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About Alert Rules

Alert Rules define when Temperature Monitoring triggers an alert, who is notified, and how they’re notified. A rule monitors a specific condition for the Storage Units, Rooms, or Monitors it covers, such as a temperature or humidity excursion, a Monitor hardware error, or a Monitor going offline.

Without an active Alert Rule, Temperature Monitoring can still detect and record excursions or monitor device issues, but no notification is sent and no alert appears in the Alerts list. The Alert Rule is what turns a detected condition into an alert that notifies the right people.

Types of Alert Rules

Temperature Monitoring has five Alert Rule types, each detecting a different condition. Create a separate rule for each condition you want to monitor.

  • Threshold alert for Storage Unit: a Storage Unit reading goes outside its assigned Threshold Setting.
  • Threshold alert for Room: a Room's ambient temperature or humidity goes outside its assigned Threshold Setting.
  • Hardware error alert: a Monitor reports a hardware problem, such as a disconnected probe.
  • Monitor offline alert: a Monitor stops reporting to Temperature Monitoring.
  • Data out of sync alert: a Monitor has not synced its recorded data within 7, 14, or 21 days.

A separate Escalation Alert Rule notifies an additional Group when an alert goes unaddressed; you add an Escalation with the Escalation Alert Rule to other rules rather than monitoring a condition of its own (described in How Escalation Alert Rules work, below). For additional details, see Alert types.

What an Alert Rule defines

An Alert Rule defines what to monitor, where to monitor it, and who to notify when an alert triggers.

  • Alert type: The condition the rule monitors, such as a Storage Unit threshold excursion, Room threshold excursion, Monitor hardware error, or Monitor offline event.
  • The location it applies to: the Campus, Building, or Floor the rule covers. Alert Rules apply at the campus, building, or floor level, not to an individual room or department.
  • The Storage Units, Rooms, or Monitors it covers: what the rule applies to within that location.
  • Who is notified, and how: the recipients and the channels used to reach them (email, SMS text, other system).

When the monitored condition occurs, the rule triggers an alert and sends notifications. For threshold alerts, the alert triggers only after the threshold alert delay has passed.

Notifications, reminders, and escalations

An Alert Rule’s Actions decide how people are notified when an alert triggers. Actions can include notifications, reminders, and escalations.

  • Notifications are sent when an alert triggers. Notification channels can include email, SMS text message, or webhook. Every triggered alert also appears in the Temperature Monitoring Alerts list, regardless of the notification channels selected.
  • Reminders re-notify the same recipients and can be sent if the alert is not acknowledged, not resolved, or the condition that triggered the alert is still active.
  • Escalations bring in a different group when the alert remains not acknowledged or resolved or the condition remains active. Use escalations to notify supervisors, managers, or another response group.

Reminders and escalations are both set up in the Actions step when you create or edit an Alert Rule.

How Escalation Alert Rules work

An Escalation Alert Rule is a separate Alert Rule. It defines which Group can act on an escalation alert and how that Group is notified.

After you create an Escalation Alert Rule, you can add it to one or more regular Alert Rules. This lets you reuse the same escalation behavior across multiple rules without setting it up each time.

Alert Rule  "Pharmacy Refrigerators: Threshold"
   │
   │  alert triggered, notifies its recipients
   │  reminders re-notify the same recipients
   │
   │  still not acknowledged or resolved or condition is active after the escalation wait time
   ▼
Escalation set in the "Pharmacy Refrigerators: Threshold"
   (Escalation configured to the Pharmacy Supervisor Escalation rule)
   triggers a NEW alert to a different Group (set in the Pharmacy Supervisor Escalation rule), who acknowledge and resolve it

The escalation alert and the original alert are linked in the alert's Escalation Chain. See About escalation alerts.

How Alert Rules relate to other configuration

  • An Alert Rule relies on Threshold Settings to define what counts as an excursion. The rule does not set thresholds; it acts on excursions the thresholds define.
  • An Alert Rule can only cover a Room after a Monitor is installed for that room, because the Room does not appear in Temperature Monitoring until then.