Step 3: Add Alert Groups

These instructions continue where Step 2: Enter Alert Thresholds ends and show you how to select the events you want PULSE to track and the team members you want to notify when your herd exceeds the alert thresholds.

PULSE does not currently support alerts and notifications for all available indicator types.

You cannot add or edit alert groups until alerts and thresholds are enabled in PULSE and at least one alert threshold value is entered on the Indicators page for your herd.

See Step 1: Enable & Set Up Health Indicators and Step 2: Enter Alert Thresholds for instructions.

Follow the steps below to continue:

1. Select the Alert Groups tab on the Performance Indicators page.
2. To add a new alert group for your dairy, click the Add Alert Group button. PULSE opens a side panel where you can configure the alert group.

   

3. Enter an Alert Group Name for the alert group. For example, since we entered an alert threshold value for the Overall Mastitis Mastitis is the persistent, inflammatory reaction of the udder tissue due to physical trauma or infection. Symptoms of mastitis include udder swelling, heat, hardness, redness, or pain. The milk may have a watery appearance, flakes, clots, or pus. and Cow Mastitis events in Step 2: Enter Alert Thresholds, we'll enter an alert group name of "Mastitis Events Alert Group" here.

   

4. While still in the side panel, use the Indicators to Track area to include one or more event indicators to track across your herd for this alert group.

   Continuing with our example from Step 2: Enter Alert Thresholds, we'll add Overall Mastitis and Cow Mastitis as the event indicators we want this alert group to track.

   

   Check out some pointers on adding event indicators to this alert group:

   Check the box to select the Overall Mastitis event indicator. This adds the event to the Indicators to Track area and updates the total count of events being tracked.

   

   Check the box to select the Cow Mastitis event indicator. This adds the event to the Indicators to Track area and updates the total count of events being tracked.

   

   If you add an event indicator to an alert group, and the indicator does not have an alert threshold value, PULSE will still allow you to add it to the alert group, but it will notify you that there is no alert threshold value for it.

   For example, since we didn't add an alert threshold value for the fresh cow mastitis Mastitis is the persistent, inflammatory reaction of the udder tissue due to physical trauma or infection. Symptoms of mastitis include udder swelling, heat, hardness, redness, or pain. The milk may have a watery appearance, flakes, clots, or pus. event in Step 2: Enter Alert Thresholds, check the box to select the Fresh Cow Mastitis event indicator. This adds the event to the Indicators to Track area and updates the total count of events being tracked. In addition, an icon displays next to the event, which lets you know that an alert threshold value has not been entered on the Indicators page for the event.

   

   This means that PULSE won't track or send alerts for this event indicator until you enter an alert threshold value for the event on the Indicators page.

   You can leave the Fresh Cow Mastitis event in the alert group, save the alert group, return to the Indicators page, and enter an alert threshold value for it. This makes the icon go away and PULSE will begin tracking and sending alerts for it.

   For this example, let's click the X on the Fresh Cow Mastitis event to delete it from the alert group. The event is removed from the Indicators to Track area and the total count of events being tracked is reduced.

   

5. Now let's select which members of your dairy team PULSE will alert for these mastitis events. You can do this in the Users to Notify area of the side panel.

   

   Multiple members of your dairy team can be added to the to the Users to Notify area for an alert group. Generic user names were added in this example, but you can select your name and/or the name of any member of your dairy team.

   

   If a member of your dairy team has both a mobile phone number and an email address recorded in their user account, both the SMS and Email boxes are automatically checked as the default when the user is selected.

   NOTE: The SMS box cannot be checked for a user who does not have a mobile phone number listed in account settings. Additionally, PULSE cannot send SMS alerts to international phone numbers at this time, but they can still receive email alerts!

   If a member of your dairy team prefers to be alerted only by text message, you can uncheck the Email box.

   

   NOTE: PULSE sends notifications for alert groups only by text or email. Alert group notifications are not added to the Message Center or to the Notifications button as a new activity badge.

   Now that you've told PULSE who you want to alert and how to notify them, the last thing you need to do is tell PULSE what time of day to examine thresholds and send alerts to your dairy team.

6. While still in the side panel, use the Time Preferences area to select the time of day when PULSE examines thresholds for your herd and notifies your dairy team.

   

   The time specified is in your local dairy's time zone. 12:00 AM is the default selection, but you can select a time of day that best meets your dairy's needs. In this example, 05:30 AM is selected.

   

   NOTE: The time specified here combines with the period selected in the Period Preferences area in Step 1: Enable & Set Up Health Indicators, and these settings determine how often PULSE examines thresholds and notifies your dairy team. At the time specified, PULSE examines the thresholds for your dairy first and then alerts your dairy team after processing completes. Depending on the size of your dairy and the number of event indicators being tracked by this alert group, alerts may not be sent or received exactly at the time specified.

   That's all there is to adding a new alert group in PULSE, but don't forget to save your changes!

7. Click the Save button. PULSE returns you to the Alert Groups page and confirms that your changes have been saved.

   

Now that you've successfully created an alert group that will notify your dairy team when an event occurs across your herd, let's take a look at how these changes are displayed on the Process Scheduler page in PULSE. Proceed to Step 4: View Scheduled Alerts in Process Scheduler to continue.