Exploring message escalation

When Robot/CONSOLE receives a message that requires human intervention, it can escalate the message to Robot/ALERT, to notify you. This article focuses on local (single system or partition) escalation and discusses two methods of setting up escalation: You can escalate messages as part of the message center definition, or as part of the message set definition (using OPAL).

Escalation options from the message center
When you define a message center, you specify a device or a broadcast list to notify.

All devices, one-way and two-way, defined to Robot/ALERT are available for you to choose from. If you choose a one-way device, the person receiving the message has to sign on to the System i to answer the message. If you choose a two-way device, the person receiving the message can reply to Robot/ALERT without signing on to the System i. Robot/ALERT passes the reply to Robot/CONSOLE and Robot/CONSOLE posts the reply, the user’s ID, and how long it took to receive the reply to history files, and then transfers the reply to the waiting job.

A broadcast list is a collection of devices that can include one-way devices, two-way devices, or both. In Robot/ALERT, you can define device restrictions that control when a device is considered available for notification. You also can define if a message should repeated and the amount of time between repeats.

The advantages of paging from a message center:

• You don’t need a message set for each message ID, making setup faster and simpler.
• Escalation stops automatically when a message is answered.
• If you have a rotating schedule, you can use the RBCCHGCTR command to change the pager to notify according to your schedule.

Message center escalation setup
From the Robot/CONSOLE Explorer, select Message Centers, right-click on a message center, and select Properties. When the Message Center Properties window displays, select the Device Notification tab. Check the box, “Send a page using Robot/ALERT if no reply,” select a device or broadcast list, and specify the Wait Time before Paging.

Escalation options from the message set
When you define notification at the message set level rather than the message center level, you have similar options. At the set level, these options are implemented through OPAL code attached to the set. You use the PAGE or PAGE2WAY operation and the RBASNDMSG command.

The advantages of paging from a message set: 

• You can enter specific message text for each message ID.
• You can choose to page an INFO message—no reply is required.
• You can set up IF conditions to page different people under different circumstances.

There is one drawback of paging from a message set: If you are paging to a broadcast list, the entire list is paged and escalation doesn’t stop automatically when the message is answered.        

Message set escalation setup
From the Robot/CONSOLE Explorer, select Message Sets. Then, select All Message Sets, find the message set you want to work with, right-click on the message set, and select Properties. When the Message Set Properties window displays, select the OPAL tab. Under Operation, double-click and enter PAGE or PAGE2WAY. Under Operation Values, double-click and enter TEXT to send the standard message text, or enter specific text. Right-click to display a dropdown list of devices and broadcast lists from which to select.

Don’t forget to compile the message set and set the status to ACTIVE.

Contributed by Harry Tolzman and Bill Broeckert, Technical Consultants