Asked & Answered

Question:
Question - What type of error notifications can I get with my new HeartBeat™ test drill, and is there a way to schedule something different for day vs. night or weekday vs. weekend?

Answer:
The HeartBeat™ notification process varies from customer to customer.  In fact, we usually tell people “if you can write it down for us, we can probably do it.”  With that said, customers typically opt for one of the following standard notification formats:

• Email messages with or without attached recording of the failed test call
• Condensed format e-mail messages for mobile devices 
• Numeric messages for old style pagers
• Phone calls for live or automated answer that include a confirmation reply to stop or continue the escalation process

Sometimes customers choose a non-standard notification format that makes it easier for them to integrate HeartBeat™ data into their internal systems.  The non-standard notification formats include:

• SNMP traps
• SFTP
• Other web services based methods

The error notification process also includes the ability to vary or suppress notification alerts based on time of day and day of week requirements.  For example, a customer might opt to have e-mail notifications 24 x 7 and phone call notifications between 6 AM and 11 PM weekdays.  The same customer might want those phone call notifications sent to Joe on Monday and Tuesday and to Sam from Wednesday through Friday.  The notification process can also be configured to send different notifications based on error type, frequency of error and results at specific steps within the HeartBeat™ monitoring call.

The notification process is flexible and easily configured to meet your unique monitoring strategies.