A control room is the room where operators watch your cameras. In an SSMS site, the main tool in that room is the live wall: one live grid with every camera from every site. This guide helps facility managers and supervisors run that room well.
Before you start
- Know how many cameras and sites the room will watch.
- Know the hours when the room is staffed.
- Ask your Skyline engineer how the live wall is set up in your deployment.
What is decided during deployment
Some things are set up with Skyline during deployment, not in the control room:
- How many screens the console uses.
- How the live wall is arranged, and which cameras appear where.
- How recording and playback are set up for each site.
Confirm these with your Skyline engineer. If the arrangement does not suit your operators, ask for a change. Do not try to rebuild it yourself.
Set up the room for people
Operators spend long hours in front of screens. Small details help them stay alert.
- Height: the top of the main screen should be at or just below eye level.
- Distance: operators should see the whole screen without turning their head a lot.
- No glare: place screens so that windows and lamps do not reflect on them.
- Lighting: use soft, even light. A very dark room tires the eyes.
- Seating: a supportive chair and a desk with space for notes.
- Quiet: keep noise and people walking through to a minimum.
Staffing and attention
Watching screens is hard work. Attention drops when people stare at the same screens for a long time.
- Give each operator a realistic number of cameras. Agree the number with your supervisors, and review it when the wall grows.
- Rotate tasks: live watching, playback reviews, checks and log writing.
- Plan regular short breaks away from the screens.
- Make sure someone covers the wall during every break.
Priority cameras
Not every camera matters equally at every hour. Mark the cameras that need the most attention, such as main entrances, cash points and loading bays. Write the list in the procedures binder, by time of day.
| Time of day | Priority cameras | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | Main gates, staff entrance | Staff and deliveries arrive |
| Business hours | Cash points, reception | Most visitors are on site |
| Night | Fences, loading bay, store rooms | The site is closed |
Your list will be different. Review it every few months, and after any incident.
The procedures binder
Keep one binder, on paper or as a shared file, in the room. It should contain:
- Escalation contacts: who to call, in what order, day and night.
- The incident form and the shift log.
- A list of sites, with addresses and site contacts.
- The daily operator checklist.
- How to reach Skyline support: the contact page and info@alskyline.com.
Room rules
These are rules for the room, set by your organisation. They are not SSMS settings.
- Keep the door locked. Only people with permission from your managers may enter.
- Visitors sign a visitor log and stay with a staff member.
- No phones filming or photographing the screens.
- Lock the computer screen when you leave it, even for a minute.
- Keep food and drinks away from the equipment.
Shift handover
- The outgoing operator completes the shift log: events, cameras with problems and open tasks.
- Both operators look at the live wall together.
- The outgoing operator explains anything still open.
- The incoming operator reads the log and signs it.
- The incoming operator runs the start-of-shift checklist.
A note for Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's Law on the Use of Security Surveillance Cameras classifies covered facilities by sensitivity. Some of them must connect their camera systems to the operations rooms of the Ministry of Interior or the Presidency of State Security. These government rooms are not your own control room. Connecting to them is not among SSMS's confirmed capabilities, so ask Skyline in writing if it applies to you. Sources: the law and the decision approving its Implementing Regulations in the Umm Al-Qura gazette. This is orientation, not legal advice. See also the SSMS Saudi Arabia page.
Quick checklist
- Screen count and wall arrangement are confirmed with Skyline.
- Screens are at eye level, free of glare, with comfortable seating.
- Each operator has a realistic camera load, task rotation and covered breaks.
- A priority camera list by time of day is in the binder.
- The binder holds contacts, forms, the site list and the checklist.
- Room rules are posted and followed.
- Every shift ends with a written, signed handover.
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