UL Glossary/MKS Terminology

❑About this abbreviated UL Glossary of Terms

•The following list contains many of the somewhat unique Central Station Monitoring Terms used within the MKMS and MKMSCS Help Files; and documented within Section 5 of the Third Edition UL® 1981 Standard.

✓All of these terms are associated with the customers, data entry, alarm processing procedures and other operations provided by or required of a Central Station Monitoring Service Provider.

✓An explanation of each of these Terms is included along with the links to the Chapters within these Help Files where more in-depth information for each of these Terms may be found.

❑5 - Glossary (items may be found in Section 5(1-64) of the Third Edition UL® 1981 Standard)

5.1 - For the purpose of the Third Edition UL® 1981 Standard, the following definitions apply.

5.2 - Active System

✓A system that sends one or both of the following signals to the central-station on a regular basis:

a)A signal that the system has been disarmed and the protection removed (commonly referred to as "opened"); or

b)A signal that the system has been armed and the protection activated (commonly referred to as "closed")

✓If an alarm system sends opening and closing (disarm and arm) signals, it is considered to be an active system. Supervisory check-in signals transmitted from a system does not make it an active system.

5.3 - Alarm Monitoring Software - The sequence of instructions that tells the hardware how to handle the incoming signals and instructions from the keyboard.

▪The alarm-monitoring software controls how the messages are stored in memory and how they are displayed at the operator station and printers.

5.4 - Alarm Signal

▪A signal form an alarm system which requires immediate action.

▪A signal, such as the alarm initiated from a manual box, a water flow switch, an automatic fire detector, an intrusion detection unit, hold-up initiating device, door contact, or tamper switch, a condition that the software has determined constitutes and alarm, that indicates an emergency, fire, burglary condition requiring immediate action.

5.5 - Automation System

▪A computer system that consists of hardware and software components.

▪These components include the alarm-monitoring software supplied by the automation system developer (Micro Key Solutions), the operating system (Microsoft), the (various) programming languages, required to make the system operational

5.10 - Batch Clear Alarm - A process or utility that allows the blanket clearing of alarms by type, geographical area, and/or priority (see Alarm Stack Maintenance).

5.16 - Computer Cluster - (High-available or Failover clusters)

▪A group of two or more computers that are connected to form redundant nodes which are used to provide service when system components fail.

▪Such high-availability or failover clusters are designed to use redundancy of cluster components to eliminate single points of failure.

5.21 - Fault Tolerant Computer System

▪A computer system containing multiple power supplies, disks, processors, and controllers, each backing-up and checking on the processes of the others.

▪In the event of a component failure, the other modules take over the job performed by the failed component without affecting the operation of the computer.

▪In addition to the duplicate hardware, a fault-tolerant system includes software components consisting of the operating system, programming languages, the alarm-monitoring software supplied by the automation system software developer required to make the system operational.

▪See 5.25 and 5.43 for the definitions of a Hot back-up and redundant system.

▪A fault-tolerant computer system as defined above is considered to be a redundant.

5.25 - Hot Back-up - A continuously energized computer system that is a back-up to the primary system computer and disk drive (see MKS Cluster).

5.41 - Receiving Software

▪Software residing on a computer or network server that monitors the status of protected premises and stores status changes in memory.

▪The receiving software connects to the automation system and transmits signals received from alarm systems to the automation system.

5.43 - Redundant Computer System (see MKS System Status Application and MKS Cluster)

▪Two or more computer systems maintained at a central-station, either of which can quickly be connected and operational for processing signals in the event that the other computer fails to operate.

▪A fault tolerant computer system is considered to be redundant.

5.47 - Runaway System

▪Any alarm system that transmits a greater number of the same type of signals from a particular device, point of protection, zone or in the absence of the availability of such detail the overall system then the automation system is pre-programmed to received within a pre-programmed period of time (see On Runaway Alarm in SPA Setup - System tab).

▪The number of signals and the time from which define a runaway system are agreed upon by the central-station and the automation system software provider.

▪An automation system programmed with the runaway system criteria provided by the central-station meets the requirement of 11.1.9.

5.53 - Subscriber

▪The user of a premise or item protected by a burglar or fire alarm system.

▪An authorized representative of a user is also considered a Subscriber

▪Within these MKMS Help Files, any Central Station Monitoring Customer is a Subscriber (who may also be referred to as an Account).

5.55 - Supervised Burglar Alarm System - An active alarm system in which operators initiate follow up actions when an anticipated signal, such as an opening and closing, or check-in signal is missed or improperly sent.

5.59 - Unscheduled Opening - An opening of a burglar-alarm system not made in accordance with an established schedule.

5.62 - Watchdog Timer - A hardware or software supervisory module which supervises the disk drives, micro-processors, power supply output, and similar components (see MKS Cluster).

•UL® Requirements: As part of properly implementing the Third Edition UL® 1981 Standard, specifically for compliance with section 6.2 Sign-on Security and 6.3 (1-7) Five Security Levels of the Third Edition UL® 1981 Standard:

6.2.1 - The Employee's Password (i.e., Passcode) shall consist of the following:

a)A Username of at least six (6) characters

b)A Password which shall consist of a minimum of six alpha-numeric characters with at least one alpha and one numeric character

6.2.3 - Any modification made to the database shall be logged with a unique personal identification (Employee ID) belonging to the person performing the modification).

i.To comply with 6.2.3 of the Third Edition UL® 1981 Standard, the Audit box must always be Checked for All Form Names when User Access Rights are assigned to any Employee or Employee Group

ii.Users cannot turn auditing off when the UL® Version is Registered (i.e., Active).

iii.In the User Access Rights and the Employee Groups Forms - when the UL® Version is Active -, the Audit option box will always be Checked on all Form Names.

iv.No User will be able to remove that Check Mark.

6.2.6 - The automation system shall prevent:

a)Repeated passwords, used within the last six changes;

b)Passwords that are a derivative of the user name(s); and

▪[e.g., Password cannot contain 50% of a Username so a User "Stacy" cannot have a Password of "STA3841"]

c)Passwords that are simply letters or numbers in order (e.g.: abcd, 1234, etc.).

▪[e.g., any type of sequence is prohibited such as 'ab', '34', '89', 'xy']

6.3 (1-7) - A minimum of Five Security Levels must be defined and the appropriate one assigned to each specific Employee based on that Employee's Need for Access.

❑Other MKMS & MKMSCS specific Terms - (This is not a fully alphabetical listing, but instead, the list is ordered so as to build on the previous entry to help the Reader "Grow" their knowledge in a more logical manner)

❖Operator- A person identified as an Operator is someone who has acquired the necessary Operator Skills, and defined within the Employee Form has the Personal, Security and Operator Skill List tab information assigned that enables him/her to Process Alarms.

❖CSID - The Account Number - which has been Programmed into the Subscriber's (Customer's) Control Panel - which is transmitted by that Control Panel to the Central Station (i.e., Central Station Identification Digits) to identify that Subscriber's premises.

❖Active Signal - Any Signal transmitted from a Subscriber's premises (or generated internally by SPA or MKMSCS) which requires Processing by an Operator - rather then one that is managed internally by SPA or MKMSCS - identified as such because the associated Panel Zone and/or CSID Zone record matching the Signal has a Check in the Response Needed? box.

❖Passive Signal - Any Signal transmitted from a Subscriber's premises (or generated internally by SPA or MKMSCS) which does not require Processing by an Operator because the associated Panel Zone and/or CSID Zone record matching the Signal has no Check mark in the Response Needed? box - thereby indicating the SPA or MKMSCS will manage, process and record the Signal automatically.

❖Subscriber Panels - Below the Central Station data section of the Monitoring sub-tab in the Edit View of the Subscriber Form in which the Panel Information is entered - specifically the CSID and associated information for a Subscriber

➢The list of those associated Subscriber Panel Terms is shown immediately below:

✓Dealer Call List tab - The Dealer Call List button is available on the Subscriber Panels section of the Central Station Data Form.

▪A Call List (CSID) is identified on the Dealer Form by assigning the CSID of a Subscriber which has the appropriate People To Call defined.

▪This Call List will then be on the Available To Call list for all the Accounts that are being monitored for that Dealer.

✓Alt Call List tab - This accesses an Alternate Call List (set of People To Call) that was defined for a different Subscriber, or a different CSID for the same Subscriber, and whose People To Call will be attached to the current Subscriber's CSID by selecting that Alternate Call List CSID in the Alt Call List field in the Subscriber Panel's section of the Central Station Data Form.

▪The attached Alternate Call List set of People To Call will be included in the Available To Call list on the CSID Zones Form and incorporated into the Global Call List and/or the Condition Call List.

✓Alt Events tab - In a similar manner to the Alternate Call List CSID assignment described above (which identifies a CSID whose People To Call information may be used by (i.e., connected to) a different CSID), the Alternate Events feature allows another Subscriber's Events information to be attached to this CSID by inserting that CSID into the EventCSID field in the Subscriber Panel's section of the Central Station Data Form.

✓Event CSID - The selected Alternate Events CSID entered in the EventCSID field may be a "real" CSID, or a fictitious CSID Account established specifically to hold a set of supervised Events that may then be used by a group of related Accounts (e.g., Locations of a Restaurant Chain, affiliated Big Box Stores, Convenience Stores), all of whom are following the same Open and Close schedule and are being monitored by your Central Station.

✓Phone DCU - This is the Subscriber Panel CSID's Download Telephone Number which is always printed on a Service Request Work Order.

✓Phone List - The Caller-ID of the Telephone Number which is transmitted by the Alarm System when reporting an Alarm Signal via that incoming call.

▪This can be identified with the DMP, Sur-gard and Bosch receivers and is saved in this field.

▪To have SPA automatically insert Caller ID Telephone Numbers from which Alarm Signals were transmitted for this Account into the Phone List field's table within the Subscriber Panels Form, Check the "Update Phone on CallerID" box on the SPA System Setup Form.

✓Panel Connection ID - The Type of Communication Connection used to transmit a Signal from the Subscriber's Control Panel to their designated Central Station's Receiver

▪This is specified in the Subscriber Panel section of the Central Station Data Form

▪The available Communication Connection options are Dial-Up, Direct Line, Encrypted Line, Internet, and Wireless.

❖Communicator Format - This is the Communicator Format assigned to each CSID defined in the Subscriber Panel section of the Central Station Data Form.

▪Because the Communicator Format has all the basic Panel Zones defined for it's type of Communicator (e.g., DMP, Contact ID, SIA), by assigning a Communicator Format to a CSID, the associated Panel Zone information is also attached to that CSID (see Panel Zones below).

❖Panel Zones - Based on the Communicator Format being transmitted by the Subscriber's Control Panel, a default set of Panel Zones may be defined for each of these Communicator Formats (e.g., DMP, Contact ID, SIA) which will include (almost) all of the Signal Identifiers normally associated with that Communicator Format, along with the standard alarm and response instructions that would be required (if defining an Active Signal) or the internal handling instructions (if defining a Passive Signal).

❖CSID Zones - When one or more of the default set of standard alarm and/or response instructions - defined in the Panel Zones Form - will not accommodate a specific Subscriber's response instructions (either because the Signal Identifier is being used in a non-standard way, or the desired response is different for a specific Physical Zone reporting that Signal Identifier), and/or when a Physical Zone's unique Description needs to be specified, etc., the CSID Zones Form is used to identify these Subscriber specific instructions.

▪CSID Zones may also be used to identify each Physical Zone within a Subscriber's Alarm System. The CSID Zones Form may be used to Redirect an Account Number (CSID) to a different Account Number.

▪The Terms below appear as field names on both this Panel Zones and the CSID Zones Form:

oResponse Needed – Checking this field identifies a Signal is an Active Signal and therefore - when received at the Central Station - will be presented to an Operator on the Alarm Processing screen.

oVerify Signal- Checking this field instructs MKMSCS to Verify this Signal prior to taking any other action (i.e., attempting a call to the Primary Tel, 1st Alt Tel, and the 2nd Alt Tel if they are entered) on the Subscribers Form.

oDispatch - This field offers a Drop-Down Selection List from which to Choose the appropriate Dispatch instruction (one of which is None).

oRestoral Information- This is the Restoral Signal which would Restore a previous Signal that reported a situation requiring Operator intervention (a Failed To Restore Alarm) only if the defined Restore Signal is not received within a specific number of minutes.

oCancel Information-This is the Information that will put the Signal on Hold for the amount of seconds programmed, and then will Complete the Signal if that Signal is received within the defined time period.

❖OCTAR - This character string stands for Open, Close, Test, Alarm, and Restore (O, C, T, A, R) and one of these OCTAR descriptions must be assigned to each of the Panel Zones and CSID Zones entered in MKMS.

❖CSID Zone Override - The CSID Zone Override Form may be used to define exceptions to the standard alarm and/or response instructions for specific times of the day and/or days of the week.

▪A CSID Zone must be defined before a CSID Zone Override may be defined for it (i.e., the normal behavior must be identified before the exception can be created).

❖Condition Codes - Every Panel Zone and CSID Zone must be assigned a Condition Code.

▪Each Condition Codes and its related Description represents an actual Alarm Condition or Signal Type (e.g., Burglary, Fire Alarm, Failed To Open, Low Battery, Hold-up) being reported by the Subscriber's Alarm System and also includes its Priority Level (in relation to the other Alarm Conditions), the Operator Skill required to properly process that type of Alarm Condition, and certain rules as to which Reports will include the Alarm Condition.

❖Areas - Alarm Systems may be sub-divided into Areas (Partitions) - each of which may report its own Open, Close, Test, Alarm and Restore status independently (as long as the Communicator Format that is assigned to the Subscriber Panel supports Partitions (i.e., Contact ID, DMP, SIA and MODEM formats).

❖Events - The Events Form is used to defined the Open and Close Schedules that must be supervised for a Subscriber (referenced in item 5.55 Supervised Burglar Alarm System within the Third Edition UL® 1981 Standard).

❖Call List - This is the list of the People To Call that may be used by the Operator while Processing Alarms to communicate with the Subscriber or their representatives for Verification and Notification purposes, and to Complete Signals.

▪A list of People To Call may be defined for each CSID identified for each Subscriber within the Subscriber Panel's section of that Subscriber's Central Station Data Form.

▪Additionally, an Alternate Call List, a Master CSID Call List and/or a Dealer Call List may be associated with each CSID.

▪See the Global Call List definition below and that associated chapter for more information.

❖Call Order - A default notification sequence specifying the order in which the defined People To Call (the Subscriber's Call List) will be contacted when alerting a Subscriber (or their representative) that a Signal from their Premises has been received at the Central Station.

▪However, a CSID Zone specific Call Order may be defined for each Alarm Condition or Signal Type by creating a CSID Zone for each case - each with a specified (different) Call Order.

❖Holidays - A set of default "system recognized" Holidays may be defined including the actual Date on which each Holiday falls within the current year.

▪If the O&C Supervised? box is populated in a Subscriber's Central Station Data section, the Holidays that they actually celebrate - and for which their normal Open and Close schedules will vary from their normal schedule - must be defined:

▪The appropriate "Holiday" Event entries are made in the Subscriber's Open and Close Supervised Events Form for each Holiday's special schedule (e.g., a Thanksgiving day schedule may be different than a New Years day schedule).

▪By doing so, unnecessary and/or erroneous Failed To Open and/or Failed To Close Signals will not be generated.

❖Verification Response Code - This code is selected by the Operator to identify the result of a Verification attempt made by that Operator while performing either an Operator Guided Response or an Action Plan step.

▪The selected Verification Response Code signifies whether the Operator must dial another number, has received a valid cancellation response, must enter a Note or Comment, and/or must initiate a Dispatch procedure.

❖Resolution Code - This code represents the Disposition and/or the Reason - as identified by the Operator - for why the Signal that she/he was Processing was able to be marked as Completed.

❖Test Note - This is a Note or Comment - which is entered in the Central Station Data Form of a Subscriber (and/or on the Dealer Form associated with that Subscriber) - that will always be presented to an Operator when any CSID defined in the Subscriber Panels section of their Central Station Data Form is Placed on Test.

❖Alarm Group - Assigning an Alarm Group in the Central Station Data Form of each monitored Subscriber assures that the Subscriber's Signals will be directed to the Operators that will better understand the type of system being monitored, have the specialized skills needed to properly handle their Signal, and/or speaks the language that the person to which she/he is currently responding will also be speaking.

❖Operator Skill - A comprehensive set or level of Operator Skills may be identified, one, some or any combination of which may then be assigned to specific Operators who have attained one, some, or all of those Skills.

▪A required Operator Skill is identified for each Alarm Condition type because different Signals require different types of Skills (training) to properly Process.

❖Dealer - Many Central Stations provide Monitoring Services for other Alarm Companies, for a set of Chain Store Accounts, and/or other "groups" of Alarm Systems that were installed by and/or are managed by other companies.

▪These "groups" of Accounts (all of whom are entered as Subscribers) are referred to as Dealers (or Alarm Dealers). Each of these Dealers may have their own Dealer Call List and set of Dealer Technicians.

❖Dealer Technicians- These are the Technicians that a specific Dealer uses and are assigned their own Passcode (i.e., Password).

❖Global Call List - The Global Call List feature is provided to expand, as appropriate, the immediately available sources of Contact Information that an Operator has available while Processing a Signal for a Subscriber, by incorporating a Dealer's Call List of People To Call, an Alternate Call List (assigned within the Subscriber Panel's section of the Central Station Data Form), and the normal set of People To Call defined for the CSID which is reporting the Signal.

❖Town Codes - The Form is used to enter the Dispatch related information for any Municipality providing Emergency Response Services for your Accounts.

❖Virtual Phone Lines – A Virtual Phone Line is used by the Two Way Voice function to identify which Line the Operator should pick up from the Receiver this defining where incoming Signals, which are designated as Listen In Accounts, are actually being received.

❖SPA - The Signal Processing Application communicates with the Receivers through Serial and/or IP connections and is the heart of the Central Station Monitoring application.

▪SPA receives and translates all of those Signals for the Alarm Signal Processing interface provided for your Operators by MKMSCS.

❖Receiver Groups - The Receiver Groups Form allows you to define any number of Groups, and indicate the Receiver IDs and their related Line Card Numbers that you want to be included in each Receiver Group.

▪The Receiver, and Line field data entered in the Subscriber Panels section of the Central Station Data Form is used to identify the group members (Subscriber Panels) that can transmit to each Line Card and Receiver within each Receiver Group.

❖DNIS - The DNIS Number - which will generally be the last five (5) digits of the Telephone Number being dialed by the Control Panel's Communicator when transmitting a Signal to this Receiver - provides the ability to share all the lines so you can use the CSID Constructor.

❖CSID Constructor - The CSID Constructor section within the Receiver Setup instructions allows you to precisely identify the type of data, and the order in which that data will be received - from the Accounts connected to that Receiver - these identified data types becoming part of the CSID entered in the Subscriber Panels section of the Central Station Data Form.

▪This is where you can have the software assign a prefix or a suffix to the CSID Panel Number so that you do not have duplicated Accounts you can even assign Text to the Prefix or Suffix. This can be done by Receiver, or by a Receiver Line, or by DNIS.