Configure Areas

Areas

An area is a collection of sensors that the customer will want to arm or disarm together, separately from other areas. Areas typically define a physical space within the customer’s site, and include the sensors installed in that space.

Example: The manager's office is set up as a separate area from the reception. The receptionist is able to disarm the reception, leaving the office secure.

Area Groups

Area Groups allow areas of a site to be grouped to suit the way the business owner wants to operate their site. Area Groups typically define parts of the site which are physically separate from each other, so that entering one doesn’t necessarily mean you want to enter or disarm another.

Example: The site has an office block and a separate warehouse. Staff that work in the office block typically don’t have access to the warehouse. By creating two area groups, fully privileged users can easily disarm the office block on arrival while leaving the warehouse armed, or vice versa.

Using Key Tags, Cards, or User Codes to access an area

If a site wants to use Key Tags, cards, or User Codes to access an area, the area must use Single Factor. In the Area's properties, set the Locally disarm area option to 'Single Factor'.


Configuring Areas and Area Groups

When first created, the site is populated with default input and output data. The inputs are assigned to the default Area - Area 1, and default Area Group - Default Area Group.

The data can be viewed by 'As wired' and 'By area'. For configuring Areas and Area Groups, 'By area' is the easiest view to be in.

Adding an area

To add a new Area, select the + ADD NEW button and select 'Area'.

Configuring an Area

  1. From the Areas tab, select the Area you have created to open its properties.

  2. Name the Area something meaningful to the customer.

  3. If the site has Area Groups configured, the Area Group drop-down list displays. Select an Area Group for the Area to be added to, or leave it in the 'Default Area Group'.

  4. If using Key Tags, Cards, or User Codes to arm & disarm an Area, change the Locally disarm area to 'Single Factor'. 'Two Factor' can only be used if the customer is using the SMB app only.

  5. Select the customer's desired behaviour from the Default Arming Mode drop-down list. This option determines how the Area arms when it is armed via SMB tags and User Codes or Automatic Arming schedule. It does not affect arming via the SMB app, which always uses the Bypass method.

    • Force Arm: When the Area is armed via SMB tag, User Code, or schedule, it will arm even if there are open (active) Inputs in the Area. Any input that is open when the Area arms will immediately trigger an alarm, and an incident will be raised.

    • Bypass: When the Area is armed via SMB tag, User Code, or schedule, it will arm even if there are open (active) Inputs in the Area. When the Area arms, any open Input will be bypassed, i.e. it will not trigger an alarm or raise an incident until the Area is disarmed and armed again.

    • Fail to Arm: When the Area is armed via SMB tag, User Code, or schedule, it will fail to arm if there are open (active) Inputs in the Area. If arming fails, this is raised in an incident. If arming fails when attempting to arm at an access reader, the reader will also briefly sound a siren noise to indicate the arming failed. If no Inputs in the Area are open, the Area will arm successfully.

  6. Assign Inputs and Outputs as required.

  7. To configure the Delay Warnings tab, refer to the following sections: Configure Entry Delay and Configure Exit Delay.

  8. Once finished configuring the Area, click OK to close and save your changes.

    Note: Once the Area is configured, its Event History tab displays all events associated with this output. Events can be filtered.

  9. Assign the Area to Area Groups, if applicable.

Configuring an Area Group

  1. To add a new Area Group, select the + ADD NEW button and select 'Area Group'. Or, select an existing Area Group to open its properties.

  2. Name the Area Group something meaningful to the customer.

  3. To add Areas to the Area Group, select the + ASSIGN AREAS button, then select the check box next to each Area you wish to add to the Area Group.

  4. Once finished, click OK to close and save your changes.

Note: Once you have created at least one Area Group, all Areas must be in one Area Group. An Area cannot be in multiple Area Groups. To accommodate this, all Areas that you have not yet added to an Area Group, and all newly created Areas, are added to a 'Default Area Group' by default.

Removing Areas from Area Groups

Since all Areas must be in an Area Group (once you have created at least one Area Group), you cannot simply remove an Area from its group. To remove an Area from an Area Group, add it to another Area Group or the 'Default Area Group'. This will remove it from its previous group, since it can only be in one group.

Once an Area Group has had all of its Areas moved to another group, it can be deleted. If all Area Groups are deleted, the 'Default Area Group' is also deleted.

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