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Set capacity thresholds & alerts (Administrator setup)

This page is for administrators who configure capacity thresholds and alert rules for occupancy monitoring.

Overview

Alert configuration ensures: - Operators are notified when locations approach capacity - Sensor issues are detected promptly - Data anomalies are flagged for review

1) Capacity configuration

Setting POI capacity

For each Point of Interest:

  1. Navigate to Occupancy → Points of Interest.
  2. Edit the POI record.
  3. Set the Capacity field:
  4. For parking: Number of spaces
  5. For beaches: Safe occupancy limit
  6. For trails: Comfortable capacity
  7. For venues: Legal maximum occupancy

Capacity considerations

Factor Guidance
Legal limits Fire codes, permits
Safety Emergency evacuation capability
Comfort Quality of experience
Infrastructure Facilities capacity (toilets, etc.)
Seasonal Summer vs. winter limits

Dynamic capacity

For locations with variable capacity: - Update capacity seasonally - Consider time-of-day variations - Document the basis for each limit

2) Alert threshold configuration

Alert types

Alert Type Trigger Severity
Capacity Warning Occupancy reaches warning threshold (e.g., 80%) Medium
Capacity Critical Occupancy reaches critical threshold (e.g., 95%) High
Sensor Offline No data received within timeout period Medium
Data Anomaly Unusual patterns detected Low

Configuring thresholds

Alert thresholds are typically configured in deployment settings or per-POI:

Warning threshold: 80% of capacity - Gives time to prepare or redirect visitors - Not urgent but needs monitoring

Critical threshold: 95% of capacity - Immediate action may be needed - Consider closing entry points - Staff should verify on-site

Sensor offline timeout

Configure how long without data before alerting: - Typical: 15-30 minutes - Adjust based on sensor reporting frequency - Consider network reliability

3) Alert notification configuration

Notification channels

Alerts can be delivered via: - Dashboard: Real-time display in admin interface - Email: Sent to configured recipients - WebSocket: Push notifications to connected clients

Recipient configuration

Set up notification routing: 1. Define operator roles responsible for each POI or area 2. Configure email addresses for alert recipients 3. Set escalation contacts for critical alerts

Alert severity routing

Severity Typical routing
Low Dashboard only
Medium Dashboard + email to operators
High Dashboard + email + escalation
Critical All channels + management notification

4) Alert management workflow

Alert lifecycle

Created → Acknowledged → Resolved
                      ↘ Escalated

Handling alerts

When an alert is triggered:

  1. Review: Understand what triggered the alert
  2. Verify: Confirm the situation (on-site or via other data)
  3. Act: Take appropriate action
  4. Document: Record what was done
  5. Resolve: Mark the alert as resolved

Resolution notes

When resolving alerts, document: - What action was taken - Whether it was a real issue or false positive - Any configuration changes needed

5) Tuning alert sensitivity

Reducing false positives

If alerts trigger too often: - Raise thresholds: Increase percentage triggers - Add delay: Require sustained high occupancy before alerting - Adjust timeout: Increase sensor offline timeout - Filter anomalies: Configure anomaly detection sensitivity

Avoiding missed alerts

If real issues aren't caught: - Lower thresholds: Decrease percentage triggers - Reduce delay: Alert sooner on threshold breach - Decrease timeout: Shorter sensor offline detection - Add monitoring: More alert types or locations

Testing configuration

Periodically test that alerts work: - Simulate threshold breaches - Verify notifications are received - Check escalation paths function

6) Historical alert analysis

Use alert history to: - Identify patterns: Recurring capacity issues - Optimize thresholds: Based on actual incidents - Plan capacity: Justify infrastructure investments - Improve operations: Staffing and resource allocation

Metrics to track

Metric Purpose
Alerts per day/week Workload indicator
Time to resolution Response efficiency
False positive rate Configuration quality
Repeat alerts Underlying issues

7) Special considerations

Events and high-traffic periods

During known high-traffic periods: - Consider temporarily adjusting thresholds - Pre-position staff for faster response - Communicate expected high occupancy to public

Multi-POI coordination

For related locations (e.g., multiple beach parking lots): - Configure alerts that consider overall area capacity - Enable redirect recommendations when one lot is full - Coordinate response across locations

Integration with dynamic forms

Occupancy alerts can trigger: - Incident creation in Occurrences module - Maintenance requests in Equipment module - Notification workflows

Behind the scenes (grounded in code)

  • Alert model: apps/occupancy/models.py → OccupancyAlert
  • Severity choices: low, medium, high, critical
  • Alert types: capacity_warning, capacity_critical, sensor_offline, data_anomaly
  • Context field: JSONField for threshold-specific data
  • Background checking: apps/occupancy/tasks.py
  • Resolution tracking: is_resolved, resolved_at, resolved_by fields