High volume alarm management system

1. An alarm management system comprising:

a computer system configured to include:

one or more alarm interfaces connected to alarm sources;

an alarm management data store connected to the one or more alarm interfaces; and

an operations interface connected to the alarm management data store, the operations interface including:

a work flow management module having an alarm state sub-module, an alarm escalation sub-module, an alarm routing sub-module and an alarm notification sub-module, and

a post processing module having an alarm priority assignment module, an alarm suppression sub-module, and an alarm grouping sub-module; and

wherein:

each alarm interface of the one or more alarm interfaces comprises:

an alarm receiver;

an alarm store connected to the alarm receiver; and

a pre-processor connected to the alarm store and to the alarm management data store;

each alarm is transformed into a uniform representation that is vendor-neutral;

the operations interface provides filtering according to rules to define groups of alarms;

a first set of rules of the rules to define groups of alarms, result in filtering alarms according to common attributes;

a second set of rules of the rules to define groups of alarms, result in filtering alarms according to customer requirements

the post processing module is connected to the alarm management data store; and

the work flow management module is connected to the alarm management data.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein some alarms of the groups of alarms are routed to operators according to their qualifications to resolve the alarms.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein:

some other alarms of the groups of alarms not routed to operators are eliminated; and

some of the alarms that are eliminated comprise unactionable alarms.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the presentation module comprises:

a filtering sub-module;

a reporting sub-module;

a user preferences sub-module; and

a user interface.

5. A method for alarm management comprising:

creating an alarm group;

providing one or more rules for selecting alarms for inclusion in the alarm group;

receiving one or more alarms;

determining, according to the one or more rules for selecting alarms, which of the one or more alarms are placed into the alarm group, wherein the alarms are grouped in a hierarchical structure as determined by an application of rules which have a hierarchical structure;

configuring a routing strategy for the alarm group;

mapping the alarm group to an appropriate user group per the routing strategy;

providing the one or more alarms placed into the alarm group for action by the user group; and

closing one or more alarms, which have been subject to action by the user group resulting in resolution; and

wherein another alarm group is created having rules based on factors common to one or more new alarms if the existing one or more alarm groups are not appropriate for entry of the one or more new alarms.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein if one or more alarms are not determined to be placed into the alarm group, the one or more alarms are stored in a database waiting for action, and can be displayed to administrators as ungrouped alarms.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the one or more rules for selecting alarms are based on attributes of an alarm.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the routing strategy is configured with a basis on attributes of one or more alarms of the alarm group to enable smart alarm management strategies.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the one or more rules for selecting alarms are defined by needs of an alarm management operating center and/or a service level agreement.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein the appropriate user group comprises qualified people to handle and possibly resolve a particular type of alarms from the alarm group.

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein the routing strategy is for routing alarm groups to people based on their roles.

12. The method of claim 5 , wherein an alarm group is routed to several appropriate user groups based on relevance of the alarms in the alarm group resulting in receipt by any individual who needs information to complete a task.

13. The method of claim 5 , wherein:

the one or more rules for selecting alarms comprise an application of filters to one or more alarms received for determining which of the one or more alarms are placed into the alarm group; and

the application of filters is vendor neutral.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein:

the filters are organized into a hierarchy;

the filters contain sub-filters; and

sub-filters can contain sub-sub filters, and so on in a hierarchical manner.

15. A method for alarm management comprising:

creating one or more alarm groups;

creating one or more rules for each alarm group of the one or more alarm groups, the rules including one or more filters, the filters having a hierarchical structure to form an alarm group hierarchy;

creating one or more user groups;

receiving a new alarm;

entering the new alarm in appropriate alarm groups according to the one or more rules for each alarm group of the one or more alarm groups; and

routing the appropriate alarm group to at least one applicable user group of the one or more user groups; and

wherein:

the one or more rules for each alarm group of the one or more alarm groups, are based on alarm attributes and/or customer requirements; and

another alarm group is created having rules based on factors common to one or more new alarms if the existing one or more alarm groups are not appropriate for entry of the one or more new alarms.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the new alarm is categorized as unacknowledged, acknowledged, assigned, pending, resolved or another categorization.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the new alarm is categorized as escalated or unescalated, based on either a time of the new alarm in any one of the states identified in claim 16 , or a frequency of recurrence of the alarm.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein if the new alarm is categorized as resolved, then the alarm is removed from its respective alarm group.