The Monitoring Activation and Account Onboarding SOP

Purpose

When a real alarm comes in, the station operator knows only what the account says: the address, which zone tripped and what it is called, who to call in what order, how to verify, and the permit number the police will ask for. If any of that is wrong, the operator calls a disconnected number, dispatches police to "zone 11" with no description, or cannot dispatch at all in a city that refuses unpermitted alarms. This procedure builds the account from one form, proves the station holds exactly what the panel sends, and confirms with the customer that the first real signal will be handled the way they expect.

Scope

Covers a new monitored account from the setup form to the 30-day review: collecting the form, the alarm permit, the verification method, entering the account with the station, matching zone descriptions during the install walk test, the periodic test interval and the welcome call.

Does not cover the physical install and the test-window handling, which belong to 'The Alarm Installation Job SOP' and How to Put an Alarm Account on Test and Take It Off. Taking over an account from another dealer adds steps covered in How to Take Over an Existing Alarm System. Fire signals on a combination panel are entered under 'The Fire-Side Work and License Routing SOP'.

Roles and responsibilities

Procedure

1. Collect the setup form before install day. The office sends the form and walks the customer through it by phone. Acceptance: every field filled, at least 2 call-list contacts besides the premises phone (a shop default), each number confirmed by calling it once, and each contact told they are on the list. Wrong looks like a call list of one cell phone that belongs to someone who travels; the stop rule is the install is not scheduled until a second contact is on the form. Hazard: none, office work.

2. Handle the verbal passcode without recording it. The customer sets the verbal passcode, and any duress word, directly with the station by phone or through the station's secured customer portal. The office form records only that it was set, and the date. Acceptance: the station confirms a passcode is on file; the passcode itself appears nowhere in the shop's records, per 'The Installer Code and Customer Passcode Handling SOP'. Wrong looks like a passcode written on the form; the stop rule is the office strikes it out, has the customer change it with the station, and records the change date. Hazard: none, office work.

3. Check the alarm permit. Look up whether the premises' city or county requires an alarm permit and whether the customer or the dealer files it, per Alarm Permits, False Alarm Fines and the Dealer's Part. Permit rules vary by locality, and some jurisdictions decline to dispatch police to an alarm without a permit on file. Acceptance: the permit number on the form, or the form marked "not required" with the source checked, or "applied" with the application date and a follow-up set for 14 days. Wrong looks like an assumption that the neighboring city's rule applies; the stop rule is the office checks the premises' own jurisdiction before entering the account. Hazard: none, office work.

4. Choose the verification method with the customer. Explain the dealer's standard method and its alternatives (see related: Alarm Verification Methods: Calls, Video and Audio) and record the customer's choice and the order of calls. Where the local ordinance requires verification before dispatch, the method on the form must meet it. Acceptance: one method named on the form, with the instruction the operator will follow written in plain words. Wrong looks like "video verification" chosen on an account with no camera tied to the station; the stop rule is the method is changed to one the installed equipment can deliver. Hazard: none, office work.

5. Enter the account with the station and read it back. Enter the premises address with cross street and any gate or access note, the call list in order, the verification instruction, the permit number, and each zone's number, type and description from the survey. Request the station's account printout. Acceptance: the printout matches the form line for line, read aloud by one person while a second checks. Wrong looks like a description truncated by the station's field length so that "basement door to garage" becomes "basement door"; the stop rule is rewrite the description to fit and still be unambiguous. Hazard: none, office work.

6. Match descriptions during the walk test. During the install walk test the tech asks the operator to read the description, not only the zone number, for every zone tripped (see related: How to Walk Test Every Zone with the Central Station). Acceptance: every zone on the form is received and its description read back matches the form. Wrong looks like a zone received under a number the station has no description for; the stop rule is the account stays on test until the office adds the zone and the tech re-trips it. Hazard: the tech's own steps are covered in 'The Alarm Installation Job SOP'; this step adds a question, not an act.

7. Set the periodic test and confirm the first one arrives. The tech programs the panel's periodic test, and the office sets the same interval and late window at the station. The shop default is a test every 24 hours where the communicator's service plan allows it. Acceptance: panel and station show the same interval, and the first scheduled test is seen on the account history the next business day. Wrong looks like a station expecting a daily test from a panel set to 30 days, which floods the account with late-to-test troubles; the stop rule is correct the side that is wrong the same day. Hazard: none, keypad and office work.

8. Make the welcome call. Within 3 business days of activation the office calls the customer. Confirm the call-list order, confirm the customer has called the station once and given the passcode during training, give the station's phone number for canceling a false alarm, and explain how to put the system on test before their own contractor works near a sensor. Acceptance: each item ticked on the form with the call date. Wrong looks like a customer who does not know the passcode they set; the stop rule is they reset it directly with the station during the call. Hazard: none, a phone call.

9. Review the first 30 days. Pull the account history at 30 days. Acceptance: periodic tests arriving on schedule, no unexplained troubles, every alarm explained. Wrong looks like a dispatched alarm in the first month; the stop rule is it goes to 'The False Alarm Follow-Up SOP' that day. Hazard: none, desk work.

The record this produces

The setup form, the station printout initialed by the two people who checked it, the walk-test log with descriptions confirmed, the permit status and its follow-up date, the welcome-call ticks and the 30-day history. The office reads it whenever the customer calls about monitoring; the service tech reads the zone list before any visit.

A worked pass

ACCOUNT SETUP FORM            acct no. (station issued)
Premises: street, city, cross street, gate note
  "side gate latch, dog in yard after 6 pm"
Call list (in order):
  1 premises cell (owner A)   confirmed by call
  2 owner B cell              confirmed by call
  3 neighbor, two doors down  confirmed, agreed
Verbal passcode: SET WITH STATION by customer
  date set: day of form   (code not recorded here)
Verification: two-call before dispatch
  (dealer standard; meets local ordinance)
Alarm permit: city requires; owner filed
  status: APPLIED, follow-up in 14 days
Periodic test: every 24 h, panel and station
Zones:
  1 front door         entry/exit
  2 patio slider       perimeter
  3 garage entry door  entry/exit
  4 family rm motion   interior follower
  5 hall motion        interior follower
  6 kitchen glass-brk  perimeter
  7 basement window    perimeter
  8 bedroom 2 window   perimeter
  9 bedroom 3 window   perimeter
  10 back door         perimeter
  11 garage motion     interior follower

Steps 1 to 5 went to plan. The station printout was read aloud against this form and matched for zones 1 through 10.

Step 6 failed. Zone 11, the garage motion, was added on install day by a scope change after step 5 had been entered. During the walk test the operator received "zone 11 burglary" with no description. The stop rule held the account on test; the office added zone 11, type and description, by phone, and the tech re-tripped it. The operator read back "zone 11, garage motion". Pass, and the scope-change ticket now carries a line telling the office to update the station.

Step 7. The first 24-hour test appeared on the next business day's history. Step 8 ran on day 2: the customer had called the station during training and knew the cancel number. Step 3's follow-up at 14 days found the permit issued, and its number went to the station.

References

• See related: Alarm Verification Methods: Calls, Video and Audio
• See related: Alarm Permits, False Alarm Fines and the Dealer's Part
• See related: How a Central Station Handles a Signal, from Panel to Dispatch
• See related: How to Walk Test Every Zone with the Central Station