Overview

Virtual Facilities alarm ingestion algorithm uses domain knowledge and patterns to parse source alarm data into useful alarm attributes. The ingestion algorithm cannot determine everything important about an alarm in every instance because the alarm data itself often does not have all of the necessary information. Because of this, your assigned onboarding engineer checks the alarms during implementation to validate that the algorithm returns the best result using the available information. During this review, we update the ingestion algorithm to incorporate customer specific nuances of abbreviations and codes that are common in alarm data. 

We need your support to help us capture nuances that are not obvious. As you validate the data, you will take two general actions:

• Capture an issue to highlight a situation where the algorithm did not return the best result using the available information.
• Update the solution to capture known information that is not available from the alarm data.

When performing validation, it is not essential to review every attribute of every alarm, space, and equipment. Rather, the goal should be to put eyes on critical alarms to ensure that the inventory and alarm parsing is accurate where it matters most. Issues found in critical alarms can usually be applied across many assets. Alarm category and priority can be very helpful to focus validation efforts in areas that have proven themselves to be important or actionable.

Finally, when capturing an issue, include the pattern you identified and the desired corrective action. Your onboarding engineer will provide guidance on the best method to capture the issue for easy collaboration and resolution tracking.

Validation Questions

Validation can be broken down into three different areas: alarms, spaces, and equipment and systems. The list of questions for each area is outlined in the table below. The rest of this document outlines the steps to provide feedback. 

Alarms

Alarm validation questions are:

• For Unknown Building Alarms, is it possible for you to determine the building using the source fields?
• For Unknown Asset Alarms, is it possible for you to determine the asset using the source fields?
• Are the asset, parameter, and condition accurate?
• Are the medium and flow direction accurate, where applicable?

Steps - Unknown Building

1. Use the lens Unknown Building.
2. For each building, review critical categories and the source fields.
3. Address findings.
   1. Enter an issue for alarms for which the building is able to be determined from source data.
   2. Update alarms for which the building is known, but not able to be determined from source data.

Steps - Unknown Asset

1. Use the lens Unknown Asset by Category.
2. For each building, review critical categories and the source fields.
3. Address findings.
   1. Enter an issue for alarms for which the asset is able to be determined from source data.
   2. Update alarms for which the asset is known, but not able to be determined from source data.

Steps - Alarm Attributes

1. Use the lens All Alarms by Category. Consider adding a category filter to narrow the view to categories you would like to review.
2. For each critical category, review alarm attributes (asset, parameter, condition, medium, flow direction).
3. Address findings.
   1. Enter an issue for alarms that appear inaccurate based on a review of the alarm data.

Spaces

Space validation questions are:

• Do space types have an accurate count of the rooms?
• Is the location of the room accurate?
• Are space names accurate and helpful?

Steps

1. Navigate to the Asset Lens Spaces by Criticality.
2. For each building, review the count of rooms by space type. They are organized by Space Criticality and space type, so you can easily focus on spaces that matter most. If necessary, use the lens Spaces without Space Type to identify spaces that do not have a space type but are critical.
3. For critical space types, review the room location and name.
4. Address findings.
   1. Enter an issue for spaces that appear inaccurate based on a review of the alarm data or known understanding of the facility.
   2. Update space types for critical spaces that may not have been shared as part of inventory and are not obvious from the alarm data. See the KB article on Editing and Creating Assets for guidance.

Equipment and Systems

Equipment and System validation questions are:

• Does equipment type have an accurate count?
• Is the location of the equipment accurate?
• Are equipment names accurate and helpful?
• Is critical equipment linked to the provided spaces?
• Is it possible to tell the equipment type or space for any “Equipment” types?

Steps

1. Navigate to the Asset Lens Equipment by Criticality to review equipment by type.
2. For each building, review the count of equipment by type. For some alarms, we are unable to determine a space or equipment. Those alarms are assigned a placeholder asset with the Equipment Type of “Equipment”. We will handle those during validation of Alarms.
3. For critical equipment types, review equipment criticality, name, and location. Note that equipment criticality is determined by the criticality of the space it feeds.
4. Address findings.
   1. Enter an issue for equipment and systems that appears inaccurate based on a review of the alarm data or known understanding of the facility.
   2. Add relationships for critical equipment where known. See the KB article on Asset Relationships for guidance.