In this article, we will cover the following:
- What is Alarm Monitoring
- Set up Alarm Monitoring
- How to use Alarm Monitoring
- How to Pause Alarm Monitoring
- Live Agent Calibration mode
- Stop Monitoring with Authorized Badge Entry
- Verification Best Practices
- Helpful Links
- Contact Support or Sales
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 movement 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.
For more information, please review the Monitoring Services Agreement.
Note: This service is intended for customers who want added security during off hours without the need for dedicated personnel.
Set up Alarm Monitoring
Setup for alarm monitoring needs to be done in the Rhombus web console. Here is a great article on our Supported Web Browsers & Mobile OS.
The setup for alarm monitoring consists of:
- Adding alarm monitoring licenses
- Establishing the monitoring schedule and which cameras to include in the schedule
- Create the list of emergency contacts
- Add pins for iPad keypads
- First responder entry instructions
To configure to the alarm monitoring settings, follow these instructions:
| 1. Navigate to the "Locations Tab" and select the location associated with the alarm monitoring. |
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2. Select the "Alarm Monitoring" dropdown menu. From here you can navigate to one of the following: |
Note: If you don't see the Alarm Monitoring user interface in your console please reach out to your Rhombus representative to get it added.
Alarm Central
Alarm Central is the main page for viewing alarm monitoring. You can:
- View a snapshot of verifications used, as well as pull the report.
- Have a quick look at all devices monitored as well as associated devices.
- Use a toggle to select if monitoring will be stopped with a badge entry (available if using access control)
- If turned on, any authorized badge entry will stop monitoring. If monitoring is on a schedule, it will turn back on at the next scheduled start time. Monitoring may be manually started at any time.
- Manually control monitoring.
- Create custom settings for monitoring of devices.
- Monitor via a Schedule.
- Create a custom schedule for monitoring, and select which devices will be monitored with this schedule.
- Multiple schedules can be created, if a different monitoring scheduling is desired for different devices at that location.
Setting up Monitoring Schedules
When setting up Monitoring Schedules you will be presented with two options, manual or scheduled monitoring. We will go over both below.
Manual Monitoring
Manual monitoring has no start time or end time. This option relays solely on the individual to enable or disable the alarm. A user can enable/disable a monitoring event in the Rhombus web console, Mobile App and iPad Keypad. Those options are discussed later in the article.
Scheduled Monitoring
Scheduled monitoring starts and ends on a specific time. A user can still enable or disable the alarm monitoring via Console, Mobile App or Keypad whenever desired.
Setting up Monitoring
Now manual and scheduled monitoring have all the same setting features one is just enabled by a user and the other by time. Below is a run through of the sections for setting up monitoring.
- Schedule - This option allows a schedule for the start and stop time of Alarm Monitoring.
- Devices - Choose the cameras for alarm monitoring
- Event Types - There are two event types, Human Movement and Door Opened (Door sensor associated with camera)
- If detected, play - This option will play an audio message (less than 10 sec) if an A100 is associated with the camera.
- Play Duration - This will let audio play multiple times or after a certain amount of time
Emergency Response Contacts
In the Alarm Monitoring dropdown, select "Emergency Response Contacts."
This is the 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.
The default will be contacted if there is no custom schedule or for any time period the custom schedule doesn't cover.
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
Responder entry instructions are 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 bottom right.
Alert Key PINs
The alert key pin ties to the Rhombus keypad application on the iOS iPad store. If you would like to learn more, you can go here. The alert key pins are customizable and have to be 4 pins max. 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.
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 some features for how to view alarm monitoring information. One option is the 'Status' which will show location with monitoring scheduled or just amount of cameras monitored. The other feature is 'Threat Case' this will allow a user to see the list of logged events during a previous alarm event.
Status
There are a few ways in the Rhombus console to view status for alarm monitoring.
1. Add a 'dashlet' to the Rhombus dashboard to view the amount of location that have alarm monitoring scheduled or if there is any missing information that needs to be entered.
2. Within the locations tab you can also view the status of all the Alarm Monitoring for the locations. This will let you know when a scheduled monitoring starts and the option to start the monitoring.
Threat Cases
| 1. Navigate to the "Locations Tab" and select the location associated with the alarm monitoring. |
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| 2. Select the "Alerts" dropdown and click "Threat Cases." |
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- 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.
Reports
The Rhombus Console provides the ability to view Alarm Monitoring Reports.
Select the "Logs and Reports" tab and the click on "Alarm Monitoring Reports."
This is where you can view reports for all of your monitored locations as well as download that data to your local machine.
Additionally, you can find alarm monitoring set-up updates through Audit Logs:
- Who made the last adjustment, user, or PIN name
- Settings change or enabling/disabling monitoring
- Which location was impacted
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. 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.
1. Navigate to the "Locations" tab, selecting the location, and clicking "Pause Alerts" at the top of the page.
2. Select how long you want to pause the alerts for, and select confirm. This will stop alerts for the entire organization.
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 will see a "Calibration Mode" banner.
Stop Monitoring with Authorized Badge Entry
With this new feature, when an authorized employee enters a location using their badge, it will automatically stop the alarm monitoring. This means the first person arriving at the building won’t need to take any additional steps to disable the alarm after entering.
If turned on, any authorized badge entry will stop monitoring. If monitoring is on a schedule, it will turn back on at the next scheduled start time. Monitoring may be manually started at any time.
Requirements:
- This feature requires specifically Rhombus Access Control and Alarm Monitoring.
- To disarm the system using a badge, users must have an authorized badge and their access grant schedule must align with the time they are trying to disarm. If there is a conflict with their access grant schedule, they will be unable to badge in or disarm the system.
- Re-arming the system is not affected by the access grant schedule. It still requires either a scheduled monitoring setup or a manual activation via the console, mobile app, or iPad app.
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1. Navigate to the "Locations" page and select on the location that you want to enable this feature for. |
| 2. Click on the "Alarm Monitoring" drop down and select "Alarm Central." |
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| 3. Toggle on the setting "Stop Monitoring With Authorized Badge Entry." |
Verification Best Practices
What is a Verification
A “Verification” is Service generated request for an Alert Assessment (see the Monitoring Services Agreement for more context.) Thus, each Verification triggers the transmission of a video clip to a live agent to try and visibly “verify” whether the Alert is an active threat triggering a Notification Event or not.
Rhombus defines alarm monitoring license tiers based on the volume of Verifications that are triggered; thus, if your service triggers a high volume of Alerts requiring Verification, you will be required to purchase an appropriate license to cover anticipated volumes.
High Verification Volume
If you have a high volume of Verifications resulting in very few (or no) Notification Events, you likely are not only paying too much for our Service, but you likewise may not have your solution configured correctly. Likewise, if you have more Verifications than your license permits, you can jeopardize a location’s license status and risk having alarm monitoring disabled for the remainder of the month.
When configuring your alarm monitoring settings, it is critical to put in the effort up-front to ensure that:
- You monitor areas identified as the highest risk, and configure your solution to avoid triggering ‘false-positive’ Alerts.
- You get an appreciation of the number of Verifications that will be triggered during your grace period (the initial month that you have installed the service).
- Your org does not risk deactivation from excessive Verifications.
To help avoid high Verification volumes, Rhombus recommends the following best practices:
Device Selection
- Choose devices for monitoring that have a good view of the area of interest and limited expected foot traffic during hours of monitoring.
- Limit the number of cameras that capture the same field of view to prevent initiating Verifications for redundant events.
Event Selection
- Configure for Alerts that have the greatest likelihood of indicating an active threat.
- For example: An outdoor camera that captures a lot of pedestrian traffic would trigger excessive Verifications with a human movement Alert, however, a door event trigger would only Alert when there is an entry.
Camera Activity Regions
- Specify activity regions on cameras where you would not expect to have traffic during monitoring periods, allowing the Service to focus on the most important regions that require Alerts. For more information, please see the Configuring Activity Regions article.
Schedule
- Select a schedule that is appropriate for your location and only monitoring when necessary. For instance, only activate the monitoring on cameras after hours, and perhaps only in public areas during periods where no human traffic is expected.
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
- Configuring Activity Regions
Contact Support or Sales
Have more questions? Contact Rhombus Support at +1 (877) 746-6797 option 2 or support@rhombus.com.
Interested in learning more? Contact Rhombus Sales at +1 (877) 746-6797 option 1 or sales@rhombus.com.
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