In BlueView, the term "Exception" is used to describe a day where the controller operates differently than normal. The most common example of an exception day is a holiday (4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas), although it's also useful for sale days, inclement weather days, etc.
This article assumes that your BlueView system has already been configured for Normal operation, meaning the way it should operate on any non-exception day. Before proceeding, you will need to have the following information available:
• The date and weekday of the exception day
• The hours and type of shift(s) that you want to happen on that day, if any
• The set of doors that will need to behave differently on the exception day
Note
If there are certain Normal (non-exception) shifts that you want to occur regardless of whether or not a given day is an exception day, make sure that those shifts are marked as "Applies To: Both" in the Shifts screen.
For example: A door's normal operation is to allow employees with valid credentials to access the door from 7 AM to 7 PM. The door also unlocks during business hours, from 8 AM to 5 PM. On holidays, the administrator wants the door to remain locked all day, but still allow credentialed employees to have access within the usual window. In this case, the 7 AM to 7 PM shift will need to be marked as "Applies To: Both" and the 8 AM to 5 PM Unlock shift will need to be marked as "Applies To: Normal." Then, proceed with the rest of the exception day setup.
Exception Day
This is the date that you want your doors to do something different than normal.
Exception Shift (Optional)
This shift defines what you want your door to do on the Exception Day. If no exception shift is defined, the door will simply NOT do whatever it normally does. (Typically, the result is that admission is denied to everyone.)
Exception Day Permission
This tells the system which doors you want to be affected by the Exception Day.
Exception Shift Permission (Optional)
This permission tells the system which doors you want to use the Exception Shift on the Exception Day. If you have not defined an Exception Shift, this permission is unnecessary.
The first question that needs to be addressed is what do you want the door to do on the given exception day. If you simply want it to NOT do what it normally does, then no Exception Shift or Exception Shift Permission is required. A door that has an Exception Day defined but no associated Exception Shift will ignore any shifts marked as "Applies To: Normal" and execute any shifts marked as "Applies To: Both." If you want the door to do something DIFFERENTLY than normal, you will need to additionally define the Exception Shift and Exception Shift Permission.
Configure Exception Shifts (Holiday Shifts)
In Exceptions you define special calendar dates that require different shift programming than normal.
To define an exception, enter its name and the date, then click Add. To delete an exception click on its name then Delete , click Yes to confirm. To update an exception click on its name, edit the name and/or other fields as appropriate and click Save.
Exception Shifts are shifts that are scheduled for special days when a customer does not want a given portal to have normal behavior. So for example if a user has defined an unlock shift that operates from Monday thru Friday 8am-5pm for a given set of doors and they have programmed a shift exception to occur on Friday July 4th. The resulting behavior for the doors on the exception day will be whatever the shift exception that has been defined for that day.
Users can configure up to 64 shift exception dates and define a single exception shift that will dictate how the controller is to operate on the configured exception dates.
Configuring multiple types of shifts can only be accomplished by programming the shifts for the first holiday and then going back and updating the exception shift after the first exception date. So for example if a user wants the doors that are normally unlocked from 8-5 M-F to be locked on July 4th and they want them to unlock on a shorter shift from 8-12 on Labor Day. They would configure the first exception shift to be a normal exception shift for 8-5. Then after the July 4th exception date passes and before the next exception date they will change the exception shift time and type and type parameters.
Here are the steps in more detail:
1. Create the Exception Day. In BlueView, go to Configure->Shifts.
Click on the Exceptions tab. If there is not currently an Exception for the date you need, create one by typing in an Exception Name, selecting the date from the calendar, and clicking Add.
2. Create the Exception Shift (Optional). On the Shifts screen, click on the Shifts tab. Create the type of shift that you want, making sure that the appropriate Day of the Week is selected to correspond to your Exception Day from step 1. (Instead of starting from scratch, it may be easier to first select the Normal shift, modify it as needed, and then change the name.) Click
Add to add the new exception shift.
• Make sure that you select Exception on the "Applies To:" drop-down.
• We suggest using some sort of convention when naming your Exception shifts, so that they are easily differentiated from Normal shifts in other areas of the software. For example, if your Normal shift for a given door is called EmployeeEntrance, then name the Exception Shift something like excEmployeeEntrance.
3. Create the Exception Day Permission. Go to Configure->Configure Card Holder Permissions to get to the Activate Card Holder Permissions screen. Click on the Exceptions tab. Next to Name, choose your Exception Day/Holiday from step 1. Next to Target, select the applicable target type and target names. Click Add.
4. Create the Exception Shift Permission (Optional). If you created an Exception Shift in Step 2, you'll need to specify which door(s) it applies to. In the Activate Card Holder Permissions screen, click on the Configuration tab. Next to Shift, select your Exception Shift from Step 2. Choose the proper Group from the drop-down, if applicable (this is not necessary for some shifts, such as Unlock shifts). Next to Target, select the applicable target type and target names. Click Add.
5. Activate the affected doors. In the Activate Card Holder Permissions screen, click on the Activation tab. Select any doors that will be affected by the Exceptions you created. Either a full update or an incremental update will work for this purpose. Click Activate Now. Once the Activation Status is reported as Successful, your new Exception/Exception Shift will be active at the door.
Known Issues
Please be aware of the following known issues pertaining to shifts.
If you are using NetGens with firmware 3.xx or 5.xx, there can be a maximum of 32 shifts per controller. Only 30 of these shifts can be unlock shifts. For the purpose of this count, there is no distinction between regular unlock shifts and exception unlock shifts. Additionally, a shift is counted once for each day of the week it applies to. For example, if you have an unlock shift that applies to Monday-Friday, then that shift will take up 5 unlock shift slots on the controller. In firmware 7.xx, the limit has been increased to 168 credential shifts and up to 200 unlock shifts - for this version of firmware, each shift takes one slot, regardless of how many days of the week it applies to.
Due to the way that the firmware works, you can only create Exception Shift Permissions one week in advance. If they are created more than one week ahead of time, the door will mistakenly implement an exception shift on the day-of-the-week of the future Exception Day. For example, if you program an Exception Shift Permission at a given door for Wednesday, July 4, more than a week in advance, then that Exception Shift will be implemented every Wednesday. To prevent this, make sure you don't enter the Exception Shift Permission piece of the "recipe" until a week ahead of time. Additionally, you should delete old Exception Shift Permissions within a week of when the Exception Day occurred. (The Exception Day, Exception Shift, and Exception Day Permission can be created and deleted at any time.)