Monitors: Overview
Monitors in GroupAlarm allows you to graphically display a wide range of information about your organisation. This is particularly helpful if you want to keep a constant eye on certain data. A monitor created with GroupAlarm can then be integrated into external devices, such as a screen in your equipment room, in just a few steps.
A monitor is made up of various individually configurable panels, which can be arranged using drag & drop. Details on the individual panels can be found here.
💡 The Alarm monitor is an optional extension of GroupAlarm and can be activated under Admin ⇾ Extensions.
1️⃣ To create a new monitor, click on CREATE MONITOR above. On the following page, you can assign a name for the monitor so that it can be identified later.
2️⃣ Once the monitor has been created, it is listed with the corresponding name in the overview of monitors. The monitor can then be edited and configured according to your requirements using the pencil icon on the right-hand side. The trash icon allows you to delete a monitor that you no longer need.
💡 Deleting a monitor is irrevocable.
When you edit a monitor, you are first taken to an overview of the individual areas and general settings of a monitor.
The alarm view is the primary view of the monitor, which is used in particular for active open alarms.
The alarm view can be set up with the individual panels via Edit monitor. Details on editing the monitor can be found here.
The alarm view always shows the data of the last alarm. Alternatively, a split-screen view of the monitor can be configured. This split screen view always displays the last four alarms in separate areas. However, these areas offer less space for panels than the single view due to the layout.
The monitor's standby mode can be used to configure a view that takes effect when all open events have been closed and the defined time window for standby mode has been exceeded. The monitor then automatically switches to the corresponding view. Here you could, for example, display general information such as weather maps.
1️⃣ The Activate standby mode after function can be used to define the time window after which the monitor switches to standby mode. If this function is deactivated, only the alarm view is displayed.
💡The time window for the standby mode is saved via the disc symbol in the input field.
2️⃣ The standby mode view is set up in the same way as the alarm view. You can access the corresponding screen via Edit sleep mode. Details on editing the monitor can be found here.
With gong and announcement, you can have the monitor play an acoustic sequence when an alarm is triggered.
1️⃣ Use the Activate gong and announcement function to enable the configuration and activate the gong and announcement for the respective monitor.
2️⃣ Select a chime (Note: One chime is available for the release of the function. We will deliver more later).
3️⃣ The following variables are available for configuring the announcement:
Gong: Plays the previously selected chime.
Short/long break: Inserts a pause of 1 or 3 seconds in the text.
Event: Inserts the event name of the alarm in the text.
Alarm text: Inserts the alarm text.
Address: Inserts the transmitted address in the text.
Units: Inserts the alarmed units in the text.
Click on the corresponding fields to add the desired variables to the announcement. These are then labelled with %VARIABLENAMEN%.
⚠️ There must be a space between each word, or more precisely each variable, so that the text can be reproduced correctly.
4️⃣ Specify the intervals at which the alarm text is to be repeated. Three options are available.
Number of announcements: Specifies how often the announcement should be played.
Pause: Defines the pause between repetitions.
Initial delay: Defines the delay until the first announcement after the alarm is triggered.
5️⃣ Select a voice, pitch and speaking speed for the announcement.
💡 The voices that match the organisational language are always displayed and made available. Test which voice suits your organisation best.
6️⃣ Test your announcement.
⚠️ No real alarm parameters are available when testing the announcement. Instead, the variable names are read out here, which are replaced by the supplied parameters for real alarms.
❗️Please note that all settings are only applied when you click on Save.
Displays offers a convenient way to call up your set-up monitor on an external device. To do this, call up the URL https://app.groupalarm.com/display/ on the device that is to display the monitor. You will then be taken to a page with a QR code that you can scan with your smartphone. This will redirect you to GroupAlarm, where you first log in and then select the organisation and the monitor you want to share. You can configure the display as part of the sharing process. You can choose between the Normal and Split screen views, the Light and Dark display modes, the language in which the monitor is to be displayed and the name of the display for later identification. Displays that have been set up are then listed in the monitor under Displays and can also be configured there at a later date.
⚠️ Please use your administrative user account to log in, as authorisation for the monitor is required for approval.
As an alternative to the QR code, a so-called quick code can also be entered manually on the https://app.groupalarm.com/en-GB/d/config/display page.
As an alternative to using displays, you can also open the monitor via a URL that contains a token. In contrast to the displays, a separate log-in is not necessary here to display the monitor on an external device, as you authenticate yourself to the monitor with the token.
We recommend the use of displays.
All available tokens are listed here. A default token is available for every monitor by default.
1️⃣ By clicking on the star symbol, a token can be granted and revoked access to data from sub-organisations. This has a particular effect on the Active alarms panel. This then also displays the alarms of the sub-organisation.
2️⃣ The icons on the right-hand side allow you to manage the token. The icons are described here from left to right.
The copy icon allows you to copy the token to the clipboard. From there you can then add it to the desired URL of a monitor.
The rectangular symbol with the arrow next to it allows you to open the monitor directly in the various views. You can choose between the normal view and the split screen view in light or dark mode.
The URL of such an open monitor already contains the token and can therefore be called up directly on an external device.
You can regenerate the token using the round arrow. All monitors that use this token can then no longer be called up until the new token has been inserted. This can be useful if you want to ensure that the URL with the token is not used by unauthorised persons.
A token can be completely deleted using the red recycle bin. The same applies here as when regenerating the token. All monitors using the token can no longer be accessed.
3️⃣ When creating a new token, it can be named and access to sub-organisations can be permitted from the outset. The latter has the same effect as selecting the star symbol for an existing token.
Under Monitor, you can customise the name of the monitor. You can also use the Export function to download the monitor as a .json file in order to import it into another organisation.
When exporting, only the alarm view and the sleep mode are exported. No settings for the monitor itself, such as gong and announcement, connected displays or tokens, are exported.
The functions of the various panels (sorted by category) and their configuration are explained below. Click on a heading to expand the explanation.
Some panels support filtering of the displayed text by regular expressions / RegEx.
This includes, for example, the alarm message, the event, and the address.
If such a filter is set up with a correct regular expression, the Result of the first Capturing Group is displayed in the panel. If the regular expression is invalid, the corresponding error message is displayed. If the regular expression does not find a result or there is no capturing group in the expression, only a - is displayed in the panel.
In addition to the regular expression, one of three flags can also be used to affect the result. These are:
m, multi line: ^ and $ correspond to start and end of a line, respectively.
i, case-insensitive: upper and lower case are ignored
s, single line: Dot additionally corresponds to a new line
In this example, the alarm message looks like this:
If you would like to filter out the keyword here, you can form the regular expression as follows:
Make sure that you do not use the single line flag.
Activate the case-insensitive flag if the preceding keyword text is not always case-sensitive.
Allgemein
Alarmierung
Ereignisse
Pager
A monitor is made up of various individually configurable panels, which can be arranged using drag & drop. Details on the individual panels can be found here.
💡 The Alarm monitor is an optional extension of GroupAlarm and can be activated under Admin ⇾ Extensions.
Create monitor
1️⃣ To create a new monitor, click on CREATE MONITOR above. On the following page, you can assign a name for the monitor so that it can be identified later.
2️⃣ Once the monitor has been created, it is listed with the corresponding name in the overview of monitors. The monitor can then be edited and configured according to your requirements using the pencil icon on the right-hand side. The trash icon allows you to delete a monitor that you no longer need.
💡 Deleting a monitor is irrevocable.
Edit monitor
When you edit a monitor, you are first taken to an overview of the individual areas and general settings of a monitor.
Alarm view
The alarm view is the primary view of the monitor, which is used in particular for active open alarms.
The alarm view can be set up with the individual panels via Edit monitor. Details on editing the monitor can be found here.
The alarm view always shows the data of the last alarm. Alternatively, a split-screen view of the monitor can be configured. This split screen view always displays the last four alarms in separate areas. However, these areas offer less space for panels than the single view due to the layout.
Standby mode
The monitor's standby mode can be used to configure a view that takes effect when all open events have been closed and the defined time window for standby mode has been exceeded. The monitor then automatically switches to the corresponding view. Here you could, for example, display general information such as weather maps.
1️⃣ The Activate standby mode after function can be used to define the time window after which the monitor switches to standby mode. If this function is deactivated, only the alarm view is displayed.
💡The time window for the standby mode is saved via the disc symbol in the input field.
2️⃣ The standby mode view is set up in the same way as the alarm view. You can access the corresponding screen via Edit sleep mode. Details on editing the monitor can be found here.
Gong & announcement
With gong and announcement, you can have the monitor play an acoustic sequence when an alarm is triggered.
1️⃣ Use the Activate gong and announcement function to enable the configuration and activate the gong and announcement for the respective monitor.
2️⃣ Select a chime (Note: One chime is available for the release of the function. We will deliver more later).
3️⃣ The following variables are available for configuring the announcement:
Gong: Plays the previously selected chime.
Short/long break: Inserts a pause of 1 or 3 seconds in the text.
Event: Inserts the event name of the alarm in the text.
Alarm text: Inserts the alarm text.
Address: Inserts the transmitted address in the text.
Units: Inserts the alarmed units in the text.
Click on the corresponding fields to add the desired variables to the announcement. These are then labelled with %VARIABLENAMEN%.
⚠️ There must be a space between each word, or more precisely each variable, so that the text can be reproduced correctly.
4️⃣ Specify the intervals at which the alarm text is to be repeated. Three options are available.
Number of announcements: Specifies how often the announcement should be played.
Pause: Defines the pause between repetitions.
Initial delay: Defines the delay until the first announcement after the alarm is triggered.
5️⃣ Select a voice, pitch and speaking speed for the announcement.
💡 The voices that match the organisational language are always displayed and made available. Test which voice suits your organisation best.
6️⃣ Test your announcement.
⚠️ No real alarm parameters are available when testing the announcement. Instead, the variable names are read out here, which are replaced by the supplied parameters for real alarms.
❗️Please note that all settings are only applied when you click on Save.
Displays
Displays offers a convenient way to call up your set-up monitor on an external device. To do this, call up the URL https://app.groupalarm.com/display/ on the device that is to display the monitor. You will then be taken to a page with a QR code that you can scan with your smartphone. This will redirect you to GroupAlarm, where you first log in and then select the organisation and the monitor you want to share. You can configure the display as part of the sharing process. You can choose between the Normal and Split screen views, the Light and Dark display modes, the language in which the monitor is to be displayed and the name of the display for later identification. Displays that have been set up are then listed in the monitor under Displays and can also be configured there at a later date.
⚠️ Please use your administrative user account to log in, as authorisation for the monitor is required for approval.
As an alternative to the QR code, a so-called quick code can also be entered manually on the https://app.groupalarm.com/en-GB/d/config/display page.
Tokens
As an alternative to using displays, you can also open the monitor via a URL that contains a token. In contrast to the displays, a separate log-in is not necessary here to display the monitor on an external device, as you authenticate yourself to the monitor with the token.
We recommend the use of displays.
All available tokens are listed here. A default token is available for every monitor by default.
1️⃣ By clicking on the star symbol, a token can be granted and revoked access to data from sub-organisations. This has a particular effect on the Active alarms panel. This then also displays the alarms of the sub-organisation.
2️⃣ The icons on the right-hand side allow you to manage the token. The icons are described here from left to right.
The copy icon allows you to copy the token to the clipboard. From there you can then add it to the desired URL of a monitor.
The rectangular symbol with the arrow next to it allows you to open the monitor directly in the various views. You can choose between the normal view and the split screen view in light or dark mode.
The URL of such an open monitor already contains the token and can therefore be called up directly on an external device.
You can regenerate the token using the round arrow. All monitors that use this token can then no longer be called up until the new token has been inserted. This can be useful if you want to ensure that the URL with the token is not used by unauthorised persons.
A token can be completely deleted using the red recycle bin. The same applies here as when regenerating the token. All monitors using the token can no longer be accessed.
3️⃣ When creating a new token, it can be named and access to sub-organisations can be permitted from the outset. The latter has the same effect as selecting the star symbol for an existing token.
Monitor
Under Monitor, you can customise the name of the monitor. You can also use the Export function to download the monitor as a .json file in order to import it into another organisation.
When exporting, only the alarm view and the sleep mode are exported. No settings for the monitor itself, such as gong and announcement, connected displays or tokens, are exported.
Panels
The functions of the various panels (sorted by category) and their configuration are explained below. Click on a heading to expand the explanation.
Text filter
Some panels support filtering of the displayed text by regular expressions / RegEx.
This includes, for example, the alarm message, the event, and the address.
If such a filter is set up with a correct regular expression, the Result of the first Capturing Group is displayed in the panel. If the regular expression is invalid, the corresponding error message is displayed. If the regular expression does not find a result or there is no capturing group in the expression, only a - is displayed in the panel.
In addition to the regular expression, one of three flags can also be used to affect the result. These are:
m, multi line: ^ and $ correspond to start and end of a line, respectively.
i, case-insensitive: upper and lower case are ignored
s, single line: Dot additionally corresponds to a new line
Example
In this example, the alarm message looks like this:
Alarm!
Keyword: Tanker fire
Address: Aachener Land Süd, BAB4 20, A4, 52249 EschweilerIf you would like to filter out the keyword here, you can form the regular expression as follows:
Keyword: (.*)Make sure that you do not use the single line flag.
Activate the case-insensitive flag if the preceding keyword text is not always case-sensitive.
Panels of the monitor in detail
Allgemein
| Panel | Beschreibung |
|---|---|
| Date | Adds a panel for the date to your monitor. |
| iFrame | Panel for displaying external websites. |
| Map | A panel that displays the map of the location of the current alarm. |
| Static map | Panel with the map of the organisation location. |
| Table | Panel zur Darstellung einer Tabelle. |
| List of participants | Panel for displaying a table. |
| Appointments | Shows upcoming appointments for your organisation. |
| Text area | Panel for displaying a fixed text. |
| Headline | Headline for your monitor. |
| Guard Book | Shows the last entries in your organisation's guard book. |
Alarmierung
| Panel | Beschreibung |
|---|---|
| Address | Displays the address of the last alarm. |
| Active Alarms | Displays all active alarms. |
| Alarm message | This panel shows you the alarm text of the current alarm. |
| Alarm start time | Panel to keep an eye on the start time of the last alarm. |
| Unit feedback | Complete feedback from all participants of the alarmed units of the last alarm. |
| Unit overview | Overview of all units in your organisation with status. |
| Recent Alerts | Displays all alarms in chronological order. |
| Negative feedback | A panel to display the number of negative responses of the alarm. |
| Open feedback | A panel to display the number of open feedback messages of the alarm. |
| Positive feedback | A panel to display the number of positive responses of the alarm. |
| Manpower report (Alarm) | Shows you the manpower of the current alarm. |
Ereignisse
| Panel | Beschreibung |
|---|---|
| Participating Organisations | Shows you the alarms of organisations in your organisational structure with the same event ID. |
| Incident Log | Shows the last entries in your organisation's Incident log. |
| Event | You can use this panel to add the name of the last event to your monitor. |
| Manpower report (Event) | Shows you the strength of the current event. |
Pager
| Panel | Beschreibung |
|---|---|
| Active pagers | Shows you the number of currently active pagers in your organisation. |
| Inactive pagers | Shows you the number of currently inactive pagers in your organisation. |
Updated on: 23/05/2025
Thank you!