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MicroKeySoftware,Inc.
Presents

CENTRAL-1
Copyright 1998 Micro Key Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This software is protected by United States and Canadian copyright laws and by International treaty provisions. Micro Key Software, Inc. authorizes you to make a copy of the software for the sole purpose of backing up our software and protecting your investment from loss. Otherwise, it is illegal to make copies of the program and its related printed materials without the written permission of Micro Key Software, Inc. In particular, it is illegal to give a copy to another person or company. Published by Micro Key Software, Inc. Copyright 1998 All Rights reserved

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Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................................................... 3

GETTING STARTED............................................................................................................................... 9 Minimum System Requirements..............................................................................................................9 Files Maintenance......................................................................................................................................9 How do I get started?..............................................................................................................................10 GENERAL SETUP INFORMATION................................................................................................... 12 1. Set Company Name............................................................................................................................12 2. Define Printer Information................................................................................................................12 3. Assign your Default Workstation Reports Printers..........................................................................13 4. Faxing Capability.................................................................................................................................14 DEFINE YOUR SPECIAL SYSTEM CODES...................................................................................... 17 1. Condition Codes (Alarm Event Abbreviations).................................................................................17 2. Message for Call List Form................................................................................................................18 3.Employee (Operator) Codes.................................................................................................................19 4. Municipality Codes.............................................................................................................................20 5. Dealer Codes.......................................................................................................................................21 GENERAL MAINTENANCE (SETUP)................................................................................................ 22 Defining your Receiver(s)........................................................................................................................23 Activating Automatic Dialing.................................................................................................................24 Other Required System Settings.............................................................................................................24 SHOW INVALID ALARMS ON SCREEN...........................................................................................................24 EXTERNAL RELAY BOARD...........................................................................................................................24 MONITORING IN MULTIPLE TIME ZONES.....................................................................................................25 BACKUP COMMANDS....................................................................................................................................25 SCREEN SAVER AND REMINDER SETTINGS..................................................................................................25 EXIT PASSWORD FOR ALARM PROCESSING..................................................................................................26 OPERATOR INITIALS REQUIRED FOR EACH EVENT.......................................................................................26 USE COMPUTER TIME...................................................................................................................................26 LOCAL AREA CODE......................................................................................................................................27 MODEM INITIALIZATION STRING..................................................................................................................27 SHOW SUBSCRIBERS ADDRESS IN THE STACK............................................................................................27
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ADVANCED GENERAL MAINTENANCE SETUP FEATURES..................................................... 28 F2 PAGE-1 Timing Setup.................................................................................................................28 PAGE-1 USERS PAGER TIMING SETUP...................................................................................................28 CONTINUOUS REMINDER BEEPS WHEN ALARMS WITHIN THE STACK ARE PENDING................................28 F5 Direct/ Modem Connection Setup for Alpha Paging System.......................................................29 ALPHA PAGING CONNECTION AND SETUP...................................................................................................29 F6 Defining your Virtual Line Card Setups........................................................................................29 PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL LINE CARD IDENTIFICATIONS..............................................................................29 F7 Multiple Stack Groups Identification Screen................................................................................32 MULTIPLE ALARM STACKS AND THE GROUPING OF ACCOUNTS.................................................................32 F8 Using Special Access Numbers and (Re) Defining Area Codes....................................................34 AREA CODE DEFINITION SCREENS...............................................................................................................34 Alt+F10 Checking your Memory Status: Debug Information...........................................................36 DEBUG INFORMATION FOR MEMORY ALLOCATION.....................................................................................36 VERIFICATION RESPONSES............................................................................................................. 37

SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION........................................................................................................... 40 ENTERING ACCOUNT NUMBERS...................................................................................................................41 USING A POP-UP SELECTION BOX................................................................................................................42 ENTERING ACCOUNT TITLES........................................................................................................................44 Entering the Subscriber Information.....................................................................................................45 SPECIAL UL VERSION ENTRIES.................................................................................................................46 ACCOUNT GROUPS AND MULTIPLE ALARM STACKS...................................................................................48 MEDICAL INFORMATION.................................................................................................................. 49 Mandatory System Zone Codes..............................................................................................................55 Defining Contact ID Accounts................................................................................................................56 CONTACT ID EXAMPLES..............................................................................................................................57 CALL LIST INFORMATION................................................................................................................ 61

OPENING & CLOSING INFORMATION........................................................................................... 63

ACCOUNT TESTING INFORMATION ............................................................................................. 66

PROCESS AND RECEIVE.................................................................................................................... 70

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SIGNING ON TO PROCESS ALARMS...............................................................................................................70 MAKING THE RIGHT ALARM PROCESSING MENU SELECTION......................................................................71 SPECIAL COMMAND LINE CHOICES..............................................................................................................77 Function Keys..........................................................................................................................................78 F1 HELP.....................................................................................................................................................78 ALTERNATE + F1..........................................................................................................................................78 F2 LOOK UP..............................................................................................................................................81 ALTERNATE + F2 SUBSCRIBER FINDER.....................................................................................................85 SHIFT + F2 EMERGENCY MONITORING MODE..........................................................................................87 F3 MEMO PAD...........................................................................................................................................89 F4 HISTORY...............................................................................................................................................89 SHIFT + F4 WHOS STILL OPENED OR CLOSED.........................................................................................90 ALTERNATE + F4 NON-RESTORED ALARM REPORT.................................................................................90 CONTROL + F4 UL VERSION TROUBLE LIST.........................................................................................91 F5 ACCOUNT TESTING INFORMATION.......................................................................................................91 F6 PASS CODES.........................................................................................................................................93 F7 MANUAL ALARM ENTRY.....................................................................................................................93 F8 STACK...................................................................................................................................................94 CONTROL + F8 MULTIPLE STACK SELECTION..........................................................................................95 F9 EXIT......................................................................................................................................................96 SHIFT + F9 SHIFT CHANGE........................................................................................................................97 ALTERNATE + F9 LIST OPERATORS ON DUTY..........................................................................................97 CONTROL + F9 ALARM MANAGEMENT MODE.........................................................................................97 F10 DAILY ACTIVITY ADDITIONS.............................................................................................................99 SHIFT + F10 WRITE UP A SERVICE REQUEST.........................................................................................100 TAB KEY.....................................................................................................................................................100 Write Up a Service Request..................................................................................................................101 SERVICE TRACKING SYSTEM COMMAND LINE CHOICES.............................................................................102 ENTER SERVICE REQUEST INFORMATION..................................................................................................102 ONLY PROCESS.................................................................................................................................. 104 WAITING SIGNALS BOX..............................................................................................................................105 SELECT RELATED SIGNALS BOX.................................................................................................................105 DISPLAY STACK & RECEIVE.......................................................................................................... 106

SHOW STACK ONLY.......................................................................................................................... 107

BACKUP CENTRAL-1 DATA......................................................................................................... 109

REPORT PRINTING MENU............................................................................................................... 111

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SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION FORMS.......................................................................................... 112

CALL LIST VERIFICATION FORMS.............................................................................................. 116

ALARM ACTIVITY REPORTS.......................................................................................................... 117

PRINT ALARM TICKETS.............................................................................................................. 119

OPENING/CLOSING REPORTS........................................................................................................ 119

NON-RESTORED ALARMS REPORT.............................................................................................. 121

FAILED TO TEST REPORT............................................................................................................... 121

DEALER BREAKDOWN REPORT................................................................................................... 122

WHOS STILL OPEN/CLOSED?........................................................................................................ 124

TOO MANY SIGNALS REPORT....................................................................................................... 124

HISTORY SUMMARY REPORT....................................................................................................... 125

EFFICIENCY OF OPERATORS REPORT....................................................................................... 126

RESPONSE TIME REPORT............................................................................................................... 127 Add/Update Contract Item...................................................................................................................128 Contract Information Report...............................................................................................................129

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UNIVERSAL LOOK-UP UTILITY..................................................................................................... 131

APPENDIX B BACKUP PROCEDURES........................................................................................ 137

APPENDIX C YOUR COUNTRYS DEFINITIONS - INTERNATIONAL USERS ..................151

APPENDIX D DATABASE STRUCTURES.................................................................................... 155

APPENDIX E PRINTER SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT................................................... 161 An Overview of Printer Setup...............................................................................................................161 Defining Your Printers..........................................................................................................................161 SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS WHEN ADDING PRINTERS...............................................................................163 Default Workstation Printer Assignments...........................................................................................164 NORMAL PRINTING PROCEDURE................................................................................................ 166

APPENDIX F FILTERS: SPECIAL SELECTION CRITERIA..................................................... 168

APPENDIX H - SPECIAL CONFIGURATION TIPS....................................................................... 173

APPENDIX I INSTALLING UPGRADES....................................................................................... 176

APPENDIX J INSTALLING YOUR HARDLOCK..................................................................... 177 Why are we installing a HARDLOCK?...............................................................................................177 Hard Lock Installation Instructions..................................................................................................177 HARDLOCK Testing Procedures.....................................................................................................179 APPENDIX P PASSWORDS INSTRUCTIONS.............................................................................. 181

APPENDIX R RECEIVER DEFINITIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS............................................. 185

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Getting Started Lets Go!


Minimum System Requirements You must have the right computer. You will need an 80486 or higher with at least 2 Megabytes of RAM and a Hard Drive with a minimum of 100 Megabytes of free space. Any new computer that runs DOS or Windows will accommodate this system. You will also need an Epson compatible dot matrix printer or an HP compatible Laser printer. Files Maintenance There are some things that must be done before entering your Subscribers and beginning to take advantage of the power of CENTRAL1 . These start up operations are completed in the Files Maintenance Menu of CENTRAL1 . To access this Files Maintenance menu, from the Central Station Main Menu select the Files Maintenance Menu.

This Files Maintenance Menu, and the Other Files Maintenance menu available from it, presents an array of choices used at various times to properly set up the rules that you want this program to follow. You cannot use the program without first creating these (your) rules. In some cases we have supplied some sample rules.

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How do I get started? After installing the software enter the information outlined below in the order presented. General Setup Information to define your Company Name, Printer Access and Default (preferred) Workstation Printers for your Reports. Install your HARDLOCK in the parallel port of the computer top which you will attach your Receiver(s) (see Appendix J HARDLOCK Installation). Define Your Special Codes to ensure a consistent data entry pattern. Certain things must be pre-defined in this system. You certainly wouldnt want an Employee (Operator) or a Police Department referred to several different ways - based on the whim of the current operator performing the data entry. To prevent this type of data anarchy, Codes (think of them as abbreviations) are established for certain types of information. Once defined, the data entry operator(s) will use these Codes to represent the information - rather than repeatedly typing out the information itself. These codes will represent alarm Conditions that you will be monitoring, the types of Verification Responses to these alarm events, Police and Fire department telephone numbers, and your General Maintenance screen options (identifying your Receivers). Subscriber Data such as your Call List Information and Call List Verification Report format, Central Station Operators, Dealer Codes (if you provide Monitoring Services for other Alarm Dealers) and, of course, your Subscriber Information.

THE COMMAND LINE


Most of the screens into which you may enter information have a Command Line of choices at the bottom. This Command Line indicates the actions you may take on the information presented on that current screen.

By pressing the First Letter of the word for the desired action (or, using your cursor keys to move to the word representing your desired action and then pressing Enter) that action will be started. Pressing Page Down while Adding or

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Modifying a record will stop that action and you will be asked if you want to save your work.

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General Setup Information


1. Set Company Name Who are you? Whenever a Report is printed, you will want your company identified. To do so, from the Files Maintenance Menu select Set Company Name and enter your Company Name as you would want it to appear on Reports.

2. Define Printer Information Where are your Printers? How many Printers are available? From the Files Maintenance Menu select the Other Files Maintenance menu and choose Setup Printers. If you are using CENTRAL1 on a single computer running DOS (or in a Windows DOS Box) and see the following screen with LPT1 LOCAL WORKSTATION PRINTER defined, you are finished. Choose Quit (Q) from the Command line to return to the Other Files Maintenance menu. In all other cases, particularly when this system is installed on a Network, choose Re-Set (the Password is OK2RESET) to reset the system to the screen shown below. If you are using a Network to share Printers (Programs and Files) among several Workstations, depending on which Network you are using, follow the directions below: Novell Networks: You are finished. The program loaded all of your Network Printer definitions automatically and all you need is to identify your Default Workstation Printers (see below). Windows Networks: You are finished. The program uses whatever printer is defined as your Default Printer in the Windows Desk Top| My Computer|Printers settings. All you need is to Default

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Workstation Printers (see below) as the LPT1 LOCAL WORKSTATION PRINTER. Lantastic (and similar Peer-to-Peer Networks): You are not finished. 1. All shared Printers must be accessed using the same Port Identifier (i.e., LPT1, LPT2 or LPT3) from all Workstations. 2. Once you have performed that redirection within your Network, then simply Modify the Printer Name for LPT1..LPT3 to match what is installed on your Network. 3. We suggest you use LPT1 as your personal (Local) printer and LPT2LPT3 as the Network Printer(s). 4. Finally, you will need is to Assign your Default Reports Printer (see below) as the LPT1 LOCAL WORKSTATION PRINTER or whatever is universally normal for your network.

3. Assign your Default Workstation Reports Printers You must select the Default Workstation Printer for each computer using the software. Why? What printer do you normally want to use? Do you want that printer to be normally selected as your Default Printer? To do so, from the Other Files Maintenance menu select Default Workstation Printers. If you are using a single computer with just one printer attached, assign all of your Default Report Printers LPT1.

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If you are using a single computer with more than one active printer port in use, assign your Default Report Printers as desired. If you are using a Novell Network, you must assign your Default Report Printers, the ones you will normally use. This step must be done at EVERY Workstation. Otherwise, assign your Default Report Printers as the most commonly used Network Printer. There are three (3) generic types of Reports that this system will print. These are the All Events report, Alarm Activity Reports and Alarm Tickets. You must choose the preferred printer for each of these reports.

Once you have selected your preferred Printer for each of the report types, review and confirm your selection. 4. Faxing Capability 1. Download a copy of the shareware program QFAX.ZIP from our BBS or get the latest version from the author's web site. WWW.QFAX.COM 2. Install and register it ($20 registration fee to a struggling college student). 3. Run the QFAXCONF.EXE program and enter your settings to mirror the following screen. 4. Press s to save and quit. ESC key to abort. Press the appropriate key: 5. Copy the QFAX.EXE and QFAX.CFG files into your \ALARMS\ directory. 6. In CENTRAL-1 Setup Printers, add a new printer with the Device as FAX.

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7. When printing a report, if you want to fax it, select the newly defined printer from the Change Printer selection list. 8. Enter the appropriate fax number when prompted to do so. 9. Please reference the QFAXCONF.EXE screen illustration below.

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QuickStar FAX Pro Version 1.08 Configuration <ASP> Copyright (c) 1995-1997 Anthony Mai. All rights reserved +------------------------------------------------------------+ 0.Comm Port Com2 IRQ3 Base 02f8 1.Phone Line Touch Tone +------------+----------------------------------------------- 2.InitStringAT&F&C1&D2M2L3 3.Delay Fax? Yes +------------+----------------------------------------+------ 4.Local ID 407-870-9271 5.Dial Repeat Times 3 +------------+----------------------------------------+------ 6.Font Size 16 7.Character Space 2 8.Line Space 3 +-----------------------------------------------------+------ 9.Document Area in 1/100 Inches Width 748 Height 1050 +-------------------------------+-------+------+------+------ a.Document Margins (1/100 Inch) Left 58 Top 10 +-------------------------------+---------------------+------ b.WaitTime 55 c.BusyWait 30 d.Title Line Setting 7 +-----------------------------------------------------+------ e.Del Fax FileYesLines Per Page 61 Char Per Line 83 +------------------------------------------------------------+

Press 0-9, a-e to change corresponding items For testing purposes, the QFAX program will work for a short time without being registered.

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Define Your Special System Codes


1. Condition Codes (Alarm Event Abbreviations) As you enter Zone Information, the Zone Codes you define will be assigned an Alarm Condition Code to represent the event that this Zone Code is reporting to your Central Station. From the Files Maintenance Menu select Condition Codes. The most commonly used Condition Codes will have been entered for you. You may Add as many more as you may require. If you use the Contact ID format and would like a default set of the Event Numbers and Descriptions loaded, press F12. You may add any ones we have not included and modify the supplied descriptions as needed.

The alarm Condition Code may be up to three characters, the Description up to thirty. You must also indicate which alarm events are to appear on which reports. The Opening and Closing (O/C), Alarm (Daily Alarm Activity) and All Events Reports. There are some Condition Codes that must exist if you ever provide any account Supervision for your Subscribers. Each of these must be ended with an Asterisk. They will be assigned as the Alarm Condition Code for the appropriate Zone Code indicating these events (See Mandatory Zone Codes). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. IO* for Invalid or Early Opening IC* for Invalid or Early Closing FO* for Failed to Open as Scheduled FC* for Failed to Close as Scheduled FT* for Failed to Test as Scheduled TA* Time Added in Daily Activity F10 TM* Time Modified in Daily Activity F10 TD* Time Deleted in Daily Activity F10 ZT* Zone Code put on Test with F5
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10.

AT* Account Put on Test with F5

2. Message for Call List Form Once you enter your Subscribers Call List Information you will want to send them a form periodically verifying the alarm notification information you have on file. You can print Call List Verification Forms (for more information, see the Report Printing Menu section of this manual) for your Subscriber (with this information entered).

Before doing so however, from the Other Files Maintenance menu select Options for Reports and enter the message that you will want to appear on this form. After entering your message, you will be asked if you want to include Call List Information on your Opening and Closing Reports that this system can print. Answer accordingly.

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3. Employee (Operator) Codes Each Employee that you will want to identify within this system (i.e., Operators, Salesmen and Technicians) must be entered in the Employee (Operator) Information screen found in the Files Maintenance Menu. An Employee Identification Code of from 1 to 4 characters is used to identify the Employee. Although using their Initials is the most frequently used method of assigning the Employee Code, you may use other letters, numbers or punctuation marks like dashes if needed. Enter the remaining information as requested. Later, when you must identify an Operator, the Salesman or record for an account, or a Technician, you will use these Employee Codes to do so. If your are using PAGE-1 the Pager Type, Pager Number and Pager ID fields are included. If not, these fields will not appear on your screen.

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4. Municipality Codes Municipality Codes and their related information allow you to identify each Emergency Response Agency or Governmental Authority that you will be calling upon to provide Police, Fire or Emergency Medical or Ambulance service to your Subscribers. The Municipality Codes screen is found in the Files Maintenance Menu. Each City (County, Parish, etc.) that provides Emergency Response to one or more of your Subscribers must be identified using a 1 to 3 character code of your choosing. Later a Municipality Code will be assigned to each Subscriber thereby attaching the appropriate Police, Fire and Ambulance telephone contact numbers to their account information. If one or more of these telephone numbers are changed, by changing them on this screen you have changed them for every effected Subscriber.

Enter the information as requested. The final two questions are for informational purposes only and have no other effect on the system.

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5. Dealer Codes If you are providing Monitoring Services for other Alarm Dealers, those dealers must be identified. To do so, from the Files Maintenance Menu select Dealer Codes.

Enter a 1 to 3 character Dealer Code and the remaining information as requested. The Maximum Active and Passive Signals fields are used in conjunction with the Dealer Breakdown Report to help evaluate the services you are providing each Dealer. If your are using PAGE-1 the Auto Page on Dispatch, Pager Type (A/D), Pager Phone Number and Pager ID fields are included. If not, these fields will not appear on your screen.

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General Maintenance (Setup)


Once you have defined your Companys Name, identified and assigned Printers, entered all of your codes to identify Employees, Conditions and Dealers, you should identify the Receiver(s) you will be using and make whatever other configuration entries necessary to customize the system for

your use.

This information, for the most part, is entered in the General Maintenance screen found in the Other Files Maintenance menu within the Files Maintenance Menu. Please refer to this screen as its features and entries are discussed below. Press Modify and enter the appropriate information as requested. The sections below will describe each field on the screen. There are also several Function Keys that provide additional Advanced System functionality. These are listed following the regular screen fields.

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Defining your Receiver(s) Receiver(s) may be plugged directly into the COM1 and/or COM2 port(s) of a computer (using standard Serial Cables). If you are using a Network and therefore running the program at more than one workstation, only one workstation on the Network may have Receivers attached. Receivers are attached only to the computer you have selected to Process and Receive (or Display Stack and Receive) your incoming alarm signals. Each Receiver that is supported by CENTRAL-1 is defined in the Appendix R Receiver Information section of this manual. Please consult this Appendix to locate your Receiver(s) instructions, information on the Baytech Multiplex device (if one is required) and information relating to special communication formats such as Contact ID and SIA. If you will be using more than one Receiver to accept alarm signals, consider the items below to determine if you will require a Baytech Multiplex device. 1. You are receiving alarm signals from more than two Receivers, or 2. You have only one workstation processing alarms and want to use two Receivers but also want to use automatic dialing at this workstation, 3. Then you must use a Baytech #525 Multiplex device which may read up to 4 Receivers (or 8 Receivers using a #528 model). This device is connected to your computers serial port using a standard Serial Cable. (See the Appendix R for the Receiver Information.) Enter the Receiver ID code(s) (found in the Appendix R for the Receiver(s) you will be using on COM1 and/or COM2 of your computer) in the COM1: Recv and/or COM2: Recv field(s). Enter the appropriate Baud rate, Parity, Data and Stop bit information. This information relates to how you have programmed you Receiver(s) to send data to the computer to which they are attached.

Each Receiver attached to your computer may be further defined by indicating whether the Receiver Number, Line Card Number or any other Special Information should be considered when an alarm event is received from it. To have the Receiver Number (or Post Number COM1 or COM2 1 or 2) added as a prefix to the Subscribers CSID received, enter yes (Y) in the Recv# field. To have the Line Card Number on which this alarm event was received added as a prefix to the Subscribers CSID received, enter yes (Y) in the Line# field.

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The Appendix section for each Receiver provides information about any special features activated by a Special instruction code. If you want the behavior offered by one of the Special instruction codes, enter that code for this receiver.

Activating Automatic Dialing If you have a Modem attached to your computer(s) and that Modem is connected to a telephone line (and has actual dial tone available at all times) you will want to use the Automatic Dialing feature. To do so, be sure that all workstations that will be running CENTRAL-1 have their Modem installed (either internally or externally) in the same COM (Serial) port. Then connect each of the computers Modems to a telephone line. Enter either 1 or 2 in the Modem Com Port (1 or 2, 0=None) field. Enter either P or T in the (P)ulse/(T)one field. If you require a prefix number to access dial tone (like dialing 9 to get an outside line or entering an accounting code to identify the department that used the telephone time), enter that number in the # Prefix field. If you want to control the format of telephone numbers entered throughout the system, enter yes (Y) in the Free Form #? field.

Other Required System Settings


Show Invalid Alarms on Screen

You may prevent all Invalid Alarms from ever reaching the Alarm Processing screen. We do not recommend that you do this. Instead, we suggest that all Invalid Alarm Signals received at your central station we displayed on an alarm processing screen for an Operator to investigate. Invalid Alarms are almost always caused by improper data entry, a cancelled Subscriber activating their alarm, or a Technician sending a signal before notifying an Operator that a new account is about to be tested. Unless you have a very specific reason for doing so, enter yes (Y) in the Show Invalids on Screen (Y/N) field.

External Relay Board

A special circuit board is available from Micro Key that will recognize when an alarm event has been displayed on screen and needs acknowledgement from an Operator. This circuit board, which is installed in any of your computers

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slots, will provide you a form C activation upon alarm and deactivation when the space bar (or Escape key) is pressed by an Operator to acknowledge that alarm event. If you have purchased and are using this External Relay Board, enter a yes (Y) in the External Relay Board (Y/N) field.

The program can calculate the differences in time between your Time Zone and another in which you are providing monitoring services. If you monitor accounts in more than one Time Zone, enter each Subscribers Time Zone if the appropriate field provided in the Subscriber Information screen. Enter your companys Time Zone in the Time Zone (E/C/M/P) field.

Monitoring in Multiple Time Zones

Backup Commands

Backup procedures, strictly implemented, are a necessity in any mission critical operation, and providing central station monitoring services surely is that. There are literally hundreds of ways to perform a backup. You may want to consult Appendix B Backup Procedures for more information on how, when and what needs to be backed up. Once you have decided on the method you will employ to do your backups, enter the DOS commands batch file name or program name that will execute your preferred backup procedure in the Backup Command field. Please consult Appendix B for additional information about backing up your data.

Screen Saver and Reminder Settings

While processing alarms, during idle times, a screen saver is automatically activated. This screen saver will clear the screen and then display a small box with the date and time, and the number of alarms on Hold, Pending and not yet Restored. This box will wander around the screen to prevent monitor image burn in. You may set the number of seconds a screen must be idle before the screen save is activated. Enter the desired time in the Box Times: Clear after nn sec field where nn is entered as a number from 1 to 99 (seconds). (The newest version of the system does not show this choice and automatically clears the screen in 1 second.)

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You may specify how often the information in the screen saver box is updated. Enter the number of seconds desired in the Update Every n.n Seconds field where n.n is entered as a number from 0.1 to 9.9 (seconds).

As alarms are being processed on screen there are times when an Operator may become distracted and not complete an alarm or may be called away from their desk leaving an alarm event on screen. After some period of time, you may remind the Operator with a bright red screen message line and a beeping tone that they need to proceed with this signal. A Space Bar press will be required to clear this message and allow them to continue. Enter the number of minutes before this alert message is displayed and the and beeping starts in the Alert every _ (X=Off) field. Entering an X will disable this feature.

Exit Password for Alarm Processing

As alarms are being received and Operators become very busy, it would be a problem if they accidentally exited the Alarm Processing screen. To help prevent this from occurring, you may specify that a Password be entered whenever an Operator requests an exit from Alarm Processing. Enter the desired password in the Exit Processing Password (Empty=None) field or skip this field if you do not want to implement this feature.

In certain Central Stations such as those operated within an Answering Service or Guard Service there may be no dedicated Operator at the Alarm Processing screen. Instead, the first available person responds to each new alarm event. In these situations, in order to know who actually handled each alarm signal, you would need to have the responding Operator enter their Employee Code whenever they acknowledged an alarm. To implement this requirement, enter a yes (Y) in the Operator Initials Required? field.

Operator Initials Required for each Event

Use Computer Time

As part of the signal record sent from the Receiver to the computer software, some Receivers send the time an alarm event was acknowledged by that Receiver to the computer, others do not. If different Receivers internal Clocks drift (as almost all of them do) and you computer does the same, your alarm activity reports may show a signal being dispatched or verified prior to the time shown that it was received.
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To avoid this discrepancy, you may request that all alarm events be date and time stamped with the Computers time setting by answering yes (Y) to the Use Computer Time? question.

If you have implemented Automatic Dialing by defining the Modem Com Port (see above) you may specify the Area Code that, if it has been entered in your Subscriber data, will Not Be Dialed when an automatic dialing function is required. The purpose for this is to allow your data entry procedure to be consistent. If you want all area codes entered for both local or long distance telephone entries, but want dialing to operate correctly, the local area code must be stripped from the telephone number when a dialing request is made. Enter the Local Area Code you want removed from any dialing request in the field provided.

Local Area Code

Modem Initialization String

When a Modem is used to dial, a command message is sent to that modem to announce that you will be using it and to tell it what that task will be. The normal (Hayes compatible) modem initialization string will be provided but you may modify this if required. We suggest you do not change this unless absolutely necessary. Enter any required changes in the Modem Init. String field.

In some areas the Central Station may also be providing Guard Response as part of their Services. In this case, you may want the Incoming Alarms Stack to display the Subscribers Street Address rather than their Name (to help the Supervisor better anticipate upcoming guard routing needs). If you want this alteration in the Stacks display, answer Yes (Y) to the Show Adr. in Stk. question. Note that the address line displayed is the Street Address not the Care of Address line.

Show Subscribers Address in the Stack

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Advanced General Maintenance Setup Features


F2 PAGE-1 Timing Setup

PAGE-1 Users Pager Timing Setup

This feature is only available for those users with PAGE-1 or the House Arrest version of CENTRAL-1 who may be having a timing problem with the their Paging Company (usually to make timing adjustments when your Digital pages - not Alpha pages - are not always getting though). While in the General Maintenance screen press F2 to adjust the timing delay before transmitting the Digital Information (Wait nn 16ths before paging) and the amount of delay used prior to hanging up (Wait nn 16ths before hang up) after transmitting that information. Enter the appropriate number(s) (nn) for these transmitting situations.

F4 - Adjusting the Alert Beep Timing


Continuous Reminder Beeps when alarms within the Stack are Pending

When an alarm event is received which needs an Operators attention the system will beep your computers speaker to alert them.

If there are additional pending alarms in the Stack waiting for their attention and you want a repeating Beep to remind the Operator(s) of this situation, you may, while in the General Maintenance screen press F4 and enter the Number of seconds between pending alert beeps for that continuous sounding. To turn this feature off, enter a zero (0). Although this feature is available, it is most annoying and therefore we do not recommend its usage unless absolutely necessary.

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F5 Direct/ Modem Connection Setup for Alpha Paging System


Alpha Paging Connection and Setup

This feature is available for those users with PAGE-1 or the House Arrest version of CENTRAL-1 who may be using either a Direct Cable connection to an in-house Alpha Paging system or a Modem to communicate to an off-site (paging vendor provided) Alpha Paging system.

If you will be using Alpha Paging, while in the General Maintenance screen press F5 and enter D of M depending on your situation. Then answer the remaining questions presented in a series of pop-up windows as illustrated below. 1. Enter the Alpha Paging Modem (or Direct) connections Baud Rate. 2. Enter the Modem (or Direct connection) Port for Alpha Paging. 3. Enter the maximum allowable Alpha Page length (50-250 characters). 4. Send Pages to your Technicians in a shorter format (Y/N). This would be useful if you have technicians who frequently put accounts on Test and then, through PAGE-1, automatically receive the results of those Test Signals on their Alpha Pager. 5. Enter the Maximum Page Attempts before a Page Request is considered a Paging Failure. 6. Save your Configuration entries. F6 Defining your Virtual Line Card Setups
Physical and Virtual Line Card Identifications

This procedure accommodates either or both of the situations described below. 1. You have roll-over telephone lines connect to your Receiver(s) and want to group two or more actual Receiver Number/Line Card Number combinations together to represent one Receiver Number/Line Card Number combination. 2. Youve contracted to perform Listen-In service on certain accounts and therefore you will need your Operator(s) to know which are Listen-In accounts and the extension to pickup when an alarm event is received from one of these accounts.

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To do so, while in the General Maintenance screen press F6 to view the Physical and Virtual Line Card Identification screen.

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This screen offers 5 columns of detail for each entry. Not every column is used for every entry.

a. Physical Enter the actual Receiver Number/Line Card Number that will be presented to the software from this particular Receiver. b. Virtual Enter the desired Receiver Number/Line Card Number combination you want presented to the software. c. Show Operator Enter True (T) or False (F) as to whether you want the three character Phone Line message displayed for these accounts (see Listen-In Setup below). d. Phone Line Enter the Extension Message that should be displayed (for all accounts in this group) when an alarm event is shown to an Operator. e. Note Enter nay note that will better clarify this entry.

Combining roll-over Lines You have one or more Receivers with multiple Line Cards that have telephone lines connected to them that roll-over (move from one line card to the next automatically if the first one is busy). The Receiver cannot (or you do not want it to internally) group these line cards together internally and report them to the software as a single line.
To accomplish this roll-over line conversion, enter the Physical (actual) Receiver Number/Line Card Number combination that will be transmitted by the

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receiver to your Software and then enter the Virtual (converted or virtual) Receiver Number/Line Card Number combination to which it should be translated.

Listen-In Setup When you provide Listen In Services to some


Subscribers, these accounts are generally all sent to a specific (group of) Receiver(s). Because of the requirement to actually intercept the telephone connection when these accounts transmit to your Central Station, your Operator(s) would need to know the extension (from which these accounts signals are received) to pick-up so the Operator can listen in. Use the Physical and Virtual Line Card Information screen for this purpose. Define the required Physical and Virtual Receiver Number/Line Card Number (see a. and b. above) combination(s) even if they are the same numbers and then enter True (T) in the Show Operator filed and place the extension number in Phone Line field. Add any Note that will make the purpose of your entry more easily understood. F7 Multiple Stack Groups Identification Screen If you are operating a large Central Station and would like to group your accounts so that certain Operators receive alarm signals only from a specific group of Subscribers, assign a Group Code to each Subscriber. The Group Code may be a letter or number but we suggest a letter be used.
Multiple Alarm Stacks and the Grouping of Accounts

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Once you have assigned a Group Code to each Subscriber, assign each Subscriber Groups to an Alarm Stack. Thereafter, all alarm events will be sent to their specific Alarm Stack. These Alarm Stacks are then be assigned to designated Operators. This allows you to route incoming signals to Operators based on the language(s) they speak, familiarity with a certain area, or possession of other unique skills. Each Group of Subscribers must be assigned to an Alarm Stack. Any number of Subscriber Groups may be assigned to an individual incoming alarm Stack. You may define up to eight of these Stacks. To define your Alarm Stacks and the Groups assigned to them, press the F7 function key while viewing the General Maintenance screen. Highlight the desired line, press Enter on each field and complete the information as requested. You must enter the Subscriber Group Character (Stack Group) which will be one of the Group Codes assigned (or to be assigned) to your Subscribers. Then enter the Stack number to which this Group will be assigned. You may define multiple lines where more than one Group is assigned to the same Stack. You may also directly assign a Subscriber Group Code to the Main Stack (Stack 0). Once you have defined Alarm Stacks, as each Operator signs on to an Alarm Processing screen, they must select the Stack from which they will receive

alarms.

An Operator may select one of the pre-defined Stacks or they may select the Main Stack. If they select one of your previously defined Alarm Stacks, they will only receive signals from Subscribers who have a Group Code that has been assigned to that Alarm Stack. However, if they have selected the Main Stack, they will receive signals from the Subscribers assigned to the Main Stack, and from those that have not been assigned specifically to one of the Stacks. They will also get signals for any Subscriber assigned an invalid Group Code (one not defined here) and any other invalid alarm events that are received by the Central Station. Once you have implemented the Alarm Stack feature it becomes the Central Station Supervisors responsibility to ensure that each Alarm Stack and the Main Stack is being properly monitored!
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F8 Using Special Access Numbers and (Re) Defining Area Codes


Area Code Definition Screens

From time to time the existing telephone number data stored in your Subscriber or Call List files may need to be globally changed based on certain situations (some of which are listed below). 1. An Area Code changes. 2. You decide to use a special Access Number for certain Area Codes to reduce costs. 3. An Area Code may become unnecessary 4. 10 Digit Dialing is instituted. 5. A suffix number needs to be dialed (usually for accounting purposes).

To facilitate these changes and any other telephone number re-translations that may be needed, while in the General Maintenance screen press F8 to view the Area code Definition Screen show below.

Move the cursor to the field you want to enter (Add or Modify) information and press Enter. Complete the information box that appears and press Enter
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again. Move the cursor to the next field you want to enter (Add or Modify) information and press Enter. Complete the information box that appears and press Enter again. Repeat this process as required. Press the Escape key to exit and save your entries. The examples show on the screen illustrate the following situations: a. Youve entered the Area Code/Exchange combination in your local area for data consistence but in fact no area code needs to be dialed, or is was and is now no longer required. So you enter the existing information (as it would be found in your Subscriber Information or Call List Information screens: (407)870) as the Physical information and then enter the translation in this case 870 as the Virtual information. b. Youve entered the Area Code (999) as the current area code that would normally be dialed with a 1 prefix (or was not required to be dialed at all). Now your areas Telephone Company has instituted 10 digit dialing where no one (1) prefix is required. This means that every call requires an Area Code be dialed before the actual telephone number. As in the case above, you enter the existing information (as it would be found in your Subscriber Information or Call List Information screen) (999) as the Physical information. Then enter the translation in this case 999 as the Virtual information. c. Youve entered an Area Code (808). It is an area code that would normally be dialed with a 1 prefix. Now you decide to use a specific access number when certain area codes are dialed to get better rates. In this case you will enter the existing information (as it would be found in your Subscriber Information or Call List Information screen) (808) as the Physical information. Then enter the translation in this case 10-10321,1-888 as the Virtual information. d. Using a Comma. In the third case the dashes (-) are not really needed they are ignored by the system when automatic dialing is instituted but it makes the data more readable. However, the comma (,) has a specific function: it tells the system to pause briefly between the prefix access number and the actual dialing. This may be necessary I some cases. Multiple commas create longer pauses. e. Finally, although not illustrated, remember that the Virtual translation is absolute. If you need a one (1) prefix before an Area Code, it must be entered.

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Alt+F10 Checking your Memory Status: Debug Information


Debug Information for Memory Allocation

If an Operator ever gets an out of Memory error a Software Support person from Micro Key may suggest that you look at your memory Debug Information to ascertain how your available memory is being utilized. While in the General Maintenance screen press Alternate + F10 to view this screen.

Our staff will assist you further, if required.

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Verification Responses
When an Operator processes an Alarm Event, Verification may be required. To Verify an alarm is to call the Subscribers premises prior to making an actual Dispatch of an Alarm Event. The purpose is to ensure to the best level practical that the event actually does require an emergency response. The Verification Response is a succinct description of what occurred as a result of this attempted Alarm Event Verification. The subsequent steps that an Operator must take as a result of this Verification are dictated by the Subscribers response to this verification. By defining certain basic processing steps based on what had occurred during a Verification the remaining procedures followed by your Operators will be more consistent and reliable. The pre-definition of the Operators followup responsibilities will greatly reduce the chance for Operator error To define these descriptions and each of their required procedures, from the Files Maintenance Menu select Other Files Maintenance and then select Verification Responses.

The questions are, if the situation entered in the Description field occurs, should the Operator make a Note of it, Dispatch, and/or Re-Dial the

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Subscribers premises? Clearly, the Description (what occurred when the verification call took place) determines the resulting steps. You may define as many of these as needed. Several are supplied initially with the original installation but you may Add, Modify or Delete these as needed for your situation.

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Entering Monitoring Information


We assume that you have entered all of the Special Codes you will use in Files Maintenance, set up your General Maintenance screen options and selected your Receiver(s). If so, you may now enter your Subscriber Information including the Subscribers themselves and their Zone Code Information, Opening and Closing Events, Account Testing requirements and Call List names and phone numbers. It is suggested that you define one Subscriber COMPLETELY after you have identified your Receiver(s) in the General Maintenance screen. Then connect your Receiver(s) to your computer and test your configuration thoroughly. The following Chapters will explain how to enter each segment of your alarm monitoring related Central Station Data.

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Subscriber Information
If you also have ALARMS-1 you will have a version of this screen that will not allow you to Add, Modify and Delete. The Subscriber Information screen offers a convenient way to Retrieve a Subscriber and then switch between the available Central Station data entry screens using the F6 - F10 Function keys.

The Zoom command will allow you access to the Subscribers Medical Information screen if you have indicated in the General Maintenance screen that you need to enter any Medical Information for your Subscribers. Before explaining each field on the Subscriber Information screen, there is some general information about account numbers, account titles and using this screen that will be very helpful to you.

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Entering Account Numbers

The phrase Account Numbers means many things to many people. Here, Account Number refers to three items, each explained below.

1. Master CSID - The Master Central Station ID is the account number


assigned by the Central Station and programmed into the Subscribers Control Panel. It usually includes a Receiver and Line Card number as well as a three or four digit account number. Whether is does or not is defined in General Maintenance. Entry of a CSID is mandatory for any account you will be monitoring. Do not use the CSID field for any other purpose. Subscribers may be instantly Retrieved and/or Listed by their CSID.

2. Generic CSID The Generic CSID is a CSID that has been previously
assigned to another (usually Generic) Subscriber. This other Generic Subscribers record and its associated Zone Code Information should have essentially the same Zone Codes as the current Subscriber. Therefore by assigning the appropriate Generic CSID to the current Subscriber, this Subscriber will automatically share the Zone Code Information previously defined for the Generic Subscriber. Finally, any exceptions to the Generic Subscribers Zone Code Information may be defined specifically for the current Subscriber in their Zone Code Information screen.

3. Service # If you are using ALARMS-1 or SERVICE-1, a Service


Account Number is assigned to all Subscribers for whom you provide Service. Bill-To Only addresses do not get a Service Account Number. We strongly suggest that you use their Telephone Number (without an area code) as their Service Account Number. Subscribers may be instantly Retrieved and/or Listed by their Service Account Number.

4. ARS Number - It stands for Accounts Receivable System Number. If


you are using ALARMS-1, this is a character expression defined and represents a Subscriber (group) being billed to a particular address. This group may have only one occupant - the Subscriber itself - or have many occupants that are service locations, all being billed to one address - the Billing Address. In this case, the Service Locations and the Billing Address itself are all members of this group and get the same ARS Number. If a Residential Subscriber, the ARS Number should consist of the first three letters of their Last Name followed by the first two letters of their First Name, followed by the number one (1) which is used to eliminate duplicates. Therefore, if two or more Residential Subscribers have the

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same three letters plus two letters combination, you will use 2, 3, 4, etc. to differentiate between them. If a Commercial Subscriber, the ARS Number should consist of the first three letters of their First Business Name (eliminating The and similar words), followed by the first two letters of the Next Word in their Business Name, followed by the number one (1) which is used to eliminate duplicates. Therefore, if two or more Commercial Subscribers have the same three letters plus two letters combination, you use the number 2 (, 3, 4, etc.) to differentiate between them.

Location Codes - If a Subscriber is billed at one address and Serviced


at one or more different addresses, all of the subordinate Service Locations must get a Location Code (LOC: in the Subscriber Information screen) in addition to an ARS Number. A Subscriber record with a Location Code will not be properly billed unless there is another Subscriber record with the same ARS Number and no Location Code. In other words, the record with No Location Code represents the Billing Address for a Multiple-Subscriber group. The ARS Number and Location Code system explained above is also used in CENTRAL-1 to have the Opening & Closing Reports from several service locations sent to a main Address. In this case the service locations get the same ARS Number as the main Address but each service location is assigned a Location Code.

Using a Pop-Up Selection Box

Whenever information is entered in Subscriber Information (or any of several other data entry screens) certain fields are mandatory while others are optional. Many of these mandatory fields use Codes that you have previously defined within the Files Maintenance Menu. When the mandatory field must be filled with information you have entered in Files Maintenance, you will be presented with a chance to see the appropriate Pop-Up Selection Box.

Answering yes (Y) will activate the Pop-Up Selection Box. Use the cursor keys to highlight the appropriate choice and press Enter to actually make your selection.

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Entering Account Titles

Your Subscriber has a Name, but the way you would write that name is not necessarily the way you would enter their Account Title. You will probably want Commercial Subscribers alphabetized without being ordered by a The, A or other prefix, but want that prefix Printed when a Report is sent. Youll want your Residential Subscribers alphabetized by their Last Names, then their First Names but still Reports printed with the First, Last and suffix name format. To accomplish this feat, use a tilde (~) as the order separator. Examples follow: ACTUAL NAME JOHN M. SMITH, JR. THE ABC DISTRIBUTORS, INC. DR. MICHAEL BENNET, MD JOHN ANDERSON COMPANY HARRIET & ANDREW BROWN, SR. ACCOUNT TITLE ENTRY SMITH, JR.~ JOHN M. ABC DISTRIBUTORS, INC.~ THE BENNET, MD~ DR. MICHAEL JOHN ANDERSON COMPANY BROWN, SR.~ HARRIET & ANDREW

The examples above illustrate most of the cases you will encounter in entering Subscriber Account Titles. The list on the left shows the name in its natural form and how it will be printed. The list on the right shows the correct way to enter that Subscribers name as an Account Title. Basically, as the illustrations above show, the information is reversed from the place where the tilde (~) is inserted in the Account Title and the tilde itself is ignored.

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Entering the Subscriber Information

Before you start:


We recommend, that for each type of transmission format you will be receiving (3/1, 4/2, Contact ID, etc.), you enter one Subscriber completely (including Zone, Call List, Open & Close, and Account Testing information). Connect your Receiver(s) to your computer (or workstation on your network) that will be accepting the incoming signals in the Process and Receive or Display Stack and Receive mode, and test the system thoroughly. This testing involves entering the Alarm Processing screen and sending as many different signals as possible to your system then verifying that they are received and identified on screen as you had expected. Once this procedure has been completed for each type of signals you will be receiving (3/1, 4/2, Contact ID, etc.) you may use this set of data as templates for similar accounts. This will greatly improve the accuracy of your data entry.

Entering the information:


From the Main Menu select Subscriber Information and then choose the Subscriber Information screen. Select Add (A) and in the first information box enter the Account Title (see above for a discussion on Account Titles), Master CSID and, if appropriate, a Generic CSID (see above discussion on the Master CSID and Generic CSID) if applicable. Enter the Care of and Street Address, City, State and Zip Code and the appropriate Municipality Code (see Municipality Codes in the Getting Started section of this manual) that assigns the proper Police, Fire and Ambulance Response contact information. If there is a specific contact person at the Subscribers site, enter that persons name in the Attention field. In the second information box enter the Account Type (C=Commercial, R=Residential, I=Industrial, T=Telephone, O=Other, or any other letter of your choosing), the Salesman code (see Employee Codes in the Getting Started section of this manual), and a Sort code if desired. The Sort code may be any character or number expression of 1 to 4 letters, numbers or punctuation marks that will classify this Subscriber in some manner that you may later want to have them listed by. If the Subscriber has requested an Open and Closing Report be sent to them periodically, enter the code representing the frequency that report should be sent in the O/C Rpt field (D=Daily, W=Weekly, B=Biweekly, M=Monthly and Blank=No Report required).

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If required, enter the Subscribers Group Code (see Account Groups and Multiple Stacks below in read about Alarm Stacks and Grouping of Accounts in the General Maintenance screens instructions found earlier in this manual. Enter the Passcode that will be used by this Subscriber. The Passcode may be up to 15 characters in length. You may also enter Passcodes for specific individuals in the Call List Information screen explained later in this section. Enter the Premise telephone number. You may also enter two Reference Phone Numbers and the Digital Communicator Units (DCU) telephone number as well. In the third information box enter the Directions to the premises if required. There is also a Notes/Comment field that may be used to continue these directions or for whatever other information that may be required. If there is a Temporary Note that must be displayed for an Operator until a specific date, complete the Temp Date and Comment field as needed. If you have Keys to this Subscribers premises answer yes (Y). If this Subscriber uses Contact ID to transmit their alarm events, enter a C in the Special Communicator Code (Spec Comm Code) field. If you have the PAGE-1 module installed you will see a field titles Page:. If so, and you want this Subscriber paged (via a Digital or Alpha pager), enter the Call List Number of the record containing their Page Information You will enter Pager Information in the Call List Information screen explained later in this Subscriber Information section. If this Subscriber is being monitored for another Dealer (this Subscriber belongs to another alarm dealer for whom you are providing monitoring services), enter the appropriate Dealer Code from among those you have previously defined in Files Maintenance Menu using the Dealers Codes screen. Enter the Time Zone (E/C/M/P) for this Subscriber and the Date this Subscriber was placed Online with your Central Station. If this Subscriber is required to have an Alarm Permit from the local government, enter that Permit # in the field provided. When (and if) they are ever canceled, return to this screen and enter the yes (Y) to the Off Line question and enter the Off Line Date on which this occurred.
Special UL Version Entries

If you are using CS-1UL and this Subscriber has a UL Certificate, there are two additional fields that must be filled in.

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1. UL Grade allows you to enter the systems listing. 2. Has Sounder requires you to indicate whether this is a Silent or Audible Alarm System. If you have indicated in the General Maintenance screen that you will be entering your Subscribers Medical Information and you need to record that information for this Subscriber, press Zoom. Complete the screen as shown (see the section on Medical Information below). Once you have completed the Subscriber Information screen for this account, press one of the Function Keys (listed across the bottom of the screen) to access the data entry screen you wish to complete next. If the following sections, there are instructions for completing each of these data entry screens. These screens will be used to enter Zone Code, Call List, Schedule Supervision, Account Testing and Medical Information for your Subscribers.

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Account Groups and Multiple Alarm Stacks

(Please read the Advanced Features section of the General Maintenance screens instructions pertaining to Alarm Stacks and Grouping of Accounts found earlier in this manual to see if your company might benefit from this feature.) If you are operating a large Central Station and would like to group your accounts so that certain Operators receive alarm signals only from a specific group of Subscribers, enter their Grp. Code. The Group Code may be a letter or number. You may assign a Group Code to each Subscriber and then having that Groups alarm events sent to a specific alarm Stack. Incoming alarm Stacks can then be managed by designated Operators. This allows you to route certain incoming signals to Operators that speak a particular language, are familiar with a certain area or have a specific skill level. Each Group of Subscribers will be assigned to an Alarm Stack in the General Maintenance screen. Any number of Subscriber Groups may be assigned to an individual incoming alarm Stack. You may define up to eight of these Stacks. Each Operator selects the Stack from which they will receive alarms.

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Medical Information
If you are providing any Subscribers with Medical Alert or any other Medical Information related response services, having Medical Information about these Subscribers is absolutely necessary. Before you may do so, indicate in the General Maintenance screen that you will be entering this type of information. From the Subscriber Information menu select the Subscriber Information screen and Retrieve the appropriate Subscriber. Press Zoom. This Medical Information screen will be displayed. It offers many fields which you can be used to enter medical information about a Subscriber. You will be able to access the information while processing alarms by pressing F11 while this Subscriber is on screen. In case there are multiple patients at this location, there is a Next, Previous, and Quit option in the F11 screen in Alarm Processing to navigate through the patients defined for this specific address.

You may add as many Medical Information records as may be required (in case there are multiple persons on-site requiring you to maintain a medical history on each). Complete whatever information is available to you. Generally you will complete the Doctor and Hospital information box as well as the Allergies and Medications information areas as well. Diagnosis, Language (if not English) and Medication location and descriptions should be completed if this information is available.
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There are also some specialized fields in the top right hand box area on this screen designed to assist certain monitoring companies that exclusively provide Medical Supervisory Services. You do not have to complete these fields if not required by your company. Lock Box Date of Birth (which automatically calculates their age each time the screen is viewed) 8 Pin Jack Lives Alone (Yes/No) Paid by (SFRAO). The SFRAO stands for Self, Friend, Relative, Agency, or some Other person. Gender (Male/Female).

Medical Information record(s), when present, may be printed on Subscriber Information Forms.

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Zone Code Information


From the Subscriber Information menu, select the Subscriber Information screen and Retrieve the appropriate Subscriber then press F6. You may also select Zone Code Information from the Subscriber Information menu and Retrieve the Subscriber there and press Zoom.

A Subscriber may have any number of Zone Codes defined. Zone Code Information following the explanations below:

Enter their

Zone Code - The actual code sent by the Subscribers Panel to the Central Station. In the examples below we are only illustrating data entry concepts. These may very well not be the codes or methods you will use. They are supplied as a guide. 1. In a 3/1 format this will usually be the Number that represents the emergency or supervisory event being reported (i.e., Code 1=Fire, Code 2=Panel, Code 3=Burglary, etc.). Some Receivers attach an A, R, O, C, or T or some other preface character in front of this number to further define the event being reported. If these characters are transmitted to the computer they must be included in the Zone Code. 2. In 4/2 format this will usually be an event number followed by the zone where this event occurred or a further refinement of that event (i.e.,

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Code 61=Open by User 1, Code 71=Closing by User 1, Code 34=Burglary in Zone 4, Code 21=Silent Panic, etc.). 3. If you have identified this Subscriber as one that transmits Contact ID (by entering a C in the Special Communicator Code field on the Subscriber Information screen), you must consult the section below on Defining Contact ID Zone Codes. Response Does an Operator need to respond to this event? If this is a passive event (one needing no operator response such as a Test Signal or unsupervised Opening or Closing), enter no (N), otherwise answer yes (Y). Verify Does this event, when an Operator has it presented to them on an Alarm Processing screen, need to be Verified by a telephone call to the Subscribers premises before a dispatch is executed? If not enter no (N), otherwise answer yes (Y). Response Code If an Emergency Response Agency (Police, Fire, Ambulance, etc.), a Guard Service, or specialized Technician must always be called if this event is received, enter the appropriate Response Code. 1. Police = P, Fire = F, Medical = M, Ambulance = A. Enter a P, F, M or A in the Response Code field to denote Police, Fire, Medical or Ambulance. The Municipality Code listing in Files Maintenance also has spacing for three names and phone numbers per municipality code to accommodate these responding authorities. 2. 1, 2, or 3 may be used to select those Names and Telephone numbers that have been assigned a Number rather than a letter in their Call List Information screen (see Call List Information in the section immediately following this one). Description Enter a brief description of what this Zone Code represents. Condition Enter the alarm Condition Code that best represents this event. Use one of the Condition Codes defined in Files Maintenance. These contain the Description of an alarm or other supervised or nonsupervised event. (See Alarm Condition Abbreviations in the Getting Started section of this manual.) That Description will appear on the Alarm Processing screen and on Alarm Activity Reports of this event. Call List Enter the letters, representing the Call List names (see Call List Information in the section immediately following this one), to be notified when this event occurs. You may enter up to nine letters

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representing the letters assigned to Call List records in the Call List Information screen. Enter the letters in the order that you want these individuals notified for this event. Priority Enter the Alarm Events priority (1 9), with 1 being the highest. Normally Fire is 1, Panic is 2, Burglary is 3 and other events are subordinated to these. O/C/T/A/R Enter the code that best represents this event. Most entries will be an A. Only use O or C if you are Supervising the Opening and Closing of the Subscribers premises. If you record Opening and Closing signals for reporting purposes only, use A for Alarm and mark the event for No (N) Response (see above). Signals sent specifically to indicate a successful (periodic) Test are entered as T and signals sent specifically to indicate a system has Restored are entered as R. Consult the list below for a quick reference. 1. Opening (Supervised) O 2. Closing (Supervised) C 3. Test Signal T 4. Alarm Event (with or without a Response requirement) A 5. Restored Event (with or without a Minutes for Restore response requirement and with or without a Response requirement) R Restoral Zone If this event must be followed by a Restoral, enter that Zone Code. By entering a Zone Code in the Restoral Zone field you are Supervising this Alarm or Opening event. If a Restoral signal is required and this Zone Code is received at the Central Station, until the Restoral Code is received, the Non-Restored Alarms counter on the Alarm Processing screen will include this event. The Restoral Zone must already have been defined in a Zone Code Information screen to be used in this field. Minutes for Restore There is an exception to this situation. If the event must be Restored within a specified Time Period but you can never know when this Zone Code will initially be received - you must enter the Zone Code that will restore the event and the maximum time allowed until that Restoral Code is received. This is entered in the Minutes for Restore field. Typically this capability is used when a secured facility (ATM location, Storage Building, etc.), whose alarm system is always kept armed, is Opened for some reason. Because you do not know when this Opening may take place, it cannot be
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defined as a regular supervised Opening event (see Opening & Closing Information later in the section). However, you do need to be assured that the person Opening this location will Close it (re-arm the system) within a specified time. Enter the Closing Code in the Restoral Zone field (see above) and the maximum number of minutes you may wait for the Close Signal to be received in the Minutes for Restore field. Finally, enter a new Zone Code Information record with a Zone Code of FR* (which will be a Failed to Restore system generated event). Enter the appropriate Verify, Response, Call List information with an OCTAR code of A. Auto Page Who This field is only displayed if you have the PAGE-1 Paging Module. Does anyone need to be Paged beeped - after receiving this event? If so, enter their Call List Information number/letter that contains their Pager Information.

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Mandatory System Zone Codes Several Zone Codes must be defined for all Subscribers that have any type of Supervision requirements. These special internally used Zone Codes provide a means to tell the system how you want these specific system initiated alarm events handled should they occur. If a Subscriber calls into the Central Station and requests that an Operator Add, Modify or Delete one of their pre-defined Daily Activity Events (eg., make changes to their supervised Opening or Closing schedule), information on the Operator who made the change and the Person that requested the change is automatically time-stamped and stored in the Subscriber's Alarm History File. Therefore a special Zone Code must be defined for each of these events (these codes were also previously defined in Files Maintenance as alarm Condition Codes). 1. "TA*" Time Added in Daily Activity F10 2. "TM*" Time Modified in Daily Activity F10 3. "TD*" Time Deleted in Daily Activity F10 If a technician is working at a Subscriber's site calls in to request that an Account be put on Test, they may send many alarm signals to the Central Station for Test Purposes only. By putting this account on Test they may do so without fear of an accidental dispatch; or if a Subscriber knowing that a particular Zone is falsing wants to de-activate that Zone temporarily, an Operator may place a specific Zone or an entire Account into "Test" status. A record of who made and who requested this Test status is automatically inserted into the Subscriber's alarm history file. Because all alarm history records must have a Zone Code attached, special Zone Codes must be entered to allow for these situations (these same codes must also be entered as Condition Codes in Files Maintenance). 4. "ZT*" Zone Code put on Test with F5 5. "AT*" Account Put on Test with F5 If a Subscriber is "Supervised" for Openings and Closings, you must enter some additional Zone Codes. These Zone Codes are not actually sent to your Receiver. The information defined within these "exception" Zone records will be used to show how you want these events processed when supervised Opening and Closing exceptions actually occur. When a Subscriber fails to Close on time, or Opens at the wrong time (e.g., in the middle of the night), should the Central Station Operator Respond and if so,

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how and who should be notified and in what order? What priority level should be assigned to the exception when it occurs? All "exception" Zones must be marked Yes ("Y") for Response and given an O/C/T/A/R Code of A! Because these "exceptions" (the absence of an expected signal or the presence of an unexpected one) actually create their own Alarm Condition, you must create "artificial" Zone Code(s) for each of these "exception" conditions that might occur for each Subscriber. The Zone Code for each "exception" are pre-defined and must be one of the following: 6. FC* Failed to Close 7. FO* Failed to Open 8. FT* Failed to Test 9. IO* Invalid Opening 10. IC* Invalid Close

Defining Contact ID Accounts The Contact ID format provides a very powerful and comprehensive way of communicating your Subscribers System Status to your Central Station. But with power comes some complexity. Once defined correctly, Contact ID accounts present a clear concise event report to your Operators. The key words here are defined correctly. This section will explain the Contact ID format from the prospective of your Receiver(s) and the CENTRAL-1 software. Ideally you will create a Generic Subscriber with all of the possible Contact ID Zones Codes defined and then assign that records Master CSID as the Generic CSID for all other Subscribers that are sending their alarm events to your Central Station using the Contact ID format. 1. Each Zone Code entry will consist of a descriptive character [either Event ("E"), Restore ("R"), Opening ("O"), or Closing ("C"), etc.] followed by the actual Contact or User's Number (i.e., E022, O016, C014, etc.). 2. No Condition Code will be required (in fact that field will not even appear if the Subscriber has been codes as a Contact ID user). This is because Contact ID Condition Codes are sent from the Subscribers communicator as three digits. These three digit codes are pre-loaded in the Condition Codes screen in Files Maintenance. This is where the alarm event look-up takes place when a signal is received.

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3. Some Contact ID examples: If your Receiver prints out: "10 1001 E401 00 U004" which is interpreted as an Opening by User 004, you would enter O004 ("OH", "Zero", "Zero", "Four") for that Zone Code in the Zone Code Information screen. A "10 1001 E122 00 C099" representing a Silent Panic on Contact 099 would be entered in as E099 for Event (Alarm) contact 099.

4. Reports on Subscribers using Contact ID can be considerably longer if you're entering long descriptions for your Zone Codes and taking full advantage of the 30 character Condition Code descriptions. To make the reports easier to read, limit your entries to what is really necessary information. Don't fill the space on the screen just because it is there. Alarm Activity Reports accommodate Contact ID. Due to the potential length of Condition Code and Zone Code Descriptions (which combined may be longer than one line), Reports for Subscribers using Contact ID will be longer than those for Subscribers using other formats. Openings & Closings Reports accommodate Contact ID. Due to the potential length of Condition Code and Zone Code Descriptions (which combined may be longer than one line), those reports using Contact ID will be longer than those for Subscribers using other formats.

Contact ID Examples

All of the examples used in this documentation were borrowed from the Description of Contact ID Format available from the ADEMCO Technical Support service. This document should be required reading for anyone who will be entering Contact ID Subscribers. Alarm Events & Restoral Signal The examples below illustrate the basic way in which CENTRAL-1 will interpret signals for Contact ID. You must enter the Zone Code like CENTRAL1 will interpret it from the Receivers Contact ID transmission.

ADEMCO Receiver 1234 E132 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 E122 00 C00Z 00Z)

CENTRAL-1 Zone Code E00Z E00Z (Event (Event on on Contact Contact

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1234 R135 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 R123 00 C00Z 00Z)


Opening & Closing Signals

R00Z R00Z

(Restore on Contact (Restore on Contact

As you can see, CENTRAL-1 selects the (E) for Event or (R) for Restoral (which follows the Subscribers CSID) and places it in front of the Contact number (received at the end of the signal round). Now lets look at how Openings and Closings are handled.

ADEMCO Receiver 1234 E402 00 U022 1234 R402 00 U022

CENTRAL-1tm Zone Code O022 (Opening User 022) C022 (Closing User 022)

A Subscribers Panel sends a Contact ID User Number instead of a Contact ID Contact Number (denoted with the U instead of an E or R) to the Receiver. Using the U as a queue, CENTRAL-1 changes the (E) for Event to (O) for Open and the (R) for Restore to (C) for Close thereby representing what is actually happening. The User Number then follows the O (Open) or C (Close) to create the Zone Code. Special 000 Events CENTRAL-1 translates the User or Contact Number with 000 in a special way. The 000 actually has no significance to the event being transmitted so the program discards it. Instead the program uses the event (Alarm Condition) identifier as part of the Zone Code as shown in the examples below:

ADEMCO Receiver 1234 E121 00 C000 1234 E301 00 C000 1234 R301 00 C000

CENTRAL-1tm Zone Code A121 (Alarm Condition 121) A301 (Alarm Condition 301) Z301 (Restore Condition 301)

So whenever an event is transmitted with a 000 Contact ID Zone Code or User identifier, the (E) Event becomes an A (Alarm) and the (R) Restore

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becomes a Z (Zone Restored). These and other events may be transmitted with a 000 Contact Number. Enter each case as illustrated above. Cancel Cancel signals will be interpreted as K (Kill or Cancel an Alarm Event) plus the User number that sent the Cancel. Bypass signals will be programmed with a B (Bypass) plus the Contact Number. These are identified by noting the event number (i.e., 406=Canceled by User ###, 570=Zone [Contact ID] Bypassed) and when one of these events is programmed, use the format shown below.

ADEMCO Receiver 1234 E406 00 C022 1234 E570 00 C00Z


Trouble

CENTRAL-1tm Zone Code K022 (Cancel by User 022) B00Z (Bypass Contact 00Z)

Trouble signals are the most troublesome (this pun was intended) and so we have saved them for last. The Trouble Conditions that may be received from different Contact Numbers are: 373 - Fire Loop Trouble, 380 - Contact Trouble 381 - Sensor Trouble 382 - R.P.M. Sensor Trouble 383 - R.P.M. Sensor Tamper 384 - RF Transmitter Low Battery

CENTRAL-1 will recognize each of these Trouble Conditions and will convert them as shown below. Each is a special case and must be defined as shown for each Contact Number you will be using for these purposes.

ADEMCO Receiver 1234 E373 00 C00Z 00Z)

CENTRAL-1tm Zone Code TF00Z (Trouble - Fire Contact

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1234 R373 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 E380 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 R380 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 E381 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 R381 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 E382 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 R382 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 E383 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 R383 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 E384 00 C00Z 00Z) 1234 R384 00 C00Z 00Z)

RF00Z (Restore - Fire Contact T000Z (Trouble - 380 Contact R000Z (Restore - 380 Contact T100Z (Trouble - 381 Contact R100Z (Restore - 381 Contact T200Z (Trouble - 382 Contact R200Z (Restore - 382 Contact T300Z (Trouble - 383 Contact R300Z (Restore - 383 Contact T400Z (Trouble - 384 Contact R400Z (Restore - 384 Contact

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Call List Information


Subscribers who are having the alarm system and certain other events monitored or supervised will have a Call List used for follow-up Notification purposes if one of these supervised events does occur. From the Subscriber Information menu select the Subscriber Information screen and Retrieve the appropriate Subscriber and press F7 to select Call List Information. You may also select Call List Information from the menu, Retrieve the appropriate Subscriber and press Zoom.

Add a record for each person who needs a Passcode or who might be called in the event of an alarm at the Subscribers premises. Complete each field (as required) and save the record in the normal manner. . Fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory. Call Number* Enter a letter from A Z. No duplicates allowed. If someone assigned A should be in the B position (or whatever movement may be required) simply modify the record and enter the revised character. You may also enter 1 3 for special persons or companies who must be designated as the Response Code for special circumstances (Plumber, Doctor, etc.). Each person who is entered for the purpose of assigning a Pass Code (and does not need to be otherwise notified during an alarm event) should be

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coded with a vertical bar (|) as its Call Number. You may move these Password style records to actual Call List items by simply Modifying the record and assigning them a call list letter (of A to Z). Contacts Name* Enter the name of the contact or person being assigned the password. Title or Extension Enter the persons title or extension required to contact this person directly. Phone Number Enter the contacts telephone number. Passcode If they must identify themselves during a Verification of an Alarm Event, be sure to assign them a Password. Hold Keys Does this person hold keys to the Subscribers premises (Y/N)? Alpha/Digital Pager If you have PAGE-1, this filed will be displayed. The example screen above does not show the Alpha/Digital pager field. If you are using PAGE-1 and want to note the appropriate Pager related information for this Call List individual, enter an A if they have an Alpha Page and enter their Alpha Pager providers assigned access number in the Title field. If using an Alpha or Digital pager, enter their Pager Number (or Alpha Page Modem access line) in the Phone Number field. Address Enter the address of the contact. The option to store Call List individuals addresses will expand the size of your call list file by about 80%. If you wish to implement this feature, in the General Maintenance screen answer Yes (Y) to the Address for Call List question. The screen above shows the call list screen with the address feature turned on. City/State/Zip Enter this information. screen will show the Call List The phrase Press F6 for Processing screen to remind (for the currently displayed

The F6 function key in the Alarm Processing with name, title, phone number, Passcode, etc. Pass Codes will always be shown on the Alarm you that this entire database may be accessed Subscriber) with one key press.

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Opening & Closing Information


From the Subscriber Information menu select the Subscriber Information screen and Retrieve the appropriate Subscriber. Press F8. The Opening and Closing Information screen is shown below. You will only need to enter Opening and Closing Information records for your Subscribers who are being Supervised. Supervised? If you are responsible to know when they (the Subscriber) are Open or Closed, and must notify someone in their employ when one of these Supervised events does not occur with the established time parameters, you must define the rules for this Supervision on this screen

All supervised Opening and Closing events are defined on the same screen (also see the Account Testing Information later in this section for information about supervising periodic testing requirements) in CENTRAL-1. This supervision process is continuous. Once a supervised event is defined, the Next Event window (on the right above) will immediately display (and supervise) when that event is next expected to occur. What are Events?

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An Event is any supervised situation where the Central Station is required to know when it happened, that it did or did not happen, and must perform a specific task should it not happen within the allowable time frame. This is typically on Opening or Closing event. 1. Day of the Week Group Codes for the Event - To make data entry easy, the standard Day Codes are available (SUN, MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, SAT) so individual days events can be supervised.. In addition, several special codes are available. ALL represents every day of the week. M-F represents Monday through Friday. S-S represents Saturday and Sunday. 2. Event Start and End Times - Enter the actual times within which you want an event to occur. With normal Openings or Closings you would simply enter the earliest and latest time they are allowed to Open. The same is true for Closing situations. To check on a Closing (usually following a Multiple -M - situation for that day see #4 below), just enter the Starting and Ending closing time as the same. With Multiple (M) Opening & Closing situations, enter the earliest and latest times that these in and outs may occur. Then create a Closing record for the Closing event itself. 3. (Optional) Event Start and End Dates - Any supervised event that is Date sensitive - a Holiday or Companys Vacation period - may be defined by simply entering record(s) with the date(s) this situation should Override the normally defined events (with Start and End Times Only). It is important to remember that whenever ANY event record is given a starting and ending Date, All the Other normal events for that day (or days) are canceled (but for those days only). So if you have a Holiday - falling on a Tuesday, by entering a Closing Event with the Date of that Holiday, all normal Opening and Closing event records will be ignored that day and the system will simply check that they are Closed at the defined time. 4. O/C/M Is the event a supervised Opening (O), Closing (C) or Multiple (M) situation. A Multiple event is one where both Opens and Closes can occur anytime between the Event Start and End times defined above.

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5. Area If the system supports Opening and Closing by Area and you want to defined different schedules for each active area, enter the Area number (1 8) here. 6. Zone One/Zone Four If different users are assigned to Open versus Close, you may restrict who may do which by entering only the allowable User Codes for the event here. Normally you will leave this field blank. Define as many Opening and Closing Event records as may be required to specify what your supervision requirements will be for every day of the week.

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Account Testing Information


You may now track multiple sets of Testing Supervision for each account. This will be useful if your Subscriber is sending multiple Test Signals from their site by means of different communications methods (digital, cellular, long-range radio), or you need to include a specific zone code that will be tracked for that specific schedule. To implement this feature, from the Subscriber Information menu select the Subscriber Information screen and Retrieve the appropriate Subscriber. Press F10 to access the Subscriber Testing Information screen.

You may Add as many Subscriber Testing Information records as required to meet your account testing supervision requirements. Test, Any Signal or Closes are valid Tests T/A/C. To be considered a valid Test (thereby resetting the Test Timer supervision for this account), what type of signal is required? 1. A specifically defined Test event (it is defined in the Zone Code Information screen and assigned an O/C/T/A/R code of T). 2. Any signal received.

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3. A specifically defined Close event or Test event (that are defined in the Zone Code Information screen and assigned an O/C/T/A/R code of either C or T). Time Between Signals Enter any combination of Days, Hours and Minutes. Test Zone Code (Not Mandatory) If a specific Zone Code creates a Supervised Event whenever it occurs and thereby has a reset time period defined in the Minutes for Restore field, enter that Zone Code here. Alert to Screen Should this Test not occur on time, do you want an Alert Message (a Failed to Test alarm event) sent to an Operators screen? Automatically Reset Once a system has failed to test they have failed to test. Until they actually successfully send an appropriate Test signal to your Central Station they are in a failed to test state and will appear on the Failed To Test Report. However, suppose you want to periodically be reminded that this Subscriber has not been able to Test correctly, and are sending their Failed to test signals to screen (see Alert to Screen above). You may request that the Test Timer automatically reset so that at the expiration of each normal testing cycle, if no signal has been received, the Operator will again be reminded. Supervise From - to If your Subscriber only wants test signals supervised within a certain time frame you may enter that time frame here. Use military time and enter the starting time first and the ending time last (e.g., 2300 to 0700). You may also control the testing cycle by alarm condition code (see below). Start Condition End Condition If your Subscribers alarm system will only send a test report signal when the system is armed (Closed), enter the Alarm Condition Code for Close and then enter your Alarm Condition code for Open to alert the system to stop looking for a Test Signal. This is especially useful when you get hourly test signals through the night but require none during the day.

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Alarm Processing Menu


From the Main Menu select the Alarm Processing Menu to view the screen shown below. This is the menu used to enable the automation system to Read your receiver(s), Operator(s) to Process and Receive Alarm Events, and perform other Supervisory Duties.

Each menu selection will be described in its own section below as to its purpose and usage.

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Process and Receive


Signing on to Process Alarms

The following information pertains to Alarm Processing and/or Display Stack screens: When any Alarm Processing or Display Stack selection is chosen from the Alarm Processing menu, the Operator must sign on with their Operator Code (the Employee Code assigned for them in Files Maintenance). By doing so, as alarm activity is recorded in the Subscribers alarm history file the Operators code will be included in the alarm history records.

If you are in an Alarm Processing screen, while waiting for alarms, there will be a screen saver displayed that wanders around the screen with some basic information about the status of the Central Station. This System Status box will show: 1. The number of alarm events placed on Hold by your Operators. 2. The number of alarm events that are awaiting a pre-defined Restore signal and so are considered Non-Restored (N/R) events. 3. The number of Alarm Events that are Pending events (e.g., waiting for the initial attention of an Operator).

4. If you have turned on Emergency Monitoring Mode an EMM will be included at the top of the box between the date and time. 5. If you are operating the UL Listed version of CENTRAL-1 and there is a trouble condition that might affect the proper operation of your automation system, a Trouble alert (TBL) will be flashing at the top of the screen.

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The automation system will automatically send the next most urgent Alarm Event to the next available Operators Alarm Processing screen. No Operator decision making is required. As soon as an Alarm Event is displayed, the System Status box shown above disappears.

Making the right Alarm Processing Menu selection

As a CENTRAL-1 user, you will be operating within one of two possible computer environments: 1. You are using a single stand-alone computer and are not simultaneously sharing your computers files or programs with other computers using a networking system of some kind. In this case you will always and only use the Process and Receive selection in the Alarm Processing Menu to connect to and read your Receiver(s) and have each Alarm Event displayed on screen (that actually requires an Operators attention). 2. You are sharing computer database files and programs with other computers in your office and/or Central Station using a networking system of some kind. If networking, you will use the Process and Receive or the Display Stack and Receive selection on the Alarm Processing Menu to connect to and read your Receiver(s). Only one computer may have selected one of these Receive choices. When actually processing alarms, any other computers in your Central Station will use the Only Process (see Only Process below) selection to have access to Alarm Events (that actually require an Operators attention). Remember that these Receive choices (Process and Receive or Display Stack and Receive) are mutually exclusive. If you select one, no other Operator should select the other. For Central Stations with two or more Operators on Duty at once, we recommend that you have at least three computers in the Central Station, one to Display Stack and Receive, the others to Only Process. The following information about the Process and Receive selection will detail how alarms are processed. Whether you have selected Process and Receive or Only Process, the procedures are the same. Because of the systems ability to pre-define the way each Alarm Event (see Zone Code Information) will be processed, the automation system will lead your Operators step by step through the proper procedure for handling each specific Alarm Event. While processing an Alarm Event, the results of the steps taken

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will often dictate what the next processing steps should be. But even with these variables, the automation system will offer the correct choice(s) for the Operator. These are the basic steps involved in processing an Alarm Event. 1. The Alarm Event is sent to an Operators screen by the automation system. The automation system chooses which alarms will go to which Operator (s) and in what priority order. They will be displayed. 2. When an Alarm Event is displayed on an Alarm Processing screen a beep will be heard from the computers speaker and a message will be displayed requesting that the Operator Press the Space Bar to acknowledge the Alarm.

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3. Whether or not you have turned on Automatic Dialing (see Activating Automatic Dialing in the Getting Started section of this manual), one of three things will occur. a. If you are required to Verify this Alarm Event, the appropriate Verification information will be displayed. If you have entered a Reference Telephone number #1 and/or #2 in addition to the Subscribers premises number, this Telephone Number will be displayed along with any reference numbers that may be entered on the Subscriber Information screen. The Operator highlights the desired number (or presses Enter to accept the default selection) to be dialed.

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If the Subscriber only has a premises Telephone Number entered (no additional Reference numbers are defined), or after the Operator has selected the desired number to be Dialed from the Select # box (illustrated above), dialing is automatic, if set up to do so.

If Verification was required, once the Verification call has been dialed, the appropriate response to that Verification call must be selected from the choices offered in the Verification Response pop-up selection box.

These are defined in Files Maintenance in the Other Files Maintenance menu using the Verification Responses selection. Selecting the proper Verify Response determines the remaining steps this Event will require including getting Notes, Dispatching the appropriate Responding Authority and/or notifying someone on the Call List. b. If no Verification is require or immediately after a Verification call that resulted in the need for a Dispatch the Responding Authoritys information will be displayed. Dialing is automatic, if set up to do so. Enter either a C for contacted or an N for not contacted.

You will be required to enter a Dispatchers ID to record to whom you gave the emergencys response information. You may then enter a Note relating to this Dispatch if required. c. The command line will then be presented. If no Verification is required and no Responding Authority is defined the command line will be displayed immediately. (See Below.)

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The Command Line (shown above) provides the Operator a means to perform certain tasks that are frequently required during the processing of an Alarm Event. It is located at the bottom of the screen immediately above the bottom which has the most recently received Alarm Event information displayed. Pressing the first letter of the command or using the cursor to highlight the command word and pressing Enter will activate the commands function. 4. Once you have completed the necessary Verification and/or actual Dispatch or if none of either was required a Command Line will be displayed (see above). The automation system will highlight the appropriate (next) choice that should be taken. Although it is not recommended, an Operator may override the default choice. Typically this choice is Dial (as in the illustration above). When Dial is selected to call someone on the Subscribers Call List or to recall the emergency Response number the Operator must enter the item (or R for emergency Response) number of the individual to be dialed. The appropriate information is displayed to allow the Operator to complete the call. Dialing is automatic, if set up to do so.

The Operator must indicate whether Contact was made. The Dialing (Dial) command line selection continues to be offered until a successful Contact is made or until the Alarm Event is placed on Hold or marked as Completed (by Operator selection). 5. After the Alarm Event has been normally processed (by optionally Verifying, Dispatching, and/or Notifying a Call List person), the Note command will be suggested to the Operator. An additional Note may be entered to describe the conversation with the notified Call List person or whatever other comment they deem necessary. 6. At this point the Operator may put the Alarm Event on Hold, or mark it as being Completed. a. Putting an Alarm Event on Hold returns it to the Alarm Processing Stack and stores all of the steps taken by this Operator up to this point. Events are usually placed on Hold to await the receipt of some sort of follow up information. Once received, the Event is retrieved from the Hold stack on redisplayed on screen. A Note is made, another Dial

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initiated, or some other step is taken (as needed) to properly complete and document this Alarm Event. b. When the Alarm Event is completely processed, it is marked as being completed by selecting the Completed command and confirming your choice.

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Special Command Line choices

Work Order: The command line illustrated above includes a Work Order command available to those users with SERVICE-1 or ALARMS1 Plus. Please see the instructions below and the additional information in each programs manual on how to Write Up a Service Request. A Function Key combination (Shift-F10) is also included to allow immediate access to the Enter Service Request screen without having a Subscriber displayed on the Alarm Processing screen.

Power Outage: The command line illustrated above includes a Power Out selection. This is for Utility Companies. It allows them to press a key when in an Alarm Processing screen and have CENTRAL-1 produce an output, that they have specified, which will include the current Subscriber's CSID, TIME, and DATE. In this manner, their (external) power outage management system can keep track of reported outages in their area. a. To activate this feature you will need to manually enter a fully qualified path and file name in the NOTIFYFIL field in the CENSETUP.DBF file. b. This can be done with the DBU utility. CENTRAL-1 automatically turn this feature on when it sees this field filled in. will

c. The Pwr_Out command line option will then appear on the Alarm Processing screen. d. If and operator selects this option and answers yes (Y) to the "Power Outage, Are you sure (Y/N)?" question, a line of information with the current Subscriber's CSID, TIME, and DATE will be added to the specified file.

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Function Keys

F1 Help

Pressing the F1 Help function key will display the Function key Help Chart shown above to remind you of the advanced procedures available with each.
Alternate + F1

While holding down the Alternate key the press F1 (Alt + F1) Paging Service function key to access the Manual Paging Service screen. (This feature is only available if you have added PAGE-1 to your automation system.)

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Indicate whether you wish to page a Dealer, Technician, Call List individual or some other person not identified within your CENTRAL-1 database. Each of these selections presents a slightly different dialog based on the information previously entered in their appropriate databases. 1. Dealer Used to page an existing Alarm Dealer who has Paging Information already entered in their Dealer Information screen (see

Dealer Codes in the Getting Started section of this manual).

Choose the Dealer to be paged. Note that there will be an A or a D at the extreme right of the Dealers name. This indicates whether this Dealer carries an Alpha or Digital pager.

The Paging Service dialog will be displayed. In the example above, the Dealer has an Alpha pager, the pager companys access number and this individuals Pager ID number is automatically inserted (from previously entered Dealer information) and all the Operator must do is enter the appropriate message. The page request will be automatically submitted to PAGE-1 and paged in its turn. If the Dealer has a Digital pager, just their Pager number would be displayed and the Operator would enter an appropriate (primarily numerical) message for them. 2. Technician Used to page a Technician who has Paging Information already entered in their Employee Codes screen (see Employee Codes in the Getting Started section of this manual).

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The Operator must first select the Technician to be paged. Note that there will be an A or a D at the extreme right of the Technicians name. This indicates whether this Technician carries an Alpha or Digital pager.

Once the Technician is selected, the Paging Service dialog appears. In the example below the Technician has a Digital pager so the Operator enters on the numerical information to be paged.

Thereafter, the page request will be automatically submitted to PAGE-1 and paged in its turn. If the Technician has an Alpha pager, just their Pager number and Pager ID would be displayed and the Operator would enter an appropriate message for them. 3. Call List Used to page an individual or company previously defined (with paging information) in a Subscribers Call List Information database (see Call List Information in the Monitoring Information section of this manual).

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The Operator must first select the appropriate Subscriber (with the desired Call List record defined) using the Subscriber Finder shown above. Then the Operator chooses the Call List item with the proper paging information. Note that there will be an A or a D at the extreme right of the Call List name. This indicates whether this person or company carries an Alpha or Digital pager.

Thereafter the Paging Service dialog appears with the appropriate Alpha or Digital connection information supplied. The Operator enters the desired message.
F2 Look Up

Often while processing alarms or just answering the telephone within the Central Station, an Operator needs to look up a Subscriber or certain specific information relating to a Subscriber. The F2 Look Up function allows the Operator to look up almost anything relating to a Subscriber. Once F2 is pressed a Subscriber Look Up dialog is presented.

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The Operator enters a letter corresponding to the Information Type to be searched and either the CSID, Service Account Number (usually their telephone number) or Name (Account Title). The default selection offers a direct look up of a Subscriber (S) by their CSID, Service Account number or Name. The entry must be precisely that of the Subscriber information you are looking for. If many Subscribers have the same Account Title (name) recorded, use the CSID or Service Account number to identify the Subscriber. The following up questions asked and the final information that will be presented depends on the initial letter selection made by the Operator. The choices are: 1. Zones To look up Zone Code Information for a specific Subscriber, enter a Z and either their CSID, Service Account Number (usually their telephone number) or Name (Account Title). Press the Page Down key.

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Because each Subscriber may have a Generic in addition to their Main set of Zone Codes, you may choose which set of Zone Codes will be listed. A sample listing appears below.

2. Call List To look up Call List information for a specific Subscriber, enter a C and enter either their CSID, Service Account Number (usually their telephone number) or Name (Account Title) and press Page Down to see a

listing of the type illustrated below.

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3. Subscriber To look up a Subscriber, enter an S and either their CSID, Service Account Number (usually their telephone number) or Name

(Account Title) and press Page Down.

An information screen similar to an Alarm Processing form will be displayed. 4. Testing To look up a Subscribers Account Testing Information, enter a T and either their CSID, Service Account Number (usually their telephone number) or Name (Account Title).

5. Open To look up the Opening and Closing schedules for a Subscriber, enter an O and either their CSID, Service Account Number (usually their telephone number) or Name (Account Title).

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6. General To access the general purpose Universal Look Up Utility (also found in the Other Files Maintenance menu), enter a G and press Page Down. Choose the File to be searched, select the specific field name (or all of the above) and enter the characters to search for (see Universal Look Up Utility in the Appendix section of this manual). 7. List To see a List of Subscribers sorted in CSID order, enter an L and press Page Down. This list includes their CSID, Account Title, Street Address, City and Telephone number. Use the Next and Previous commands to navigate through the list and press Quit when finished.
Alternate + F2 Subscriber Finder

There is an alternate Subscriber Look Up capability accessed by holding down the Alternate key while pressing F2 ( Alt + F2) called the Subscriber Finder. This look up utility allows you to instantly retrieve a Subscriber based on their Account Name. Optionally, by pressing the appropriate function key shown at the bottom of the Subscriber Finder screen, you may retrieve the Subscriber by their CSID or Service Account number (which is generally their Telephone number) as well.

The most interesting feature of the Subscriber Finder is its incremental search capability. As an example (as shown below), as you type the letters for the desired Subscriber, the Subscriber Finder displays the GROUP of accounts that are (alphabetically by name, in CSID order or by Service Number) closest to the letters or other characters typed so far.

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At any time using the up and down arrow keys you may move within the information box to highlight the specific record within the group displayed that represents the Subscriber you wanted to find. Pressing Enter actually select the Subscriber. Once you have selected the Subscriber you will be able to choose which type of data you want to display (see the Look Up CSID:nnnn selection box illustrated below). As with the normal F2 Look Up function, you may choose General Subscriber Data, Zone Code Information, Call List Information, Opening and Closing schedules, and Account Testing Information. In addition, you may also look up Subscriber Alarm History.

Once you have made your data type selection and viewed the selected data you will be returned to the Look Up CSID:nnnn box (shown above) and (repeatedly) permitted to select another data type to view. Once you have seen all of the needed information, when this Look Up CSID: box is displayed again, press Escape to exit the procedure. History Look Up If you have chosen History Lookup, you must enter the CSID and the desired Starting and Ending Dates to be displayed. All of this information is defaulted onto the Subscriber History Look Up screen so you

may press Page Down to accept the defaults, or modify them as required.

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Shift + F2 Emergency Monitoring Mode

At certain times during the year, severe weather may cause an excessive number of non-emergency signals to be transmitted to your Central Station (i.e., Low Battery, AC Loss, AC Restore, etc.) resulting from power fluctuations. To facilitate a more orderly management of these types of signals and to allow Operators to concentrate on the most important Alarm Events that might require an actual emergency dispatch, there is the Emergency Monitoring Mode function. When Emergency Monitoring Mode is activated, all events with a priority number higher (and therefore are a lower priority) and a pre-set value will be automatically placed on Hold upon their arrival. After the weather and power emergency has passed, these events may then be processed in a more orderly

manner.

To activate Emergency Monitoring Mode hold down the Shift Key and press F2 (Shift + F2 Emergency Monitoring Mode). Enter the Password (EMM) and indicate whether you are turning the Emergency Monitoring Mode on or off.

If you are turning it on set the priority level at which all events will be automatically placed on Hold.

Considering how you have set Priority Levels (1 is the highest priority and 9 is the lowest) for non-emergency events, enter a value (from this number up to 9) of the Prioritized events that are to be automatically placed on Hold. If you have properly answered the questions to activate Emergency Monitoring Mode, the screen saver box will have an EMM displayed top center.

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To turn Emergency Monitoring Mode off, press Shift + F2 again, enter the password, and request that it be turned off.

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F3 Memo Pad

When a Subscriber record is displayed on screen either while processing an alarm or during a Look Up procedure the F3 Memo Pad feature is active.

You will be given a choice of which Memo Pad you wish to view. Highlight the desired Memo Pad name and press Enter (or press the first letter of the name) to see the Memo Pads text. The Memo Pad will appear in the bottom third of the Alarm Processing screen. Because more information may be entered that can be displayed in this area, you may using the normal cursor keys scroll up and down this text file. Usually you will not be permitted to modify a Memo Pad while in an Alarm Processing screen. However, this is determined in the General Maintenance

screen found in the Other Files Maintenance menu.

F4 History

Frequently an Operator may want to refer back to previous Alarm Events sent by a particular Subscriber. To do so, press the F4 History key and enter the CSID and Dates to be reported.

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By default, the dates offered will be yesterday and today whatever those dates are and the Operator need only supply the CSID. If an Alarm Event is on screen, the CSID of the Subscriber whose alarm is on screen will also be supplied. Once the appropriate CSID and reporting Dates are entered for this Alarm History Look Up, you may specify whether you want the processing Detail for each Alarm Event included. Detail is all of the steps the Operator performed to

process the Alarm Event(s).

Shift + F4 Whos Still Opened or Closed

From time to time an Operator or shift supervisor may want to review which accounts are still Open (in the evening) or which are still Closed (in the morning). This will list only those Subscribers who are being supervised (see Opening and Closing Information in the Monitoring Information section of this manual) and whose status is the once selected below.

The report will appear as shown below.

Alternate + F4 Non-Restored Alarm Report

You will have some Alarm Events defined that require a follow-up Restore Zone be transmitted by the Subscriber to indicate that the Zone is once again

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properly operating or the premises re-closed (see Zone Code Information in the Monitoring Information section of this manual).

To view this listing, hold the Alternate key down and press F4 ( Alt+F4 NonRestored Alarms). A sample of this report appears above.

Control + F4 UL Version Trouble List

If you are using the UL Listed version of CENTRAL-1 (CS-1UL) and see a Trouble warning displayed on screen, hold down the Control key and press F4 (Ctrl+F4 UL Trouble List). The list will be shown on screen (see below)

indicating the Device(s) and the port to which they are attached.

F5 Account Testing Information

As Technicians install and service systems, proper communication with the Central Station from these Subscriber systems must to be verified. To prevent an Operator from accidentally dispatching emergency help unnecessarily, the accounts being tested should be placed into an account is only testing status. When an account is put on test, all subsequent Alarm Events sent from their location will be passively logged by the automation system, printed on the All Events Report, but will not be displayed on screen. Therefore no one can accidentally order an emergency dispatch on the account.

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Setting up an account to be on Test requires all of the following: 1. The entry of the appropriate CSID 2. Starting and ending Dates and Times for the testing period 3. Validation of who authorized the account being placed on testing status 4. Whether all or only one specific Zone will be tested.

This may be done in one of two ways: a. Press the F5 Account Testing Information function key and Insert key to add the appropriate information (see the screen illustration above). b. Have your Technicians use the Virtual Operator Module to directly dial into the automation system and set up, turn of and report the results on the Test.

Either of these methods will insert an Account Testing Information record and activate the required testing status. An Operator may at any time view, add, modify, or delete the existing information by pressing F5 and following the directions on the screen. Remember that you must include the following two the Alarm Condition Codes in the Condition Codes file to use this feature. ZT* Zone Code put on Test with F5 AT* Account Put on Test with F5

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Shift + F5 Temporary Notes Operators often receive information by telephone that requires a Temporary Note be made in the Subscribers file and displayed until a specified day whenever an Alarm Event is received for the Subscriber. After that day, the message no longer needs to be shown to an Operator. By definition, these are called Temporary Notes. Temporary Notes may be entered in the Subscriber Information screen located within the Subscriber Information menu. However, this is of no value to the Operator taking the message while in the Alarm Processing screen. To enter a Temporary Note, hold down the Shift key and press F5 ( Shift + F5 Temporary Notes). Using the Subscriber Finder, retrieve the appropriate Subscriber. Press Modify and enter the expiration date for, and note to be, displayed.

Press Quit to exit this screen.


F6 Pass Codes

Whenever an Alarm Event is displayed and on-site telephone Verification is required an Operator must identify to whom they are speaking. This is done with the use Pass Codes. Pass Codes are defined in the Call List Information screen (see Call List Information in the Monitoring Information section of this manual). To view a Subscribers Pass Codes press F6 Pass Codes. The list presented will be that same as you would see by using the F2 Look Up Call List selection.
F7 Manual Alarm Entry

There are many situations that might require an Operator to manually enter an Alarm Event. 1. You were off-line and want to recreate the Alarm Events processed during that period. 2. You have direct wire accounts not linked to the automation system.

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3. You wish to record an event (or that an alarm) in a Subscribers alarm history file.

Press F7 Manual Alarm Entry and enter the appropriate Date, Time, CSID and Zone Code. An Alarm Event will be displayed (if appropriate) for the next available Operator to process.
F8 Stack

To view the status of the Incoming Alarms Stack, press F8 Stack. If you have a command line displayed, there is also a Stack command there as well. Although you may look at the Stack just to see the Pending and on Hold alarm events, the Stack offers another feature to help your Operators better serve your Subscribers. 1. A Subscriber has called in to Cancel an Alarm. The Operator has a different Alarm Event on screen (the calling Subscribers event is still in the Pending Stack). The Operator may press F8 Stack and, using the Up and Down Arrows, point to that specific Alarm Event. Pressing Enter will select it. The Alarm Processing screen will display this new Alarm Event on screen and provide a special Command Line with Tag and Quit. The Operator may then Tag that Alarm Event and enter a reminder note as to why they pulled it out of the stack (e.g., Customer called - all OK). This Alarm Event is automatically placed on Hold and will be redisplayed for that specific Operator to be Completed after all of the other Pending Events are processed. 2. Once an Alarm Event has been Tagged, the command line will then say Un-Tag or Quit. The Operator may reverse the process (Un-Tag it) or Quit and return to the current Alarm Event that was on screen prior to this situation. (Also, see Display Stack and Receive and Show Stack Only information later in this section.)

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Control + F8 Multiple Stack Selection

The Multiple Stacks feature setup in the General Maintenance screen, allows certain Subscribers alarm events to be directed to a specific (group of) Operators. (See General Maintenance in the Getting Starting section of this manual). If you have selected to use this feature, each time an Operator chooses an Alarm Processing screen, they must select which Stack to process.

The Main Stack gets all Alarm Events that have not been specifically assigned to another Stack. At any time while processing alarms, an Operator may re-select which Stack to work with by holding down the Control and pressing the F8 function key (Ctrl+F8 Select a Stack to Process).

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F9 Exit

Many functions with one key press. Press F9 to Exit the Alarm Processing screen. Press F9 to view the Alarm Events currently placed on Hold. Press F9 to Pick an Alarm from the Holding Stack for further processing.

The F9 Exit function allows for all of these capabilities. So, if you want to Exit from an Alarm Processing screen, press F9. But if there are any Alarm Events still on Hold in the Alarm Stack, these will be displayed for you as a reminder. If you want to select and continue to process one of these, do so. Otherwise, if there are Alarm Events on Hold, and you do not want to process any of these (and do want to Exit, just enter a Zero (0) to actually exit the screen. A sample Holding Stack is shown below with an alarm from Micro Key Software placed on Hold by Operator X. That Operator or any other may

select this event for further processing. The column labeled Num represents the internally assigned record number for that event in the Stack. It is not its Incident Number, CSID or any other related number. Enter the record number listed for the event you wish to Retrieve.

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To exit, just press Enter Zero (0) is the default. Whether you press Enter to exit, or there were no Alarm Events on Hold, you will be asked to verify that you do want to Exit.
Shift + F9 Shift Change

When the Operator processing Alarms at a workstation needs to leave that station and is being replaced by another Operator (such as at a shift change), there is no need to Exit Alarm Processing to have the new Operator correctly identify themselves.

Just hold the Shift key and press F9 (Shift+F9 Shift Change) and have the next Operator sign on. This will also send information to the All Events Report noting the change of Operators.

Alternate + F9 List Operators on Duty

Who is logged onto an Alarm Processing menu? To see a list of the Operators in any type of an Alarm Processing screen, hold down the Alternate key and press F9 (Alt+F9 Operators on Duty). The list will

be immediate displayed.

Control + F9 Alarm Management Mode

In many larger Central Stations, there is a Shift Supervisor responsible for directing the Operators, answering Subscriber inquiries, and performing other managerial duties. Often this Operator needs to be in an Alarm Processing screen but doesnt want to have the next Alarm Event sent to them automatically. This Supervisor may want to selectively finish Alarm Events previously placed on Hold, mark Events as Completed where Subscriber s have called in to Cancel, of enter Events manually (from those received and processed when the automation system was off-line for maintenance or backup).

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While doing these tasks, the Supervisor would not want to process normal incoming Alarm Events but would need access to an Alarm Processing screen. By holding down the Control key and pressing F9, Alarm Management Mode may be activated (Ctrl+F9 Alarm Management Mode). The screen saver box will have [AMM] displayed between the Date and Time to indicate that this workstation will not be receiving normal alarms, only those that are specifically selected from the Stack. While in Alarm Management Mode the Operator may also manually enter (see F7 above) events without fear of being interrupted with real Alarm Events. Repeating Ctrl+F9 turns this function off.

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F10 Daily Activity Additions

Supervised Subscribers those being monitored for proper Opening, Closing and Test procedures are required to transmit certain predefined signals to the Central Station validating that the supervised event actually took place on schedule.

If a Subscriber needs to change one of these pre-arranged situations they will Open early, Close late, etc. they will either: 1. Communicate this change to the Central Station, or 2. The automation system will alert the Operator that the Subscriber has failed to perform (or acknowledge) one of their Supervised Events when required. In either case the Operator must determine (usually after consultation with the Subscriber) when the supervised event will actually occur and make a note of it in the automation system so they will not have to personally remember. To record a change in any required Daily Activity, press the F10 function key (F10 Daily Activity Additions Screen). This screen has a normal command line. It allows an Operator to Retrieve, Add, Modify, Delete, etc. the required Daily Activity. Changing a Daily Activity record

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The expected event(s) for each Subscriber for the current day are included in the Daily Activity Additions Screen. Retrieve the appropriate Subscriber by their CSID and if necessary, using the Next command as needed in case the Subscriber has several supervised events still pending locate the appropriate Daily Activity record. 1. Press Modify to change the Date or Time of the existing event. For example, if the Subscriber indicates that they will be closing later than normal, just change the End Time to when they expect to be leaving. 2. Press Delete to remove todays required event. (This does not actually delete the record but reschedules it for tomorrowor whenever the next event would normally take place. 3. Press Add to enter an entirely new Supervised Event. The Operator using this feature should be familiar with the Opening and Closing Information screen documented in the Monitoring Information section of this manual.
Shift + F10 Write Up a Service Request

If the Central Station has SERVICE-1 or ALARMS-1, the Work Order command will be part of the Command Line while processing an alarm. If you do not have an Alarm Event on screen, hold down the Shift key and press F10 to Write Up a Service Request (Shift+F10 Write Up Service Request).
Tab key

The Tab key is used as follows if an Operator has an Alarm Event on screen and another signal is received for that Same Subscriber that requires an Operators attention that signal will be placed into a Waiting Signals box.

This box will display in a long format (as illustrated above) or a short format (shown below) depending on the Operators preference. The Operator may toggle between the long and short Waiting Signals box by pressing the Tab key.

Also see the information about the Select Related Signals box in the Only Process section of this manual (immediately following the Write Up Service Request section below).
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Write Up a Service Request If you are using SERVICE-1 or ALARMS-1 in conjunction with CENTRAL-1, while processing an Alarm Event, once you have finished the basic Verify and if required Dispatch steps and have the command line displayed, you may Write Up a Service Request by selecting Work Order

from that command line.

This screen will provide your Operator with most of the information they need to converse with your Subscriber in a way that gives that Subscriber the feeling that you actually know who they are. This screen is divided into Location and System information sections. The Date of their Last Service Call will be displayed at the top (assuming they have one recorded). In addition to this information, there are special Command Line and Function Key choices to assist the Operator in providing better service to this Subscriber. Note the phrase EXTENDED WARRANTY & SERVICE in the Location section of the screen. It appears immediately to the right of the Warranty Ends (expires) date field. This part of the screen will always tell the Operator the status of the Subscribers account in relation to their Warranty or Service Contract coverage, or the complete lack of it.

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Service Tracking System command line choices

History This selection will present a Listing of all previous Completed Service. It includes the Technician who performed the service, the date of that service, the service type code and a brief description of what was done.

Sched This selection starts the Schedule Listing dialogue. All Scheduled Work Orders may be listed, or you may choose to limit the list to those assigned to a specific Technician or those scheduled within a range of dates. These last two choices will require you to enter the desired Technicians code or the desired Dates.

Dial - If you have a modem attached to your computer and it is connected to an outside telephone line, pressing Dial will automatically dial the Subscribers telephone number. Press the space bar when they answer. WO-Find This selection will allow you to locate the Subscriber record based on the input of an open Work Orders number. Enter the Work Order Number and the system will move you to that Subscriber record. If no incomplete Work Order matches the number you will see a message accordingly. F3 Memo Pad Each Subscriber has three, free form Note Pads attached to their file. These Memo Pads allow you to enter comments about this Subscriber, their system, and conversations you have had with them. In addition the Service Ticket itself also has its own Memo Pad.

Enter Service Request Information

Once you have selected the correct Subscriber, that by default will be the one displayed on the Alarm Processing screen, press Zoom and the Add to actually enter the Service Request Information. Enter a Priority number (from 1 9) and if known the code for the Service Type of this request. The defaults for the Requested On date and Scheduled date will be the current date. Modify these as required. Enter the name of the person requesting service, the Condition(s) they are reporting and any related Comment(s) about the problem that they may offer. Save the record. To schedule this Service Request, use the Schedule command line selection. Once you determine when the work is to be done, use the F6 Time-Slot function to enter the appropriate information.

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Enter the Scheduling Instructions, Slot Number (see Assigning Time Slots below), Technician code and the Scheduled date. Press the Page Down key when you are finished.

Assigning Time Slots In the service business it is very difficult to predict exactly when a technician will arrive at the Subscribers premises unless it is their first stop of the day. Problems often take longer to find and repair than expected. We recommend that you use the concept of Time Slots instead. Defining and Explaining Time Slots to your Subscribers Because an exact arrival time by your Technician is difficult to predict, we suggest that you tell your Subscribers which Time Slot they have been assigned (i.e., 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.) for that day. Then, in subsequent conversations with that Subscriber, you can estimate when the Technician will be there (you are assigned his fourth time slot today and he is just finishing up his second).

Reporting Time Slots Internally If you are following this procedure, when the Service Department prints an Open Service Requests Report listed by Technician, they will see the Work Orders scheduled for that Technician listed in the appropriate Time Slot Order.

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Only Process
For those Central Stations operating on a Network and who have more than one workstation in their Central Station on which to process alarms, the Only Process selection on the Alarm Processing Menu is used by all Operators except the one workstation actually reading the receiver(s) to process alarms. This selection allows any number of Operators at any number of workstations to simultaneously process incoming Alarm Events. The automation system will send the next most important alarm to the next available Operator automatically based on Priority Number and within that Priority, the Date and Time the Alarm Event was received. As with all Alarm Processing screens, the Operator must sign on with their Employee Code. Once properly signed on, they will become available to the incoming Stack. As additional Alarm Events are received, they are distributed to the available Operators on an as available basis.

All other function keys, procedures, and command line options are the same as in the Process and Receive menu selection so please read that section of this manual carefully. Two other Alarm Processing features are detailed below. These are: 1. The Waiting Signals box which shows an Operator that additional signals have been sent to the Central Station by the Subscriber currently on their screen. 2. The Select Related Signals box which allows an Operator to check off those additional signals received while processing a Subscribers Alarm Event that they would like Completed with the original signal.

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Waiting Signals box

Note if an Operator has an Alarm Event on screen and another signal is received for that Same Subscriber that requires an Operators attention that signal will be placed into a Waiting Signals box.

This box will display in a long format (as illustrated above) or a short format (shown below) depending on the Operators preference. The Operator may toggle between the long and short Waiting Signals box by pressing the Tab key.

This Waiting Signals box will only be displayed if there are additional pending Alarm Events for the same Subscriber. The (long or short) format may be repeatedly changed as needed. When the original Alarm Event is Completed, the Operator may select any or all of the other Waiting Signals to be completed as well (see Select Related Signals box below).
Select Related Signals box

Once the Alarm Event has been processed and marked as Completed, a Select Related Signals check-off box will be displayed showing the other Alarm Events that have been received from this Subscriber while the Operator was processing their original Alarm Event.

These events will be those that were previously displayed in the Waiting Signals box. These related events could all be marked as Completed at the same time. To do so:
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1. The Priority level of these events is equal to or less than (the same of higher number) that of the original signal 2. The Operator must highlight the Alarm Event(s) that they want to mark as Completed 3. The Operator would then press the Space Bar which will place a Check Mark next to that event.

4. Additional selections would be made in the same manner. 5. Once all of the desired Related Signals are chosen, the Operator presses Enter to complete them.

Display Stack & Receive


This Display Stack and Receive selection should be used only by Central Stations operating on a Network who want to have a workstation dedicated to reading all of their Receivers and continuously displaying the Alarm Stack. This is the recommended method to receive signals into the automation system.

As with all Alarm Processing menu selections, the Operator selection this screen must sign on using their designated Operator (Employee) Code. Once signed on, the columns of information illustrated above will be displayed. The Alarm Events in the Stack are sorted automatically and listed in Priority Order. Each Alarm Events priority is assigned to each Zone Code for each Subscriber when entering monitoring information (see the Monitoring Information section earlier in this manual). The sorting is by Priority Number and by Date and Time within each priority number. Priorities are assigned 1 to 9 with 1 being the highest priority level. Levels of priority are displayed in different colors to make the information more readily understandable when quickly viewed.

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Page Up & Page Down

Because the Alarm Stack may contain more Alarm Events than could be displayed on one screen, the Page Down, Page Up, Home and End keys will allow you to navigate through the Stack as needed. Multiple Stacks

The Multiple Stacks feature which is setup in the General Maintenance screen, allows certain Subscribers alarm events to be directed to a specific (group of) Operators. If using this feature, each time an Operator chooses this or any other Alarm Processing screen, they must select which Stack to process.

The Main Stack gets all Alarm Events that have not been specifically assigned to another Stack. At any time while in the Display Stack and Receive screen, an Operator may re-select which Stack to work with by holding down the Control and pressing the F8 function key (Ctrl+F8 Select a Stack to Process). F9

To exit the Display Stack and Receive screen which would be done rarely press F9.

Show Stack Only


The Show Stack Only selection is primarily used as a Management Tool on Central Stations operating on a Network. As an example, if the office of the Central Stations manager is located outside the Central Station control room itself, and that manager wanted to see what is happening in the Central Station, they could select Show Stack Only from any workstation on the Network to view the Alarm Stack. The same would be true for any other member of the Company who had rights to the Alarm Processing Menu and needed to view the Stack.
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As with Display Stack and Receive, only the Page Up and Page Down, F9 (Exit) and if using Multiple Stacks the Control + F8 functions are active.

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Backup CENTRAL-1 Data


There are many methods that could be used to back up the critical data used by your Central Station. These include MSBACKUP.EXE, PKZIP.EXE, the DOS BACKUP, COPY and XCOPY and the Novell Netware NCOPY commands. Various back up devices and their related software products are available to make this task easier, faster and more reliable. Whatever choice you make for creating Back Ups of your data, the most important decision you will make is the decision to actually perform a back up regularly.

To this end, a Backup Central-1 Data menu selection on the Alarm Processing Menu allows you to predefine the command that executes the back up method you chosen. Generally, this is accomplished by creating a DOS batch file that calls the program (along with any required parameters) that actually performs the data back up. Once you have selected your back up method and created the batch file to execute it, in the General Maintenance screen you may enter the batch file command that executes your back up procedure. It is important to note here that most back up procedures require all Operators to exit any data entry or Alarm Processing screen within CENTRAL-1 (except of course the Operator performing the back up) to ensure that all files will be properly copied. See the additional discussion on back ups in Appendix B.

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Report Printing Menu


From the Main Menu select the Report Printing Menu to view the screen shown below. This is where you may print, view, calculate monitoring results and in many other ways, see the information you have entered into CENTRAL1.

Each report will be described individually with output examples provided. We recommend that once you have connected your Receiver(s) and defined and fully tested your first Test Subscriber you print a sample of each of these reports. Note the ones you think will be the most useful in your daily operations and the ones you will want to periodically print for planning, review or reference purposes.

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Subscriber Information Forms


From the Main Menu select Report Printing Menu and then choose Subscriber Information Forms. This report will provide you with detailed Central Station related Subscriber Information. It is actually three reports in one (a common functionality with many of the report selections within CENTRAL-1) with alternatives offered for each. 1. A Subscriber Information Listing used for Manually processing alarms (the Manual format) in the event of a complete automation system failure. 2. A Full Subscriber Information Listing that provides virtually every piece of information (the Full format) stored within the system 3. A Short Listing with just very basic Subscriber Information 4. More variations on all of the above. Which report you get is determined by the answers you give to the following questions.

When you select this report, the first decision is whether you want one Subscriber Information Form or (All or some sub-set of) All of them.

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If you choose One (by answering yes in the query box shown above), you will be asked the following questions: a. Enter the CSID for the Subscriber Enter the CSID for the Subscriber for whom you want this form printed. b. Is this the correct Subscriber After viewing the displayed Subscriber information (which should be the Subscriber you wanted), answer yes or no as appropriate. If you choose more than one (by answering no in the query box shown above), you will be asked the following questions: a. Select the desired Special Selection Criteria or select All according to what is needed. See Appendix F for more information regarding Special Selection Criteria to filter for the specific Subscriber Information Forms you want listed. b. Enter the sorting order in which you want these forms printed. 1. To create a Manual Alarm Processing Set of Subscriber Information Forms to be used for manually processing alarms in the event of a complete automation system failure (or your periodic practice sessions designed to train for such an event) you would want to print these forms in CSID order. 2. If you are creating a simple Short Form Listing of Subscribers for quick look up of what Subscriber has what CSID, you would select the Title order. 3. If you had SERVICE-1 and wanted a set for forms in the Subscribers Service Account Number order you would select Service. 4. If you also are using the ALARMS-1 Accounts Receivable module and wanted a list in ARS Number order, select accordingly. Once you have answered the One Subscriber form versus more than one series of start up questions, the following questions will determine the content (and basic format) of the Subscriber Information Form(s) you will print. Start by selecting the format of the Subscriber Information Forms you wish to print. A discussion of each forms purpose appears below. They each have a specific usage but all of them are needed at different times. Please make a sample of each and become familiar with how the optional questions (and your answers) affect the results. a. Full Information Forms These forms will list in minute detail all of the requested information relating to the data entered for this account. The
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format is designed to assist you in diagnosing why a specific alarm event did or did not occur (and was not processed) as you had expected. b. Manual Information Forms These are used to create a set of binders (usually sorted and stored in CSID order) that are always available in case of a complete automation system failure. The information, required to manually process alarms, should be included on these forms. c. Memos Information Forms This format is used when you want to print Subscriber account information and include all of their Memo Pad entries but no Zone Codes, Call Lists, etc. d. Short List This listing provides basic information about the Subscriber such as their Name, CSID, Telephone Number, system Type, and if they are owned by a Dealer for whom you are providing Monitoring Services, the Dealer Code. Optionally you may include their address. See the discussion on selecting the desired order in which these forms are printed for more insight into which format you should use for what purpose. Depending on the format youve chosen, additional formatting questions may be asked. Each possible question that you might encounter is described below with its intent and purpose. May your choices depending on your needs. Try printing many samples of these reports to, determine the forms you find best for your own Central Station. Would you like Open/Close Schedules on your Manual Sheets? If you have selected Manual Information sheets and are providing Supervisory services to some of your Subscribers, answer yes, otherwise answer no. Would you like Call List information on your Manual Sheets? If you provide Subscriber Alarm Event Call Notification and are printing your Manual Sheets for your manual alarm processing system, answer yes, otherwise answer no. Truncate Zone Description when it exceeds 40 characters? If you have selected Manual Information sheets and want the report to be as short as practical you may have all Zone Description characters longer than 40 be eliminated for this report. This is only necessary if you tend to enter very long Zone Descriptions. Print Generic Zone Codes? If you have select Manual or Full Information Sheets and are using Generic Zone Codes to speed data entry (and ensure consistency), answer yes to have these Zone Codes and Descriptions included, otherwise answer no.

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Print Memo Pad Information on the Report? If you have select Manual or Full Information Sheets and are using the F3 Memo Pad feature to store any free form information, you may request that that information be included. If you answer yes, you may then individually select the Memo Pad(s) to be included (System, Notes and/or Central). Include Address Line? If you selected the Short format you may have the Subscribers address information included.

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Call List Verification Forms


There are many Call List related information changes that should be reported to you by your Subscribers. These include new telephone numbers, changes in their desired group of responsible parties, and new or terminated employees with Passwords. These changes should be reported to you, but they often are not! Periodically you should forward to your Subscribers a list of the Call List, Passwords and related information you have on file for them. They should verify the accuracy of this data and submit any required changes to you. To assist you in this process, use the Call List Verification Forms found in the Report Printing Menu. Mail one to each Subscriber at least annually (if not more frequently) and track their return. Print a Short Form listing (see Subscriber Information Forms above) and check off each Subscriber who returns their Call List Verification Form. Then have your Operators (as time allows) call anyone who has not returned theirs. Before you may use this report, you must enter the message that will appear on these Call List forms (see Message for Call List Form in the Files Maintenance section of this manual) in Options for Reports found in the Other Files Maintenance Menu.

You may print a Call List Verification form for one or (a sub-set of) all of your Subscribers. As with the Subscriber Information Forms report, when you choose One, you must identify which one (by their CSID), otherwise you may make a Special Selection of whose verification forms you want printed. Thereafter, by answering a series of questions, you may customize what is included on this set of Call List Verification Forms. These questions, and their purpose, are outlined below: a. Print Attention Line on Report? If you use the Attention Line for internal purposes answer no, otherwise, answer yes. b. Print Pass codes on Report? If you want any Pass codes that have been defined to be included on this report, answer accordingly. c. Print memo Pad Information on Report? If one or more of the your Subscribers Memo Pads (System, Notes and/or Central) includes information that must be verified by your Subscribers, answer yes then indicate which memo Pad(s) you want included. The forms will be printed in such a way as to allow you to insert them into a standard #10 window envelop for easy stuffing and mailing.

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Alarm Activity Reports


From time to time you will want to view and/or print a history of alarm, supervisory, passive and active events that have occurred within a specified time period. These reports may be used to check when, how and why an alarm was received and processed. From the Report Printing Menu select Alarm Activity Reports. Date(s) and Times with the Date(s) that you want reported. Enter the

By default, it will be all of today but you may change the defaults to anything that is needed. As with most of these reports, you may choose to report for All Subscribers (with Alarm Activity). If you answer no, and thereby select to print just one Subscribers Alarm Activity, you must enter their CSID and verify your selection. If you choose to print Alarm Activity for All Subscribers, you may further restrict whose Alarm Activity will be included by Dealer Code. If you do not have Alarm Dealers for whom you provide Monitoring Services, specify No Specific Dealer. However, if you do provide Dealer Monitoring Services, you may print Alarm Activity for One or a group of Dealers, as required. If you choose One Dealer, you will be requested to enter that Dealers Dealer Code. For Some Dealers, you must enter the Starting and Ending Dealer Codes (they are sorted alphabetically) as required. Include Condition Summary for each Subscriber? If this report covers some extended period of time or is for one Subscriber only, you may want to have the quantity each type of a Subscribers Alarms Events summarized.

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Include Condition Summary for Entire Report? If this report covers some extended period of time, you may want to have the quantity each type of each Subscribers Alarms Events summarized for the entire report. Print Summary(s) ONLY (No Subscriber Detail)? If this report covers some extended period of time, you may want to have the quantity each type of each Subscribers Alarms Events summarized for the entire report skipping the listing of each individual Subscriber. Print Detail on Each Signal? You may include each action step performed by an Operator for each alarm event reported. Print Only Alarm Conditions? You may have the report only include alarm events that actually required Operator action. Print Operator Notes on Report? As Operators deal alarm events, they may make Notes about one of more of the steps theyve taken. You may include these notes on the report. Include Incident Numbers on Report? Each alarm event is permanently assigned an Incident Number. You may have the Incident Numbers for each alarm event included on the report. Select Additional Formatting options as presented.

Important: Remember that all alarm events are defined with Condition Codes (see Conditions Codes in the Files Maintenance section of this manual) and when entering each of these codes, you are required to indicate which codes will appear on which type of report. Once you have made your choices, the final selection box illustrated above is displayed if you requested alarm event detail (see above) and involves whether you want: a. The time of each line item of Detail (Operator action step) for each Alarm Event to be included on the report. b. The Operators Initials who executed each line item of Detail (Operator action step) for each Alarm Event to be included on the report (useful if multiple Operators routinely handle the same alarm event). c. You need neither of these pieces of information included on the report.

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Print Alarm Tickets


You may need a Report for Alarm Events sent by a specific Subscriber within a certain time frame with every available item of data relating to that event included. These are typically needed as a result of an actual Burglary, Fire or supervised loss. The Police or Fire department, an Insurance Company, or the actual Subscriber may request this report. As with the other alarm event related reports, you may request the report for one or many Subscribers, the time frame to be covered and the actual contents of the report and involves whether you want which of the following: a. The time of each line item of Detail (Operator action step) for each Alarm Event to be included on the report.

b. The Operators Initials who executed each line item of Detail (Operator action step) for each Alarm Event to be included on the report (useful if multiple Operators routinely handle the same alarm event). c. You need neither of these pieces of information included on the report. This report will print one page of information for each alarm event that occurred for the designated Subscriber within the time frame requested. If additional Subscribers have been entered into the system since the last alarm activity related report was printed, you must Update your Subscriber Look Up Table. This is not Files Indexing and you do not need to exit other users from the system to execute this procedure.

Opening/Closing Reports
Whether or not you are providing Supervision for Opening and Closing activity, you are almost certainly receiving Opening and Closing events at your Central Station. If so, many of the Subscribers transmitting that information will require a periodic (Daily, Weekly, Biweekly or Monthly) report of their Opening and Closing activity. Important: Remember that all alarm events are defined with Condition Codes (see Conditions Codes in the Files Maintenance section of this manual) and when entering each of these codes, you are required to indicate which codes will appear on which type of report.

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An Opening or Closing event is a Condition, they are assigned a Condition Code and the appropriate codes must be noted whether they are to be included on this type of report. Specify the Dates to be reported and whether you want one or many Subscribers included on this report. You may also specify the Dealer(s) whose reports will be printed. If additional Subscribers have been entered into your automation system since the last alarm activity related report was printed, you must Update your Subscriber Look Up Table. This is not Files Indexing and you do not need to exit other users from the system to execute this procedure. You will then be asked to specify whether you want the Detail of each Opening and Closing signal (and any other events with Condition Codes you have specified are to be included on this report), any Notes entered by an Operator and the Subscribers Attention Line information. In the Subscriber record in the O/C Report field a D = Daily, W = Weekly, B = Biweekly, M = Monthly and blank means no report is needed. In this manner, Subscribers may be identified as needing an Opening and Closing Report. If they do, a Cycle Code is used to signify this requirement. The Cycle Code assigned determines the frequency in which the Opening and Closing Report will be sent to the Subscriber. When printing this report, you must enter the Cycle Code for the group of Subscribers to be included on this Opening and Closing Report. Then specify whether you want the Incident Number included. Next, determine whether you want which of the following: a. The time of each line item of Detail (Operator action step) for each Alarm Event to be included on the report. b. The Operators Initials who executed each line item of Detail (Operator action step) for each Alarm Event to be included on the report (useful if multiple Operators routinely handle the same alarm event). c. You need neither of these pieces of information included on the report. Finally, indicate whether you want the Subscribers Pass codes to be included (to verify the data) and whether the CSID should be included on the report.

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Non-Restored Alarms Report


Some alarm events require that a special restored step must be completed before that supervised condition can again work properly. As examples: a. A Fire Trouble signal should always (eventually after the problem is fixed) be followed by a Fire Restore signal. b. A Latching Panic Button must be manually reset (and transmit a signal accordingly) before it may be used again. c. High Temperature alarm signal sent by a Freezer supervisory device must eventually send an OK to indicate that all is again nice and chilly. When defining specific Zone Code Information you may designate that a particular Zone Code must be restored (and the Zone Code that represents the restored status has occurred). If one of these Zone Codes is received, it will immediately be considered a Non-Restored Alarm and will be included in the Non-Restored Alarms Report until such time as the proper Restore signal is received. From the Report Printing Menu select the Non-Restored Alarms Report and print it. No other steps or questions need to be answered.

Failed to Test Report


You may define any number of Account Testing Information records to supervise the proper operation of your Subscribers communication link to your Central Station or other periodic test situations that you may want to ensure the proper operation of. If an account fails to meet the required check in cycle defined in their Account Testing Information record(s), an entry is made in the Failed to Test Report. This report will continue to contain the Subscriber information relating to the test failure until a valid test is received. From the Reports Printing Menu select the Failed to Test Report and print it. There are no other steps required.

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Dealer Breakdown Report


Many Alarm Companies are providing Monitoring Services for other alarms dealers or have used the Dealer Code to identify some other special block of Subscribers (e.g., a large chain of stores or banks). If you do, you will want to periodically review the number of accounts assigned to each Dealer and certain other pertinent information that will assist you in the Evaluation and Billing of your Dealers. For this purpose, from the Report Printing Menu select the Dealer Breakdown Report.

Each time you select this report you may simply reprint the current status (recalculated on the date shown on screen) or Recalculate the Report for a New Period. If you choose to recalculate, you must enter the Month Number and Year desired as the report calculates its totals based on specific date sensitive information. The New Account calculation is based on the number of Subscribers (for that Dealer) whose On Line Dates falls within the designated month and year. For each Dealer, the report sub-divides accounts by Account Type (C = Commercial, R = Residential, etc.) and within each account type group, by their Opening and Closing Report requirement. It then shows the number of new accounts for that period and the total on line. The report will perform its calculations for all monitored Subscribers, those that are and those that are not assigned a Dealer Code. The first section will report on those Subscribers without a Dealer Code (see the illustration above where it says Your Company Name Appears Here followed by [ ]).

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Then there will be a detail section for each defined Dealer Code that has been assigned to one or more Subscribers.

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Whos Still Open/Closed?


Some of your Subscribers will be classified as Supervised accounts. You will be responsible to track when they opened and when they closed following a predefined schedule provided by that Subscriber. Although the automation system will track, remind you of anomalies, and store all of the supervised events automatically, you may from time to time want to see an up to the minute listing of Who it still Open and Who is Closed among those supervised accounts. From the Reports Printing Menu select the Whos Still Open/Closed? Report. Chose which case you want listed. Print the report.

Too Many Signals Report


Supposed you want to know, for the month of March, which Subscribers created too much signal traffic within your Central Station? And once you had this information, is there some remedial action you could be taking with these Subscribers to reduce this excessive load on our Operators? Clearly, being able to precisely identify the Subscribers that are sending too many signals will provide you the means to know who needs additional attention, training or fees applied. If you are providing Monitoring Services for other Dealers, when you define their Dealer Codes you are also able to indicate the Maximum Active and Passive signals per Subscriber that this dealer is allowed. When you select the Too Many Signals Report from the Reports Printing menu you must enter: 1. The Starting and Ending Dates to be considered. 2. What you consider to be the Maximum Number of Allowable Active and Passive Signals for those Subscribers not assigned a Dealer Code (see illustration above). After making these selections, just print the report. The reports header is shown below illustrating the information that will be provided.

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History Summary Report


This report will provide you with a detailed listing of the quantity processed of each type of event (see the report sample below) handled by your Operators. You must first enter and validate the Starting and Ending date selections for the report. Every Alarm Event is stored in an Alarm History File stored by the month and year it occurred. Each Alarm Event is internally assigned an Auto Log code when it is stored. A calculation procedure that accumulates the quantity of events assigned each of these internally assigned Auto Logged codes will be completed and you may then print the report. Once each months History is summarized by Auto Log Type (see below), a recap totals section is printed. This format is repeated for each month requested (in your date selections). Finally, an annual recap is presented. Code History Notes h Operator's Initials o Operator's Initials Description of Processing Step Signal Put On Hold by Operator Signal Taken Off Hold by Operator Contains Description

v 1st 17 Chars = Verify Response Last 3 Chars = Operator

Operator who made the verify 1 TO 9 OR R Responding Authority C/N Only When Dial Responding Authority

D 1st Char = Who was Called 2nd Char = Dial Response Chars 4 to 13 Dispatch #

Last 3 Chars = Operator Operator who made call C Comment Information E English Language A 1st 3 = Operator X 1st 3 = Operator Notes Made by Operator English Direct from Receiver Operator who handled Esc to command line

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Efficiency of Operators Report


How much time (on average) does it take each Operator from when an Operator acknowledges an alarm (by pressing the Space Bar) to when its marked as Completed or placed on Hold? You will be quite surprised at the disparities between Operators. It is useful information to help you determine are your most efficient Operators, and to identify who might need additional training. From the Reports Printing Menu select the Efficiency of Operators Report. Enter and confirm the Starting and Ending dates to be examined. Print the report. A sample of the reports header illustrates (below) the data reported. The report is sorted by Operator (Employee Code) and lists the number of New Alarm Events acknowledged and the number of alarms on Hold that were processed. The average minutes to process each of these types is shown on the right.

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Response Time Report


How much time (on average) does it take an Operator to acknowledge an Alarm Event? The time calculated from the moment it enters the Stack it is accepted from your Receiver(s) and when it is actually acknowledged by an Operator by their pressing the Space Bar. If this number is too large, you need more Operators.

From the Reports Printing Menu select the Response Time Report and enter and confirm the Starting and Ending dates to be examined. Print the report. It provides the following information.

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Contracts Tracking System


Contracts Monitoring, Service and Lease contracts and UL Certificates are the lifeblood of the Security Industry and represent the true value of your alarm company. Keeping track of when and which of these contracts need to be renewed is a chore best done by ALARMS-1. If you have the UL Listed Version of CENTRAL-1 the Contracts Tracking System will be available to you. From the Subscriber Information menu select the Maintain Contract Information.

Add/Update Contract Item Select Add/Update Contract Item. Subscriber and Zoom to Enter the Information form.

Retrieve the appropriate Subscribers Contract

Press Add (or Modify to change existing information) and enter a Contract Control Number (usually their CSID although it may be any letter

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or number combination) and the expiration date(s) of the contract type(s) to which this Subscriber has subscribed. Additional comments may be entered when needed. UL Certificates may also be tracked here. If this Subscriber has a certificate on their system, enter the Certificate Number, extent of Coverage and the certificates expiration date. There is a special Contract command line choice on this screen. Selecting Contract will allow you to selectively Modify the expiration date of a specific Contract Type without passing through each of the screens fields as would occur if you were using the Modify command.

Press the letter corresponding to the Contract Type that needs to have its expiration date modified and enter the number of years that this contract has been extended. Additional contract records for the same Subscriber may be added when necessary. Contract Information Report Once you have defined your Contract Information, at any time thereafter you may request a Contract Information Report. By specifying the appropriate report dates and indicating the type of Contract Renewals you want reported, you will see a list of those Subscribers whose specified Contract(s) will be expiring within those

dates.

Select the type of contract you want reported (or choose All) and then choose the order in which these are to be listed (i.e., Title, CSID, ARS Number or Service Account number).
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Enter and confirm the Starting and Ending Dates for this report (by default - the first and last day of the next month) and print the report in the normal manner.

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Universal Look-Up Utility


Sometimes you need to locate a Subscriber, Call List or Zone Information, etc. record, and you have very little to use to identify which record you are searching for. Using the Universal Look-Up Utility, you will probably be able to locate the desired record with some small extraneous piece of data. The Universal Look-Up Utility (U) is available in Files Maintenance and as the General look up selection using the F2 Look Up function on any Alarm Processing menu.. If you select this option by mistake, select the Quit (Q) option, otherwise press the Look-Up (L) choice.

Some Concepts about the Universal Look-Up Capabilities: Information is stored in fields. Sets of fields that contain related information make up records. These records are contained within a database sometimes called a file. You may search a specified database (i.e., Subscribers, Call Lists, Zones, etc., file) with a user defined piece of information to locate the record(s) that contain that information. If you choose, you may specify (and limit the search to) the Field name where the system is to look for that information. The databases you have to choose from will be determined by the combination of programs

installed on your computer.

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Choose the file to search.

Therefore, the first thing you must do is to specify the database in which to look. Once the database file is selected on which the search will be performed, a list of available search fields in each of its records contained within that database will be displayed. If you want to locate a record based on a piece of information in One of these Fields, highlight that field and press Enter. If you want to search all the fields in the record for the information, select All of the Above.

Enter the information that will best identify the record you want to find. This Search String may be letters, numbers or punctuation. Once entered, the procedure will search each record of the type youve identified above for the piece of information entered as your Search String. It will either look in the Search Field you specified above or look in all of the fields in the record type selected if you selected All of the Above. If a record is found containing the Search String information you entered, it will be displayed. Note that the Search String may be located ANYWHERE within the field (or all fields if so requested) youve specified.

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In the example below the letter A was entered as the Search String and the Account Name field was to be searched. The results show that an A was found in the middle of the line.

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Once a match is found for the information you entered as the Search String, that record is displayed and becomes the default record. You may request to continue the search if the located record is not the one you need or answer yes (Y) to select the displayed record.

At anytime during the search process you may press the Space Bar to abort the search procedure. You will then be offered the opportunity abort the search or continue again.

When you exit this screen, you may attempt another Look Up or choose to Quit the Universal Look Up procedure and return to the menu. If you have searched for a Subscriber, that located Subscriber record will be displayed the next time you access any screen containing Subscriber Information.

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Appendix

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Appendix B Backup Procedures


It seems that every other page of this manual says that you have to make another Backup. Why are we being so careful? It's your business that's at stake here and if you don't back up when you should, who will? The rule for backup frequency is simple: If you won't mind doing it all over again since the last back up, don't bother... But if the last backup is "bad" or defective when you need it, you might have to do everything over again...The procedures we recommend on the following pages are designed to prevent this from ever happening. If you follow them carefully, you'll never have to worry about starting all over again. If you don't - you may. There are several questions (and choices) that are always asked about Backups: 1. What should I backup (programs, data files, everything on the hard disk)? 2. How often should I backup (daily, weekly, monthly, or occasionally)? 3. How do I backup (what "DOS" commands are needed)? 4. What backup methods are available (disk, tape, other hard drive, etc.)? This section will answer each of these questions and explain why. You'll find that there are choices that you must make depending on how much data is entered into ALARMS-1TM (and other programs you may be using), how frequently it's changed, whether you are using a Network (or just one computer), and what backup device(s) you have available to use. How and when you backup is still your choice. Here we will try to give you the knowledge you'll need to make the right decision.

WHAT SHOULD I BACKUP?


Assuming that you always keep the latest Upgrade Disks for each program you are using (in a safe and secure place), there is really no need to back up these programs over and over again during your regular (hopefully daily) backup procedure. In the case of ALARMS-1TM, all files that must be backed up (that cannot be recreated by the Program or Upgrade disks themselves) have a file name extension that begins with .db*. This means that whether you're using ALARMS-1TM, CENTRAL-1tm, APS-1TM, GL-1TM, PAY-1TM, REPORTS-1TM, PROS-1TM, or SERVICE-1TM, as long as you have a valid backup of all the files that have that .db* extension - in each of the sub-directories these programs are using, you'll be
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able to recover from most any type of database or hardware failure that may occur. However, from time to time (usually at least once each month), it's a good idea to backup everything on your computer and save this backup indefinitely (at least for a year). This is because this full backup will contain many other files from many other programs that you'll be using (not from MICRO KEY SOFTWARE) that you might not know how to backup (or simply forget to do so regularly).

H O W O F T E N S H O U L D I B AC K U P ?
Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Occasionally at Other Times to are actually all correct answers! This is because the most frequently recommended backup procedure is as follows: 1. Daily: Backup all critical data at least once each day (or on any day that any changes, additions, or transactions were made) using the "Even-Odd Daily/Weekly/Monthly" method detailed below. Always save the paper detail of whatever was entered into your programs for several days. Mark the packet for each day's work with a unique batch control number, preferably the one used while posting payments. If a full week passes with no problems (there is no need to restore a backup and re-enter certain days data), you may then file what is necessary to save and dispose of the unneeded portion of the paper detail. 2. Weekly: Each week a backup of all critical data should be made, and that backup set should be removed from the premises. A water leak (or fire) could easily destroy you disks (tapes) in a box in your office. Even a fireproof safe can allow damage to disks and tapes should the time or temperature of that fire exceed the safe's rating. Remember Hurricane Andrew, the Storm of the Century in '93 or El Nno, and other natural disasters are completely unpredictable. Make sure that at least one set of backups of your business data is stored, at all times, nowhere near that business. This may seem like an over-reaction and we hope you'll never need it, but reality is reality, and Murphy always wins these kinds of battles. 3. Monthly: Periodically (and once each month is ideal) a complete backup of everything stored on your hard disk(s) should be backed up. This backup is best stored in a bank safe deposit box. It is the final disaster recovery fall back you'll have and we want you to be confident that it will be there when you need it.

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Never remove a backup set from the bank safe deposit box unless you have replaced it with another newer backup. We actually know a case where the disks were removed to remake the monthly backup set (rather than having a separate set of backup disks), it was never done (not in time anyway) and was later needed very badly. Don't make that mistake! 4. Occasionally: Certain batch processes (Recurring Billing, and Month Ending Procedures in all our programs) must run from start to finish without interruption. If the process fails for any reason, a backup must be immediately restored, the files Indexed, and the process re-run. It's much easier to recover from this type of situation if you make a backup of just what is needed when it's needed. The backup procedure usually doesn't take that long and the potential time saved - if an immediate restoral of your data is needed - is worth the effort. Simply stated, if you've come to the end of the day and you've worked on your computer(s) that day, make a backup.

HOW DO I BACKUP?
What "DOS" commands are needed to make a backup? This of course depends on which program's data you are backing up. However, there is a simple template we can offer here that can easily be adapted to any program's data (even those that are not from MICRO KEY SOFTWARE). First, let's test whether you have a backup program installed. At your DOS prompt (usually referred to as your "C>" prompt) type the word backup and press <ENTER>. You'll get an error message like " Source Drive Not Specified" (or similar) if you have the backup command properly installed. If you get an error message like "File not found" or "Bad command or filename" it means that your backup command is not available from your default directory or is not installed. Call MICRO KEY SOFTWARE if this occurs and we will attempt to provide some possible solutions to this, problem. In ALARMS-1TM, all data for your primary company (or, if you are not using the multiple company capability of this program, your only company) is located in a directory called "\alarms\" on the hard disk drive where it was originally installed. For those using only one computer this is usually (but not always) drive "C:". For those on a "Network", this is usually (but not always) drive "F:".

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Similarly, the APS-1TM files are in an "\aps\" directory, the GL-1TM files in a "\gl\" directory and the PAY-1 files in a "\pay\" directory. SERVICE-1TM and REPORTS-1TM files are always found along side those used by ALARMS-1TM or CENTRAL-1tm in the "\alarms\" directory. PROS-1 files will be where ever you decided to put them when that program was first installed. This might be in the " \alarms\" directory, but could also be in a "\pros\" or "\prospect\" directory. You must know on which drive you've installed your programs! In any case, the "DOS" backup command syntax for ALARMS-1TM is as follows (assuming you are using MSDOS 5.00 or lower):
backup c:\alarms\*.db* a:

Please Note: If you are using a newer version of DOS, Version 6.00 of higher or Windows, you must use the MSBACKUP command supplied with them. The MSBACKUP changes required in your backup procedures are explained later in this section.

If you've installed the program on a drive other than drive C:, substitute that drive letter. For those of you who are using the multiple company selection feature, you must make individual backups of each company's database files using different sets of disks for each.

Each of these additional companies should have been installed in a subdirectory below the "\alarms\" directory. Assuming that this is the case, the backup command to save the data files for the additional companies is:
backup c:\alarms\company2\*.db* a:

Substitute the correct drive letter and directory name that's appropriate. The a: at the end is the floppy disk drive where this backup is to be sent. If you want to use your drive b: instead, just use a b: in place of the a: in this command.

WHAT BACKUP METHODS ARE AVAILABLE AND ACCEPTABLE?


Floppy Disk, Tape, Another Hard Drive, and Zip Disks are the most common types of backup solutions used today. They'll be explained below including their pros and cons.
Please Note: Often more than one method is used. You can never have too many backups!
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1. Floppy Disk - By far the most common and least expensive and still one of the most reliable methods of backup. With the newer high density disks having a capacity equal to 3 or 4 standard double sided double density floppies, fewer disks (and less time) are needed to backup. When backing up, you would use the backup commands explained on the previous page. A caution is needed however when using floppies. Always re-format the disks you're using repeatedly at least once each month. From frequent handling, these disks often develop bad sectors (small areas on the disk that can no longer be reliably read). This condition usually will not be recognized when making a backup but will cause errors when attempting to restore that backup.

2. Tape - This has become an accepted method for backup. Some Tape Backup Systems (there are literally dozens available) may be installed in place of one of your floppy disk drives inside your computer. Others are "external" devices that are connected to your computer by installing a "card" into one of the "slots" on your computer's mother board which are accessible at the rear of your computer. Others may be connected to the computers parallel (printer) port. Once installed, they are work about the same way. They come with their own version of software that can pass instructions to this Tape Drive telling it which files you want to back up to tape (and sometimes when you want this to happen). The backup commands that youll use must be supplied by the manufacturer from whom you got your Tape Drive. Usually you create a "script" of what you want backed up. Use the examples shown in the section on "What do I backup?" to determine which files are to be saved to tape. The most important consideration when deciding to implement a tape backup method is: Do you clearly know how to restore files and have you seen it tested (it's successfully restored previously backed up files). 3. Hard Drive to Hard Drive - If you have installed a Network and also have hard disk drives installed on any of your workstations, you can backup (actually you'll "copy") the database files from the File Server's hard disk to one of the local drives (if there's enough space available). Although this cannot be your primary method of backup, it is ideal for the backups needed before Automatic Billing and Closing Months. To make backup from one hard drive to another, follow the instructions below:
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a.

Make a series of directories on your local hard drive that match those on your file server (i.e., "md\alarms", "md\aps", "md\gl", etc.). Change to each of those directories one at a time as needed (i.e., "cd\alarms", "cd\aps", "cd\gl", etc.). Copy the necessary files from the file server directories to the appropriate directory on the local computer's hard disk drive (i.e., "copy f:\alarms\*.db* c:\alarms", "copy f:\aps\*.db* c:\aps", "copy f:\gl\*.db* c:\gl", etc.).

b. c.

Please Note: If you are using Novell Netware7 2.x or 3.x for your network operating system, substitute the "ncopy" command for the "copy" command.

The fault of hard drive to hard drive backup is that there is only one copy. If the backup data is good, but you write over it with a backup that's got bad data in it, you've destroyed your good data backup with a bad data backup. That's why this method cannot be your primary back up system. However, as mentioned above, for "temporary" backups, those that are made just before a special process is run like Automatic Billing or Month Ending Procedures, this method is quick and simple, and quite satisfactory for that purpose. For regular backups though, use either Tape or Floppy Disks. Please read the section (following) called "Even-Odd Daily/Weekly/Monthly Backup Method" to see in what manner backup "media" (the Tapes or Disks themselves) are handled. You must have a method! This method is simple to follow and very reliable from the standpoint of being able to recover from a system failure. So in summary, Backup - Backup - Backup! Daily, Weekly, Monthly, before Closing a Month and before Billing Recurring Revenue, make a Backup. A Backup is something that's talked about many times in our manuals.

It cannot be over-emphasized.

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E VE N - O D D D A I L Y / W E E K L Y / M O N T H L Y B A C K U P METHOD

Having a set procedure to follow for performing Backups will reduce the chance of your forgetting to do it altogether, or doing it improperly. The most universally accepted method for backup is as follows: 1. You must backup every day using a specific set of disks (see below). 2. Have Four sets of pre-labeled backup Disks (Tapes, Zip Disks, etc.) sets. 3. Label your Daily backup Disks (Tapes, Zip Disks, etc.) sets as Even and Odd. 4. Label another set Weekly and a fourth Monthly. 5. Use the Even or Odd sets on Even and Odd numbered days of the month. 6. Use the Weekly set at the end of each week (this may be a Friday for Accounting only systems or a Saturday or Sunday for Central Stations). 7. Use the Monthly set on the last day of the month (or perhaps just prior to Closing your Months in the accounting system). We strongly suggest that your Monthly set be saved permanently. 8. Move the Weekly set Off-Site at the end of that day. Recycle it the next week.

If you use this procedure faithfully you will almost never have to re-key more than a days transactions even under the most severe circumstances, and even in those, a weeks rebuild may be all that is necessary.

A word about your backup Disks and Tapes.

As you use these items repeatedly for backup, they eventually will loose their formatting. To ensure that your backups will restore your data properly when needed, we suggest that you re-format your daily and weekly sets periodically (Daily sets once a month and Weekly sets quarterly).

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BACKUP COMMANDS
When backing up ALARMS-1TM databases and running DOS 5.00 or earlier you will use the command:
backup c:\alarms\*.d* a:

Substitute a different drive letter if your program is not on Drive C>. (See the MSBACKUP instructions later in this section if using DOS 6.00 or higher.) This command backs up the data for the Primary Company Only. If you are using the Multi-Company capability in ALARMS-1TM, the databases for the other companies are not backed up with this command. You must issue separate backup commands for each company. Two backup command examples are shown below. In example #1 below the secondary company's data is stored in a subdirectory called "\company1"; and in #2 it's in a sub-directory called "\alarms\store2".
#1.backup #2.backup c:\company1\*.d* a: a:

c:\alarms\store2\*.d*

Please Note: Remember that each company's database files must be backed up separately.

Another very important backup consideration is how to co-ordinate backups when using ALARMS-1TM, APS-1TM, PAY-1TM and GL-1TM together in the "linked" mode. The answer is simple: When you backup one, backup all. Label and keep these backups together as a SET.

If you must restore one, you must restore all!


If you are Billing your Recurring Revenue and have a system "crash", restore the GL-1TM data for that company when you restore that particular company's ALARMS-1TM data. If Inventory transactions have been made in the related company's APS-1TM during an Enter New Sales process that failed, restore the APS-1TM data, too.

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One of the most common problems we see is with Users who have defined more than one company, but do not backup the data stored in their second (third, fourth, etc...) company directory. Do not make this mistake. Use the set of disks Labeled "WEEKLY". Re-Label the Backup Disk(s) with the Month and Year. Save them! With these disks, you'll have a complete set of your Accounts Receivable "Books" for this month. Once the Backup is completed. Format and label a new set of "WEEKLY" Disks. If you are linked to the General Ledger (GL-1TM) and are going to assess Late Charges on Past Due Invoices, you must also make a backup of that program now as well. Should this procedure fail (due to a loss of power, computer failure, etc.), you need to restore both the ALARMS-1TM and the GL-1TM backups to recover.
Please Note: From time to time (and once a month is a good time), after closing the month, re-format your "EVEN" and "ODD" daily backup disks. The disks that are used regularly for daily backups can become damaged from dust, dirt, and static. Re-formatting them will restore the disks to their original quality or show you through error messages that the disk(s) are "bad".

Always backup your databases prior to billing your Recurring Revenue.

This Automatic Billing procedure must run uninterrupted from start to finish. If it fails for any reason (the power goes out - the computer locks up your printer stops for some unexplained reason - you're having a bad hair day), follow these steps to recover: 1. Restore the backup just made by exiting the program. prompt issue this command to restore your database files.
restore a: c:\alarms\*.d*

At the DOS

2. Go to Files Maintenance and select Files Indexing & Upgrades ("F") and choose Index ("I"). (See Files Indexing and Upgrades.)

INTRODUCING MSBACKUP
With the advent of new technology there comes the inevitable change. Not all of it is good, but most of it has great intent and purpose in mind. With MS DOS 6.xx, you must either change your system to use the old backup command or you learn how to use the new MSBACKUP program.
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Both options will be discussed. Please read about both options before making a final decision about which method is the right method for you. Please note: Actual commands entered at the keyboard are shown in BOLD and it is assumed that you will hit the ENTER KEY following a BOLD statement. "EASY WAY OUT" METHOD! STEP 1. You can use the old BACKUP.EXE command on your computer with DOS 6.X, but you must make some minor adjustments to your existing setup. First, you need to check to see if the BACKUP.EXE command exists on your computer. To do so, get to your DOS prompt and type BACKUP and read what the computer says. If it says INCORRECT DOS VERSION you can skip to STEP 3. If your computer says BAD COMMAND OR FILE NAME you need to check a couple more things before continuing. If your computer has a hard drive installed, change to your C drive (C:), and then type CD\DOS to change to the DOS directory. Your prompt should look similar to this C:\DOS>. If your prompt looks like this C>, type PROMPT $P$G . Once you are in the DOS directory, type DIR BACKUP.EXE and see if a file comes up. If you do find a file you will need to edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to set your PATH correctly. This is beyond the scope of this manual. If you need help with this step please call us. If your computer says FILE NOT FOUND then you can proceed to STEP 2. STEP 2. If you are at this step, chances are you do not have the BACKUP command on your computer, so your job will be to get the command into your existing computer. If you have another computer that has MS DOS Version 5.0, you're in luck. Simply take a disk to your DOS 5.0 computer and put it in a floppy drive (substitute your drive letter as needed) and type the following command from your C:\> Prompt: COPY C:\DOS\BACKUP.EXE A: This will copy the backup command onto that disk. Take this disk over to your computer with DOS 6.xx and put it in drive A:, and from a C:\> prompt type: COPY A:\*.* C:\DOS This will now put the backup command into the DOS directory. If you cannot get a copy of the BACKUP command from one of your computers, you may download it from our BBS; however, this is your last option, strike three, go directly to Teaching an Old Dog a New Trick method. STEP 3. The last thing you need to do is edit your CONFIG.SYS file to make sure one of the lines (usually the first line) says DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE This is a command that tricks DOS into thinking that your computer is really using a different DOS version than what you loaded when you started your
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computer. Now you just need to reboot your computer so any changes you made in your CONFIG.SYS will take effect. Now you can sit back and relax because the backup command will work just like it did before you upgraded to DOS 6.XX! Finally, to tell SETVER that it is to use the DOS 5.0 version of Backup.exe and Restore.exe. Type C:\DOS\SETVER BACKUP.EXE 5.0 and press Enter. Then type C:\DOS\SETVER RESTORE.EXE 5.0 and press Enter. NETWORK USERS BEWARE! Loading the SETVER command on some of your computers may create other problems for that computer. SETVER contains a table with the names of many programs. The SETVER program is used to trick some programs into thinking that you are using a different version of DOS than what you are actually using. Sometimes this table will contain Network Specific programs like NETX.EXE, EMSNETX.EXE XMSNETX.EXE. By loading the SETVER command in your CONFIG.SYS you may accidentally tell one of these network specific files that you are running a different DOS version. This can create many problems with this computer and running other programs from the network server. To check this situation, reboot your system and make sure that you can view the information that is displayed after your computer loads NETX.EXE. (or the EMSNETX.EXE or XMSNETX.EXE commands.) Directly after you attempt to load this program the computer will give you a message like Running on DOS V5.00 for example. If this version number is not the version of DOS you are actually running then your are experiencing SETVER trickery. You need to Edit the SETVER table to remove the program that is being tricked into thinking you are running the wrong DOS. This is done quite simply by typing SETVER C:\DOS NETX.EXE /D. In this example, SETVER is the command, C:\DOS is where the SETVER table is located, NETX.EXE is the program that you wish to remove from the table, and the /D parameter instructs SETVER to DELETE NETX.EXE form the table.

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If you are using EMSNETX.EXE just substitute EMSNETX.EXE for NETX.EXE as follows SETVER C:\DOS EMSNETX.EXE /D. This will remove the offending program from the SETVER table; however, you should reboot your computer to reload your network files and verify that the changes you made have corrected the problem.

" T E A C H I N G A N O L D D O G A NE W T R I C K " M E T H O D
Now: The most dreaded option, teaching an old dog a new trick. To keep up with the ever changing technology, we recommend this option. Learn how to use MSBACKUP. To fully teach you how to use MSBACKUP is beyond the scope of this manual; however we will start you down that magic road. STEP 1. If you have never run the MSBACKUP program, the first thing you have to do is Configure MSBACKUP to work on your computer. To do this, type MSBACKUP from the DOS prompt and follow the instructions on screen. Most people should be able to perform this step if you make sure to read what is being said and usually accept the DEFAULT choice offered for each question because it is usually the right answer. When you have completed this process, the computer will tell you that you are now ready to make valid backups on this computer. At this point, you should return to the main menu of MSBACKUP. If you are somewhere other than this (like at a DOS prompt), simply type MSBACKUP to get back into the program. STEP 2. From the main menu of MSBACKUP, you have several choices. Select the BACKUP option. If you are using a mouse, simply move the pointer to BACKUP and click once on the left button. Keyboard users can use the tab key to move the highlight bar over to the BACKUP button. The MSBACKUP program is a very intricate program that may seem cumbersome at first, but once you learn how to use it, you will realize its value. When you first start MSBACKUP you will see it searching through the directories and files you have on your hard drive. Once it has finished making its catalog of the drive, you will see the main menu of MSBACKUP. (Windows users will have to improvise as some of the steps may not exactly match these instructions.) It is here that you will instruct the program what you want to backup. STEP 3. There are five selections in the menu that must be configured and I will go through them in the order that you will encounter each. (If you are using a Mouse you can use that instead of the TAB key to move the highlight bar as needed.) The first item to configure is SETUP FILE. This option tells the program what catalog to use. The catalog has a detailed list of what is on your hard drive
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and what files were backed up. This is a very powerful feature as you can have multiple catalogs for different backups on your machine (and someone elses too) so this helps in making backups from computer to computer. For now, you can leave that alone ( the default is DEFAULT SET No Description) by accepting the default value. Press the TAB key to go to the option BACKUP FROM. Move the highlight bar by pressing the arrow keys to highlight the drive that contains the files that you want to backup. Once you have the drive highlighted, you can hit the tab key to move you to the next option which is SELECT FILES. This option allows you to specify which files, that now exist on your computer, are to be backed up to your floppy drive. Hit the <ENTER> key and you will see a directory listing of the hard drive you selected from the previous option. The program is displaying the catalog of the drive to you. In laymens terms, you now have a graphical display of all the files and information that is contained on your hard drive. Once again, you can use the arrow keys to move the highlight bar down to the directory that you wish to backup. Let us suppose you want to make your daily ALARMS-1 backup. Move the highlight bar by pressing the arrow keys until the bar rests on the directory labeled ALARMS. (Dont do this now, read on a little before hitting the upcoming space bar command!) When you have the directory name highlighted press the <SPACE BAR> to backup the entire directory (this is known as a FULL BACKUP). At this point, you will see an arrow now indicating that you have tagged this directory for backup and you will also notice that the files listed in the box at the right all have check marks next to them. There are a couple of ways to change what files in the directory are to be backed up and which files are to be excluded. Let us assume that you just want to backup the data files for ALARMS-1 (i.e. Data Base Files only) instead of pressing the Space bar, you would simply highlight the ALARMS directory, then you would select the Include Option. (You can do this by either pressing ALT-N or by pressing TAB or by selecting this option with a mouse.) You would now be presented with another screen that will show you the path to the directory in which the files are located. (For example, if your ALARMS program is installed on your C: DRIVE your Path should say C:\ALARMS.) Press the tab key to move the highlight bar to File. Now, change this field to backup only the files you need; in our example, you should make this field say *.D*. After making the appropriate change, press <ENTER> and you will be returned to the previous screen.

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STEP 4. Move the highlight bar (using the TAB key) until you have highlighted the word OK, and then press the <ENTER> key. You will now be back at the Main Menu. Press the TAB key to go to the next option (which is BACKUP TYPE). Make sure this says FULL, if it does not, press the enter key and move the highlight bar to FULL and press enter. Hit the TAB key to move to the next option, Backup To, and use the highlight bar to select the floppy drive where you want your data to be placed. STEP 5. The last step is to hit the TAB key to move the highlight bar to the option labeled START BACKUP. Once you have the START BACKUP option highlight, hit the ENTER key. Youre now making your backup!

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Appendix C Your Countrys Definitions - International Users


For our Users who provide Central Station Monitoring Services outside of the United Stated, you may want to use the Multiple Country Set-Up System to adjust your Address, Zip (Postal) Code and Date formats. To do so, from the Main Menu of CENTRAL-1 hold down the Shift key and press F2 (Shift+F2 Multiple Country Set-Up System).

Select the appropriate Country or choose Special Definitions for custom formatting. 1. Inside United States Only Provides normal Telephone, Date, Address and Zip Code formatting ensuring the usage of only valid State Codes. 2. U.S. and Canadian Subscribers Provides a universal Telephone and Date format, and additional space for Postal Codes and Province Names. 3. Canada Subscribers ONLY Provides the appropriate Postal Code, Date, Address and Telephone formats. 4. British Subscribers Only Provides correct Postal Code, Date, Address and Telephone formats. 5. Special Definitions Only Provides for the customization of the Date format (see illustration below), free form Telephone number entries, and a 20 character City and State field and a 10 character free-form Zip Code field.

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If you select Special Definitions, the appropriate Date format is set by entering the letter corresponding to the desire Date format.

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Appendix D Database Structures


Every piece of information about Subscribers, their Payments, Sales, Service histories and Central Station is stored in Databases. These databases have Records individual units of data about a specific Subscriber, Payment, Sale, etc. The actual pieces of data are stored in Fields. This section is designed to assist you if you are making a Special Selection by defining a Filter (see Appendix F Special Selection Criteria) or performing as Universal Look Up and need to know the exact Field Name within a certain database. Its is, by its very nature, Technical in character. Subscriber Database: ACMSUB.DBF
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Field Name ACCTNAME ACCTNUMBER ACCTTYPE ADDRESS_CO ADDRESS_ST ALADATE ALARMCODE ARSNUMBER ATTENTION BALANCE CEN_TESTS CRED_BAL CHANGE_ID CITY CLASSIFIED CSID DIVISION EMPLOYEE Type Character Character Character Character Character Date Character Character Character Numeric Character Numeric Character Character Character Character Character Character Width 30 14 1 30 30 8 3 8 30 12 1 10 4 20 4 8 2 4 2 2 Dec

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19 20 21 # 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45

EVENT_TIME GENERICID INTEREST Field Name KEYS KEYPADTYPE LASTAMOUNT LASTPAYAMT LASTPMT LOCATION LASTSALE LASTUPDATE LOCATIONCP LOCATIONK1 LOCATIONK2 LOCATIONTI LOCATIONTR LDISABLED MEMOLERT NO_ADDRESS NOTES_COMM ONLINEDATE OFFLINEDAT PAGEWHO PANELTYPE PARTS_CW PARTS_RW PASSWORD

Numeric Character Logical Type Logical Character Numeric Numeric Date Character Date Date Character Character Character Character Character Logical Logical Logical Character Date Date Character Character Character Character Character

5 8 1 Width 1 8 10 10 8 3 8 8 20 20 20 20 20 1 1 1 49 8 8 3 8 49 49 15 2 2 Dec

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46 47 48 49 50 # 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

DURESS PHONEREF1 PHONEREF1X PHONEREF2 PHONEREF2X Field Name PHONETHERE PHONETHERX PHONE_DCU PHONE_FAX RUNADATE RUNATIME RUNACNT SALEDATE SELFMAILER SERVICE LASTSERVED SC1CODE SC1REASON SC2CODE SC2REASON SHIPTO SORT_CODE SPCL_COMM STATE STKGROUP TAXABLE TAXRATE

Character Character Character Character Character Type Character Character Character Character Date Numeric Numeric Date Logical Character Date Numeric Character Numeric Character Character Character Character Character Character Character Numeric

15 13 4 13 4 Width 13 4 13 13 8 5 3 8 1 1 8 2 17 2 17 1 4 1 20 1 1 6 3 Dec

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73 74 75 76 77 78 79 # 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94

TELCOPART TIMEZONE TOPCREDIT TOWNCODE TRANSFORM WARRANTY ZIP Field Name SYSTEM NOTES CENTRAL DIRECTIONS TEMPCOMM TEMPCOMMD OPEN_RPT AREAS CSHOLD PASSCODES DEALERCODE DEALERNAME DEALERBILL ZONECODE ULGRADE

Character Character Numeric Character Character Date Character Type Memo Memo Memo Character Character Date Character Character Logical Logical Character Character Logical Character Character

8 1 10 3 8 8 10 Width 10 10 10 49 49 8 1 8 1 1 3 30 1 5 3 Dec 2

End of Subscriber File.

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Subscribers Call List & Passcode Information File: CEN_CALL.DBF


# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Field Name CALLNUMBER CSID NAME PHONENUM TITLE PAGER_INFO PASSCODE KEYS ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP Type Character Character Character Character Character Character Character Logical Character Character Character Character Width 1 8 30 13 12 1 15 1 30 15 10 10 Dec

End of Subscribers Call List & Passcode Information File

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Subscribers Zone Code Information File: CEN_ZONE.DBF


# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Field Name ALARMCODE CALL_LIST CALL_WHO CSID DESCRIPT OCT_CODE PRIORITY RESPONSE VERIFY ZONECODE CSHOLD RESTZONE RESTMIN PAGEWHO Type Character Character Character Character Character Character Numeric Logical Logical Character Logical Character Numeric Character Width 3 9 1 8 50 1 1 1 1 5 1 5 3 3 Dec

End of Subscribers Zone Code Information File

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Appendix E Printer Selection and Management


An Overview of Printer Setup You will have access to more than one printer from within the CENTRALTM 1 program. This means that you'll be able to actually select your Printer (from among all those that you've defined) when you print a Subscriber or Alarm History related Report, an Alarm Ticket, or the All Events Report. To start this capability you must Define your Printers in Files Maintenance, then Assign your Default Printers for Alarm Activity (and other Subscriber Information related) Reports, Alarm Tickets and the All Events Report. You will be able to select the default or another desired Printer as needed when you're

actually printing.

Defining Your Printers In Files Maintenance, choose the Other Files Maintenance ("O") menu. Two items on this Menu relate to Printers: Setup Printers and Default Workstation Printers. Choose Setup Printers.

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You'll have one of two situations with which to deal when defining your Printers: 1. You are using only one computer (not running on any type of a network) and have one or more printers to define (which are directly attached to this computer). 2. You are running on a Network (Novell, Lantastic, Windows 95 etc.) and have several printers available to some or all of the workstations. These printers may be local printers (only available to the operator at that particular computer), or "network printers" (printers that have been made available to any of the network's Users). If you are on a Novell Network, during the installation procedure, the Install Program automatically defined all of your Novell Network Printers. These Novell Network Printers will be identified as such in a Printer Definitions box shown below the screen's Printer Definition Box, otherwise this box WILL NOT APPEAR.

You will now define access to your (Network or non-Network) printers, or Add LOCAL Printers to the list of automatically defined Novell Printer Definitions. a. Choose Add from the command line. You may add any number of Local and Non-Novell Network Printers. (See Special Considerations When Adding Printers below.)
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b. Enter a Name for the Printer you want to define. This should a name that clearly describes that Printer to its users. c. Enter the DOS Name for the "Device" this Printer is attached to. The Device Name can either be the actual Port the printer is connected to (the actual connector located on the back of your computer that you've plugged the printer cable into), or the Port's Name that you are redirecting to a Network Printer.
Special Considerations When Adding Printers

The valid Printer Port Names are: a. LPT1, LPT2, LPT3 (for the three possible parallel printer ports). b. COM1, COM2 (for the two possible serial printer ports). Single Computer Systems:

If you are not using a Network and, therefore, your computers are not connected to one another, you probably have only one (or perhaps two) printer(s) in your office. If you have a sufficient number of parallel and/or serial ports on your computer to connect these printers, do so and define them in the Setup Printers screen. Once youve defined your Printers, you next must assign your Default Reports Printer (see Default Workstation Printer Definitions below). Network Systems

If you are using a Network, your next steps depend on what Network Operating System you use. Below is a general discussion. a. Novell NetWare Users: Assuming that youve installed the Novell specific Upgrade, your Network Printers will automatically be defined. However, you must define any Local Printers that you want to have among the list of available printer selections. Every User on a Novell Network must then define their preferred Default Printer (see Default Workstation Printer Definitions below) for each general type of report. If many Network workstations have their own local printers, its best to simply define one LOCAL PRINTER as LPT1 which anyone may then select as their personal Local printer. b. Most Other Network Users: If your Network is not Novell it probably is Windows 95 or Windows NT. You must Define your Printers within Windows itself, then Define one Printer (LPT1 Local Printer), make it your

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Default Printer, and use your Window's Printer Management System to choose the desired Printer. Once youve defined your Printers, you next must assign your Default Reports Printer. Default Workstation Printer Assignments 1. You are not using a Network. Go to the Other Files Maintenance menu in Files Maintenance, choose the Default Workstation Printers screen (see screen illustration below), and Assign a default printer for each type of Report. 2. You are using Novell NetWare to operate your Network and to manage your Printers. With the Novell Version of CENTRAL-1, you must assign a Default Printer for each individual computer for each type of Report, if that person will ever do any printing.

This means that each User on the Network must go to the Other Files Maintenance, menu choose Default Workstation Printers, and select their own personal Default (preferred) Printer for each type of Report. 3. You are using Lantastic to operate your Network and youve previously made some printers (within Lantastic) available as Network Printers. Go to the Other Files Utilities Menu, choose Default Workstation Printers, and assign one Default Printer for each type of Report. This Default Printer will be used by all workstations on the Network as the Default, but may be temporarily changed by any User when the Print Job is actually processed.

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If no Default Printer was previously assigned, you will see a message to that affect. Press the <SPACE BAR> to continue. Otherwise, press Modify. The Default Workstation Printers Pop-Up Selection Box will appear. Using the cursor keys, move the highlight bar to the desired printer. Press <ENTER> to select it. You must assign a Default Workstation printer to be able to print each type of Report. Once you've selected your Default Reports Printer, you may later change that Selection by returning to this screen and pressing Modify ("M"). To modify your currently selected Default Reports Printer, simply re-select the Default Printer from the Pop-Up box.

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Normal Printing Procedure


Each time you choose to print a Report, Invoice, Statement, etc., you will be presented with a Print Choices command line at the bottom of the screen.

This Print Choices command line appears as follows: 1. The currently selected (Default) printer will be shown. 2. You'll be asked to Print_Now ("P") - it will be the choice that is highlighted. 3. You may press <ENTER> to accept that selection, answer Yes (" Y") to the "Printer Ready?" question and print. 4. Or you may choose to "print" to your Screen (S) or a File (F); or Change (C) the currently selected printer to another one of your own choosing. If you want to send your Print Job to a printer other than the Current Printer Selection, choose Change_Printer. Using your cursor keys, highlight the desired printer in the Pop-Up Printer Selections Box that will appear. Press <ENTER> to make your selection. Next, choose Print_Now and proceed as usual. If you select to print to a File, enter the File Name using normal DOS file naming conventions. The Files Name should start with a letter, contain letters, numbers, but no spaces. The system will automatically add an extension of .PRN. You may also specify a Path in front of the files name. There can be no spaces anywhere in a file name or path.

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Appendix F Filters: Special Selection Criteria


When printing certain Subscriber Reports, Lists or Labels, you will be offered the choice to define "Special Selection Criteria". Defining a special selection criteria means: 1. You want to place a filter on the Subscriber (or some related) database to screen out those Subscriber records you do not want to see listed (thereby displaying only those that you do want to see listed) 2. Define with a filter those Subscribers that you do want to see listed. Special Selection Criteria phrases are entered in a Selection box (see the screen illustration below) and then validated by CENTRAL-1 for proper syntax. That syntax follows the DBASE III programming language conventions with some enhancements (and short cuts). If you subscribe to our Software Maintenance & Support Agreement service you may call us anytime for help designing your Special Selection Criteria.

When a Filter is permitted, you will normally be offered a Special Selections screen similar to the one illustrated below. You may choose one of the standard selections (i.e., by Municipality, Sale Dates, Account or Panel Type), or request to make a Special Selection Criteria (S).

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D E F I N I N G A F I L T E R C RE A T I N G Y O U R V E R Y O W N S P E C I A L SE L E C T I O N C R IT E R I A
When you want to custom select a specific group of Subscribers for a Report, List or Label run, choose Special Selection Criteria when this choice is offered. After making this choice, you will be presented with a Special Filter Criteria Choices screen containing the most commonly used field names within the database youve chosen. There are others that may be used as well (see Appendix D Database Structures in this Appendix section of the

manual).

Type in your special Selection Criteria to create the proper desired database filter. The listing below shows the names, data type and purpose of each field in the Subscriber database. Entering these field names and then assigning them values creates a special selection criteria. Each time you enter a special selection phrase you are asking the program to "filter" out the Subscribers (or Prospects) that don't match the selection rule(s) you've entered. UPPER(CITY)="KISSIMMEE".AND.ACCTTYPE="R" UPPER(ACCTNAME)="MER".AND.SERVICE="Y" In the first example above, you've asked for a list of Subscribers in a certain city that are marked as Residential Subscribers. In this case you are filtering out anyone in any other city and even if they are in that city, they will be

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excluded if they have not been marked Residential ("R") in the Account Type field. In the second example, you've asked for everyone whose ACCTNAME field begins with "MER" and who has a Y entered in the SERVICE agreement field. Several important syntax items are included in these examples. If the field you are specifying allows upper and lower case letters to be entered, to make a valid comparison you must put that field's name after the word UPPER and enclose that field name in parenthesis. A and a are different to a computer. Kissimmee nor does MERCER equal Mercer. KISSIMMEE does not equal

You use the "UPPER" command because your model (your example) of what is to be selected (which always follows the field name and is put in quotes) may have been entered "KISSIMMEE", "Kissimmee", "KIssimmee" or many other possible ways, either in Upper or Lower Case letters. Computers see lower case letters as different (and unrelated) to upper case letters. Because of this, you'll want the program to internally convert what was actually entered in the CITY or ACCTNAME fields to all upper case letters so that the system will see if they are actually alike.

F IE L D C O M P A R I T I V E S -

.AND.

.OR.

.NOT.

Because more than one case is being presented in this filter, the word AND (with a period on each side of it) "connects" these two cases (what the City should be and what the Account Type should be) into one special selection phrase. Other "words" are available to control the filter expressions you'll enter. They are .OR. and .NOT. and can be used with each other such as the example below. Balance is a field used in the Subscriber database. This filter will show Residential (accttype="R") Subscribers that owe more than $100 and Commercial accounts over $200. (balance>100.and.accttype="R").or.(balance>200.and.accttype="C") Here we want to see listed only those Residential Subscribers with a Balance Due of more than $100.00, or Commercial Subscribers with a Balance Due of more than $200.00. Two additional things need to be explained here. 1. The use of conditional signs in addition to Equal (" =") used for Greater than (">"), Less than ("<"), Greater than or equal to (">="), and Less

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than or equal to ("<="); and the use of Parenthesis where you have two multi-part conditions (each condition set should be surrounded with a parenthesis). 2. Use the conditional signs as you would use the words, and be sure to group sets of conditions (when you're defining more than one) in Parenthesis separated by the ".AND." ".NOT.", ".OR." or combinations such as ".AND..NOT.". Below is an example of how .NOT., and .AND..NOT. are used together. In this example, you want to see listed those Subscribers whose Sort Code field has something entered in it and their CSID field does also (neither one of these field is "empty"). .NOT.EMPTY(SORT_CODE).AND..NOT.EMPTY(CSID) Finally, all these special filter expressions have used valid "Field Names". Many of these are shown on the screen when entering your Special Selection Criteria and all of them are shown in Appendix D (above). These field names are what the program actually calls the data types for which you are filtering. As a general rule, you enter the Field Names, connect or modify them with any logical symbols needed (you may use "<", "=", ">", "<=", ">=", ".AND.", ".OR." and .NOT. with your entry), and enter any literal phrases, if needed.

F I L T E R S Y N T A X C O N S I D E R AT I O N S
a. All literal words or phrases must be in quotes. b. To create complex selections using multiple "AND" or "OR" relationships, these must be entered as ".AND.", ".NOT." and ".OR.". These special words must have a period (".") on each side. c. Only Currency and Pay Codes do not require Quotes when these values are entered. d. And dates - ugh - must be entered as follows: CTOD('01/01/80'). The "CTOD" means that you want the program to Convert TO Date the expression you've placed in quotes within the parenthesis. Don't try to understand it - just do it that way and it will work. And while we're on the subject of Dates, today's date is entered: DATE(). Example #1: To print a list of Commercial (Type = "C") Subscribers who live in Pennsylvania and owe you money now, you would type the following: ACCTTYPE="C".AND.STATE="PA".AND.BALANCE>0 Be careful when entering numbers to use the zero (0) not the Oh (O).
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Notice that no spaces are needed between any of the filter expression's words. All comparison expressions (what the state should be, what the account type should be) except Currency and Pay Codes (which are actually numbers) require quotes. Example #2: To print a list of all Residential Subscribers living in an area with a Zip Code of 19010, you would type the following: ACCTTYPE="R".AND.ZIP="19010" Notice that even the Zip Code requires quotes around it because although in the United States these are all numbers (and with Zip+4 there is a dash), in all other countries Postal Codes are a combination of letters and numbers and sometimes additional punctuation. Example #3: To print a list of Subscribers who owe $1,000 or more, you would type the following: BALANCE>=1000.00 Here you need not put the amount in quotes because it is an actual number.

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Appendix H - Special Configuration Tips


changes to your system's configuration files as needed. This document assumes that you are using DOS 5.0 or higher. Those still using DOS 3.3 should call for instructions.

Please read the following information carefully and make the appropriate

S I N G L E C O M P U T E R U S E RS :
During the upgrade procedure you are asked if the program can create or modify your CONFIG.SYS file. Make sure you answer Yes (" Y") to this question. If you answered No ("N") to this question you will need to check your CONFIG.SYS for the following: FILES=70 and BUFFERS=nn (where nn is a number that is divisible by the number 8, i.e., 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, etc...) (See "Editing a File" below).

N O V E L L NE T W O R K U S E R S :
Once you've installed an upgrade for either ALARMS-1 or CENTRAL-

1 , you must check your system's configuration. Our installation program can
only change the CONFIG.SYS file of the specific computer on which you actually installed the upgrade.

You must also check this file on all the other work stations (networked computers) that will access any Micro Key Software program. The FILES statement in each CONFIG.SYS file should be at least FILES=70 and the BUFFERS= statement must be a number divisible by the number 8 (i.e. 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, etc.). If a CONFIG.SYS file does not reflect these settings, you must manually edit it with a text editor like the EDIT command or some third party program (See "Editing a File" below). Also, make sure that each computer has either a SHELL.CFG file or a NET.CFG file. The NET.CFG file can be located in the root directory of your computer (where your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files are located) or it can be located in the directory with your NETX.EXE network driver file. The SHELL.CFG file must be located in your root directory! (i.e. C:\>). Here is what needs to be in one of these (either the SHELL.CFG or NET.CFG) files.
FILE HANDLES=70 CACHE BUFFERS=0

To locate these files, at your C:\> prompt type the appropriate line shown below.

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DIR \SHELL.CFG /S DIR \NET.CFG /S

The command will show the directory path of the location of the file. If you do not find these files on your computer, create one using a text editor. Once again you can use the edit command to create the file. Change to the appropriate directory and type:
EDIT SHELL.CFG

or
EDIT NET.CFG

You will either see a blank screen or a screen containing the data in the existing SHELL.CFG or NET.CFG file. Make the additions/corrections as needed. Please check all work stations on your network for these settings!

L A N T A S T I C NE T W O R K U S E R S :
During the upgrade procedure you are asked if the program can create or modify your CONFIG.SYS. Make sure you answer Yes ("Y") to this question. Whether or not you answered No (N) to this question you will need to check your CONFIG.SYS for the following entries: At the File Server where the programs were installed: FILES=255 and BUFFERS=nn (where nn is a number that is divisible by the number 8, i.e., 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, etc...) At all other workstations on the network: FILES=70 and BUFFERS=nn (where nn is a number that is divisible by the number 8, i.e., 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, etc...) If you're using a version of Lantastic that is less than version 6.0, you must check your STARTNET.BAT file for the SHARE command. Your SHARE parameters should be similar to these:
SHARE /F:4096 /L:200

If you are using Lantastic 6.0 of higher, we strongly recommend adding the SHARE command to your existing STARTNET.BAT file to override the internal share program built into Lantastic. The STARTNET.BAT file is usually located in the \LANTASTI\ directory.

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E D IT I N G A C O N F I G U R A T I O N F I L E
If you have DOS 5.0 or higher you may use a program included with DOS called EDIT. It is a very simple TEXT editor like a simple word processor. If you wanted to edit your CONFIG.SYS file you would change to the ROOT (C:\>) directory where that file exists. Change to the appropriate drive and then change to the ROOT of the Drive by typing
CD\

Unless you are an expert with DOS, we recommend making a backup of the file before editing just in case you really make a mess of the file. To make a backup of your CONFIG.SYS file type:
COPY CONFIG.SYS CONFIG.MKS.

To edit your CONFIG.SYS file type:


EDIT CONFIG.SYS

Press <ENTER> and if the file exists, you should now see a screen that has some text on it. (It may look like Greek, but that's ok!) You will see a cursor and can move that cursor around by using the arrow keys on your keyboard. This program is just like a typewriter but it's a little more forgiving. You can just start typing if you want to add statements to your CONFIG.SYS (or whatever) file, but in most cases you are going to be modifying an existing file. Just move the cursor to the line that contains what you want to change and type what want, then use the Delete ("DEL") key to remove what you don't want. When you are finished editing your file you can save the information and quit by typing:
ALT-F X

You will be prompted with "Loaded file has not been saved. Save it?". <Yes> is highlighted by default so all you need to do is hit the <ENTER> key. Please note that any changes you have made to either your CONFIG.SYS or NET.CFG file will Not Take Effect until your computer is rebooted. Therefore, whenever making changes, be sure to logout of your network and restart your computer.
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Appendix I Installing Upgrades


T O I N S T A L L T H E U P G R A D E D I S K S O NT O Y O U R COMPUTER...FIRST

MAKE BEFORE

COMPLETE

DIRECTORY

BACKUP

STARTING THIS UPGRADE!


backup c:\alarms\*.* a:

If you are using ALARMS-1 and CENTRAL-1 be sure to install the ALARMS-1
Upgrade first!

If using Novell Netware, use F:\ for your Drive letter instead C:\. If you have CENTRAL-1TM installed anywhere but on your Drive C:\, substitute that drive letter. See Appendix H for information on setting your Files and Buffers count in your CONFIG.SYS file at each workstation on your network.

To enable you to restore everything in the event that the Installation fails for some reason, this backup saves everything (programs, indexes, and data) in the \alarms directory. See Appendix B for information on making Backups. After you Backup, put the CENTRAL-1TM Upgrade Disk #1 in your floppy Drive A>. Type:
a:install

Answer any questions presented. It's best if you accept all the choices given, except specify the correct Drive letter ("c", "d", 'f', etc...) where your \alarms\ directory was originally installed. This Upgrade Installation completes a Single Company Installation including Upgrading and Indexing your files. If you have any questions call (800) 451-0040

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Appendix J Installing your HARDLOCK


Why are we installing a HARDLOCK? For many years Micro Key Software has resisted the use of any type of hardware key as a form of software copy protection. We did not want to create a burden for our honest and faithful clients who represented the vast majority of our users. However, in recent years, software pirates have cut into company profits and therefore increased the cost of the products they had pirated to the rest of our users. Some shocking statistics from the Software Publishers Association:
(Washington, D.C.--June 16, 1998) -- The results of a third independent study on global software piracy were released today by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the two leading trade associations of the software industry. The study estimates that, of the 574 million new business software applications installed globally during 1997, 228 million applications or four in every ten were pirated. This represents an increase of two million more new applications being pirated than in 1996. (For more information see their web site at www.spa.org/piracy )

In view of this information we have been forced to protect not only our own investment but also your investment in Micro Key Software. Hard Lock Installation Instructions Plug the Hard Lock device into the parallel (Printer) port of the computer to which you have attached your Receiver(s) [or your Baytech Multiplex Device(s)]. a. You do not need a Hard Lock installed in any other computer running CENTRAL-1. b. If you are using a copy of CENTRAL-1 off-site for archive, backup or lookup purposes it does not need a Hard Lock installed. c. If you are operating on a Network and have many workstations using CENTRAL-1 to process alarms, enter data and print reports, these computers do not need a Hard Lock installed. d. You only need one Hard Lock installed in the parallel (Printer) port of the computer to which you have attached your Receiver(s) [or your Baytech Multiplex Device(s) which are then attached to your Receivers]. The only time the CENTRAL-1 system even looks for the Hard Lock is if you select Process and Receive (P) or Display Stack and Receive (D) from the CENTRAL-1 Alarm Processing Menu. The CENTRAL-1 software will not read your Receivers if the Hard Lock is not present!

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A P P E N D I X

H A R D L O C K

I N S T A L L A T I O N

To assure the proper recognition of the Hard Lock, determine the Operating System being used at the computer to which you have attached your Hard Lock and your Receiver(s) [or your Baytech Multiplex Device(s) which are then attached to your Receivers]. Then follow the appropriate set of instructions (listed by operating system) below. Note that you may be using CENTRAL-1 with several different operating systems (DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows NT and/or Windows 95) in a mixed-use environment on a Network. You may be using CENTRAL-1 on a single stand-alone computer or in a Network environment using any one or all of these Operating Systems. None of this matters at all. Just determine what operating system (DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows NT and/or Windows 95) is being used at the computer where the Hard Lock itself is installed. Follow the directions below, based on the operating system for this Receiving workstation to which you have attached to Hard Lock. a. DOS Install the HARDLOCK and the latest Upgrade. Nothing else needs to be done. b. Windows 3.x (any Windows below Windows 95) Install the HARDLOCK and the enclosed Upgrade. At your DOS prompt, change to the \alarms directory and execute a special program (that was installed with this upgrade) called INSTVXD.EXE. cd\alarms instvxd

Once the instvxd program has been run, you must reboot your computer. c. Windows 95 - Install the HARDLOCK and latest Upgrade. Nothing else needs to be done. d. Windows NT - After you install the HARDLOCK and the latest Upgrade. At your DOS prompt, change to the \alarms directory and execute a special program (that was installed with this upgrade) called HLINST.EXE. cd\alarms hlinst \alarms

HARDLOCK Testing Procedures After installing the Hard Lock device on your Receiving Computer and the appropriate driver (if any is required), you can press ALT+H from the CENTRAL-1 main menu. This key combination will test for the existence of the Hard Lock and notify the user if:
1. 2. 3.

Hard Lock was found. No Hard Lock was found. Hard Lock driver was not installed properly.

Remember: This only needs to be installed and tested on your receiving computer - the computer which connects to your receiver(s) or Baytech Multiplex device(s).

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Appendix P Passwords Instructions


As you already know, the Master USER ID SUPERVISOR and Master Password PASSWORD allows complete access to all the program's menus. Instead of Full Sign On access, a User's access may be Limited to Individual Menus, as well. To do so, create User Names in the User Password Maintenance screen. Each User Name will be assigned its own Password and the Menu Name it is allowed to access. Usually we recommend that the "User Name" actually represent a department or the actual menu it allows access to. Just as the SUPERVISOR User Name allows management full access to the entire system, other User Name and Password combinations could allow access only to Alarm Processing, Reports or the Subscriber Information menu. Signing on with one of these specially created User Name and Password combinations allows access only to that one menu defined when this User was entered (and to any menu available from that menu). Therefore, a person with a User Name and Password that takes them to the Alarm Processing Menu, can not access the Subscriber Information Menu unless they had another User Name and Password that allowed access there. Any number of USER Name (ID) and Password combinations may be created as needed to set up Menu by Menu access. To do so, you must get to the Password Control Center of CENTRAL-1 (called the Maintain User Passwords screen).

CENTRAL-1 provides Password Protection on a Menu by Menu Basis.

C R E AT I N G M E N U B Y M E N U A C C E S S A N D I N D I V I D U A L U S E R N A M E S A N D P A SS W O R D S
At the Sign-on screen, enter CS-1 as the USER ID and PASSWORD as the Password (instead of the SUPERVISOR and PASSWORD combination you normally enter). You will see the Maintain User Passwords screen. Here you may create as many USER ID's and PASSWORDS as needed. Remember you should create at least one USER ID and Password for each of the Menu Names listed. Each Menu in CENTRAL-1 has a unique Menu Name. These Names are used internally by the CENTRAL-1 software to identify the function (menu choice) you want to access next. By calling that name, CENTRAL1 displays that Menu or Procedure.

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For instance, when you select a Menu Choice from the Main Selections screen, the letter you press (or words you highlight) stands for one of those Menu Names and therefore causes that Menu to be called and displayed on screen. Previously, we asked you to type CS-1 as a USER ID and PASSWORD as the Password. Notice the Maintain User Passwords screen (below) shows the User ID SUPERVISOR and the Password PASSWORD you entered AND the code name for its Menu called CEN_MAIN. Also, take note of the command line. It functions the same as all CENTRAL-1 command lines. To Add a new USER ID and Password, press Add ("A") and complete the screen just as you would in any other part of the regular program. Enter a USER ID (up to twelve characters), a Password (up to eight characters) and the Menu name (up to eight characters from the list of choices shown below) for that combination to access.

You may change the Password for the SUPERVISOR User ID by Retrieving the SUPERVISOR User ID and pressing Modify ("M") then entering the Password you want to use. If you delete the SUPERVISOR User ID, you must immediately enter another choice for the CS_MAIN menu or you will not have any Password that allows unlimited access. You may NOT duplicate the USER ID, but you may duplicate Passwords and Menu Names. Therefore, consider using "generic" USER ID's such as CENTRAL

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MENU and, if needed, add suffixes to the USER IDs to give each user an individually owned Password for each Menu they may access. As an example, the User Name could be CENTRAL-3.

Pressing List ("L") at the command line of the Maintain User Passwords screen will show a list something like the one below. Your list will be different. Note that all the Passwords list as PASSWORD - not what they actually are for security.

A C C E S S I N G M E N U S B Y P AS S W O R D
Below is a complete list of the Menus and their System Names that may be Password Protected and the Contents of each. When asked for a Menu Name, enter the Menu name that corresponds with the system you want that User's Name to access. Menu Name CS_MAIN CENCSM CENRPTM CENSUBM ACMSUBM Description of Menu Names Main Selections Menu Alarm Processing Menu Reports Selections Subscriber Information Menu General Subscriber Data

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FOR CS-1 UL LISTED USERS ONLY


For UL Listed users, an employee Access Level and their Employee Code must be entered for each User Name/Password combination. This ensures that the person signing on will only be allowed the functionality for which they are approved.

Whenever a Subscriber Information record is changed, the date it was changed and the employees initials that made the change will be displayed on screen (indicating the last person to have changed that record). This feature is automatically implemented when you enter their Employee Code in the Operator Code field accessible through the Maintain Users Passwords. Thereafter, each time this Employee signs on to the program, they will have their Employee Code recorded as the systems current user and so if a record is added or modified, their Employee Code will be shown as the last person to have changed that record. In addition, they will not have to enter their Operators (Employee) Code entering an Alarm Processing screen.

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Appendix R Receiver Definitions and Instructions


ADCOR-250B

ADEMCO685

BAYTECH525

BAYTECH528

CONT4400

FBI-CP220

FRANKLIN23

ITICS4000

KELTRONDMP

MORSEPOLL

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D E F I N I T I O N S

OSBORNE

RAD6000

RAD6500

RDALERT102

SES3000

SILENT9000

SK-8550

SK-8550XP

VER3000

RAD6000EXT

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SIGTONE

SAFECOM

DMP

RAD6500EXT

RDC

QD

MAMI

CODEALARM

CORNELL

HAWKEYE

PRO-COM

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D E F I N I T I O N S

SURGUARD

WATCHDOG

KP-ELECT

RCI3300

SURGARD

FSK

RAD-SIA

LR-6000

EMSPRINT

QD2

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GESTAR

PROT-UNL

ADCOR-250C

KP-102

SIA

HARRINGTON

DMC

OH-2000

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Index

Account Testing................................................39 Account Title.....................................................44 Accounts Receivable System...........................41 Add/Update Contract Item..............................128 Alarm Condition Abbreviations.........................17 Appendix.........................................................135 ARS Number........................................41, 42, 129 Assign Default Reports Printer.......................161 specify your preferred printer.......................13 Automatic Billing............................141, 142, 145 Backup Procedures.........................................137 Backups137 Billing Address............................................41, 42 Call List Information.........................................18 Central Station Data...................................17, 39 COM1, COM2...................................................163 Command Line...................................................... controlling a data entry screen....................10 Condition Codes................................................17 CONFIG.SYS file..............................................173 Configuration Tips...........................................173 Contract Control Number................................128 Contract Information..............................128, 129 Contract Information Report..........................129 Contract Type.................................................129 Contracts Tracking System............................128 CSID 41, 128, 129, 155, 159, 160, 171 Current Printer Selection................................166 Database Structures...............................155, 169 DCU 157 Default Workstation printer............................165 Define Printer Information..............................161

entering your printers...................................12 Defining Your Printers.....................................161 Employee Code...............................................184 Enter New Sales..............................................144 Entering Account Numbers...............................41 Entering Account Titles....................................44 Files Maintenance................................................. start up procedures.........................................9 General Ledger................................................145 General Setup....................................................... mandatory starting procedures....................12 General Subscriber Data.........................128, 183 Installing Upgrades.........................................176 International Users.........................................151 Inventory Tracking System.............................183 Lantastic............................................................... tips and tricks for users of....13, 162, 164, 174 Location Code...................................................42 LPT1, LPT2, LPT3............................................163 LPT1/LPT2............................................................. locating your printers....................................12 Maintain User Passwords...............181, 182, 183 Message for Call List Form...............................18 Month Ending Procedures.......................139, 142 Multi-Company................................................144 Name & Address of Company...........................12 Name and Address of Company............................ enter your company name............................12 NET.CFG file....................................................173 network printers.............................................162 Novell

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tips and tricks for users of12, 14, 142, 162, 163, 164, 173, 176 Opening and Closing.............................17, 18, 39 Other Files Utilities Menu.................12, 161, 164 Passwords Instructions..................................181 Pop-Up Selection Box.......................................42 Print Choices...................................................166 Print to a File...................................................166 Printer Port Names.........................................163 Printer Selection and Management................161 Select Default Reports Printer.......................165 Service Account Number..................................41 Service Locations.......................................41, 42 SHELL.CFG......................................................173 Sort Code.........................................................171 Special Selection....................155, 168, 169, 171 Special Selection Criteria.......................155, 168 Start Up Procedures............................................. Getting Started................................................9 STARTNET.BAT file.........................................174 Subscriber Information.............................42, 184 System Requirements........................................... Minimum Hardware Requirements.................9 Universal Look-Up Utility................................131 Upgrade Disks.................................................176 Windows................................................................ tips and tricks for users of9, 12, 140, 148, 162, 163 Work Orders......................................................44 Zone Code Information.............................39, 160

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