Table of Contents
Intelligent Monitoring Solutions (IMS)
IMS is an Alarm Receiving Centre that runs its monitoring platform on Patriot, so the integration is the Patriot one: Patriot Systems Integration is the guide to follow, and this page covers only what IMS does differently.
IMS issues one login for the whole integration rather than one per site, so every IMS site uses a control room account in TetherX.
What IMS Gives You Once, and What Each Site Still Needs
This is the part most people expect to work differently from the way it does. The login is issued once and never changes as you add customers. The client number is not: IMS creates an account in Patriot for each monitored site and issues a number for it.
| Set up once | Set up for every site |
|---|---|
| The API address, username and password, held on one control room account | The site's client number from IMS |
| The watchdog account and its heartbeat, sent once a minute for the whole integration | Pointing the site at the control room account |
| Giving that account access to the site's cameras, so it can carry the alarm and open what it links to |
So adding a customer is two things: ask IMS for the new site's client number, then enter it on the site and choose the account. Nothing about the login is touched again.
Tip: One control room account can carry sites belonging to different customers. It has to be able to reach each site's cameras, which is set on the account's Permissions tab, and TetherX refuses to take that access away again while a site is still reporting through it.
The Details IMS Provides
| Detail | Where it goes in TetherX |
|---|---|
| API username (the password arrives separately, by a secure channel) | Username and Password on the control room account |
| API address | Patriot Address on the control room account |
| Heartbeat / watchdog account | Watchdog Account on the control room account |
| Client number for each site | Client Number on the site |
| ICA username | Not entered in TetherX. It signs in to IMS's own web interface, where you can review the signals TetherX sent |
IMS shows each client number in two formats. Enter the full format in TetherX: the account ID, the area and the port together, for example 1234BASE01. The short format with a hyphen, for example 1234-01, is only used in IMS's own interface.
Going Live with IMS
IMS onboards every integration in a development environment first:
- Build and test against IMS's development environment with the test site account IMS assigns.
- Confirm the event codes with your IMS contact. IMS matches each code against the event template assigned to your account, so agree the TetherX event list with them during onboarding. The template and the files to send them are in the reference page.
- Ask IMS to confirm they are receiving both alarms and heartbeats, and check the alarms in IMS's web interface.
- Give IMS your emergency contacts. IMS asks for them before going live, so they can reach you if the heartbeat stops.
- Switch to the production details IMS provides once testing is signed off. Update the address, login and watchdog account on the control room account, and the client number on each site.
Warning: In production, IMS expects a heartbeat at least every 60 seconds and alerts its operations team when one is missed. Keep Send Heartbeat on for as long as IMS monitors any of your sites.
The Heartbeat, as IMS Wants It
Patriot has no heartbeat of its own, so what a control room watches for is a signal they nominate an account to receive. The arrangement below is IMS's, from their partner guide, and is what TetherX sends:
- A dedicated watchdog account, separate from any monitored site, issued by IMS.
- Type 602, zone 1, described as
API Heartbeat Signal. - At least every 60 seconds. TetherX sends one a minute.
- One heartbeat for the whole integration, not one per site, and it keeps going whether or not any site is armed.
Another Patriot control room may want a different account, a different type, or no heartbeat at all. The reference page has what TetherX actually sends, which is what to give them when they ask.
Related Articles
- Patriot Systems Integration - Setting a site up, which is the same for IMS
- Patriot Systems Reference - Event types, limitations, planned features and troubleshooting
- Control Room Software Integration - The other control room options
Referenced in: