9.7.1 Setting Up Schedules

In order to automate the emergency light testing and monitoring, we will first look at creating schedules. Creating a schedule involves choosing where and when to initiate which type of test and on which devices. All parameters and the process of creating a schedule are explained in the following sections.

9.7.1.1 Creating a Schedule

When you click on the PLUS button on the schedule page, you can see a schedule window open up, as shown below. In this example, we will be ‘setting parameters’ and outline step by step (numbered 1-10) all the possible options available for these parameters,

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Setting Parameters

1. Schedule Name - allows you to give your schedule a name. Consider naming the schedules that can help with identification, e.g., “Level 2 Core Area“, or “Level 3 North EM”.

2. Test Type - enables you to choose the type of test (Functional test or Duration test) from the drop-down list. You cannot choose both tests in the same schedule.

3. On Specific Floor - Even though choosing a floor is optional, choosing a floor is always recommended if you have multiple floors to run ELMT. Consider splitting the building into multiple floor-based schedules for best results if you have large quantity of nodes in a building.

4. For tags - Similar to floor selection this is also an optional parameter

   1. When a tenant is creating schedule a tenant tag will always be added automatically

   2. If left unselected then will be applied to whole tenancy “by tenant user“ or all tags “by building admin“.

   3. Consider splitting the floor into multiple tag-based schedules for best results for large number of nodes.

5. Start Date - Helps you select a calendar date for a schedule to run on when you click the calendar icon.

6. Start Time - Allows you to set a particular time based upon building time zone when you wish the test to start for your planned date.

7. Repeat - lets you define custom repeat frequency of each test schedule by choosing from several options such as doesn’t repeat or repeat weekly, monthly, yearly, or even customizing it further. Please click here to read more details on repeat frequency

8. Scheduling Strategy - can be chosen to either ‘odds and even’ or ‘simultaneous’ from the dropdown.

9. Time Window - The finishing time is automatically estimated by the Response Portal and shown in the time window based upon schedule parameters. Test running time can vary depends on total number of nodes in a schedule and the type of scheduling strategy chosen.

10. EM node count - The number highlighted here reflects the total number of emergency devices or nodes selected on this schedule. This number will change depending on how you select floors and tags dynamically.

9.7.1.2. Save & Enable Schedule

Once you have selected all required parameters from the available options, the ‘save’ button will become active as shown in below image.

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1. Click on save to finish editing the schedule

2. The schedule name will appear on the blue bar e.g ‘EM Test’ shown below with number of EM devices.

3. By default, the schedule will be ‘inactive’.

4. You can activate the schedule by moving the toggle button (given at the top right corner), to the right as shown in the below image. The screen will refresh for a second and schedule will become active. You will notice that this blue bar switches from light shade to dark blue once activated.

9.7.1.3. Edit or Reset Schedule

If you would like to edit a schedule, you can click on the schedule name tab.

1. Edit - You can click on the Schedule name blue bar in case you need to edit any parameters.

2. Press Save button to save the changes

3. Reset and Close - If you would like to ignore the recent changes you can click on Reset and Close.

4. Delete Schedule - You can use this Delete Schedule option if you would like to delete a newly created schedule. This delete button will not be visible for any schedule that have run at least once, therefore you can’t delete a schedule that has run in the past. However, you can edit it for any future runs.

The schedule in the below image has run a test, hence you cannot find the option to delete the schedule.

9.7.1.4 Repeat Schedule Frequency

This parameter will help us define the frequency of functional or duration test. If you click on the repeat dropdown to see different available options such Doesn’t repeat or Repeat Weekly, Monthly, Yearly and Custom. The below image shows a saved schedule followed by the options to not repeat test follwed by setting up a repeat frequency,

1. Doesn’t repeat - Select option if you don’t wish the schedule to repeat in future.

2. Weekly - Choosing this option allows running the same test every week. Since in the above example the schedule is initially set to run on a Thursday, it will automatically give you an option to repeat test weekly on Thursday. This can vary depends on the day you have chosen as start date to initiate the test.

3. Monthly - Choose this option to repeat the test monthly. Since this schedule initially set to run on the last Thursday of the month, it can automatically give you an option to repeat test Monthly on the Last Thursday. This can vary dependent on what was chosen as start date for this schedule.

4. Yearly - Select this option to repeat the test yearly. Since our saved schedule initially set to run on 29th of June, it automatically give you an option to repeat test yearly on the same day.

5. Custom - This is an option where you can customize repeating test with complete flexibility. When you click on the Custom option, it will take you to another window where you can customize the repeat the test as a cyclic process.

9.7.1.4.1. Custom Recurrence

Here, you can choose how often you would like to repeat the test (in days/weeks/months/years) and when you want to end that test. The below images are examples of different settings together with the details provided on the side,