Incidents, events, actions, and alarms

In XProtect VMS context, the terms incidents, events, actions, and alarms have different meanings, and they each play their part in rules.

Term	Explanation	Scenario
Incident	An incident is something that is happening in real life.	Someone opens a door. In this scenario, we call the door Door1.
Event	In XProtect VMS, an event is when a rule is defined to recognize an incident. Then, the real-life incident becomes an event in the XProtect VMS. The source of events can, among others, come from motion in the video, external sensors, data received from other applications, and user input.	The door sensor attached to Door1 registers that someone opens the door. A rule turns the registration into a Door1Opened event.
Action	An action is when a rule in XProtect VMS is defined to use an event to make something happen in your XProtect VMS. The action can be to start recording, move a PTZ camera, share video from a camera as Matrix content, and much more.	When a rule registers the Door1Opened event, the rule triggers the XProtect VMS to start recording video from the camera near Door1 in a higher quality for two minutes.
Alarm	An alarm is when a rule in XProtect VMS is defined to use an event to notify relevant people that an incident has occurred. The notification can be through output devices, emails, text messages, and other means.	When a rule registers the Door1Opened event outside office hours, the rule activates a siren and sends a text message to the head of security.

You can find all events and alarms in the alarms list in XProtect Smart Client.