An alert tells you that a dispenser needs attention, usually because its refill level has dropped to the level set in an Alert Rule. Every alert Hand Hygiene triggers is listed in Alerts, on the Alerts List page, where your team can see what needs a refill, confirm who is handling it, and record how it was resolved.
Alerts depend on Alert Rules. An Administrator creates the Alert Rules under Settings > Alert Rules, and each rule decides which dispensers are monitored, the refill level that triggers an alert, and who is notified. See About Alert Rules.
Where alerts come from
Hand Hygiene triggers two kinds of alert:
- Refill level: a dispenser's refill level drops to or below the refill level set in a Refill level Alert Rule.
- Escalation: a Refill level alert still needs attention after the wait time set in the rule's escalation, so a new alert is triggered for a different Group. See About escalation alerts.
Each alert is named after the Alert Rule that triggered it, so a clear rule name makes the Alerts list easier to read.
Who has access to alerts
The Administrator, User, Contact tracer, Viewer, and Limited User roles have access to the Alerts menu item. Seeing an alert and acting on it are separate permissions:
| Role | View alerts | Acknowledge and resolve alerts |
|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Yes | Yes |
| User | Yes | Yes |
| Contact tracer | Yes | Yes |
| Viewer | Yes | No |
| Limited User | Yes | No |
For Viewers and Limited Users, the Acknowledge and Resolve buttons do not appear. The Nurse and Nurse Manager roles have no access to Alerts. See About user access to Hand Hygiene.
An escalation alert can be acknowledged or resolved only by members of the Group assigned to its Escalation Alert Rule. Anyone else who tries sees the message "You do not have permissions to acknowledge or resolve this alert."
Alert status and condition status
Every alert has two separate statuses. Read them together.
| Status | Values | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Alert status | New, Acknowledged, Resolved | Where the alert is in your team's response. A person changes it. |
| Condition status | Condition active, Back to normal | Whether the dispenser is still at or below the alert's refill level. Hand Hygiene changes it from the dispenser's reported refill level. |
The alert status values mean:
- New: the alert was triggered and no one has acknowledged it yet.
- Acknowledged: someone has confirmed they are handling it.
- Resolved: someone has closed the alert and recorded a Resolution Code.
The condition status values mean:
- Condition active: the dispenser's refill level is still at or below the refill level in the Alert Rule.
- Back to normal: the dispenser was refilled above that level.
The two statuses change independently. An alert can be Acknowledged while the condition is still Condition active: someone is on the way with a refill. An alert can also be Back to normal while still New: the dispenser was refilled before anyone acknowledged the alert. Refilling a dispenser does not resolve its alert; a person still resolves it.
The Alerts List
The Alerts List has two views.
- Active alerts is the default view. It lists new and acknowledged alerts, plus resolved alerts whose dispenser has not yet been refilled.
- Alerts history lists resolved alerts whose dispenser is back to normal. Select Alerts History to open it, and Back to active alerts to return.
A resolved alert leaves Active alerts once both things are true: someone resolved it, and the dispenser was refilled above the alert's refill level.
The list updates on its own when a new Hand Hygiene alert is triggered, so you do not need to refresh the page.
Columns
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Status | The alert status (New, Acknowledged, or Resolved). In Active alerts, the condition status appears alongside it as Condition active or Back to normal. |
| Name | The alert name, taken from the Alert Rule. Select it to open the alert's details. |
| Department | The department of the dispenser that triggered the alert. |
| Dispenser | The dispenser that triggered the alert. |
| Details | The dispenser's refill level when the alert was triggered and the rule's refill level, for example "Refill: 8%" and "Threshold: 10%". |
| Created | The date and time the alert was triggered. |
| Alert Rule | The Alert Rule that triggered the alert. This column is hidden by default. |
Select the + icon on the table to show or hide columns, or select Reset to return to the default set. You can also drag columns to reorder them and resize them.
Filters
Select Filters to narrow the list. The available filters are:
- Affected Location: a campus, building, floor, or room.
- Created: a date range.
- Alert Rule: one Alert Rule.
- Resolution Code: one or more Resolution Codes, for finding how resolved alerts were closed.
- Department: one or more departments.
- Condition status: Condition active or Back to normal, one at a time. This filter is available in Active alerts only.
Each filter you apply is shown next to Filters. Select the x beside a filter to remove it.
Export
Select Export CSV to download the alerts in the current view, with your filters applied. An export can include up to 10,000 alerts. If your criteria match more than that, narrow the filters and export again.
The alert details page
Select an alert's name to open its details. The page header shows the alert name, the Report button, and, for roles that can act on alerts, the Acknowledge and Resolve buttons.
The page summarizes the alert:
- Status: the alert status, with the condition status beside it.
- Severity: the severity set in the Alert Rule.
- Duration: how long the alert has been open. After the dispenser is refilled, this changes to Time to refill, the time from the alert to the refill.
- Triggered value: the dispenser's refill level when the alert was triggered.
- Location: the campus, building, floor, and room of the dispenser.
In the details panel:
| Field | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Alert opened | When the alert was triggered. |
| Dispenser | The dispenser that triggered the alert. Select it to open the dispenser's details. |
| Time to acknowledge | How long it took for someone to acknowledge the alert. Shown once the alert is acknowledged. |
| Time to resolve | How long it took for someone to resolve the alert. Shown once the alert is resolved. |
| Alert Type | Refill level or Escalation. |
| Rule Condition | The condition that triggered the alert, for example "Refill level at or below 10%". |
| Alert Rule | The Alert Rule that triggered the alert. For Administrators, the name links to the rule. |
| Resolution Code | The Resolution Code recorded when the alert was resolved, or "Not resolved". |
| Note | The note added when the alert was resolved. |
| Acknowledge note | The note added when the alert was acknowledged. |
The page also shows:
- Escalation Chain: shown when the alert is part of an escalation. It lists every linked alert, with a link to each one.
- Activity Timeline: a timestamped record of what happened to the alert, with Time, Activity, and Note columns. It includes when the alert was triggered, the notifications sent, when it was acknowledged and resolved, and when the condition changed to back to normal or active again.
- Location: a floor map showing the dispenser's room, when the alert has a room location.
For an escalation alert, the page also shows Escalation opened and the Escalation Rule, with the original alert under Escalated Alert.
Alert incident report
Once an alert is resolved, select Report on its details page to download a PDF record of that alert. The Report button stays unavailable until the alert is resolved. The alert incident report is the same alert record used across the Kontakt.io platform, and it is useful when you need a standalone record of how one alert was handled.
How acknowledging and resolving affect notifications
- Acknowledging an alert stops reminders and escalations set to Not Acknowledged. Reminders and escalations set to Not Resolved continue.
- Resolving an alert stops all of its pending reminders and escalations.
- Refilling the dispenser changes the condition status to Back to normal but does not stop reminders or escalations. Resolve the alert to stop them.
For the steps, see Acknowledge and resolve an alert.