KBA00021341

Hiplink is a third party software that interfaces with Flex CAD to send out pages or messages to certain units/officers/groups as needed. This article will go over how to set up a new paging plan and what tables are needed to make sure everything is set up correctly.

How Hiplink works
There are three tables in the Spillman software that Hiplink uses to connect and send the page to the right group/unit/individual. These tables are pgplan, pggroups, and pgpager. Hiplink uses these tables to find the right connections as to where to send the page. The following is a simple flow chart explaining how this works:

pgplan -> groups
v
pggroups -> group(s) 1, 2, 3
v
pgpager -> unit(s)/officer(s)
v
cdunit -> officer(s)
v
Hiplink.exe (page is sent)

How to setup a new paging plan
pgplan

• The first thing we need to set up is a new paging plan in the table pgplan. The following screenshot shows that table and the important fields that need to be filled out in order for it to work.
  
  
  

Fields:

1. Type of Call: This field is used to determine what type of call will send out the page, whether it be law, fire, or ems. This means that upon dispatching the call, the call type needs to match what's in this field in order for the page to get sent out.
2. Nature of Call: This field determines the nature of the call that will send out the page. So, if the type is set to f and the nature is set to Brush Fire, both of those must be present on the dispatched call in order for the page to get sent out.
3. Agency: If there is an agency in this field, then the unit that gets dispatched to the call must be in that agency in order for the page to get sent out.
4. Groups: Based upon the above criteria of call type, call nature, and agency, if this paging plan gets chosen, it will get sent to the groups that appear in this section.
   NOTE: This field and list pulls from the table pggroups and not the system groups that are in your system. You must set these up in this table, which we will go over in the next step.

• Below is an example screenshot of what it would look like when it's all completed:
  
  
   
• So in this case, whenever a call with the nature of Theft is dispatched, it will get dispatched to the HOMI and ADMIN groups.

pggroups

• Once you have the plan set up in pgplan, you must set up the groups that it will get sent out to. The groups on the bottom of pgplan pull from the pggroups table and NOT the system groups on your server. You can send out a page to an entire group on your system, a specific unit, or just one individual/officer. This section will explain how to set that up.
  
  
  

Fields:

1. Group ID: This Group ID is an ID that you come up with yourself. This is what will appear in the groups section in the pgplan table. Name it whatever you feel appropriate for the group you are setting up
2. Groups: This pulls from the groups that are on your server. Here you can select a group that the page will get sent out to if the paging plan gets paged.
3. Units: This pulls from the cdunit table and will send the page out to a certain unit, and whatever officers are assigned to that unit.
4. Individuals: This pulls from apnames and will send out a page to one specific person, if that's what you are wanting to do.

• Below is an example screenshot of how it should be set up:
  
  
   
• In the previous set up we set up a paging plan to send a page to the HOMI and ADMIN group. In the above screenshot for pggroups, you can see that the HOMI group contains 4 officers - C Christensen, B Pratt, J Roberts, and T Holland (you can find the fourth by opening the 'Detail' button in the Individuals section). So, when the page is sent out, it looks at the group in pggroups, and sends it to these 4 individuals, as well as whoever is in the ADMIN group.

pgpager

• Now we've set up the plan, and the group, but how does the page know where to go? This is where the table pgpager comes in.
  
  
  

Fields:

1. Pager ID: This pager ID is an ID that you set. It's essentially just a placeholder for the pager so that you can connect it to Hiplink.
2. Pager Number (PIN): This PIN number is required to be setup as a recipient or group in Hiplink. Make sure that there are NO spaces in this field and that it is first set up in the Hiplink software itself, so that Spillman can connect with the interface and know where to send the page. This must match EXACTLY as it is in Hiplink. The Pager Number in Spillman must match the Receiver Name in Hiplink. This field can have either a pager number, or an email address to send the page to.
3. Pager Description: This is where you can add a brief description as to what the pager is or who it is for.
4. Carrier ID: This field pulls from the pgtbcarr code table, and is a simple code table that contains Cell Phone Carriers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc).
5. Unit: This is one of the main places that Hiplink links with Spillman. If the page is going out to a specific unit in pggroups, this is where it knows what unit to send it to. It looks at this unit, finds the PIN number from this table, and sends the page.
6. Officer: This is another key point where Hiplink makes the connection to send the page. It finds the Officer in this field, looks at the officer in pggroups, then sends the page to the PIN number on this pgpager record.
   
   
   
   

• Above are some examples of how to set up the pagers in pgpager with an email, and with a cellphone number. The cellphone number does not need to be separated by spaces or special characters.
  NOTE: Make sure you set up the PIN number correctly. This article covers how to set up Hiplink on the Spillman software, and not the Hiplink software itself. This is where the connection gets made and it's important this gets set up correctly, otherwise your pages won't be sent out.
   
• Once you have everything set up from here, you're ready to send the page and test it out. To do this, go into the CAD command line and use the page command, as follows:
  
  
   
• This will bring up a box like the following, which will let you review the page before you send it.
  
  
   
• Now everything should be working correctly, and you're ready to send pages via Hiplink

How to Change the Hiplink IP Address/URL

• The hiplink ip address is configured in the cmd_config file
• This file is located in \SpillmanServer\files\Hiplink\config\cmd_config (Windows) or /usr/local/hiplink/config/cmd_config (*nix)
• It will look like a URL, you just need to change the IP address part of the URL
• After this is done you need to restart the comm paging daemon in sydaemon.