SMS Notification via GSM modem, Integrated Alarm History, Alarm annotations

Exele has release TopView v6.6

Version highlights:

• SMS Notification via GSM modem

• SQL Server alarm logging (optional)

• Alarm history integration with the TopView Window and Remote Viewer

• Alarm annotations and comments (current and previous alarms)

• New HTML format for ad-hoc and Scheduled Alarm Reports

• Customize alarm fields and order of fields for Scheduled Alarm Reports

• Updated look for TopView Configurator application

• Alarm blackout periods

• Email notification via secure SMTP (SSL/TLS)

• "Questionable status" alarm condition

• "Alarm limits" as displayable column for each monitored point

• AND gate for alarm conditions

View the TopView 6.6 Data Sheet (PDF)

Read more about TopView and download a full functioning evaluation version...

SMS Notification via GSM Modem

TopView can send and receive SMS text messages over a GSM cellular network using a GSM modem attached to the TopView computer, allowing users to receive notification, acknowledge alarms and query for current tag information using  a cellular phone.

SQL Server alarm logging (optional)

TopView 6.6 allows users to optionally store TopView alarm history in Microsoft SQL Server. Whether you use the free version of SQL Server Express or your company's Enterprise SQL Server installation, TopView alarm logging to SQL Server provides a robust and standard storage mechanism for alarm history. The Alarm History stored in SQL Server can feed TopView's Alarm Reports to provide flexible alarm history queries. Since Microsoft SQL Server supports database standards such as OLEDB and ODBC, a multitude of 3rd party reporting and querying tools can now be used to access TopView's alarm logs.

Alarm history integration with the TopView Window and Remote Viewer

Previous versions of TopView include ad-hoc and scheduled Alarm Reports that are separated from the applications that display current TopView alarms (TopView Window and Remote Viewer). The TopView Window and Remote Viewer now display an "Alarm history" screen in addition to "Current values and alarms" screen, allowing the interactive user easy access to both current and historical TopView alarm activity.

Alarm annotations and comments (current and previous alarms)

If TopView has been configured to log alarms to Microsoft SQL Server, alarm comments/annotations can now be entered for active and completed TopView alarms. Entering comments/annotations is accomplished through the TopView Window and/or Remote Viewer; the user can enter comments/annotations from both the "Current values and alarms" screen and "Alarm history" screen. Each alarm condition can require that the user enter a comment upon alarm acknowledge; if set, an interactive acknowledge action will prompt the user to enter a comment for the acknowledged alarm(s). The comment/annotation field can also be initialized for new alarms.

New HTML format for ad-hoc and Scheduled Alarm Reports

Previous versions of TopView's Ad-hoc and Scheduled alarm reports support both text and CSV output formats. This version adds a new output format: HTML. The HTML Alarm Report is similar to the CSV format (table of alarm data, each row contains information about an alarm) but, unlike CSV files, the HTML output is formatted (fonts, scaling, ...). 

Customize alarm fields and order of fields for Scheduled Alarm Reports

In previous versions of TopView, Scheduled Alarm Reports included a defined set of information about each alarm (message, start time, end time, UID, acknowledge time, ...)
In each Scheduled Alarm Report task, the user can now select which alarm information should be included in the report as well as the order of the included information.

Updated look for TopView Configurator application

Existing users will see various visual updates to screens in the TopView Configurator. These changes make it easier to view the configuration information when the Configurator application is resized.

Alarm blackout periods

Each alarm limit condition contains a blackout period setting to filter frequent alarms. The blackout period allows the user to enforce a minimum frequency at which the alarm condition can become TRUE.

Email notification via secure SMTP (SSL/TLS)

The configuration of each SMTP Email Server now contains a checkbox "Secure connection (SSL)" that should be selected if the SMTP Server requires a secure connection. Previous versions of TopView could not send email if SSL was required.

"Questionable status" alarm condition

The new 'questionable' alarm condition allows TopView to check for
(1) PI : the questionable attribute of a tag value
(2) OPC: uncertain OPC tag quality

"Alarm limits" as displayable column for each monitored point

The new "Alarm limits" column can be displayed for each monitored point in the TopView Window, TopView Admin Tools, and Remote Viewer. The "Alarm limits" column displays the alarm alarm condition(s) configured for each monitored point. This includes the alarm condition (e.g. > 10) as as well as delay in, delay out, dead band, expiration, and blackout setting.

AND gate for alarm conditions

The AND Gate setting is used to allow or suppress alarm limit violations for a monitored point by looking at the "in alarm" state of another monitored point (the AND gate)  Example: The AND gate can be used to allow or suppress TopView alarm detection based on running/stopped state of a piece of equipment; alarm conditions tied to the equipment can be suppressed if the equipment is not running.

Read more about TopView and download a full functioning evaluation version...