Alarm Thresholds & States
How Alarms Work
Each machine has configurable vibration thresholds. When a reading crosses a threshold, the platform:
- Determines whether the machine's alarm state has changed
- If the state changed, records the new threshold crossing and updates the alarm state
- Sends a notification (email and/or webhook) to subscribed users
Only state changes trigger notifications. If a machine is already in alarm and another reading crosses the same threshold, no additional alert is sent.
Alarm States vs. Threshold Levels
It helps to distinguish two separate concepts:
- Threshold levels (e.g., Warning, Critical) are the names you configure in Insights for different vibration velocity values. These are for your team's internal workflow — you can name them anything.
- Alarm state is the platform's representation of whether any threshold is currently crossed:
Good(no thresholds crossed),Alarm(one or more thresholds crossed), orAcknowledged(an alarm your team has manually acknowledged).
Emails describe which threshold level was crossed. Webhook deliveries report the machine's alarm state (Good, Alarm, or Acknowledged).
Alarm Levels
Alarm levels are configured per machine by your team. You define the vibration velocity (mm/s) values at which each level activates. Typical configurations use a two- or three-level structure, for example:
| Level | Typical Use |
|---|---|
| OK | Vibration is within normal operating range |
| Warning | Elevated vibration — monitor closely |
| Critical | High vibration — schedule maintenance |
The number of levels and their threshold values are fully configurable in Shoplogix IMS.
Viewing Alarm History
In Shoplogix IMS, each machine's detail page shows:
- Current alarm state — the active severity level right now
- Threshold crossing history — a timeline of all state changes
- Vibration timeseries — raw vibration data with alarm levels overlaid
- Process state timeline — when the machine was running vs. stopped
Acknowledging Alarms
When a machine enters alarm, your team can acknowledge the alert to signal that someone is aware and investigating, or clear it once the issue is resolved. Both actions update the machine's state and are recorded in the alarm history.
See Acknowledging Machine Alarms for how this works.
Alarm Notifications
When an alarm state changes, notifications are sent to users who have subscribed to machine threshold breach alerts. You can manage your notification preferences in Insights → Notifications.
For event-driven delivery to your own systems, see Webhooks.