4.1
Login
4.1.1
Standard or Server Station
To have access to services provided by the application, the operator has to log on to Alert. To do so, at the starting of the application, or when the application has been freed by a previous operator, you only have to select the Login command from the File menu, or simply to click on the button:
A dialog box requires the operator to identify himself by his name and his access code. This one must enter his name (always forced in capitals) followed by his first name (that can be shorted). The access code of the operator must be supplied, if it exists.
When the station management mode is defined as "Virtual stations" (see § 7.1 “General
options”) or, in the opposite case ("Alert stations""), if the local station (fist station) is
defined as "Main Station", a dropdown list "Station" allows the selection of the station to display. In the case of Alert stations, only the synchronizable stations (stations defined with a user having the name of the station and associated with a communication driver of type ALERT) are proposed in the list. The choice "(all)" gives access to the data of all stations. If a station is selected, the name of the selected station is displayed in the status bar on the bottom of the main window, and only the data of this station will be accessible: configuration data for on-call management and supervision, on-call schedule, alarm table, alarm history and event log. It is possible to change the selected station later in the display options (see § 7.3).
If the name and the access code are recognized, the application is opened for the operator in question and offers to him all services authorized for his user profile.
Note 1
At the first start of the application, and so long as no operator has been configured, the operator must identify himself with the temporary name "ALERT". This access has the higher level ("system" profile), and allows the configuration of the user file.
Note 2
It is possible to authorize a working mode said “without login” (see the login options, § 7.1 “General options”) which allows some limited operations to be enabled without having to be logged: call or alarm acknowledgment, alarm masking/unmasking, edition of an alarm comment or report, call transmission…
In this mode, every command that requires the designation of the responsible user for the performed action (acknowledgment, masking…) provokes the display of a dialog box to
get the name of the user and his/her password. The command will be only accepted if the profile of the designated user authorizes it.
4.1.2
Client Station
To have access to services provided by the Alert server application from a client station, the operator has to identify and authenticate himself in the same way as on the server station. But during this operation he will have to designate the server computer onto he wants to connect, either with the station name or directly with its IP address. The server station can be browsed among the network stations (button on the login dialog box). If the IP port number has been modified on the server station (2495 by default, can be modified in the redundancy options), the new port number will also have to be entered. When the connection is successfully completed, all the server connection parameters are saved. On the next connections one only have to select the wanted server station in the dropdown list of the login dialog box.
If the Auto connect option is checked, the client station will automatically try to connect again to the selected server in case of failure at the connection time or in case of unwanted disconnection.
If several servers have been connected with the Auto connect option, the client station will automatically search for the first active server.
4.2
User interface
Once identified (see § 4.1 “Login”), the operator is in front of the following screen (some menus or buttons can be masked according to the user profile and the configuration of this one).
This screen includes:
• A configurable title bar allowing the alert station to be named. • A menu bar containing all the commands of the application. • A tool bar offering a quick access to the commands.
• An alarm status bar allowing the visualization of the general working state. • A general status bar at the bottom of the screen.
The central part of the display constitutes the main screen, made up of threes parts:
• On the left part, a topographical representation of the application, under the form of a tree of the stations with sub-trees for description of the supervision and on-call management attached to each station.
• On the top right part, a synoptic view of the entity selected in the tree (station, list of supervised tags, functional group, user list, on-call group, team, …).
• On the bottom right part, a tabbed application window (on-call schedule, alarm table, alarm history, event log, logbook).
4.3
Menus
The main menu gives access to the main available function of the software. Some commands of the main menu are accessible more quickly from the buttons of the toolbar (see § 4.4 “Toolbar”). In addition, on the tree of the main screen and its associated view, contextual menus give a direct access to commands dedicated to the selected entities (see § 4.6 “Main screen”).
Menus depend on the profile of the logged user and on the configuration of this profile. The menus marked (1) below are accessible only to an operator declared with a "control" or "system" profile (in standard configuration), those marked (2) are accessible only to an operator having a "system" profile (in standard configuration).