Cisco Spaces: Right Now App

This chapter describes about the Right Now app.

Right Now Overview

The Right Now app provides you the Right Now report that shows the details of visitors currently present at your locations. Using the Right Now app, you can also create Density Rules through which you can send notifications to business users such as employees based on the visitor density or device count in the business locations.

The Right Now app is enhanced to address issues with counts when there are any changes in the Location Hierarchy. Prior to this enhancement, changes in Location Hierarchy such as adding new locations, removing existing locations or updating vital parameters such as TimeZone introduced stale or incorrect counts for Wi-Fi.

With this enhancement, the Presence chart count gets reset (removes all existing numbers until the current time) for the present day because the counts are invalid after the Location Hierarchy changes.

Right Now on WiFi

The Right Now on WiFi report displays the details of the visitors currently present at your locations. By default, the report shows the details of visitors currently present at all locations. You can filter upto the floor level.

The Right Now WiFi is enhanced to show the count of excluded devices that are not considered as visitors or filtered during data processing. The excluded device count is displayed as a message in the Note section of the Right Now Wifi.

The Right Now app is available for SEE, ACT, and EXTEND license types.


Note

  • If a location is removed or modified in the location hierarchy or timezone is changed, the existing Presence chart count is reset.

  • For BLE processing:

    • BLE group information should be received as part the IoT updates

    • RSSI value should be greater than -85

  • For probing devices:

    • Cisco Connector and other device types: RSSI value should be greater than -70

    • Cisco Meraki: RSSI value should be greater than -100.

    Only those probing devices meeting the specified signal strength thresholds are allowed to share the device location update events as part of the Firehose data stream.

  • For wired device processing: Contact Cisco Spaces support to configure the IP addresses for switches in the backend.

Viewing the Right Now Report

To view the Right Now report, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In the Cisco Spaces Dashboard, choose Right Now.

The Right Now window appears.

Step 2

From the Location drop-down list, choose the desired network location.

The Right Now report for the selected network location is displayed.

Figure 1. Right Now on Wi-Fi

The local time of your system is displayed under the Right Now section at the top of the report.

The Right Now report displays the following charts:

  • Visitors Present: All locations: Displays an estimated total number of visitors, during the last 10 minutes, in the filtered location including its child location.

  • Visitor Composition: Displays the composition of active visitors, in percentage, by SSID category (employee, guest, etc.) and by SSID (top 5 SSIDs).

  • Visitors Present: All Locations: Displays a trend of the total number of visitors during the last 10 minutes for the filtered location.

  • Visitors Present: Map View: Displays the location-wise count of active visitors in the child locations of the filtered location.

    • Map View: The child locations of the filtered location are shown in the world map along with the total number of visitors in each of those child locations.

      • Floor map view: Select a specific floor to see the chosen floor map view as well.

        If the selected location has a map, imported from Cisco CMX, which is uploaded to Cisco Spaces, you can view the floor and the total number of visitors on the displayed floor.

    • List View: The child locations of the filtered location are listed, and the number of current visitors for each child location is shown against that location.

Note

 

  • An "active visitor" can be any visitor who is present at the location during the last 10 minutes and is connected to the network (WLAN or SSID).

  • If a device has a dwell time lesser than a minute, during the 10-minute window, it is excluded from the Right Now report.

  • The average value for the last 51 weeks is shown as historical data for each chart in the report.

Right Now on Camera

The Right Now on Camera option shows the Right Now report for your locations based on the data captured by the Meraki Cameras installed in your locations. This report is available only if you have configured Meraki Camera for Cisco Spaces using the Camera option in Setup.

For more information on configuring Meraki Camera, see Setting up Cisco Spaces to Work with Cisco Meraki Camera.

When a person comes under the vicinity of the Meraki Camera, an OID is assigned and the user movement is tracked. Meraki Camera then sends the respective coordinates to Cisco Spaces. Cisco Spaces compares the coordinates with the trip wire coordinates and calculates the corresponding entry/exit points.

The Right Now app is refreshed every 30 seconds and takes approximately three minutes to update the latest count on the report window.


Note

The Right Now Report supports Cisco Meraki MV93 Cloud-Managed Smart Camera.

Viewing Right Now Report for Meraki Camera

To view the Right Now report for Meraki Camera, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, choose Right Now.

The Right Now window appears.

Step 2

Click the three-line menu icon displayed at the top-left of the window, and choose Right Now on Camera.

The Right Now on Camera window appears with the Right Now report for Meraki Camera.

Figure 2. Right Now on Camera Report

Step 3

If required, from the Location drop-down list, choose the location for which you want to view the report.

Note

 
By default, the report will be show for the root location.

The report will be having the following details:

  • Your local time will be displayed at the top of the window, and the data in the report will be shown for this time.

  • # of people present: Displays a bar graph that shows the total number of people currently present at the selected location and its child locations. The average number of people that were present at this time during the last 51 weeks at the selected location and its child locations is shown as Historical Average. The total number of people currently present will "Total number of people entered during the last 15 minutes through the tripwire entry for the cameras in the location" - "Total number of people exited during the last 15 minutes through the tripwire exit for the cameras in the location"

  • #of people present: Key Locations: Displays a bar graph that shows the total number of people currently present at each of the child locations. If the total number of locations are more than or equal to 15, it will display the count for top and bottom three locations. In such cases, you can pin upto three locations to view the current presence count for the locations of your choice. This graph will appear only for the locations other than Network, Floor and Zone. The total number of people currently present will "Total number of people entered during the last 15 minutes through the tripwire entry for the cameras in the child locations" - "Total number of people exited during the last 15 minutes through the tripwire exit for the cameras in the child locations" .

    Note

     

    The option to pin location will be available only if the number of locations are more than or equal to 15.

  • # of the people present: Key Cameras: Displays a bar graph that shows the total number of people currently present for each Camera in the filtered location. If the total number of Cameras are more than Six, it will display the count for top and bottom three Cameras. In such cases, you can pin upto three cameras to view the current presence count for the cameras of your choice. This graph will appear only for network, floor and zone level locations.

    Note

     

    The option to pin cameras will be available only if the number of Cameras are more than Six.

  • # of the people present: Key Cameras Zones: Displays a bar graph that shows the total number of people currently present for each camera zones defined for the cameras in the filtered location. If the total number of Camera Zones are more than Six, it will display the count for top and bottom three Camera Zones. In such cases, you can pin upto three camera zones to view the current presence count for the camera zones of your choice. This graph will appear only for network, floor and zone level locations.

    Note

     

    The option to pin camera zones will be available only if the number of Camera Zones are more than Six.

  • Cumulative Footfall during the day: Displays a line graph that shows the total footfall during each hour of the day on which the Right Now report is viewed, in a cumulative manner. For example, the total number of footfall at 3 am will be total number of fottfall that occurred from 00 am to 3 am.

    Note

     

    The graph is shown based on the time zone of the Network, Floor and Zone level locations. For example, if the root location XYZ has network locations in California, Tokyo and Bangalore, the report will display the data for these networks based on their curent time. When it is 8.am at India, Japan will be at 11.30 am on the same day and California will still be on previous day 7.30 pm . So if your are viewing the Right Now on Camera report at 8 am IST, two graphs will be shown in the Cumulative Footfall during the day section. One with cumulative footfall count for Bangalore at 8.am and Tokyo at 11.30 am (as both are on same day), and another graph with cumulative footfall count for California at 7.30 pm on 19/07/2020.

  • Presence: By Location: The location selected for the report, and its child locations are displayed in the Global Map, along with the count of visitors currently present at these locations in the Map View. You can also know the present visitor count as a hierarchy using the List View.

Note

 

The # of the people present: Key Cameras Zones chart will be based on the people on camera's vicinity, and all the remaining charts will be based on entry and exit of people through tripwire line drawn for the cameras.

For information on pinning a location, camera, or camera zone, see Pinning a Location, Camera, or Camera Zone.

What to do next

You can go back to the Right Now report using the Right Now on WiFi option in the three-line menu that appears at the top-left of the window.

Pinning a Location, Camera, or Camera Zone

To pin a location, camera, or camera zone, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In the Right Now on Camera window, click the Pin icon dsipalyed at the top right of the window.

The Pin window appears.

Step 2

Do the following based on your requirement:

  • To pin a location, in the Pin Location area, select the check box for the locations that you want to pin, and click Apply. The locations selected will be displayed in the Pinned Locations area. You can pin a maximum of 3 locations.

  • To pin a camera, in the Pin Cameras area, click the Cameras tab, and select the check box for the cameras that you want to pin, and click Apply. The cameras selected will be displayed in the Pinned Cameras area. You can pin a maximum of 3 cameras.

  • To pin a camera zone, in the Pin Cameras area, click the Camera Zones tab, and select the check box for the camera zones that you want to pin, and click Apply. The camera zones selected will be displayed in the Pinned Camera Zones area.You can pin a maximum of 3 camera zones.

Note

 

You can search for a particular location, camera, or camera zone using the Search option displayed in the respective area.

Density Rules

Density Rule enables you to track the density of unique devices or visitors in your business locations. This option is available only for the ACT license.

The Density Rule option allows you to create rules that triggers notifications to the business users such as building administrators based on the density of visitors, count of unique devices, or occupancy in the business locations. You can configure to send notifications through SMS, e-mail, Cisco Webex Teams, or using Trigger API.

This rule can be used to monitor the visitors in your locations to maintain the COVID 19 protocols, and can also be used to measure the impact of COVID 19 in your locations.

The Density Rules option also allows you to create rules that trigger notifications to business users based on the number of people captured by the Meraki Camera located in the business location.

To create a Density Rule, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, choose Right Now.

The Right Now window appears.

Step 2

Click the three-line menu icon displayed at the top-left of the window, and choose Density Rules.

Step 3

In the Density Rule window that appears, click Create New Rule displayed at the top-right of the window.

The Create Density Rule window is displayed.

Step 4

In the Rule Name field, enter a name for the Density Rule.

Step 5

In the Sense area, choose the required filter criteria from the When a user is connect to WiFi and drop-down list:

  • density: Choose this option if you want to send the notifications based on the visitors density in a particular area. You can configure the area in square feet or square meter. If you choose this option, do the following configurations.

    • Set the density limit using the adjacent drop-down lists. You can configure the density limit as "more than" or "less than" a particular value, or as a value range using "between". You can choose "more than", "less than" or "between" from the first drop-down list, and manually enter the "value" or can choose the "value" from the drop-down list in the second field.

    • In the per field, specify the area of which the density limit is to be considered by manually entering the value or using the drop-down list. Then, from the adjascent drop-down list, choose the measurement scale. You can specify the measurement in square feet or square meter.

  • count: Choose this option if you want to send the notifications based on the unique device count in a particular location type such as campus, building (network), floor or zone. If you choose this option, do the following configurations.

    • Set the device count limit using the adjacent drop-down lists. You can configure the device count limit as "more than" or "less than" a particular value, or as a value range using "between". You can chooose "more than", "less than" or "between" from the first drop-down list, and you can manually enter the "value" or can choose the "value" from the drop-down list in the second field.

    • From the at any drop-down list, choose the location type of which the device count limit is to be considered.

      Note

       

      Cisco Meraki network and Cisco AireOS/ Cisco Catalyst connected through Cisco DNA Spaces Connector or WLC Direct Connect will not have Campus as a location type. So for these networks, if you are selecting Campus as location type, the rule will not be executed.

  • occupancy: Choose this option if you want to send the notifications based on the occupancy in a particular location. You can define the occpancy limit for each location in the Location Information window in Location Hierarchy. You can configure to trigger the notification when the occupancy in a location reaches a certain percentage of the occupancy limit defined for that location. If you choose this option, do the following configurations.

    • Set the occupancy limit percentage at which the notification is to be triggered using the adjacent drop-down lists. You can configure the occupancy limit percentage as "more than" or "less than" a particular value, or as a percentage range using "between". You can chooose "more than", "less than" or "between" from the first drop-down list, and you can manually enter the "percentage" or can choose the "pertcentage" from the percent drop-down list.

Step 6

In the Locations area, specify the locations for which you want to apply the rule.

You can configure to apply the rule for the entire location hierarchy, or a single or multiple locations such as group, floor, or zone. You can add the locations of multiple network types such as Cisco Meraki, Cisco AireOS or Cisco Catalyst in a Density rule. For more information on creating the location hierarchy, see the Defining the Location Hierarchy section.

You can again filter the locations based on the metadata defined for the selected location, or its parent or child locations. For more information on configuring the metadata for the locations, see the Defining or Editing Metadata for a Location section . You can either apply the rule for the locations with a particular metadata or exclude the locations with a particular metadata. For more information on filtering the locations, see the Filtering by Location.

Step 7

In the Schedule area, specify the period for which you want to apply the rule.

  1. Check the Set a date range for the rule check box, and in the fields that appear, specify the start date and end date for the period for which you want to apply the Density rule.

  2. Check the Set a time range for the rule check box, and in the fields that appear, specify the time range for which you want to apply the Density rule.

  3. If you want to apply the rule only on particular days, check the Filter by days of the week check box, and from the list of days that appears, click the days on which you want to apply the rule.

Step 8

In the Actions area, specify the notification frequency and notification mode.

  1. From the Notify drop-down list, choose any of the following:

    • Only Once: The notification is sent only once to the business user.

    • Once In: The notification is sent more than once based on the interval specified. If you choose this option, from the every drop-down list choose the interval value, and from the adjascent drop-down list, choose any of the following interval duration:

      • Hour(s): To send the notification once in the number of hours specified.

      • Day(s): To send the notification once in the number of days specified.

      • Week(s): To send the notification once in the number of weeks specified.

      • Month(s): To send the notification once in the number of months specified.

  2. Specify the mode for sending notification.

    You can send the notification to the customers through Cisco Webex Teams, e-mail, SMS, or to an external API. For more information on notification types, see Notification Type for a Business User .

    The summary of the rule is shown in the right side of the window.

    Note

     

    • If you are using the Via Email option, you must ensure to add the e-mail ID entering in the From field in the allowed list of e-mail IDs. To include the e-mail ID in the allowed list, contact the Cisco Spaces support team. If you do not want to use a specific e-mail ID, you can use the default allowed e-mail ID no-reply@dnaspaces.io. However, the default ID is not displayed in the dashboard automatically. So, you have to enter it manually.

Step 9

Click Save and Publish.

The rule gets published, and is listed in the Density Rules window.

If you do not want to publish the rule now, you can click the Save button. You can publish the rule at any time later by opening the rule, and clicking the Save and Publish button. Also, you can publish the rule by clicking the Make Rule Live icon at the far right of the rule in the Density Rules window.

What to do next

You can go back to the Right Now report using the Right Now on WiFi option in the three-line menu that appears at the top-left of the window.

Viewing a Density Rule Report

The Density Rule report enables you to view the report for each Density Rule.

To view a Density Rule report, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, click Right Now.

The Right Now window appears.

Step 2

Click the three-line menu icon that appears at the top-left of the window.

Step 3

Choose Density Rules.

The Density Rules window appears with all the existing Density rules listed.

Step 4

Click the Density Rule for which you want to view the report.

The Density Rule report for that particular rule is displayed.

The Density Rule report will have the following details:

  • Rule Summary

    • # of times triggered: Displays the total number of times the notification is triggered for the particular rule.

    • Top 3 locations: Displays the details of top three locations with highest number of notifications.

      • Location: The location name along with its location hierarchy.

      • # of times triggered: Total number of times the notifications have been trigered for this location for the particular Density Rule.

      • most recent: The date and time at which notification has been triggered recently for this location for the particular Density Rule.

  • Recent Activity: Lists all the activities occurred for the particular rule. The recent activities will be listed at the top.

    • Location: The location name along with its location hierarchy for which the activity has occurred.

    • time: The date and time at which the activity has occured.

    • count of people: Total number of people that were available in the location when the activity occured

    • result: The result of the activity. For example, if a Density Rule is configured to trigger a notification every one hour if the count of people in a location exceeds 10, and at a particular hour the notification is skipped as the count of people is less than 10, the result for the activity will be "Skipped notification due to the interval set".

  • Trigger History: Shows the notification details for each day of a particular month in the calendar.

    • Location: Report will be for All Locations.

    • Month: Select the month for which you want to view the report using the arrow keys. By default, it will show the month for which the notifications are triggered recently along with the cumulative notification count.

    • Calendar: The notifications for various location types (Campus, Building, Floor, Zone) for each date are shown in the calendar. When you click on a date in the calendar, the notification details such as location, time, count of people and result is shown for that particular day.

Testing a Density Rule

To test a Density Rule, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, click Right Now.

The Right Now window appears.

Step 2

Click the three-line menu icon that appears at the top-left of the window.

Step 3

Choose Density Rules.

The Density Rules window appears with all the existing Density rules listed.

Step 4

Click the Test Rule icon that appears at the far right of the Density rule that you want to test.

The Test the Rule window displays.

Step 5

Click Yes to trigger a notification on the selected channels.

A notification is triggered and a success message is displayed.

Step 6

Click Continue.

Modifying a Density Rule

To modify a Density rule, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, click Right Now.

The Right Now window appears.

Step 2

Click the three-line menu icon that appears at the top-left of the window.

Step 3

Choose Density Rules.

The Density Rules window appears with all the existing Density rules listed.

Step 4

Click the Edit Rule icon that appears at the far right of the Density rule that you want to modify.

Step 5

Make necessary changes.

Step 6

To save the changes, click Save or to publish the changes, click Save and Publish.

Note

 
A live rule will have only the Save and Publish button. When you click the Save and Publish button, the rule gets published with the changes.

Pausing a Density Rule

To pause a Density rule, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, click Right Now.

The Right Now window appears.

Step 2

Click the three-line menu icon that appears at the top-left of the window.

Step 3

Choose Density Rules.

The Density Rules window appears with all the existing Density rules listed.

Step 4

Click the Pause Rule icon that appears at the far right of the Density rule that you want to pause.

Step 5

In the window that appears, confirm pausing.

The Density rule is paused.

What to do next


Note
To pause multiple Density rules, check the check box for the Density rules that you want to pause, and click the Pause button that appears at the bottom of the page.

Restarting a Density Rule

To restart an Density rule, perform the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, click Right Now.

The Right Now window appears.

Step 2

Click the three-line menu icon that appears at the top-left of the window.

Step 3

Choose Density Rules.

The Density Rules window appears with all the existing Density rules listed.

Step 4

Click the Make Rule Live icon that appears at the far right of the Density rule that you want to restart.

Note

 

By default the icon name will be Pause Rule for all rules. Only for those rules that are paused the icon name changes to Make Rule Live .

The Density rule is restarted.

What to do next


Note
To restart multiple Density rules, check the check box for the Density rules that you want to restart, and click the Make Live button that appears at the bottom of the window.

Deleting a Density Rule

To delete a Density rule, perform the following steps

Procedure

Step 1

In the Cisco Spaces dashboard, click Right Now.

The Right Now window appears.

Step 2

Click the three-line menu icon that appears at the top-left of the window.

Step 3

Choose Density Rules.

The Density Rules window appears with all the existing Density rules listed.

Step 4

Click the Delete Rule icon that appears at the far right of the Density rule that you want to delete.

Step 5

In the dialog box that appears, click Delete Rule.

The Denisty Rule gets deleted.

What to do next


Note
To delete multiple Density rules, check the check box for the Density rules that you want to delete, and click the Delete button that appears at the bottom of the window.

Settings

The Settings menu helps you manage devices, SSIDs, and visitors in the Right Now app reports. The Settings menu includes the Include/Exclude Devices and Categorize Visitors tabs.

Figure 3. Right Now - Settings

Including or Excluding Devices

Use the Include/Exclude Devices tab to select among the following options for Wi-Fi, BLE, and RFID devices for the Right Now reports:

  • Wi-Fi devices option is included by default and you cannot deselect the same.

    To exclude devices connected to specific SSIDs from the Right Now analytics, click Add/Edit or Add/Edit excluded list and select the desired SSIDs from the Exclude SSIDs list.

  • BLE Tags: To include BLE tags in the Right Now reports, select Include BLE Tags.

    To exclude specific device groups from the Right Now analytics, click Add/Edit or Add/Edit excluded list and select the desired BLE devices from the Exclude BLE devices list.

  • RFID Tags: To include RFID tags in the Right Now reports, select Include RFID Tags.

  • Wired Devices: To include wired devices as part of active visitors in the Right Now reports, select Include Wired Devices. By default, wired devices are excluded.


Note

If you select RFID and BLE tags, then the corresponding device count is displayed in the Right Now report.

Categorizing Visitors

Use the Categorize Visitors tab to automatically or manually classify visitors, based on the visitor type, that have joined an SSID. The options available are:

  • Auto

  • Guest

  • Employee

  • Custom