Systems and Devices on a Project
What a system is, adding one, its devices and batteries, and the one history per system.
Systems and Devices on a Project
A system is a piece of life-safety or building equipment you look after at a client's site — a fire alarm, the emergency lighting, an intruder alarm, a distribution board. It lives on the project, carries its devices, batteries, certificates and logbook, and is what the routine test programme and the service schedule hang off.
Open a project and choose Systems under the Site group in the page's sidebar. The Logbook is under Records. Systems & Devices is listed under Company Settings → Features and is on by default; it needs Projects on as well.
Adding a System
Click Add (or the + in the systems list) and fill in the Add System form:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| System Name, System Type | Required. The type brings its compliance standard and its routine test rules |
| Compliance Standard | Filled from the type when left blank — BS 5839-1 for a fire alarm, BS 5266-1 for emergency lights, BS 7671 for electrical installations |
| Location, User Code, Engineer Code, Key Location | Where it is and how to get into it. Both codes are stored encrypted, and they are the only place a panel's user and engineer codes are kept — no system type asks for them a second time |
| Contract Type | Maintenance Contract, Monitoring Only, Maintenance & Monitoring, or Ad-hoc / Call Out — decides whether service jobs are generated automatically |
| Installation Date, Service Interval (months), Last Service Date, Next Service Date | The service schedule. Missed tests are never counted from before the installation date |
| Has battery backup, Has disk backup / storage | Switch on the Battery Backup and Storage cards |
Every company starts with twelve system types — Fire Alarm, Intruder Alarm, CCTV, Access Control, Distribution Board, Automation Panel, Emergency Lights, Intercom, Nurse Call, Warden Call, Electrical Installation, Networking — and can add its own under Projects → Settings → System Types.
The System Page
With a system selected, the middle column shows its cards:
- Devices — call points, sounders, detectors, luminaires, cameras… each with a name, type, manufacturer, serial, IP address, location, zone and Loop/Address, a status (Active, Inactive, Faulty, Replaced, Removed) and its own last tested date. History opens one timeline for the whole system: log entries, jobs, batteries and battery checks, certificates and activity, newest first
- Tests — the routine test programme for this system; see Routine Test Schedules
- Battery Backup — see below
- Storage, System Configuration, Certificates
The right column holds System Info and the Panel details.
System Configuration
The System Configuration card holds the details an engineer needs to get into the equipment — the panel login, its activation code, the recovery email, the network settings — and asks for whatever that type of system needs, so it looks different on a CCTV system than on a fire alarm. See System Configuration.
Batteries
Switch Battery Backup on and record each battery with its Voltage (V), Amps (Ah) and Date Installed. A battery is expected to last four years from installation unless a different expiry is recorded; it shows Expiring for the last 60 days and Expired after that. Replace marks the old one as replaced (it moves into Battery History) and records a new one from today.
Engineers check batteries on a job — Pass, Fail or N/A, with the measured voltage — and can replace one from there; the old battery is marked replaced against that job. A failed battery joins the job's failed items, ready for a remedial job. Batteries past or near their replacement date appear on your dashboard's action queue as Schedule replacement.
Deleting
Delete on a system removes it with all its devices and certificates. Prefer marking a system inactive (untick System is active) if the equipment was decommissioned but the history matters.