: Alarms filtered by NOVA99x. Alarm detail: NOVA99x filter. |
4. Queued | The real alarm joins the event of its site. All real alarms of one site that belong together form one site event. The site event waits in the queue. | Live Alarms: the queue. |
5. Decided, or forwarded automatically | An operator gets the site event and takes one decision: Not an alarm or Real alarm. If no operator is available, GC Surge forwards automatically. | Home: Latest decisions. Alarm detail: Operator, Handled at, Operator handling status. |
6. Forwarded | For a confirmed event, GC Surge sends one alarm to your alarm system by SIA DC-09 or webhook. The other alarms of the event are closed with it. | Your alarm system. Alarm detail: Operator handling status. |
What this means for you
- Your alarm system receives one alarm per confirmed site event, not one per camera trigger.
- False alarms are filtered before they reach an operator. They are still stored and you can review them.
- Every step is recorded with its time. You can show for each alarm when it arrived, how it was filtered, who decided and what was forwarded.
The possible results of an alarm
Result | When | Sent to your alarm system? | How it appears |
|---|---|---|---|
Filtered | NOVA99x classified it as a false alarm. | No | NOVA99x filter: false alarm. |
Not an alarm | An operator decided Not an alarm for the site event. | No | Decision GREEN. Status Not an alarm. |
Real alarm | An operator decided Real alarm. | Yes, one alarm for the event | Decision RED. Status Sent to ARS. |
Forwarded, no operator | No operator was available. | Yes | Forwarded, no operator. Operator: "System: no operator available". |
The screens use the short form ARS for your alarm system (alarm reception system).
When no operator is available
No operator is available when nobody is signed in and monitoring. Admins only count when they have switched to Operator.
In this case GC Surge still filters with NOVA99x. Real alarms are then forwarded to your alarm system automatically. The setting Forward after (NOA) in Settings > Alarm routing defines how long GC Surge waits before it forwards: Immediately, or 60, 120 or 180 seconds. Check which value is set for your account. If an operator starts monitoring during this time, the operator gets the site event instead.
The details are in "Queue and assignment" and in the Shift supervisor handbook.
Follow one alarm yourself
- Trigger an alarm on a device, for example walk through the detection area.
- Open Sites & Cameras. The device shows Receiving alarms and a new "Last alarm" time.
- Open Recordings. Choose List view. The alarm is at the top.
- Open the alarm. Under Alarm workflow you see Event received at, NOVA99x filter, Operator, Handled at and Operator handling status.
- If the result is a real alarm, check that your alarm system received it.
If something goes wrong
Symptom | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
The alarm is not in Recordings | The device did not send it, the device is disabled, or the time range does not include it. | Set the time range to Last 24 hours. Check the device status in Sites & Cameras. If it is Quiet, Setup needed or Setup failed, see "Onboarding sites and devices". |
The alarm is in Recordings, but no operator saw it | NOVA99x filtered it as a false alarm. | Open the alarm and look at NOVA99x filter. If you think the filter was wrong, see "NOVA99x classification and rules". |
The alarm was real, but the operator did not get it | No operator was monitoring, so it was forwarded automatically. | Look for Forwarded, no operator. Check the operator availability at that time. |
The alarm was confirmed, but your alarm system did not receive it | No destination is set, or the destination data is wrong, or your receiver was not reachable. | Check Settings > Alarm reception and the forwarding of the site and the device. Use Send test event. Check firewall, IP, port, account and key. |
Your alarm system received fewer alarms than the camera sent | This is intended. One alarm is forwarded per confirmed site event. Filtered alarms and events decided as Not an alarm are not forwarded. | Compare with Recordings, not with the camera counter. |
Your alarm system receives nothing at all, and no destination was ever set | Without a destination alarms stay in GC Surge. | Set the destination in Settings > Alarm reception. |
Alarms arrive late in GC Surge | The device sends late, or its internet connection is slow. | Compare the device time with Event received at. Check the time setting and the connection of the device. |
Alarms are received but nothing is filtered or forwarded | The trial has ended or the subscription is inactive. | Open Billing. See "Trial, subscription and billing". |
Edge cases
- Many cameras of one site trigger at the same time. They form one site event. One operator sees all of them together and takes one decision.
- New alarms arrive while the operator looks at the site. They are added to the same event on the operator screen.
- A camera triggers again after the event was decided. A new site event starts.
- The device is disabled. Its alarms are not received and not billed.
- The device sends an alarm without pictures. There is nothing to check. Configure the device to send pictures with each alarm.
FAQ
Does GC Surge change the alarm settings of my alarm system? No. GC Surge sends alarms to the receiver you configure. Your alarm system and its procedures stay as they are.
Is anything deleted when NOVA99x filters an alarm? No. The alarm stays in Recordings with the result of the filter.
Can I get every alarm in my alarm system, without the operator decision? You decide per forwarding destination with the tick box Forward Only True Alarms. See "Onboarding sites and devices", section 7.
Where do I see how many alarms were filtered? On Home: the card Alarms filtered by NOVA99x and the chart Alarm flow trend (Total, Filtered, Real).
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