VRT Engineer System
(Voice Response Terminal)

Principles Of The System

The VRT Engineer System is an ‘automated operator’ acting on your behalf. Once your call is answered, it will be necessary for you to provide input at various stages, for example to identify yourself and to request which operations you require to be performed.

Access To The System

When your call is initially answered, you are asked whether you require short prompts or not.  If you are an experienced user of the system you will need only short prompts. New users should ask for long prompts.

Logging On To The System

You must first identify yourself to the system (for security purposes).  You do this by entering your Engineers ID Code.

Identifying The Customer You Want

Once logged on to the system, you must identify the customer you wish to test.  You do this by selecting the appropriate Option. aim recommend identifying your customer using option 4 (contract ID)

Contract ID

To enter alphabetic characters, enter a * followed by a two-digit number which represents the position of the alphabetic character you require.  ‘U’ is entered as *21. The system will read back to you the contract ID of that record.

If you confirm that the record is the one you require, then the system will proceed to the next stage and ask you which operation you wish to perform.  However, the following conditions will block access to a customer record:-

The customer has codes disabled or is permanently out of service.
The installer number does not match your engineers.
The contract is not unique,
The system is showing closed.

If any of these conditions apply, your call will be terminated and you should contact the ARC operator.

Warning Conditions

Once you have retrieved the customer record, you are given a warning of any conditions that may be important.  In particular:

If the alarm system is in Line Fault.
No URNs entered
No Key Holders
System not commissioned
 
The current Police Status is always reported.

Use Of The System

When you have logged on and confirmed your customer, you are allowed to perform a number of functions: On Test, Off Test, Retrieve signalling history, Retrieve signalling history ignoring Open/Close signals,

1. Take a customer temporarily out of service

The system will ask you how many minutes you wish to take the customer out of service (possible values lie between 10 and 240 minutes).  The system will then read back to you the time at which the customer will be returned to full service and you will need to confirm.  The customer will then be placed out of service.

2. Verbalise received events from the customer log

If you choose this option, selected records from the customer log will verbalised, starting with the most recently received. The date will be included if the date is different from today’s date.  After each entry you will then be prompted with these options:

 1. Verbalise the most recent log entry
 2. Verbalise the current log entry again
 3. Verbalise the next entry log
 4. Enter the alarm cause code
 *  Return to the full operations menu          

3. Verbalise events without Open/Close

As option 2 above, but without all the open/close signals.

4. Return a customer to full service

This option is only available if the customer is not in full service.  The system will ask you to confirm this action, and the system will then return the customer to full service.

For further information or assistance please contact your account manager