Lift-master ERMA User Manual

USER'S GUIDE

USER'S GUIDEUSER'S GUIDE

Doc 6001001

Doc 6001001Doc 6001001

Rev B

Rev BRev B

FOR THE

FOR THEFOR THE

EVENT RECORD MONITORING

EVENT RECORD MONITORINGEVENT RECORD MONITORING

AND ANALYSIS SOFTWARE

AND ANALYSIS SOFTWAREAND ANALYSIS SOFTWARE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 - EVENT RECORD MONITORING AND ANALYSIS (ERMA) SOFTWARE BASICS............ 1

WHAT IS ERMA?.............................................................................................................................1

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO USE ERMA?..........................................................................................1

INSTALLING ERMA .........................................................................................................................2

INSTALLING FROM CD...................................................................................................................2

ACTIVATING THE ERMA PROGRAM..............................................................................................3

EXITING THE ERMA PROGRAM.....................................................................................................3

TIPS FOR USING ERMA..................................................................................................................3

2 - SETTING UP ERMA.............................................................................................................5

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF SETTING UP ERMA?.......................................................................5

SETTING UP A SYSTEM IDENTITY ................................................................................................5

EDITING A SYSTEM'S IDENTITY....................................................................................................8

3 - RETRIEVING TRANSACTIONS WITH THE USE OF ERMA...............................................9

WHAT IS "RETRIEVING TRANSACTIONS"? ..................................................................................9

RETRIEVING TRANSACTIONS FROM YOUR SYSTEM.................................................................9

UNRETRIEVABLE TRANSACTIONS.............................................................................................13

4 - ANALYZING TRANSACTIONS WITH THE USE OF ERMA.............................................. 14

WHAT IS "ANALYZING TRANSACTIONS"?..................................................................................14

FILTERING, SORTING, AND PRINTING TRANSACTIONS...........................................................14

5 - MONITORING TRANSACTIONS WITH THE USE OF ERMA........................................... 20

WHAT IS "MONITORING TRANSACTIONS"?...............................................................................20

MONITORING TRANSACTIONS ON YOUR SYSTEM...................................................................20

6 - ERROR MESSAGES AND THEIR MEANINGS................................................................. 25

7 - GLOSSARY........................................................................................................................27

8 - INDEX................................................................................................................................. 29

Sentex Systems Chatsworth, CA

Visit us at www.sentexsystems.com

THIS DOCUMENT IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT, AND MAY NOT BE COPIED OR ADAPTED WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF SENTEX SYSTEMS. THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION PROPRIETARY TO SENTEX SYSTEMS AND SUCH INFORMATION MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF SENTEX SYSTEMS.

MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation

Rev B Doc 6001001

1 - EVENT RECORD MONITORING AND ANALYSIS (ERMA)

SOFTWARE BASICS

WHAT IS ERMA?

Event Record Monitoring and Analysis  software (referred to as ERMA for the remainder of this document) is a transaction analysis software which is to be used with your stand-alone or Multi-Link Sent ex Infinity system. A "transaction analysis sof t ware" is a com put er program which allows you to view, record, and analyze actions that have taken place on your Infinity system.

If you have little or no experience working with the transactions in your Infinity system, ERMA is the software for you. ERMA consists of the following features:

•

Installs onto your personal computer’s hard disk dr ive in a simple and easy manner.

•

Stores up to 99,999 transactions at a single time on your computer's hard disk drive.

•

Allows your computer to "capture" transactions in real t ime ( as they occur on your system) or upon

demand of the user for easy monit or ing and viewing.

•

Allows easy “filtering” of the t r ansactions by code, name, date and time, action, and source.

•

Allows you to print a list of the transactions to your computer's printer.

This user's guide is based on the assumption that you have some basic computer knowledge. If this is not true, it would be beneficial for you to read the manuals which came with your computer before moving ahead with this document.

For the sake of simplicity in the r em ainder of this document, a stand-alone Infinity system will be referred to as an Infinity system, an Infinity Multi-Link chain will be referred t o as a Multi-Link system, and an individual Infinity Multi-Link unit within a chain will be referred to as a unit.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO USE ERMA?

To use ERMA, you will need:

•

One of the following Sentex Systems:

1) A Multi-Link system with version 3.16 firmware or higher in each unit of the system (firmware revisions that begin with a "4" or a "5" may not be used).

2) An Infinity system with version 6.0 firmware or higher.

•

An IBM PC-compatible computer with at least one serial port.

•

A Hercules (monochrome), EGA (monochr om e or color ), or VGA (monochrome or color) display.

• One high density floppy disk drive and one hard disk drive.

• At least 3.3MB of space on your computer’s hard disk drive for each I nfinity system.

•

640K of RAM, of which at least 550K must be available for ERMA to use during operation.

•

MS-DOS version 3.3 or higher previously installed on your computer' s hard disk drive.

•

Sentex's MLP and/or SPS software previously installed on your computer's hard disk drive and

set up with a system identity.

• In the CONFIG.SYS file, FILES should = “30” or more (for example, “FILES = 99”).

Rev B Doc 6001001 Page 1 of 29

INSTALLING ERMA

You must make sure that ERMA has access to the SPS program. SPS should already be installed on the hard disk of your computer. To confirm that one of t hese pr ograms are installed on the hard disk, at t he DOS command line type either cd\sps and the “ RETURN” or “ENTER” key (from this point on, the “RETURN” or “ENTER” key will be referr ed to as the “ENTER” key). If you have SPS already installed, the DOS command line will be show the hard drive you are in followed by the program name (for example, “C:\SPS>“).

INSTALLING FROM CD

Installing Erma In Windows 95 Or 98

Remember: You must install ERMA-DOS into the same directory as SPS-DO S.

1. Insert the CD into your CD drive.

2. Click on the Start Menu.

3. Click on Settings.

4. Select Control Panel.

5. Click Add/Remove Program.

6. Click Install. Follow the prompts until I nstall asks for the application name.

7. Click Browse.

8. Open the ERMADOS folder.

9. Select SETUP.EXE.

10. Follow the prompts.

Installing Erma In Windows 3.1 Or 3.11

Remember: You must install ERMA-DOS into the same directory as SPS-DO S.

1. From the Program manager, Run <drive>:\ERMADOS\SETUP.EXE. <drive> is the letter of your CD drive Example: D:\ERMADOS\SETUP.EXE

2. Follow the prompts.

Page 2 of 29 Doc 6001001 Rev B

ACTIVATING THE ERMA PROGRAM

To start the ERMA program, m ake sure you are in the directory where ERMA was installed. When you installed ERMA onto your hard disk drive, the default sett ing of the installation would have placed ERMA in “C:\SPS” (or “C:\MLP” if you are using ERMA with MLP). If you changed the default setting during the installation, make sure you are in the direct or y where you installed ERMA (please refer to the manuals which came with your computer for instructions on how to change the work ing directory). Once you are in the proper directory, type in erma and the press "ENTER" key. You will then see a brief title page with the copyright notice. Press any key on your keyboard and ERMA will display the "FUNCTION CHOICES" menu (s ee figure 1 below).

Figure 1 - Function Choices Menu

EXITING THE ERMA PROGRAM

To exit ERMA, press the "ESC" key until you have returned to the DOS prompt. ERMA will automatically save all of the data that you have previously entered onto your hard disk dr ive.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Always exit out of the ERMA program before turning off your computer. Otherwise, the data you have entered may not be saved.

TIPS FOR USING ERMA

In the sections that follow, detailed procedur es ar e given for each required entry. In addition to t hese specific procedures, there are a num ber of general hints and rules which will help ensure that your use of the ERMA program is done in a correct and eff icient m anner . These hints are discussed below:

1. To move the high lighted bar within a menu (i.e., The FUNCTI O N CHO ICES menu - see figure 1 above), use the arrow keys on your computer's keyboard.

2. To enter a m enu ar ea ( i. e . , The RETRIEVE TRANSACTIONS area of the FUNCTION CHOICES menu - see figure 1 above), move the highlighted bar over that area and press the "ENTER" key.

Rev B Doc 6001001 Page 3 of 29

3. When you are in a menu area which allows you to filter the system's transactions (i.e. t he RETRIEVE TRANSACTIONS area), use t he arrow keys to move the cursor within a filtering area (i.e. the "Code" area). To m ove the cur sor between filtering areas (i.e. f rom the "Code" area to the "Name" area), use the "TAB" key.

4. If you need help while you are in a menu area, press the <F1> key.

5. If you wish to exit an area, press the "ESC" key and ERMA will return you to the previous menu.

6. If you wish to exit the ERMA program, pr ess the "ESC" key until you have returned to the DOS prompt.

Page 4 of 29 Doc 6001001 Rev B

2 - SETTING UP ERMA

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF SETTING UP ERMA?

Before you begin using the ERMA program, you may wish to change the default settings in ERMA’s System Setup Options. If you do not chang e t hese set tings, the information displayed by ERMA may not be very informative. The inform at ion you enter about your system in the setup area will be stored by ERMA and will allow you to identify and access transactions from your system with ease. In most applications, you will only need to setup ERMA during the initial use of the prog ram.

SETTING UP A SYSTEM IDENTITY

The first step to set t ing up a system's identity is to access the area titled "SYSTEM SETUP OPT IONS" from the "FUNCTI O N CHO ICES" menu (see figure 1 on page 3) . Move the highlighted bar, with the use of the arrow keys, until the box titled "SYSTEM SETUP OPTIONS" is highlighted and press the " ENTER" key. Once you press the "ENTER" key, the "SYSTEM SETUP OPTIONS" menu will be displayed (see figure 2) .

Figure 2 - The System Setup Options Menu

There are five sections to the "SYSTEM SETUP OPTIONS" menu. Each of these five sections need to be programmed before beginning the ERMA program. To access a setup area in this m enu, move the highlighted bar, with the use of t he ar row keys, until the desired section is highlighted and press t he " ENTER" key. If you wish to exit any section and return to the "SYSTEM SETUP OPTIONS" menu without saving any of the changes that you have made, press the "ESC" k ey.

An explanation of the purpose/function and an example of a typical entry for each of the five sections are as follows:

1. STORAGE CAPACITY: This section allows you to set the number of t ransactions that will be stored by ERMA. You can program the system to store f r om 10 to 99,999 transactions at a single time. If you have a small number of transactions that will occur between each use of ERMA, you may want to program the storage capacity for a smaller number, such as between 100 to 500 transactions. This is for t he r eason t hat on some computers, large numbers of transactions will take a long period of tim e t o retrieve from your system. If you have a large number of transactions that could occur between each use of ERMA, you may want to program the storag e capacit y for a larger number, such as 99,000 transact ions.

Rev B Doc 6001001 Page 5 of 29

The transaction storage capacity runs in a circ ular m otion. For example, if you set the storage capacity for 500 transactions, the tr ansact ion r ecor ding will not stop at transaction number 500. The input that would be considered transaction number 501 will delete and replace tr ansaction number 1. The factory setting for this section is 99999.

2. TRANSACTION ARCHIVAL

software. When this section is activated in future sof tware revisions, it will tell your computer to notify you when a certain percentage of the st or age capacity has been filled. It will also ask you at that time if you would like to retr ieve the t r ansactions currently in ERMA's storage and to save them on a floppy disk. In current ERMA revisions, you are able to manually retrieve the transactions and save them onto a floppy disk, but the computer does not signal you when the storage capacity is reaching its limit or when it is a good time t o save these t r ansact ions ont o a floppy disk.

3. UNIT NAMES

chain. It is helpful to name each unit so that it will be easy to identify where each transaction has taken place. For example, if you name t he unit controlling the entrances for Building #2 "UNIT 2", you will be able to easily retrieve or identify every transaction that has occurred at that unit. You would simply look for or retrieve the tr ansact ions which are labeled as "UNI T 2". Also, when you name each of the units, it makes it easier for you to filter and sort the transactions according to unit name.

When you are naming a unit , you will have one line of 18 characters to use for each unit name (see

figure 3). Once you have entered the unit nam e, pr ess the down arrow key to advance to the next unit. W hen you have entered names for all of the units in your system, press the " ENTER" key and ERMA will save and store these names. If you have made a mistake entering a name, use t he arrow keys to move the cursor to the mistak e and pr ess t he " DELETE" key (shown as "DEL" on some keyboards) until the mistake has been erased. There are no default settings for this section. If you have a stand-alone Infinity system, you will only need to give a name to unit 1.

: This section allows you to name each of the units within your Infinity or Multi-Link

: This section is not available in current versions of t he ERMA

Figure 3 - Unit Names Programming Screen

Page 6 of 29 Doc 6001001 Rev B

4. DOOR/GATE NAMES: Each of the units in your Infinity or Multi-Link system can control up to four door/gates. This section of the system setup allows you to name each of these doors/gates. I t is helpful to name each door/gate so that transactions which have occurred at that door/gate can be easily identified and retrieved. For example, if you name the front door in Building #2 "DOO R 1" , you will be able to easily identify every transaction that has occurred at that door. You would simply look for the transact ions labeled as “ UNI T 2 - DOOR 1”.

When you are naming a door / gate, you will have one line of 18 characters for each door/g at e name

(see figure 4). Once you have entered a name, press the down arrow key to advance to the next door/gate. When you have completed your entries for each of door/gates in that unit, press the "PgDn" key to move on to the next unit. If you wish to return to the unit prior to the unit you are currently working on, press the "PgUp" key. Once you have finished naming all of the doors/gates for the Multi-Link chain, press t he " ENTER" key. ERMA will save and store these entries and return you to the "SYSTEM SETUP OPTIONS" m enu. If you have made a mistake while entering a name, use the arrow keys to move the cursor to t he m ist ake and simply press the "DELETE" key (shown as "DEL" on some keyboards) until the mistake has been completely erased. If you have an Infinity system, you will only need to name the doors/gates for Unit 1. There are no default settings for this section.

Figure 4 - Door\Gate Names Section Screen

5. ALARM RESPONSE MESSAGES: This section of the ERMA setup allows you to program the alarm response messages. The alarm r esponse m essage is the warning message that will be displayed on your computer's screen when an alarm condition has been activated. In this section, you have the ability to program a different alarm response message for each door in every unit.

To program an alarm response message, make sure that the cursor is locat ed in t he message box

for the door and unit you wish to program (see figure 5). There are 2 lines of 64 characters each for every alarm response message. When you are programming a message and you reach the end of the first line, ERMA automat ically wraps your text to the beginning of the second line. I f you wish to advance to the second line without having to reach to the end of the f irs t line, simply press the "SPACE BAR" until the cursor is located at the beginning of the second line. Do not press t he "ENTER" key to advance to the next line. If you press the "ENTER" key, the entries that you have made up to this point will be saved and you will be returned to the "SYSTEM SETUP OPTI ONS" menu. Once you have completed your message for that door , pr ess the "TAB" key to move the cursor forward to the next door's message box. If you wish to move the cursor back to the previous door's message box, press the "SHIFT " and t he " TAB" keys at the same time. Once you have completed the messages for all of the doors in a unit, press the “PgDn” key to advance to the next unit. If you wish to return to the unit prior to the unit you are currently in, press the “PgUp” key. Once you have completed programming this entire section, press the "ENTER" key and you will be returned to the "SYSTEM SETUP OPTIONS" menu.

Rev B Doc 6001001 Page 7 of 29

This section of the setup also allows you to choose whether or not you wish to have the "FORCE

OPERATOR KNOWLEDGE" feature act ivated. "FORCE OPERATOR KNOWLEDGE" is a feature that requires you (or whoever is operating ERMA) to press any key on your computer' s keypad to acknowledge that you have received an alarm message. If you do not

have the "FORCE OPERATOR KNOWLEDGE" feature activated, t he alarm response message will appear on your computer screen for f ive seconds, emit t ing a tone every second it is on your computer's screen. Once the fifth tone has been emitted by your computer, the alarm message will disappear f r om your screen. This message will not be repeated. You also have the ability to act ivate t he " FORCE OPERATOR KNOWLEDGE" feature f or some doors, and deactivate it for other s. For example, if you wish to have the "FORCE OPERATOR KNOWLEDGE" feature activated for door 2 in unit 1, but you do not wish to have the feature activated for door 1 of the same unit, simply check the "FORCE OPERATOR KNOWLEDGE" box under door 2 and leave the box under door 1 empty

(see figure 5). To activate the "FORCE OPERATO R ACKNO WLEDGE" f eat ure for a specific door, press the

"TAB" key until the cursor is in the "FORCE OPERATOR ACKNOWLEDGE" box for that door . Press the "SPACE BAR" to activate this feat ur e. If the feature is activated, there should be a check mark located in the box. If you wish to deactivate the "FORCE OPERATOR ACKNOWLEDGE" feature, press the "SPACE BAR" again, and the check mark in the box should be cleared.

Figure 5 - Alarm Response Messages Screen

EDITING A SYSTEM'S IDENTITY

At some point after you have completed the initial system set up, you may need to modify the system's identity. Examples of why you would need to change the system's identity are as follows:

• You need to expand or condense the number of transactions in the storage capacity.

•

You need to add, delete, or change a unit ' s nam e.

•

You need to add, delete, or change a door/gate name.

•

You need to change the alarm response message for a door or unit.

•

You need to chang e t he For ce Operator Acknowledge status of a door or unit.

To edit a system's setup fr om the "FUNCTION CHOICES" menu, m ove the highlighted bar with the use of the arrow keys until the "SYSTEM SETUP OPTIONS" box is highlighted and press the " ENTER" key. Changes are made to each of the five sections in the same manner as the initial system setup. Please refer to the section above titled "Setting Up A System Identity" for instructions on changing each of the system's setup information.

Page 8 of 29 Doc 6001001 Rev B

3 - RETRIEVING TRANSACTIONS WITH THE USE OF ERMA

WHAT IS "RETRIEVING TRANSACTIONS"?

Before you are able to view and analyze your system's transactions, you will first need to "retrieve" them from your Inf init y or Multi-Link system. When you "retr ieve" tr ansactions from your Infinity/Multi-Link system, you are telling ERMA to copy the transaction record from your system' s m em or y and then st or e that copy onto your computer's hard disk drive. Once this copy is stored on your com put er 's hard disk drive, you will be able to view and analyze these transactions with the use of ERMA.

When you are retr ieving t ransactions from your system's memory, you have the ability to filter the transactions according to five categ o r ies; Code, Nam e, Date and Time, Action, and Source. For example, if you only wanted to retrieve the transactions that occurred at Unit 1 Door 1 and " lose" the transactions that occurred at all of the other unit s and doors, you would check the box labeled as "Unit 1 Door 1" in the Source box (see figure 6 on the following page). Once the retrieval process has been completed, only the transactions that occurred at Unit 1 Door 1 will be saved and displayed on your computer.

PLEASE NOTE: Since you will lose all transactions that you do not retrieve, it is highly recommended that you retrieve all transactions according to the same five previously mentioned categories in the analyzing section of ERMA.

RETRIEVING TRANSACTIONS FROM YOUR SYSTEM

IMPORTANT NOTE: In previous versions of ERMA, when retrieving a currently invalid transaction

from an Infinity System, ERMA would not acknowledge the curr ent transaction. After many attem pt s, the Infinity System would terminate. All tr ansactions up to and including the invalid transaction, would be unretrievable. An empty space in the transaction database would occur. The lat est version of ERMA acknowledges two invalid transactions only. On the third transaction, ERMA will generate an “unretrievable” transaction.

The first step in retr ieving t r ansact ions from your system's memory is to access the area labeled "RETRIEVE TRANSACTIO NS" from the "FUNCTION CHO I CES" menu (see figure 1 on page 3). Move the highlighted bar, with the use of the arrow keys, until the "RETRIEVE TRANSACTIONS" box is highlighted and press the "ENTER" key. Once you press t he "ENTER" key, the "RETRIEVE TRANSACTIONS" screen will be displayed (see figure 6 on the following page). There are five areas in this screen. These areas allow you to filter the transactions which will be retrieved from your system. The purposes/functions for each of the five areas are discussed on the following pages.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Since you will lose all transactions that you do not retrieve, it is highly recommended that you retrieve all filter the transactions that you have retrieved according to the same five categories in the analyzing section of ERMA.

While you are in the " RET RIEVE TRANSACTIONS" screen, you may perfo r m the following actions:

• To move the cursor within a single area (i.e. t he " CO DE" ar ea), use the arrow keys.

of the transactions fr om your system's memory. You will be able to filter these

of the transactions fr om your system's memory. You will be able to

•

To move the cursor from one ar ea to another (i.e. from the " CO DE" ar ea to the "NAME" area),

press the "TAB" key.

•

To mark a box within an area (i.e. the "Granted" box in the "ACTION" area), place the cur sor

within that box and press the "SPACE BAR".

•

To unmark a box within a certain area, place the cursor within that box and press t he " SPACE

BAR" again.

Rev B Doc 6001001 Page 9 of 29

+ 29 hidden pages