An Alert Rule's Actions decide how people and systems are notified when an alert is triggered. A rule needs at least one action to notify people, and any combination of them can be selected.
Every triggered alert is always in the app's Alerts list, whether or not any action is configured. Actions control who is notified — not whether the alert is listed in a Kio App.
Recipient alert notification methods
- Emails: Sends an email that includes the action's Subject, then the alert details followed by the action's Message.
- Text Messages: Sends a text message that includes the alert details followed by the action's Message. A short Message is better — a long text may be split by the recipient's carrier.
- Webhooks: Sends the alert to a third-party system as structured data for that system to process. Webhooks are created and configured in Company Settings and then assigned in an Alert Rule. Webhooks are commonly managed by an IT or an integration team, and then assigned to a rule.
Three ways to add recipients
Each notification action accepts recipients in three ways, and they can be combined in the same action:
- Recipients: Add individual email addresses or phone numbers directly, pressing Enter after each one. Use this for anyone without a Kio Cloud user profile, such as an on-call vendor or an answering service.
- Users: Select people by name from the Kio Cloud users in the account. Their contact details come from their user profile, so a change to a profile applies to every rule they are included in.
- User groups: Select a Group (managed from the Kio Cloud User app) and every member (user) in it is notified. As users are added or removed from a Group, the changes are automatically applied to the rule — no need to edit the rule.
Selecting Users or User groups is the more maintainable choice – each user profile's contact details live in one place, and rules do not need editing when user profile details change. Adding recipients directly remains the only way to notify someone who is not a Kio Cloud user.
Users and User groups are both maintained in the Users app. Selecting them in an Alert Rule does not create or change them:
- Users: Each person's email address and phone number come from their user profile, in Users > User Management.
- User groups: Group membership is managed in Users > Groups. Adding or removing a member (user) from a group is automatically updated in every rule that group is part of.
From an Alert Rule's action, selecting Manage opens the Users app in a new tab. Only users assigned to the User Management Administrator role have access to view, create, and manage user profiles and groups, so if a required person is missing — or a group needs a new member — ask a User Management Administrator rather than working around it with a directly added address.
As recipients are selected, a summary shows who will actually be notified. Use it to confirm the rule reaches the intended people before saving.
Email and text notifications
Emails and text messages are not only what is provided in the subject and message. Each one combines three parts, in this order:
- Alert details the rule automatically generates. The alert name, what triggered it, and where — generated from the alert itself, so recipients are provided the alert details.
- The Subject and Message. Both are free-form text and are set on the action, not once for the rule, so each notification method can carry its own wording. The message (optional) is commonly used for additional instructions the alert details cannot supply, such as which procedure to follow.
- A link to respond. Recipients can acknowledge or resolve the alert from the notification, without signing in to the app first. The system automatically logs each user action in the alert's Activity Timeline.
Because an alert notification automatically includes the alert details (name, trigger, and location) a Message works best as an instruction rather than a restatement of the alert. A Message belongs to the action it is set on — Emails and Text Messages each take their own — and the same text is sent for every alert that rule triggers — it has to hold true for every asset and every location the rule covers, which rules out naming a specific asset, location, or quantity.
Things to know
- A user selected twice is notified once: If someone is selected under Users and belongs to a selected User group, they receive one notification, not two.
- An empty group notifies no one: A group with no members is valid to select but reaches nobody, so the rule can look complete while notifying fewer people than intended.
- A user with no phone number cannot be reached by text message: An email address is required for every Kio Cloud user, so email always reaches its recipients. A phone number is optional. The recipient list indicates if anyone has no phone number, which is worth checking on any rule that depends on reaching someone urgently. To add a missing phone number, see Add a user.
Reminders and escalations
Reminders and escalations are also set on the Actions step:
- 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 unacknowledged or unresolved, or the condition remains active. Use escalations to notify supervisors, managers, or another response group.
An Escalation Alert Rule is a separate rule that can be reused across several Alert Rules. See About escalation alerts.
Where notifications come from
For the exact alert details Asset Tracker generates for each rule type, with examples, see Reference: What an Asset Tracker alert notification includes.
To create a rule and set its actions, see Create a Location alert rule or Create a PAR Level alert rule.