How to comment on an incident
Comments on an incident are the part of incident handling worth most in the long run. The alarm says something was wrong; the comment says what it was and what was done about it.
How to add a comment
- Open the building you want to work on. See How to switch building and search for a building.
- Go to Incidents > Incident handling in the sidebar.
- Open the incident.
- Type into the field under Activity.
- Click Add.
The comment goes into the activity log with your name and a timestamp.
What the activity log holds
Activity is the incident's whole history, not just the comments:
- comments from users
- status changes:
Status of {alarm} changed to {status} by {user}
- assignments:
{alarm} is assigned to {user} by {user}
- acknowledgements with timestamps
That means you can read an incident from the bottom up and see the whole course of events: when it arose, who was notified, who took it, what they found, and when it was closed.
Note: If you get the message Couldn't add comment. Try again., the comment wasn't saved. Copy the text before retrying if it's long.
How to see the last comment without opening the incident
The Last comment column in the incident list shows the most recent comment. If you're reviewing many incidents, you can see which have been commented on and which are untouched without opening them.
What's worth writing
The comments that prove useful later answer three things:
- What was the cause? Not what the alarm said, but what was actually wrong.
- What was done? The action taken, or that nothing was done and why.
- Is anything outstanding? A task needing follow-up, or an alarm that should be adjusted.
"Checked, looks fine" is the comment that costs most next time.
Frequently asked questions
Can I edit or delete a comment?
The activity log is a history. If you've written something wrong, add a new comment correcting it, so the sequence of events can still be read in order.
Can I comment on a resolved incident?
Open the incident and add the comment. The incident being closed doesn't change the fact that the history is there.
Is anyone notified when I comment?
Notification is governed by the alert configuration and applies to alarm events. A comment is documentation, not a message — if somebody needs to act, assign the incident to them or create a task.
The comments won't load?
The message Couldn't load comments. means they weren't loaded. Reload the page.
Tip!
Write the comment while you're in the middle of the case, not afterwards. What's obvious the moment you find the fault is gone in two weeks — and that's exactly when the next person reads the incident.