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Installation Mode

A site that is being installed is a false-alarm factory: technicians trip detectors, test panics, and walk in front of cameras all day. Installation mode flags the site so the control room does not act on those signals — alarm dispatch is suppressed for the whole site while it is active, and every signal is still received and logged, so there is a complete record of the commissioning work.

Installation mode rides the same non-destructive, time-boxed site-state engine as Test Mode and the scheduled status changes on the site details page. It never changes the site's stored status or billing; when it ends, the site is exactly as it was before.

What it does while active​

  • Dispatch is suppressed site-wide. Nominating or dispatching a unit to the site is blocked in CleverCommand, and the operator sees why (e.g. "Site is on installation until 2026-07-20 14:00"). Installation mode always applies to every control room monitoring the site — unlike a test or suspension, it cannot be scoped to one VCR.
  • Signals are still logged. Events keep arriving and appear in history as normal.
  • It expires on its own. Every hold ends after your control room's hold length — 2 hours unless you have picked another length (30 minutes to 14 days) under Settings → General → Installation hold. If nobody ends it, the site returns to normal dispatch automatically — a forgotten hold can never leave a site silent for long.
  • Operators can see it everywhere. The site's state card shows an amber Installation — expires in … chip that counts down (45 min, 1 h 30 min, 3 days), and CleverCommand's site panel shows the same state read-only so operators know why dispatch is blocked.

Installation mode is also the designated escape hatch for the site-ownership controls that are being rolled out: while a site is in installation, upcoming ownership-based edit restrictions are suspended for everyone working on the site.

Starting installation mode​

There are three ways to start it. Each uses the hold length of the control room that starts it.

When adding a site​

Add a site has a Hold alarms while it is being installed (2 hours) option under More options, ticked by default — a brand-new site is almost always about to be installed. The length in brackets is your control room's hold length. Leave it ticked and the site is created already on hold; untick it to create the site live immediately.

From the site details page​

  1. Open Sites → Connected Sites and click the site.
  2. Open Monitoring → Scheduling and find the Site state & scheduled changes card.
  3. On the Installation row, click Start installation (2 hours) — the button shows your control room's hold length — and confirm.

The row needs the Manage customers permission, the same as the rest of the state card.

From an onboarding journey​

When an onboarding journey pre-stages a site to be installed, the site starts on hold for the journey's control room's hold length.

While it is running​

The Installation row on the state card shows the amber Installation — expires in … chip plus two actions:

  • Extend (+2 hours) — pushes the expiry out by one more hold length from its current end. Use it when an install runs long; there is no limit on how often it can be extended.
  • End installation — ends the hold immediately after a confirmation. The site returns to normal dispatch that moment. Use this when the installation is commissioned and the site goes live.

The active hold also appears in the state card's override list with an Active now badge, like any other site-state override, and can be ended from there with its End now button.

Changing the hold length in Settings does not touch a hold that is already running — it keeps the end time it was given.

Ending it — commissioning the site​

Installation mode ends in one of three ways:

  • An installation job is signed off. When a service job whose Category is set to Installation is completed — whether the technician signs it off in the CleverTech app or the office marks it Completed — the site is commissioned automatically: every active installation hold on the site ends at that moment and normal monitoring rules apply. The technician sees this spelled out on the app's confirmation step before completing. This is enforced on the server, so it also works offline — a sign-off captured without signal commissions the site as soon as the phone syncs.
  • End installation is clicked on the site's state card (see above).
  • The hold length runs out and the hold ends on its own.

Jobs without a Category, or with any other Category (Repair, Maintenance, Inspection, Other), never touch installation mode — and completing an installation job for a site that has no active installation hold does nothing.

Installation vs. Test Mode

Both suppress dispatch and log signals. Test Mode is the short window (60 minutes, per control room if needed) for a quick verification — "trigger three alarms, confirm they arrive". Installation mode is always site-wide and lasts your control room's hold length (2 hours unless you change it), for the time a site exists in the system while installers are still working on it. A recurring nightly need is neither — use the recurring test cycle on the site's Monitoring → Scheduling sub-tab for that.