Create a scenario and response plan

A scenario is the pre-agreed answer to a situation, written when there is time to think and read when there is not. Scenarios is where you program the building's response; the wizard makes you decide, in order, what type it is, how it reaches people, what repeats automatically, who may trigger it, and what happens when it ends.

1. 01

   Write the response plan first

   On the Scenarios page, scroll to Response Plans and create one: Plan Name, a Type (Lockdown, Evacuation, Invacuation, Test / Drill or Custom) and the Response Steps people will read while moving. The wizard can only link a plan whose type matches the scenario's type.

   • Lead with the action, not the reason. Address the reader directly: "Move to …", not "Staff should move to …".
   • One instruction per step, in the order someone would perform them. Avoid conditional branches.
   • Say what to do if the primary instruction is impossible.

   !

   This text is read in about ten seconds by someone who is frightened. Read it aloud at speed to a colleague and ask them what they would do.

   

2. 02

   Step 1 — Type

   Click Create Scenario. Choose the behaviour type — it pre-configures the safety defaults — and give the scenario the name that will appear in the Scenarios list and on the trigger screen.

   Field or control	What it does
   Lockdown	Secure in place. Dual confirmation is recommended for these.
   Evacuation	Leave to assembly points; signage shows the assembly-point map.
   Invacuation	Shelter in place.
   Test / Drill	Looks like the real thing on devices, is recorded as a drill, and sends no All Clear.
   Custom	Everything is configured by hand. This is the only type that can be Silent and the only one with a Details prompt. Medical, Missing Person and similar situations are built as Custom scenarios.

   i

   Name the situation, not the mechanism — Intruder in building, not Lockdown protocol v2. The name is editable again on the next step.

   

3. 03

   Step 2 — Channels: link the plan and choose Delivery

   Pick the Linked response plan. For a Custom scenario, set Delivery first, because it changes what the rest of the step means: Broadcast alerts everyone through the channels below; Silent / targeted alerts only the people you choose in Recipients — no PA, sirens, signage, CAP or parent messages.

   A Silent scenario is how you build a discreet Medical Emergency or Missing Child response: the right staff are told, on their own phones and devices, and nobody else in the building notices. Approved Silent scenarios appear as their own violet Silent tiles on the dashboard trigger page and in the mobile app.

   !

   A Broadcast Custom scenario reaches signage. Keep Custom scenarios Silent unless you genuinely want every screen in the building to take over.

   

4. 04

   Step 2 — Channels: enable each channel you have tested

   Each section is off until you switch it on, and each pulls its content from the approved templates and announcements in Admin. Select every channel your procedure expects, and no more.

   Adding a channel you have not tested is how a scenario appears to work in a drill and then fails in the way that matters. If you enable SMS, send one. If you enable PA, hear it.

   Field or control	What it does
   Audio Announcements	Voice announcements played on kiosk and Agent displays.
   Voice Calls	Pre-recorded call to all registered staff via Twilio.
   Axis Audio PA System	Audio files on the PA, with a Priority Override.
   SMS Messages	One approved SMS template.
   Email	A Subject, one email template from Admin → Email Templates, and the audience — All means parents and contacts with email alerts switched on in People & Contacts.
   Digital signage	A pre-approved signage template on lobby, corridor and wayfinding screens.
   Recipients	Send to: all, a role or tag (e.g. Medical Trained), or specific people. Message plus channels: SMS, Voice, Email, Phone notification (a quiet push to that person's MassComs app login) and Message to agent (the device an admin assigned to them on Agent Devices). For a Silent scenario this is the only delivery.
   Details prompt (Custom only)	A free-text box shown to whoever triggers this scenario — a missing child's description, what is happening — with your own Label, Placeholder and Quick options. The text is included in the messages sent out.

   ✓

   Confirm it worked

   A Silent scenario will not save without a Recipients message and at least one Recipients channel — the wizard says so.

5. 05

   Step 3 — Rules

   Automatic Response Rules decide what repeats without anyone touching the dashboard. Repeat audio announcements automatically with a Repeat Interval (60–90 seconds is recommended for emergencies), and optionally delay senior-staff notifications so the first minute is not spent answering calls.

   i

   These rules run identically every time and produce the audit evidence Martyn's Law compliance leans on. That is their value: consistency you can prove.

6. 06

   Step 4 — Permissions

   Authorized Roles restricts which roles can trigger this scenario at all. Under Trigger Safeguards, Show confirmation screen before triggering is on by default; Require second authorized user to confirm adds dual confirmation for high-risk scenarios.

   Authorized Roles is separate from the incidents.trigger permission. A role can hold incidents.trigger and still not be allowed to run a particular scenario.

   !

   Dual confirmation is strongly recommended for lockdowns. It prevents a single accidental tap from securing a whole site.

7. 07

   Step 5 — All Clear

   Decide what plays and who is told when this scenario is stood down. Leave everything blank to use your organisation's default All Clear message and audio; fill it in to override with wording specific to this scenario.

   Field or control	What it does
   Custom All Clear message	Optional. Replaces the default wording on devices and in messages.
   All Clear Audio Announcement	Which announcement plays on kiosk and Agent displays, and how many times (Play announcement).
   Display duration	How long the All Clear stays on kiosk and Agent screens before clearing automatically.
   All Clear recipients	Tell the same people (Use same recipients as trigger) or a different group that it is over, via their own SMS, voice, email and push preferences.

   i

   Test / Drill scenarios send no All Clear — announce the end of a drill verbally. A scenario that is itself the organisation's All Clear needs none either.

   

8. 08

   Step 6 — Review & Approve

   The review lists the incident type, linked plan (View full response plan), Delivery, Recipients, Details prompt and a When triggered, the system will: summary. Read it as a recipient. Then either leave it unapproved or, if you hold scenarios.approve, tick I approve this scenario for live use.

   Unapproved scenarios can only be used in test mode; they do not appear on the live trigger page. Approval is an act of authority — record who approved and when outside the system as well.

   i

   See Approve scenarios and message templates for the approval side.

   ✓

   Confirm it worked

   The scenario card shows Approved in the Scenarios list.

9. 09

   Test it with a TEST activation

   Run the scenario as a TEST-type incident against a narrow scope with a device you can watch. Confirm the response steps render fully, every enabled channel fires, and the message reads correctly on a real device. For a Silent scenario, confirm the intended people were reached and nobody else was.