Annotations

What are annotations?

Annotations give operators more information about an event or about the reasons behind a change of a value or status made by another user. It is good practice to add annotations to a user change (for example a command), alarm instance, or system change (command from a schedule). You can add a text of 1–255 characters to describe the event or change in the relevant Annotations section. Administrators can also choose to enforce annotations in the User menu: Administrative Tasks > Settings > Annotations.
Note: Users require the Manage Audit History system privilege to enter annotations. If the administrator enforces annotations on a site without giving the Manage Audit History privilege to the users, the annotation box appears, but the users cannot enter an annotation.

When do I use annotations?

Use annotations to describe:
  • an operational task that should be performed in response to a cause or condition that prompted a user change or an alarm event
  • a reason for an adjust, operator override, or release command

Unless the Administrator enforces annotations at a site level, the following annotations are optional.

  • Annotations added to a user change: You can enter annotations when you command from the Command window or when you bulk command from the Bulk Command window. You can also add an annotation to the user change entry for the command in the Equipment Activity widget.
  • Annotations added to a system change: You can add annotations to the system change entry in the Equipment Activity widget.
  • Annotations added to an alarm instance: You can add annotations to the alarm instance in the Alarm Manager, in Alarms on your smartphone, or to the alarm entry in Equipment Activity widget. Additionally, discards and acknowledgments of an alarm appear as annotations.
  • Annotations added when discarding an audit in System Activity.

Can I edit or delete existing annotations?

You cannot edit or delete existing annotations. Instead, add a new annotation to the user change, system change, or alarm instance.

Where can I view and add annotations?

You can view and add annotations in the following cases:
  • Alarms in the Equipment Activity widget, the Alarm Manager, and the Alarms (only available on phone platforms)
  • System changes or user changes in the Equipment Activity widget
  • Audits in System Activity
You can also add an annotation in the following cases:
  • In the Command window when you command an object
  • In the Bulk Command window when you bulk command objects
  • In the Single Discard window when you discard an audit or alarm
  • In the Batch Discard window when you discard multiple audits or alarms
  • In the Single Acknowledge window when you acknowledge an alarm
  • In the Batch Acknowledge window when you acknowledge multiple alarms

What do the icons used for annotations represent?

The following table describes the icons that you see in connection with annotations.
Table 1. Annotation icons
Icon Icon name Feature Description
Annotations Equipment Activity widget, System Activity Annotations are available to view.
Annotations Alarm Manager and Alarms (phone), System Activity Annotations are available to view.
Add Annotation Equipment Activity widget, Alarm Manager, and Alarms (phone), System Activity Add an annotation.

How do I view annotations in the Equipment Activity widget?

  1. Navigate to the Equipment Activity widget.
  2. Tap or click on a user change, alarm instance, or system change. When a user change, alarm instance, or system change has annotations to view, the annotations icon appears below the short name of the point.
  3. Tap or click View/Add Annotation.

How do I view annotations in the Alarm Manager (computer or tablet) or in Alarms (phone)?

  1. Navigate to the Alarm Manager (computer or tablet) or Alarms (phone).
  2. Tap or click on an alarm. The alarm details open. When an alarm occurrence has annotations to view, the annotations icon appears.
  3. Tap or click the annotations icon.
    Note: Annotations added to an alarm do not appear in the annotations for a new occurrence of an alarm. To view annotations for a particular occurrence, tap or click the annotations icon next to the occurrence.

How do I add an annotation in the Equipment Activity widget?

  1. Navigate to the Equipment Activity widget.
  2. Tap or click on a user change, alarm instance, or system change.
  3. Tap or click View/Add Annotation.
  4. Tap or click the Add Annotation icon. The Annotations window opens.
  5. You can select a preset annotation from the drop-down, or you can enter your own annotation in the text box.
    Note: You can select a preset annotation, then change the preset text manually in the text box. This change is not subsequently reflected in the drop-down in Metasys UI or in SMP. The changed preset text only applies to that particular action. You can configure the preset annotations in SMP: Tools > Configure Preferences > Metasys System Preferences > Annotation Settings. For more information, refer to the Annotation Settings Tab section in Metasys Site Management Portal Help (LIT-1201793).
  6. Tap or click ADD. Your annotation appears in the Annotations window.

How do I add an annotation in the Alarm Manager (computer or tablet) or in Alarms (phone)?

  1. Navigate to the Alarm Manager (computer or tablet) or to Alarms (phone).
  2. Tap or click on an alarm.
  3. Tap or click Annotations.
    Note: Annotations added to an alarm do not appear in the annotations for a new occurrence of an alarm. To add annotations for a particular occurrence, tap or click Annotations next to the occurrence.
  4. Tap or click the Add Annotation icon. The Annotations window opens.
  5. You can select a preset annotation from the drop-down, or you can enter your own annotation in the text box.
    Note: You can select a preset annotation, then change the preset text manually in the text box. This change is not subsequently reflected in the drop-down in Metasys UI or in SMP. The changed preset text only applies to that particular action. You can configure the preset annotations in SMP: Tools > Configure Preferences > Metasys System Preferences > Annotation Settings. For more information, refer to the Annotation Settings Tab section in Metasys Site Management Portal Help (LIT-1201793).
  6. Tap or click ADD. Your annotation appears in the Annotations window.

How do I add an annotation in the Command window?

  1. Tap or click the point's value to open the Command window.
  2. Select the command type from the Command drop-down menu.
    Note: On tablets and phones, tap the Command field to select the command type from the list and tap Done.
  3. Command the point as desired.
  4. You can select a preset annotation from the drop-down, or you can enter your own annotation in the text box.
    Note: You can select a preset annotation, then change the preset text manually in the text box. This change is not subsequently reflected in the drop-down in Metasys UI or in SMP. The changed preset text only applies to that particular action. You can configure the preset annotations in SMP: Tools > Configure Preferences > Metasys System Preferences > Annotation Settings. For more information, refer to the Annotation Settings Tab section in Metasys Site Management Portal Help (LIT-1201793).
  5. Tap or click in the Add Annotation field to enter an optional annotation.
  6. Tap or click SAVE.
Notes:
  • When adding annotations while commanding points that have audits forwarding from engines to the Site Director, the annotations may not appear immediately in the Equipment Activity widget.
  • Any Samsung™ phone for Android performs best when you use a third-party keyboard for commanding. You first need to download a third-party keyboard. To use a third-party keyboard, go to Settings > Personalization > Language and Input > Keyboard and Input Methods > Default and select a third-party keyboard. The location for changing the keyboard may vary depending on your device.

How do I add an annotation in the Bulk Command window?

  1. After you have selected your objects, select a command from the drop-down menu.
  2. You can select a preset annotation from the drop-down, or you can enter your own annotation in the text box.
    Note: You can select a preset annotation, then change the preset text manually in the text box. This change is not subsequently reflected in the drop-down in Metasys UI or in SMP. The changed preset text only applies to that particular action. You can configure the preset annotations in SMP: Tools > Configure Preferences > Metasys System Preferences > Annotation Settings. For more information, refer to the Annotation Settings Tab section in Metasys Site Management Portal Help (LIT-1201793).
  3. Tap or click NEXT to see a preview of your selected command.

How do I add an annotation in System Activity?

To add a single annotation or batch annotations to an audit, complete the following steps:
  1. Select a single audit or multiple audits by tapping or clicking the check box next to the audits.
  2. Tap or click ACTIONS in the upper left of the screen.
  3. Select Annotate. The Single Annotate window opens when you select one audit. The Batch Annotate window opens when you select multiple audits.
  4. Select a preset or enter your own comment in the text box.
  5. Tap or click ADD.
You can also add a single annotation to an audit in the audit details flyout pane:
  1. Tap or click on an audit. The audit details flyout pane opens.
  2. Tap or click the Annotations hyperlink. The Annotations window opens.
  3. Tap or click the Add Annotation icon in the Annotations window.
  4. Select a preset or enter your own comment in the text box.
  5. Tap or click ADD.

Why can I not add an annotation?

To add annotations to an alarm, you must have the Manage Item Event Permission. To add annotations to an audit, you must have the View Metasys Status and Manage Audit History system access privileges. See What permissions and privileges do I need to add annotations? for more information.

If an alarm or an audit is discarded, you can no longer add annotations to the alarm or to the audit.

What permissions and privileges do I need to add annotations?

The following table summarizes the permissions and privileges you need to add various annotations:
Table 2. Required permissions and privileges for adding annotations

Type of annotation

Required permissions or privileges

Adding annotations to an alarm

Manage Item Event permission

Adding annotations to a system change

Manage Audit History system access privilege

Adding annotations to a command in the Equipment Activity widget (user change)

Manage Audit History system access privilege

Adding annotations in the Command window of a point

Appropriate permissions to command the point

and

Manage Audit History system access privilege

Adding annotations to an audit in System Activity

View Metasys Status and Manage Audit History system access privileges

Are the annotations created in the Metasys UI available to view in the Site Management Portal (SMP)?

Yes. Use the Event Viewer in SMP to look at alarm event message's annotations created in the Metasys UI. Use the Audit Viewer in SMP to look at the system change's annotations or user change's annotations created in the Metasys UI.

Can I export or print annotations?

You can export annotations that appear in the Annotations window on a computer. The export function is not supported on tablets or phones.

To export annotations that appear in the Annotations window, click the export icon. You can export annotations to a .csv file and open the file in any supported spreadsheet software.

An exported .csv file captures the following information for the annotations that appear in the Annotations window:
  • the user name of the user that entered the annotation
  • the timestamp of the annotation
  • the annotation text

To print the exported annotations, click the export icon to export the data to a .csv file. You can then print the .csv file.