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Data & rules

Besides events, ANSCMS can keep your organisation's own data (for example students, classes and teachers) and run rules that react to events and data: mark a student present when their face is recognised, raise a critical alert when a weapon is seen, notify the security team.

Everything here is in Admin console → Data & rules.

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This feature may not be enabled for your organisation yet — contact ANSCENTER. If Data & rules says "not available on this server yet", ask ANSCENTER to enable data modules for your organisation.

The data model​

The Data & rules page shows your organisation's data model:

  • Data types: the kinds of things you keep a list of, such as Student, Class or Teacher, with their Fields;
  • Links: how items relate (a student belongs to a class), with History kept over time;
  • Record types: things that happen to an item, such as attendance marks or leave requests;
  • Schedule types: recurring sessions, such as a timetable, that skip holidays;
  • Modules: the packages your model came from (see below), and the Import history.

To change the model, open Design data. You need the Org builder role (see Members).

  1. Click Add a type and name it the way people in your organisation say it, or open an existing type.
  2. Click Add field for each piece of information (text, number, date, choice, yes / no, phone, file…).
  3. Your changes are saved in a draft. Nothing changes for users until you publish.

Published fields are hidden, not deleted, when you remove them: their values are kept.

Modules​

A module is a ready-made package of data types, rules, pages and menu entries. For example, the Smart school template installs the School module with students, parents, teachers and classes.

  • Data & rules → Modules lists the installed modules and their version.
  • Items you have changed are listed as Customised items; the others as Unchanged items.
  • Rules that come with a module are installed switched off. Read each one, test it, then switch it on.

Module updates decides how a new version from ANSCENTER reaches you. Keep it on Ask me first: you then review each update in your draft before it goes live.

The module catalogue​

Data & rules → Modules also shows Available from ANSCENTER: modules you can install yourself, for example Plate watchlist.

  1. Open the module and read what it adds, and which event types its cameras must send (Cameras that send).
  2. Click Install v…. Check the preview, then choose Install and publish now and click Install.
  3. Under Rules, switch on the rules you want, then click Done.
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This feature may not be enabled for your organisation yet — contact ANSCENTER.

If no camera sends the type a module needs yet, the module installs but does nothing until one does.

Importing from a spreadsheet​

You can fill a data type (for example 1,000 students) from an Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file.

  1. Open the data type's page and click Import.
  2. File: choose the spreadsheet (up to 10 MB and 20 000 rows; the first row holds the column names).
  3. Columns: match each column with a field under Goes into. Recognised columns are matched already; Skip this column ignores one. Choose Existing codes: Update them or Only add new.
  4. Check: click Check the file. Nothing is written yet; you see what would be added and updated, and each problem row.
  5. Import: click Import, or Import the valid rows if some rows have problems. Use Download the error report to fix the others.
  6. Result: the numbers added, updated and unchanged.
tip

Importing the same file again is safe: rows are matched by their Code. Fix the bad rows and import again.

Data pages​

Data pages show your data to members. Admin console → Pages & menu → the application → Data pages → New page, then choose the Kind of page:

KindFor example
ListEvery student, with search, filters, import and export.
Board (e.g. attendance)A teacher marks everyone in a class for one day or session, on a phone.
Record table (e.g. leave requests)Records with a create form and approve / reject.
Calendar (e.g. timetable)A week of recurring sessions, with holidays.

Choose the type, set the Key and the title, check the Live preview, then save and click Add to menu.

Presence pages​

A presence page shows who (or what) was seen recently: each item of one data type, such as every student, with its latest camera sighting.

  • Each row has the time ("12 min ago"), the camera, the photo and an In / Out arrow when the event carries a direction. Items without a sighting show Not seen.
  • The counts on top, seen, not seen and in total, filter the list when clicked; use them to compare present with enrolled.
  • The filters: Time window (Today, or the last 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 or 24 hours), Site, Camera, Seen / Not seen and a name or code search. Refresh reloads now.
  • Click a name to open the item; Timeline opens its details on the recognitions.

To create one: Data pages → New page → Kind of page Presence (who was seen) → the Data type. Then set Events that count as a sighting, what to Match the event's subject with (for example the code, or the face id on the AI box), the Default time window, the In / out attribute (default attrs.direction), the filters and Refresh every (seconds). Save and click Add to menu.

The School module 1.3.0 adds a Presence page for principals and admins, in the Attendance group. An existing school organisation gets it by updating the module to 1.3.0; if the page is not in the menu afterwards, add it with Edit menu.

A member whose role does not include event data sees "You cannot see camera sightings".

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This feature may not be enabled for your organisation yet — contact ANSCENTER.

Teachers see their own class​

With per-class scoping, a teacher sees only their own homeroom class: its students, their parents, attendance and leave. It comes with the School module 1.4.0.

  1. Update the School module to 1.4.0 (existing school organisations).
  2. Link each teacher to their ANSCMS account: open the teacher's record, edit it, and in Linked account either Search members by email, or fill in the Sign-in email and click Match by email. Save. Only an organisation admin can set the link.
  3. When scoping is switched on for the organisation, a linked teacher sees and edits only their class's records, with the notice You see your class only. A teacher who is not linked sees Your account is not linked yet and no records.

Principals and admins see everything. Not narrowed by class: the timetable and sessions, scheduled report emails, and camera events (who reads events is still set by the event access settings). The narrowing is applied by the server, so it also holds for the exports and reports a teacher opens.

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This feature may not be enabled for your organisation yet — contact ANSCENTER.

Rules​

Data & rules → Rules lists every rule, what triggers it (When), what it checks (If) and what it does (Then), with its status and its runs in the last 24 hours.

StatusMeaning
RunningThe rule is on and runs.
OffThe rule is switched off and does not run.
PausedSomeone paused this rule; its triggers wait and run when it resumes.
All pausedEvery rule of the organisation is paused.
Stopped by safetyThe rule failed too often and was stopped automatically.
Runtime offRules are not switched on for your organisation on the server. Contact ANSCENTER.
  • Pause all rules stops every rule at once if something goes wrong. Camera data keeps arriving; the triggers wait and run when you click Resume all rules.
  • On one rule, Pause (with an optional reason) and Resume.
  • A rule's tabs: How it works, Health, Runs and Document.
  • Run log shows every run of the last 30 days: what triggered it, what it decided and what it changed.

The rule builder​

  1. Rules → New rule.
  2. Start from a ready-made rule in the gallery (for example a weapon or violence alert that notifies security), or choose A new rule from scratch and build the sentence yourself: When, With, If, Then.
  3. Fill in the blanks under Fill in, for example who to notify.
  4. Click Add to the draft. The rule is added switched off.
  5. Test it on your data, then publish.

Send a notification shows the notification in the bell of the people you choose. There is a daily limit per organisation.

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Also by email and On phones (ANS app) on a notification are available on request. The bell always works.

Test on my data​

A test replays what really happened over the last days with your draft rule. Nothing is changed and nobody is notified.

  1. In the rule, open the Test on my data tab.
  2. Choose how many days (Over), then run it.
  3. Read What would change, for example "would send 3 notifications". Check that this matches what really happened on those days.
warning

Publishing needs a passing test that is newer than your last change. If you change the rule after testing, test it again.

Publish and roll back​

Rules and data-model changes collect in a draft until you publish.

  1. Click Publish…. What publishing would do checks the draft against your real data and lists anything that Must be fixed before publishing.
  2. Click Publish the draft, then Publish. The changes go live for everyone as a new version.

To go back:

  1. Open Versions and the version you want.
  2. Click Roll back to this version, then Roll back to v…. What changed shows the difference. Records already written stay as they are.

Discard draft throws away all unpublished changes, for every builder.

Staged rollouts​

To try a change on a few sites before everyone gets it:

  1. In the Publish dialog, open Stage on some sites first (optional).
  2. Pick the sites and the end of the trial (at most 30 days), then what happens at the end: then ask me, then promote automatically or then revert automatically. Revert automatically if it misbehaves is a safety net.
  3. Publish. A banner shows "Staged: v… runs on 1 sites", and the rule shows a Staged badge.
  4. When you are happy, click Promote to run it everywhere, or Revert to go back.
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This feature may not be enabled for your organisation yet — contact ANSCENTER.

Webhooks​

A webhook sends data from your rules to another system over HTTPS.

  1. Data & rules → Webhooks → New endpoint. Only https addresses on port 443 with a public host name are accepted.
  2. Copy the Signing secret. It is shown once; give it to the receiving system so it can check that requests come from ANSCMS.
  3. Click Send a test and check Deliveries for a successful answer.
  4. In a rule, use the Send a webhook step and pick the endpoint.
info

This feature may not be enabled for your organisation yet — contact ANSCENTER.

Scripts​

Scripts are rules written as code by an Org developer, for cases the rule builder cannot express.

note

Scripts are available on request. You may see screens such as New script and Convert to script, but running scripts needs a service that ANSCENTER enables per organisation. The same applies to the AI assistant. Contact ANSCENTER if you need them.