SIST-TS CLC/TS 50136-7:2017

Alarm systems - Alarm transmission systems and equipment - Part 7: Application guidelines

These application guidelines include guidance on the application of the design, planning, operation, installation, commissioning and maintenance of alarm transmission systems for use in fire, I&HAS, Social Alarms and VSS applications. This document does NOT specify requirements. The requirements for ATS and ATE are specified in other parts of the EN 50136 series of standards.
These application guidelines are intended to assist those responsible for establishing an ATS(n) to ascertain the appropriate design, planning, Installation, operation and maintenance of an ATS(n) and to determine the most appropriate ATS category for the required system performance. E.g. Installers and service providers, ATSPs and their ICT managers, Network operators (Telco’s), ARC’s and their ICT managers, Test houses and Certification inspectorates, Specifiers, Insurance companies, Manufacturers of ATE.

Alarmanlagen - Alarmübertragungsanlagen und -einrichtungen - Teil 7: Anwendungsregeln

Systèmes d'alarme - Systèmes et équipements de transmission d'alarme - Partie 7 : Guide d'application

Alarmni sistemi - Sistemi in oprema za prenos alarma - 7. del: Smernice za uporabo

Te smernice za uporabo vključujejo navodila za zasnovo, načrtovanje, delovanje, namestitev, zagon in vzdrževanje sistemov za prenos alarma za uporabo v požarih, sistemov I&HAS, socialnih alarmov in aplikacij sistemov za vizualni nadzor (VSS). Ta dokument NE določa zahtev. Zahteve za sisteme in opremo za prenos alarma so določene v drugih delih skupine standardov EN 50136.
Te smernice za uporabo so v pomoč tistim, ki so odgovorni za vzpostavitev sistema za prenos alarma, da zagotovijo primerno zasnovo, načrtovanje, namestitev, delovanje in vzdrževanje sistema za prenos alarma ter določijo najustreznejše kategorije sistema za prenos alarma za zahtevano delovanje sistema. Npr. montažerji in ponudniki storitev, ponudniki sistemov za prenos alarma in njihovi upravljavci IKT, omrežni operaterji (Telco), ARC-ji in njihovi upravljavci IKT, preskusne ustanove in inšpektorati za certificiranje, specifikatorji, zavarovalnice, proizvajalci opreme za prenos alarma.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 08-Oct-2017
• ICS: 13.320 - Alarm and warning systems
• Technical Committee: EAL - Alarm systems
• Current Stage: 6060 - National Implementation/Publication (Adopted Project)
• Start Date: 05-Oct-2017
• Due Date: 10-Dec-2017
• Completion Date: 09-Oct-2017
• Directive: 2007-01-2231 - Pravilnik o določitvi varnostnih standardov poslovanja sodišč
• Ref Project: CLC/TS 50136-7:2017 - Alarm systems - Alarm transmission systems and equipment - Part 7: Application guidelines

Relations

• Replaces: SIST-TS CLC/TS 50136-7:2004 - Alarm systems - Alarm transmission systems and equipment - Part 7: Application guidelines
• Effective Date: 01-Nov-2017

Overview

CLC/TS 50136-7:2017 - Alarm systems - Alarm transmission systems and equipment - Part 7: Application guidelines - is a CENELEC technical specification that provides practical guidance for the application of alarm transmission systems (ATS). It does not set product requirements (those are covered in other parts of EN 50136). Instead, it explains how to design, plan, install, commission, operate and maintain ATS for fire, intruder & hold-up (I&HAS), social alarms and video surveillance systems (VSS), helping stakeholders select the appropriate ATS category for required performance.

Key topics

The document covers practical and operational topics that affect ATS performance and reliability:

• Information security - operational security, key management and access control (mandatory measures for some ATS categories such as SP4–SP6 and DP3–DP4).
• Availability and redundancy - single-path and dual-path availability considerations and recommendations.
• Planning and design - selection of ATS/ATSN categories, transmission network selection, shared links and throughput.
• Interoperability and protocols - guidance on PSTN, VoIP and IP alarm reporting protocols and interconnections.
• Installation & commissioning - testing regimes, acceptance criteria and statements of conformance.
• Operation & maintenance - performance monitoring, change/configuration management, upgrades, problem management, backups and end-of-life handling.
• Testing, certification & inspection - roles of test houses and certification inspectorates.
• Service level agreements (SLA) - recommended contents and use with underpinning contracts and operational level agreements.
• Documentation & roles - responsibilities for ATSPs, installers, ARCs, network operators and manufacturers.

Applications and who uses it

CLC/TS 50136-7:2017 is aimed at professionals involved with alarm transmission services and systems:

• Alarm installers and service providers
• Alarm transmission service providers (ATSPs) and their ICT managers
• Alarm receiving centres (ARCs) and hosted/managed RCT operators
• Network operators / telcos
• Test houses, certification bodies and insurance companies
• Specifiers and manufacturers of ATE/SPT/RCT equipment

Use cases include specifying ATS category for a fire or social alarm installation, defining SLA terms for an ATSP, designing dual-path networks for higher availability, or planning secure key management and operational security.

Related standards

For requirements and technical details consult the EN 50136 series and referenced standards:

• EN 50136-1, -2, -3 (general requirements, SPT, RCT)
• EN 54-21, EN 50130-4, EN 50130-5, EN 50131-1, EN 50134-1

Keywords: alarm transmission systems, ATS, EN 50136, alarm systems guidance, ATSP, SPT, RCT, information security, availability, SLA, alarm reporting protocols.

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-november-2017
1DGRPHãþD
SIST-TS CLC/TS 50136-7:2004
Alarmni sistemi - Sistemi in oprema za prenos alarma - 7. del: Smernice za
uporabo
Alarm systems - Alarm transmission systems and equipment - Part 7: Application
guidelines
Alarmanlagen - Alarmübertragungsanlagen und -einrichtungen - Teil 7:
Anwendungsregeln
Systèmes d'alarme - Systèmes et équipements de transmission d'alarme - Partie 7 :
Guide d'application
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CLC/TS 50136-7:2017
ICS:
13.320 Alarmni in opozorilni sistemi Alarm and warning systems
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION CLC/TS 50136-7

SPÉCIFICATION TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHE SPEZIFIKATION
September 2017
ICS 13.320 Supersedes CLC/TS 50136-7:2004
English Version
Alarm systems - Alarm transmission systems and equipment -
Part 7: Application guidelines
Systèmes d'alarme - Systèmes et équipements de Alarmanlagen - Alarmübertragungsanlagen und -
transmission d'alarme - Partie 7 : Guide d'application einrichtungen - Teil 7: Anwendungsregeln
This Technical Specification was approved by CENELEC on 2017-05-29.

CENELEC members are required to announce the existence of this TS in the same way as for an EN and to make the TS available promptly
at national level in an appropriate form. It is permissible to keep conflicting national standards in force.

CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Avenue Marnix 17, B-1000 Brussels
© 2017 CENELEC All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC Members.
Ref. No. CLC/TS 50136-7:2017 E

Contents Page
European foreword . 4
Introduction . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Abbreviations . 6
5 General . 7
5.1 Information security . 7
5.1.1 General . 7
5.1.2 Key management . 7
5.1.3 Access to the ATS and ATSN . 7
5.1.4 Security screening . 7
5.2 Availability . 8
5.2.1 General . 8
5.2.2 Single path ATS availability . 8
5.2.3 Dual path ATS availability . 8
5.3 Testing . 10
5.4 Certification and inspection . 10
5.5 The role of the ATSP . 11
5.6 ATS applications . 11
5.7 Alternative notification services . 11
5.8 MCT and hosted RCT . 11
5.9 Service level agreements . 12
5.9.1 General . 12
5.9.2 Topics of a Service Level Agreement . 12
5.10 Documentation . 13
6 Planning . 13
6.1 General . 13
6.2 Selection of ATS and/or ATSN category . 13
6.3 Service level agreements . 13
6.4 Roles and responsibilities . 13
6.5 Connection to alarm systems . 13
7 Design . 14
7.1 Non-ATE equipment . 14
7.2 Shared transmission links and throughput . 14
7.2.1 General . 14
7.2.2 Recommendations . 15
7.3 Transmission network selection . 15
7.4 Interoperability . 15
7.4.1 Protocols . 15
7.4.2 PSTN alarm reporting protocols . 15
7.4.3 VoIP systems . 16
7.4.4 IP Alarm reporting protocols . 16
7.4.5 Interconnections . 16
7.5 Location of SPT and other transmission network equipment . 16
7.6 Design examples. 16
7.6.1 General . 16
7.6.2 ATSN using pass-through operation . 17
7.6.3 ATSN using store-and-forward operation . 18
8 Installation . 18
8.1 Commissioning . 18
8.2 Testing . 18
8.2.1 General . 18
8.2.2 Test period . 19
8.2.3 Acceptance . 19
8.2.4 Statement of conformance . 19
8.3 Fixing, fitting and cabling . 19
8.3.1 General . 19
8.3.2 Cabling . 19
8.4 Competence . 20
8.5 Documentation . 20
8.6 Certification . 20
9 Operation . 20
9.1 General . 20
9.2 Performance monitoring of the ATS and/or ATSN . 20
9.3 Change management . 20
9.4 Configuration management . 21
9.5 System upgrades . 21
9.6 Problem management . 21
9.7 Planned maintenance. 21
9.8 End of life management . 22
9.9 Back-ups . 22

European foreword
This document (CLC/TS 50136-7:2017) has been prepared by CLC/TC 79 “Alarm systems”.
The following date is fixed:
— latest date by which this technical (doa) 2017–08–29
specification has to be announced at
national level
This document supersedes CLC/TS 50136-7:2004.
Annexes designated “informative” are given for information only.
EN 50136 will consist of the following parts, under the general title “Alarm systems - Alarm transmission
systems and equipment”:
— Part 1 General requirements for alarm transmission systems
— Part 2 General requirements for Supervised Premises Transceiver (SPT)
— Part 3 Requirements for Receiving Centre Transceiver (RCT)
— Part 4 Annunciation equipment used in alarm receiving centres
— Part 5 (Free)
— Part 6 (Free)
— Part 7 Application guidelines
— Part 8 (Free)
— Part 9 Requirements for a common protocol for alarm transmission using the Internet Protocol (IP)
Introduction
To give a common understanding of the requirements detailed in the EN 50136 suite of standards covering
alarm transmission, there is a need for application guidelines to provide support to other TC 79 WGs,
standardization bodies, insurance companies and customers, to understand what an appropriate performance
for the alarm transmission system for a specific application should be.
A full understanding of an application or application requirements are not always available to the alarm
transmission experts, and therefore the following guidelines for the application of alarm transmission should
assist the reader to understand the alarm transmission standards and the performance of an alarm
transmission system. The EN 50136 suite of alarm transmission standards apply to many diverse applications
e.g. I&HAS, fire, access control, VSS. Therefore, this guideline should be read in conjunction with the
standards relating to these applications where appropriate.
Several alarm transmission systems may be used by the providers of alarm transmission services, which
imply that the level of services may vary, depending on the performance of each alarm transmission system.
1 Scope
These application guidelines include guidance on the application of the design, planning, operation,
installation, commissioning and maintenance of alarm transmission systems for use in fire, I&HAS, Social
Alarms and VSS applications. This document does NOT specify requirements. The requirements for ATS and
ATE are specified in other parts of the EN 50136 series of standards.
These application guidelines are intended to assist those responsible for establishing an ATS(n) to ascertain
the appropriate design, planning, Installation, operation and maintenance of an ATS(n) and to determine the
most appropriate ATS category for the required system performance. E.g. Installers and service providers,
ATSPs and their ICT managers, Network operators (Telco’s), ARC’s and their ICT managers, Test houses
and Certification inspectorates, Specifiers, Insurance companies, Manufacturers of ATE.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
EN 54-21, Fire detection and fire alarm systems - Part 21: Alarm transmission and fault warning routing
equipment
EN 50130-4, Alarm systems - Part 4: Electromagnetic compatibility - Product family standard: Immunity
requirements for components of fire, intruder, hold up, CCTV, access control and social alarm systems
EN 50130-5, Alarm systems - Part 5: Environmental test methods
EN 50131-1, Alarm systems - Intrusion and hold-up systems - Part 1: System requirements
EN 50134-1, Alarm systems - Social alarm systems - Part 1: System requirements
EN 50136-1:2012, Alarm systems - Alarm transmission systems and equipment - Part 1: General
requirements for alarm transmission systems
EN 50136-2, Alarm systems - Alarm transmission systems and equipment - Part 2: Requirements for
Supervised Premises Transceiver (SPT)
EN 50136-3, Alarm systems - Alarm transmission systems and equipment - Part 3: Requirements for
Receiving Centre Transceiver (RCT)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in EN 50136-1:2012 apply.
4 Abbreviations
For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations apply.
SLA Service Level Agreement
UC Underpinning Contract
OLA Operational Level Agreement
MTBF Mean Time Between Failures
MTTR Mean Time To Repair
SAP Service Access Point
MO Managed Object
EOL End Of Line
IT Information Technology
5 General
This clause provides general information and guidelines for ATS.
5.1 Information security
5.1.1 General
Requirements for information security of an ATS are described in EN 50136-1. Information security measures
are mandatory for ATS categories SP4 – SP6 and DP3 – DP4. This should be taken into account when
assessing category requirements for an application. The recommendations in this section apply to systems
that are planned to fulfil the requirements of the ATS categories listed above.
In addition to system and equipment information security protection level requirements, emphasis should be
drawn to operational information security. An ATSP and other parties operating and maintaining one or more
ATS should have a fully documented security policy this will commonly be part of an operations policy,
describing at least following security aspects.
5.1.2 Key management
All keys used to access the system should be created, stored and managed in a way to ensure the keys
cannot be compromised. This is particularly important, where the keys are stored or transferred in a manner
not having inherent security e.g. printed on a piece of paper for commissioning. There should be a
documented procedure to revoke any keys that are no longer trusted for whatever reason.
Unnecessary storage of keys and credentials should be avoided. An SPT should only have the required
credentials to secure communication with RCT(s) but not for anything else. An RCT should have credentials to
secure communication with SPTs, but compromising one RCT should not compromise the whole key
creation/assignment process of an ATSN.
Additional to the requirements of EN 50136-1, security measures should also be taken to provide security for
the (network) equipment, especially at the ARC and at the installer office locations. As alarm messages from
all connected SPTs travel through the network equipment at the ARC it is important that this equipment is
configured to offer a level of security appropriate to the application, a malfunction might affect many SPTs.
The same applies to the network equipment at sites from where remote maintenance is performed, e.g. the
installer office. Storage and privacy of confidential data.
All confidential data, should be stored in a way that minimizes the risk of compromise to confidentiality E.g.
electronic or hard-copy of customer details, system configuration etc. Consideration should be given to
national legislation with respect to data privacy laws.
5.1.3 Access to the ATS and ATSN
Access to ATS equipment should be secure and authenticated according to requirements in the relevant parts
of the EN 50136 series. Access to an ATSN should not be permissible through access to unauthorised parts
of the network.
Any user or party should be granted the lowest level of access needed to perform their operational tasks.
Unnecessary high levels of access should be avoided wherever possible. All access to the system and actions
performed should be logged in a secure manner.
5.1.4 Security screening
Screening of employees who have access to an ATSN should be carried out in accordance with the
requirements of EN 50518 series. The operational policy of an ATSP should describe the level of screening
required for personnel having access to an ATS/ATSN
5.2 Availability
5.2.1 General
Where required for an appropriate ATS category availability measurement and reporting is the responsibility of
the ATSP as defined in EN 50136-1.
Availability is the percentage of time during which the ATS is performing within the specified ATS category
requirements. This is a very important performance criterion for the quality of an alarm transmission System.
If an ATS or ATP performs perfectly every second of every day its performance will be 100 %. If it does not
operate at all, the availability is 0 %.
The measurement of availability of an ATS differs from the availability usually specified by network operators.
The ATS availability according to EN 50136-1 specifies the end-to-end availability of an alarm transmission
system, whereas network availability often only defines the availability of the network. Network availability in
contrast to ATS availability frequently excludes outages due to planned and unplanned maintenance periods.
5.2.2 Single path ATS availability
When a single path is in a fault condition, the ATS is not available.
5.2.3 Dual path ATS availability
When one path of a dual path ATS is fully operational and the alternative path is in total failure, the ATS is still
available. Whilst the path fault persists the dual path ATS will operate as a single path ATS, and any loss of
communication on the remaining path will reduce the availability below 100 %.
The guide for acceptable, ‘weekly’ availability is defined in EN 50136-1 Table 6, and provides requirements for
Single path Systems, and Dual path systems.
SP4, SP5 and SP6 availability targets are 97 %, 99 % and 99,8 % respectively over a one-week period, and
DP2, DP3 and DP4 targets are 99 %, 99,8 % and 99,8 % respectively over the same period.
There are 168 h in a week so the accepted maximum non-operational period for an SP4 at 97 % availability is
5 h, SP5 and DP2 at 99 % availability are 1 h 42 min and SP6, DP3 and DP4 at 99,8 % availability are 20 min.
To meet these weekly availability targets it is important to consider the type of transmission path technology,
the local environment and estimated distances from the premises to the exchange or radio base station.
Proper service level agreements (repair times) should also be considered.
When implementing a Dual path ATS, the availability of each separate ATP may be operating at a much lower
availability than the overall ATS availability.
To meet the weekly availability requirement of DP2 each ATP should operate with 90 % availability, and to
meet DP3 and DP4 each ATP should operate with 95,5 % availability.
An ATS with 99,8 % availability is illustrated in Figure 1 below:
Figure 1 — Illustration of dual path availability
ATP1 is 95,5 % available and 4,5 % unavailable (fault condition); during the 4,5 % time period when ATP1 is
in fault ATP2 is operationally 95,5 % available and 4,5 % unavailable. With the fault period of ATP1 (4,5 %)
covered by ATP2 with 95,5 % availability the fault period expected from both paths reduces to 0,2 % providing
a combined availability of 99,8 %.
To enable the system to monitor the availability of an ATP to the required accuracy for the required availability
measurement the minimum poll rate for DP2 should be better than 1 008 min (11 polls per week = 24 h * 7
days * 60 min * 10 %), and DP3 and DP4 should be 50 min (202 polls per week = 24 h * 7 days * 60 min *
4,5 %).
Polling is a common method used to monitor ATP and/or ATS availability where the term polling means
regular status message exchanges between an SPT and RCT(s). Other methods may be used to achieve the
same results.
Table 1 — Examples of expected average allowed polling failures
Requirements of
SP4 SP5 SP6 DP2 DP3 DP4
EN 50136–1:2012
ATS Availability
97,0 % 99,0 % 99,8 % 99,0 % 99,8 % 99,8 %
7 day period
Primary path
Reporting time 3 min 90 s 20 s 30 min 3 min 90 s
The following guidelines for
polling result from the
above:
Requirements of
SP4 SP5 SP6 DP2 DP3 DP4
EN 50136–1:2012
Status message exchange
3 min 90 s 20 s 30 min 3 min 90 s
(minimum)
Minimum polls per week 3 360 6 720 30 240 336 3 360 6 720
Permitted lost polls 100 67 60 3 6 13
Indicative down time 300 min 100 min 20 min 100 min 20 min 20 min

Minimum ATP availability
90,0 % 95,5 % 95,5 %
needed (if equal)
Max down time    1 008 min 50 min 50 min
Min polls per week    11 202 202

Alternative ATP availability
Reporting time    25 h 25 h 5 h
Status message exchange
25 h 25 h 5 h
(minimum)
Polls per week    6 6 33
Permitted lost polls    0 0 0
Allowed down time    100 min 20 min 20 min
NOTE 24 h * 7 days * 60 min * 10 %.
5.3 Testing
While testing alarm transmission equipment (SPT and RCT) a test lab should test to demonstrate that the ATS
is able to record and report availability at a level appropriate to the ATS category.
5.4 Certification and inspection
Inspection and certification of an ATS and ATSN differs from single product certification in that the end to end
ATS is to be certified, and should be carried out using a combination of product bench tests and
commissioned system tests. To achieve compliance the following should be tested and/or documented during
certification:
– the maximum number of connected ATSs for each category to the ATSN should be documented;
– the transmission delays and reporting times should be measured for at least ten random ATSs on each
ATSN;
– the availability calculation method and availability records should be inspected for at least ten random
ATSs for each ATSN;
– the fault reporting should be verified for every mandatory fault for at least ten random ATSs for each
ATSN;
– where more than one type of AS and/or network is used for a single ATSN, then the ten random ATSs
should include at least one of each possible combination of AS, network and category.
5.5 The role of the ATSP
Where required by EN 50136-1, an ATSP must exist for the purpose of ATS and ATSN performance
monitoring.
Alarm transmission system design, planning, commissioning and performance monitoring, is typically a
responsibility of the ATSP. An ATSP can be either an independent company, or a sub organization of an ARC,
installer or network service provider. It is not within the scope of this Technical Specification or within the
European standard EN 50136-1, to define who should fulfil this role.
For each and every ATS the ATSP entity (organization) should be clearly identified.
5.6 ATS applications
Alarm reporting can be used for different types of application. Table 2, gives an example of the most
commonly used applications.
Table 2 — ATS applications
Application Standard references
Intrusion and hold-up EN 50131 series —
systems
Fire detection and fire EN 54 series —
alarm systems
Social alarm systems EN 50134 series —
Video Surveillance EN 62676 series —
Systems
Access control EN 60839 series —
systems
Telemetry systems For example:
IEC 60870-series
IEC 61850-series
5.7 Alternative notification services
Consideration should be given to the vulnerability and confidentiality of any alternative alarm notification
service, e.g. e-mail, push notifications and/or SMS.
5.8 MCT and hosted RCT
An MCT was introduced in EN 50136-1:2012 being ATE that may be used to monitor the perfo
...