In this article, we will go over what alarm monitoring is, how to set it up and use the alarm monitoring service by Rhombus.
- What is Alarm Monitoring
- How to set up Alarm Monitoring
- How to use Alarm Monitoring
- How to Pause Alarm Monitoring
- Live Agent Calibration mode
- Helpful Links
What is Alarm Monitoring
Alarm Monitoring is a service that pairs with your Rhombus device(s), allowing you to implement alert policies and an emergency contact list at a single location. In case of a human, tamper, or door event trigger, an agent at one of our Five Diamond, UL-Listed Central Monitoring Centers will use video verification to confirm active threats to a person or property.
If an emergency is verified, the agent will text and call your emergency contacts and dispatch authorities as needed. Agents can share location and live video streams for additional context and rapid response.
Note: This service is intended for customers who want added security during off hours without the need for dedicated personnel.
How to set up Alarm Monitoring
Below is a setup guide for Rhombus Alarm Monitoring. This setup consists of adding licenses, setting up Alert Policies, and creating an emergency contact list. To find the Alarm Monitoring section, click on the headset icon on the left sidebar (pictured below).
Note: The setup can only be done in the Rhombus Console. Here is a great article on our Supported Web Browsers & Mobile OS.
Setting up Licenses
To add the licenses for Alarm Monitoring, you have two options: click on the "Apply licenses to get started" button on the Alarm Monitoring page (pictured below) or go to the "Licenses & Features" page in settings.
Next, apply the licenses to the cameras at the requested service location. Start by clicking "manage" and apply the licenses to the specific camera(s) you would like to be paired with Alarm Monitoring. See below for a brief video.
Setting up Alert Policies
To set up Alert Policies, visit the Creating and assigning camera alert policies article. This article will help with the creating and assigning process for alerts. Currently, Rhombus Alarm Monitoring pairs with the following alerts:
- Human Movement
- Visual/Device Tamper
- Door Entry Alerts (Requires a sensor associated with a camera)
Create an Emergency Response Contacts list
Once you have applied the Alarm Monitoring licenses to your devices and created your alert policy, you will be able to see two sections titled "Status" and "Threat Cases" in the Alarm Monitoring tab. In the "Status" section you will be able to view the current Alarm Monitoring setup. Below is an example view.
Then click on the "Emergency Response Contacts" dropdown to see the following dropdown.
Below is the "Emergency Response Contacts" section where you can add details for your organization’s emergency contacts. It is critical to add a default contact to ensure someone is notified outside the hours of your custom schedule or when a custom schedule is not set.
Note: The default will be contacted if there is no custom schedule or for any time period the custom schedule doesn't cover.
Creating custom schedules for a list of contacts is seen above. Start by selecting the time and day and then add the name and phone number of the contact.
Note: If a threat is deemed valid, individuals on the contact lists will receive texts and calls and the police will get dispatched if there is a threat to a person or property.
Important note on being contacted by the monitoring service:
The monitoring service will contact the emergency contacts from the below list of numbers:
- +1-(619)329-8928
- +1-(619)329-8846
- +1-(619)329-8736
- +1-(619)304-4016
- Add the numbers to a contact like Rhombus Monitoring so the calls aren't silenced, etc.
- Allow text and phone calls from Rhombus Monitoring when "Do Not Disturb" or other "Focus Mode" settings are enabled
Responder Entry Instructions
The next area is the Responder entry instructions. This is helpful if emergency services need a key code to enter the premises, specific driving instructions to get on-site, or anything notable to tell when emergency services are on the scene. Enter the instructions and press 'save' in the top right.
Alert Key PINs
The alert key pin ties to our application on the iOS iPad store. If you would like to learn more, you can go here. The alert key pins are not customizable. Multiple pins can be created.
Alert Submission Settings
The next area in the alarm monitoring settings is the alert delay option and alarm qualification.
Alarm Delay
As seen below, this option allows authorized users to pause alerts when entering the location or for admins to dismiss/escalate Alarm Delay alerts before verification by the Monitoring Service.
Alarm Qualification
The alarm qualification 'The monitoring agent will escalate to an alarm if, after reviewing the provided footage, the answer to the following question is yes.' When you choose between the two options, the monitoring agent will use this information to review the alert properly.
Create custom schedules for an alert delay by selecting the time and day (seen above). The default delay will become active when the custom time is not applicable.
How to use Alarm Monitoring
Below we will go over how to use Alarm Monitoring in the Rhombus Console and Mobile App. Both the Rhombus Console and Mobile App will give you options to view the current status of alerts and threat cases.
Console
In the Rhombus Console, you will see two options in the Alarm Monitoring section: "Status" and "Threat Cases.” While in the Status option, you will see all the locations with alarm monitoring tied to them, the number of devices with the license, and alert policies within those devices.
Status
Visit the Status page to view which location your current Alarm Monitoring license is applied, edit your emergency contact list, alert submission delay, and check the current alert policies applied to the devices.
Threat Cases
- Initiated - If an Alert Submission Delay is set, the user will see a countdown timer, and have the option to Dismiss the alert, Escalate the alert to the alarm monitoring service, save the clip, share the clip, pause/snooze and report a false positive.
- Requested - This state signifies that the alert has been sent to the monitoring service for verification, and a response is pending.
- Escalated - This state signifies the monitoring service should begin or has begun emergency protocols such as, reaching out to emergency contacts and alerting local authorities. In the picture below, a threat case timeline for when events happened is displayed.
- Dismissed - This state signifies that a user intercepted the threat case before it was sent to the monitoring service and verified that there was no threat present.
- Verified - This state signifies that the monitoring service reviewed the alert and did not identify a threat to a person or property in the provided clip.
- Canceled - This state signifies that an ESCALATED threat case was deemed resolved by a user without emergency protocols being followed to completion. I.e. a user made the explicit decision to halt an in-progress threat response by the monitoring service. As you see below the alarm was canceled.
- Closed/Resolved - This state signifies that the monitoring service resolved an ESCALATED threat case as a result of following emergency protocols.
Mobile App
While in the mobile app you can find the alarm monitoring section by clicking the three bars in the bottom right-hand corner. This will pull up an option to click on alarm monitoring. Below is a video on how to view this process and see the Status and Threat cases tab.
How to pause Alarm Monitoring
Pausing Alarm Monitoring can be done in the Rhombus Console, Mobile App, and Alarm Pad. Remember, alarm monitoring is tied to an alert policy, so when you pause the alarm monitoring, you are essentially pausing the alert policy and alerts during a specific time. When pausing alerts place choose the alert tied to a specific location you desire to pause alerts for.
Console
In the Rhombus console, alerts can be paused by following the steps in the article here. Below is a quick example below on how to pause alerts.
Mobile App
Below is a quick video on how to pause alerts within the Rhombus Mobile App.
Live Agent Calibration Mode
The Calibration mode is to establish all the licenses, alert policies, and contact lists are set up properly to make sure the process runs to the customer's experience. During this one-week experience, the alarm monitoring review service will be active. They will review and verify the alerts and contact the appropriate individuals on the contact list. The customer will confirm with Rhombus that everything is working properly before disabling the test mode.
Note: To identify if you are in a testing mode you would see a 'Calibration mode' banner (pictured below).
Helpful Links
Below is a list of helpful links for Alarm Monitoring:
- Alarm Monitoring: Alarm Pad Scenarios & Installation
- Creating and assigning camera alert policies
- Optics and Object Distances for Analytics
- How to Snooze/Pause Notifications
If you have any further questions please reach out to our Rhombus Support at help@rhombus.com. If you would like to talk to a Rhombus Sales Representative please reach out to sales@rhombus.com.
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