Alarms

An alarm is used to send a notification when an exception occurs. The alarm definition specifies how a notification should be sent if an exception occurs. An alarm is opened as a result of the Alarm exception handler. Alarms are configured for your site by your Process Manager administrator. Each alarm has a name and an email address to be notified.

Raise an alarm when an exception occurs within a flow

Procedure

  1. In the Flow Editor, with the flow definition opened, change to alarm mode by clicking the Insert Alarm button.
  2. Drop the alarm icon in the appropriate place in the workspace.
  3. Right-click on the alarm icon in the workspace, and select Open Definition. The Alarm Definition dialog box appears.
  4. In the Name field, specify a unique name for the alarm. You can use alphabetic characters, numerals 0 to 9, period (.), dash (-) and underscore (_) in the job array name. A unique name is automatically assigned to the alarm, but you can change it to make it more meaningful.
  5. In the Alarm type field, select the type of alarm you want to use from the list of configured types. Alarms are configured by your Process Manager administrator. To see an updated list of alarms, click Refresh.
  6. Optional. In the Description field, add any descriptive text that may be helpful for understanding this alarm. For example, if this alarm requires special instructions for operations staff, place those instructions here.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Draw the dependency line from the job or other work item whose exception opens this alarm to the alarm itself.
  9. Right-click on the dependency line and select Open Definition. The Event Definition dialog box appears.
  10. In the Event Type field, select the exception for which you want to open the alarm.
  11. Click OK.

View the opened alarms

Procedure

In the Flow Manager, from the View menu, select Alarms. The View Alarms dialog box appears. It lists all of the open alarms.

Alarms stay in the list of open alarms until the history log file for that time period is archived or deleted. They do not disappear from the list when the problem is fixed.

Insert an alarm in a flow definition

About this task

You can use an alarm to send a notification when an exception occurs, or to notify a user when a particular condition is met. The alarm definition specifies how a notification should be sent if the alarm is opened.

Alarms are configured for your site by your Process Manager administrator. Each alarm has a name and an email address to be notified.

There are two ways to specify an alarm in a flow:

  • By inserting an alarm as a successor to a work item in the flow, and specifying a dependency on the work item that opens the alarm when the dependency is met. This method is recommended when it is important to have a visual cue in the flow definition that an alarm is defined in a particular place. You can use this method when you want to notify a user of the successful completion of a work item.
  • By specifying an alarm as an exception handler when a particular exception occurs. This method is recommended when you want to maintain an uncluttered view of the work items in your flow, and you are monitoring specifically for a particular exception.

To insert an alarm as a successor to a work item in a flow:

Procedure

  1. Click the Insert Alarm button in the design palette to change to alarm mode.
  2. Drop the alarm icon in the appropriate place in the workspace.
  3. Right-click on the alarm icon in the workspace, and select Open Definition. The Alarm Definition dialog box appears.
  4. In the Name field, specify a unique name for the alarm. You can use alphabetic characters, numerals 0 to 9, period (.), dash (-) and underscore (_) in the alarm name. A unique name is automatically assigned to the alarm, but you can change it to make it more meaningful.
  5. In the Alarm type field, select the type of alarm you want to use from the list of configured types. Alarms are configured by your Process Manager administrator. To see an updated list of alarms, click Refresh.
  6. Optional. In the Description field, add any descriptive text that may be helpful for understanding this alarm. For example, if this alarm requires special instructions for operations staff, place those instructions here. You can specify a user variable in this field.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Draw the dependency line from the job or other work item whose exception opens this alarm to the alarm itself.
  9. Right-click on the dependency line and select Open Definition. The Event Definition dialog box appears.
  10. In the Event Type field, select the exception for which you want to open the alarm.
  11. Click OK.

Use an alarm as an exception handler

You can use an alarm as an exception handler, when it is not important to see that an alarm is opened at a particular point in a flow. If the visual cue is important, insert an alarm directly into the flow definition.

Procedure

  1. Open the definition for the work item you want to monitor for the exception.
  2. Click on the Exception Handling tab.
  3. Click Add. The Exception Handler Definition dialog appears.
  4. In the Exception type field, select the exception you want to handle.
  5. If you chose Runs more than..., specify the maximum time, in minutes, the work item can run before an action should be taken.

    If you chose Runs less than..., specify the minimum time, in minutes, the work item can run before an action should be taken.

    If you chose the Flow has exit code, choose the operator and value that best define the exit code requirement. For example, greater than 5.

    If you chose Number of unsuccessful jobs, choose the operator and value that best define the requirement. For example, greater than 3.

  6. In the Action field, select Alarm.
  7. In the Alarm type field, select the type of alarm you want to use from the list of configured types. Alarms are configured by your Process Manager administrator. To see an updated list of alarms, click Refresh.
  8. Click OK. The exception handling specification is added to the list.