While the system automatically groups events according to the trouble analysis rules, you may come across some events that are related, but are not grouped because of data modeling issues (for example, connectivity problems). You can manually group these events together using the Group Events dialog box.
Group Events Dialog Box
The Group Events dialog box allows you to group events. To open the Group Events dialog box, select Group Events from the Actions menu in the Work Agenda window.
The Group Events dialog box displays the following fields:
• The Use First Event As Lead Event check box, when selected, allows you to set the first event in the list as the lead event when merging. This option is only available when the Group Method is merge. If not selected, the lead event will be chosen automatically by the system.
• The Group Events table displays all of the events that have been selected for grouping. The table contains the following columns:
• The Event # column displays the system assigned event number.
• The Status column displays the event's status. See Event Status Codes for a complete list of status codes and descriptions.
• The Feeder column displays the name of the feeder associated with the event.
• The Error Message column displays a description of the error that occurred, if applicable, when the last attempt to group/relate events failed.
• The Group Method drop‑down list contains a selection of grouping options:
• The merge option is used for event grouping.
• The relate option does not group the selected events, but rather allows you to record a relationship between the events and enter notes in the Relationship Comments field.
• The unrelate option allows you to remove one or more previously related events from the relationship.
Note: Selecting different Group Method value clears Error Message column in the Group Events table.
• The Relationship Comments field allows you to enter comments about the relationship when the Group Method is set to relate.
• The Clear Errors button removes rows with grouping errors (where there are error messages in the Error Messages column) from the Group Events table.
Grouping Events
To group events, complete these steps:
1. Open the Group Events dialog box by selecting Group Events from the Work Agenda Actions menu.
2. Make sure the Group Method is merge.
3. In the Trouble Events list, select the row for the event that all subsequent events will be grouped to. The event information appears in the Group Events table.
4. Select the row of an event in the Trouble Events list that you want to group to the first selected event. The event information for the event is added to the Group Events table.
5. If there are other events you want to add, select the row for those events in the Trouble Events list. The event information for the events are added to the Group Events table.
6. To deselect a selected event, select its row again. The event information is removed from the Group Events table.
7. Click on the OK button.
• The selected events are grouped to the first selected event.
• The rows for the subordinate events disappear from the Trouble Events List.
• The number of customer calls are added together and their sum appears in the # Calls column.
Understanding Grouping Rules
If the events that you selected do not meet the manual grouping rules, the system will not let you group them. An error message will appear in the Error Message column for the offending event. If an error is not related to a specific event, it will be displayed in a separate error dialog. Manual grouping rules include the following:
• General fuzzy events can group to any outage.
• Fuzzy events associated with a control zone can only group to other events in the same control zone.
• Non-outage events can group to outage or non-outage events.
• Outage events can group to other outage events, but outage events cannot be grouped to other outage events that they are not downstream of.
• Real outages (where a device is opened in the Viewer causing a segment of the model to be de-energized) cannot group to one another.
• Outage events cannot group to non-outage events.
• Meets (for example, meet fire, and so on) cannot group to anything.
• Switching events cannot group to anything.
Graphical Grouping (Supply Points Mode)
To add customers to an event graphically, follow these steps:
1. Select a probable outage in the Work Agenda.
2. Click the Trouble Info button () or select Trouble Info... from the Actions menu to display the Trouble Info callers for this outage.
3. Select Supply Points from the File menu to display the Supply Point Summary.
4. In the Viewer, press the Supply Points Mode button to toggle into Supply Points mode.
5. The Supply points of the outage will be highlighted in green; other deselected supply nodes will be in cyan. Using a box or polygon, select a group of supply points. All supply points inside the box or polygon will be highlighted. (See Selecting Devices for details on selecting devices in the Viewer.)
6. Do one of the following:
• To add a single supply point, right-click on the supply point and select Add Supply Points from the context menu. A row is added to the Trouble Info Supply Points table in green and marked as To Be Grouped (TBG).
• To add all highlighted supply points, hold down the Alt key and right-click on a highlighted supply point, then select Add Supply Points from the context menu. The Supply Points rows are added to the Trouble Info Supply Points table in green and marked as To Be Grouped (TBG).
Note: To display a list of highlighted supply points, Alt-right-click and then select Show Supply Points from the context menu. The Supply Point Summary table on the Trouble Info tab displays details for the highlighted supply points.
7. Press the Update Event button on the Trouble Info Supply Points view to group the Supply Points into the event.
8. Enter an event grouping threshold (in hours) in the Update Job confirmation dialog box.
• The selected event will now include the selected supply points and the Work Agenda row will now reflect the new customer count and call count, if other calls existed on the selected Supply Points.
• Supply Points with calls that did not pass the selected grouping threshold are not added to the outage and will be marked in yellow with FAIL in the Grp column.
• You can also remove Supply Points from the event by selecting them and clicking the Remove button, then the Update Event button. Any calls on the removed Supply Points will create new events.
Behavior of Grouped Events
Once events have been manually grouped, the system will no longer repredict the outage device nor will a manually grouped event be automatically merged into another event. However, other events and calls may be automatically merged into a manually grouped event.
Relating Events
To relate events, complete these steps:
1. Open the Group Events dialog box by selecting Group Events from the Work Agenda Actions menu.
2. Change the Group Method to relate. The Relationship Comments field is now accessible.
3. Select the rows that you want to relate. The event information appears in the Group Events table.
4. If there are other events you want to add, select the row for those events in the Trouble Events list. The event information for the events are added to the Group Events table.
5. Type a comment into the Relationship Comments field, if desired.
6. Click the OK button. The selected events are related to one another. The Grp Type column in the Work Agenda for each event now contains REL, the Rel Type column now contains R, and Rel Event # column now contains the event number of the earliest event.
Unrelating Events
To unrelated events that have been related, complete these steps:
1. Open the Group Events dialog box by selecting Group Events from the Work Agenda Actions menu.
2. Change the Group Method to unrelate.
3. In the Trouble Events list, select the row for the event that you wish to unrelate. The event information appears in the Group Events table.
4. If there are other events that you want to unrelate, select the row for those events in the Trouble Events list. The event information for the events are added to the Group Events table.
5. Click the OK button. The selected events are unrelated. If two or more events are still part of that relationship, they remain related to each other. If the event that was displayed in the Rel Event # column was unrelated and two or more events are still part of that relationship, the Rel Event # column is updated with the event number of the earliest event remaining in the relationship.
Ungrouping Events
To ungroup manually grouped events or repredicted upstream device outages, complete these steps:
1. Select a grouped event in Work Agenda.
2. Select Undo Grouping from the Work Agenda Actions menu. The event will be ungrouped and new events will be created for the previously grouped events.
Notes:
• You cannot ungroup events with crew assignments, whether assigned, en route, onsite, or suspended.
• If the grouped event was predicted (for example, a Predicted Device Outage (PDO)), it is destroyed and the event number is lost along with any data entered in Event Details.
• Ungrouped calls are put at the front of the grouping queue and then grouped normally.