After all of the positive feedback that we received from our recent Coffee with Manitou session (What’s New in Manitou 1.6.1?), we decided to do a series of blog posts highlighting some of the new and enhanced features. There are a number of changes to the core application that will provide improved alarm handling efficiency (through the enhanced Action Patterns and Workflows) as well as new tools to handle alarm verification (the redesigned Media Matrix and VideoPlus). These posts will allow us to break the release into smaller pieces and provide you with some usage scenarios and best practice ideas.

To start the introductions, today’s post will cover one of the new Action Pattern items – INCLUDE. The new include feature will provide users with the ability to create a hierarchy to the Action Pattern and run “Sub Action Patterns” within the main Action Pattern (embedding some “nesting” characteristics). This will prove to be a powerful tool in making sure that the operator/dispatcher has situational logic presented with the Action Pattern. Additionally, you can designate WHEN you want to include these additional Action Patterns and tie them to situations such as Disaster Mode, Status Open/Closed, Verified, and many more.

For example, a traditional Action Pattern may include the following steps: (1) Call Customer Site; (2) Call Police Authority; and, (3) Call Customer Contacts/Keyholders. With the INCLUDE feature, you can now add additional Action Patterns based on desired situations – such as Verified Alarm. In this case, the operator will be prompted to: (1) Connect to Camera; (2) Call Customer Site; and (3) INCLUDE  Action Pattern “Verified“ – additional instructions for the operator on exactly how to proceed under the current set of circumstances.

We look forward to introducing you to even more new features over the next several weeks. Bold Technologies is committed to continually enhancing the feature sets of our applications and providing our users with the highest quality tools to reach their operational goals and potential.