Connections & Buildings

After you have built the connection groups, it is time to add those connections into the buildings and terminals that they service. Once a building has a terminal, you can add the connection group and path ranges. A connection group can exist within a building without having any associated path ranges.

Adding a connection to a building

1. Click the Facilities
2. In the Navigation pane, click Buildings.
3. Depending on the amount of records you have within your database, the list may not immediately populate. To populate the list, perform one of the following actions:

• • Within the search box, type the building name or portion of the name and then click the magnifying glass.
  • Click the Show All

4. When the Building list opens, double-click the building name.
5. The Building window opens, displaying two panes. Within the Terminals pane, click the plus sign (+) next to the terminal to which you want to add the connection record.
6. Click the first blank row marked with an asterisk (*), to enter the connection groups. Complete the following Connection fields (fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required):

• • Sort – type a number in the field to determine where in the list the connection displays, a one allows the connection to be listed first.
  • Connections Name – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the connection name to assign it to the terminal.
  • Distance in Feet – type the distance (in feet), this connection runs from the MDF or IDF to the terminal.
  • Wire Gauge – type the connection gauge.
  • Home Termination – type the name of the originating connection termination.

! Tie connection and home termination. When creating a tie connection between two buildings, the home termination will be different for each connection appearance. For instance, if the connection ran from building 205 to 206, the home termination in 205 would be 206 and the home termination in 206 would be 205.

• • Terminal Connection Description – type the description of the terminal relating to the connection group, if necessary.

7. To add another connection, click the Save button within the Actions ribbon and repeat steps #4 and 5.
8. Once all connection groups are added, click the Save and Close button within the Actions ribbon group.
9. To add a connection range of paths that run into the building, please refer to the “Adding a Connection Range to a Building” section.

Deleting a Connection from a Building

Deleting a connection from a building is simply removing that connection group from the building record. You do not actually delete the entire connection group from the database.

1. Click the Facilities
2. In the Navigation pane, click Buildings.
3. Depending on the amount of records you have within your database, the list may not immediately populate. To populate the list, perform one of the following actions:

• • Within the search box, type the building name or portion of the name and then click the magnifying glass.
  • Click the Show All

4. When the Building list opens, double-click the building name.
5. The Building window opens, displaying two panes. Within the Terminals pane, click the plus sign (+) next to the terminal record to view all existing connection records.
6. Right-click the connection name to access a pop-up box, and select delete.
7. Once you click Delete, a message box displays verifying that you really want to delete the connection. Click Yes within the box to continue or No to cancel the operation.
8. Once selected, CAIRS draws a line through the type allowing you to delete multiple connections at once.
9. If you do not want to delete the connection, right-click the record to access a pop-up menu. From the pop-up, click Undelete.
10. Once you select Undelete, a message box displays verifying that you really want to keep the connection. Click Yes within the box to continue or No to cancel the operation.
11. Within the Actions ribbon group, click the Save (to save and stay) to continue deleting building connections, or click Save & Close (to save and exit) to return to the Building list.

Connection Ranges and Buildings

A connection range refers the path numbers servicing a building. For example, a connection 1A (a 500 path connection) services building 1665, however, only paths 100 through 200 are punched down into the building. Therefore, your path range is 100 to 200. Before you can add a range into a building, the connection group must reside within the building and terminal.

Adding a Connection Range to a Building

1. Click the Facilities
2. In the Navigation pane, click Buildings.
3. Depending on the amount of records you have within your database, the list may not immediately populate. To populate the list, perform one of the following actions:

• • Within the search box, type the building name or portion of the name and then click the magnifying glass.
  • Click the Show All

4. When the Building list opens, double-click the building name.
5. The Building window opens. Within the Connection Paths ribbon group, click the Add Range
6. The Add Range pop-up opens. To add the range, complete the following information:

• • Terminal – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the terminal to assign a connection range to. When you select a terminal, the Connection Group drop-down becomes available for selection. The right pane within the Add Range pop-up displays the connection group and paths currently existing within the terminal.
  • Connection Group – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the connection group name. Once selected, the Beginning Path, Ending Path and Frame or Binding Post drop-down boxes become available for selection.
  • Beginning Path – this field auto-populates with the connection’s beginning path. To select a different beginning path, click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the number of the first path you are assigning into the terminal.
  • Ending Path – this field auto-populates with the ending connection path. To select a different ending path, click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the number of the last path you are assigning into the terminal.
  • Don’t Track Binding Post – click the box to insert a checkmark to indicate binding post or frame location will not be tracked. Once clicked the remaining fields become unavailable.

! The next field becomes available based on how you created the terminal. If you created the terminal to hold binding post information, then the First Binding Post field becomes available, however, if you designed the terminal to hold frame locations, the Frame, First Row, First Block, and First Pin fields become available.

• • First Binding Post – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the number of the first binding post containing the first path.
  • Frame – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the frame name. Once you select a Frame, the First Row drop-down box becomes available. You will also see the detailed Frame Usage information in the right-hand pane of the window. To see the non-visible information, drag the scroll bar along the bottom of the pane.
  • First Row – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the first row. Once you have selected a row, the Block drop-down becomes available.
  • First Block – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the first block. Once selected, the pin drop-down becomes available.
  • First Pin – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the first pin.

7. After completing all the range information, the Save button becomes available. Click the Save button to save the range and close the pop-up. Alternatively, click the Cancel button to stop the operation and return you to the General – Building window without adding the range.
8. Within the Terminals pane, a Connection Path Ranges list displays under the Connections
9. To view the complete range, click the plus sign (+) next to the Start Path
10. Within the Actions ribbon group, click the Save (to save and stay) to continue adding connection ranges, or click Save & Close (to save and exit) to return to the Building list.

Deleting a Connection Range from a Building

Before a connection range can be deleted from a building, the paths must be free of all assignments.

1. Click the Facilities
2. In the Navigation pane, click Buildings.
3. Depending on the amount of records you have within your database, the list may not immediately populate. To populate the list, perform one of the following actions:

• • Within the search box, type the building name or portion of the name and then click the magnifying glass.
  • Click the Show All

4. When the Building list opens, double-click the building name.
5. The Building window opens. Within the Connection Paths ribbon group, click the Delete Range
6. The Delete Range window opens. Use the drop-downs to select the terminal and connection group.
7. The Beginning and Ending Path auto-populate with the paths originally assigned into the terminal. From the Beginning Path, select the start path number to delete. For example, if you have a 50 pair cable and you want to delete pair 40 to 50, select 40 in the Beginning Path drop-down.
8. In the Ending Path drop-down list, select the end path number to delete. With the above example, the End path would be 50. Keep in mind that you cannot delete a path unless it is free of all assignments.
9. Click the Delete The pop-up closes and the range no longer displays in the Terminals pane.

Modifying a Connection Range of a Building

1. Click the Facilities
2. In the Navigation pane, click Buildings.
3. Depending on the amount of records you have within your database, the list may not immediately populate. To populate the list, perform one of the following actions:

• • Within the search box, type the building name or portion of the name and then click the magnifying glass.
  • Click the Show All

4. When the Building list opens, double-click the building name.
5. The Building window opens. Within the Connection Paths ribbon group, click the Modify Range
6. The Modify Range pop-up opens. Use the drop-down list to make the necessary changes.
7. Once you have completed modifying the range information, the Save button becomes available. Click Save to save the range and close the pop-up.
8. Within the Terminals pane, the Connection Path Ranges list displays under the Connections
9. To view the complete range, click the plus sign (+) next to the Start Path
10. Within the Actions ribbon group, click the Save (to save and stay) to continue working with building records, or click Save & Close (to save and exit) to return to the Building list.

Move a Connection Range

When you want to move a connection range there are two variations. First, you can move the connection range to a different terminal within the same building. Second, you can move the connection range to a different building that contains the same connection group.

There are a few things to consider before you start moving connection ranges. You can only move the paths that exist within the terminal, for example, if you have paths 1-10 and 21-30, you cannot move 1-30 because 11-20 do not exist in the terminal. There can be no overlapping path counts, for example, if you are moving cable 01 path 1-10 from terminal 1 to 2, terminal cannot already have path 1-10 in it.

There is an option to delete the terminal once you have moved all connection paths from the terminal. Be very careful with this option, there is no undo function.

Moving within the same building

1. Click the Facilities
2. In the Navigation pane, click Buildings.
3. Depending on the amount of records you have within your database, the list may not immediately populate. To populate the list, perform one of the following actions:

• • Within the search box, type the building name or portion of the name and then click the magnifying glass.
  • Click the Show All

4. When the Building list opens, double-click the building name.
5. The Building window opens. Within the Connection Paths ribbon group, click the Move Range
6. The Move Range pop-up opens.
7. To move a connection group and path to another terminal complete the following fields:

• • Move From Terminal – click the drop-down arrow to access a list of the terminals within the building list and select the terminal to move the paths from
  • Connection Group – click the drop-down arrow to access a list of the connection groups within the selected terminal list and select the connection to move
  • Beginning Path – this field auto-populates with the first path within the connection group, to change the path, click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the beginning path that you want to move.
  • Ending Path – this field auto-populates with the last path within the connection group, to change the path, click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the ending path that you want to move.
  • Move To Building – this field auto-populates with the building that you are currently in, since you are moving the path range to a different terminal within the same building, leave this field as it is
  • Move To Terminal – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the terminal you want to move the range into
  • Delete terminal if empty – this field defaults to include a checkmark to indicate that once the terminal is empty, meaning it no longer has a connection group and path range, it will be deleted from the building. Pay close attention to this field as there is no undo function.

8. Once the fields are completed, the Move button becomes available. Click the Move button to complete the process. Alternatively, click the Cancel button to stop the process and return to the original connection path – terminal association.
9. Within the Actions ribbon group, click the Save (to save and stay) to continue moving connection ranges, or click Save & Close (to save and exit) to return to the Building list.

Moving to another building

1. Click the Facilities
2. In the Navigation pane, click Buildings.
3. Depending on the amount of records you have within your database, the list may not immediately populate. To populate the list, perform one of the following actions:

• • Within the search box, type the building name or portion of the name and then click the magnifying glass.
  • Click the Show All

4. When the Building list opens, double-click the building name.
5. The Building window opens. Within the Connection Paths ribbon group, click the Move Range
6. The Move Range pop-up opens.
7. To move a connection group and path to another terminal complete the following fields:

• • Move From Terminal – click the drop-down arrow to access a list of the terminals within the building list and select the terminal to move the paths from
  • Connection Group – click the drop-down arrow to access a list of the connection groups within the selected terminal list and select the connection to move
  • Beginning Path – this field auto-populates with the first path within the connection group, to change the path, click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the beginning path that you want to move.
  • Ending Path – this field auto-populates with the last path within the connection group, to change the path, click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the ending path that you want to move.
  • Move To Building – this field auto-populates with the building that you are currently in, click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the name of the building you want to move the connection range to

! When you want to move a connection path from one building to another, the same connection must exist within both buildings.

• • Move To Terminal – click the drop-down arrow to access a list and select the terminal you want to move the range into
  • Delete terminal if empty – this field defaults to include a checkmark to indicate that once the terminal is empty, meaning it no longer has a connection group and path range, it will be deleted from the building. Please pay close attention to this field as there is no undo function.

8. Once the fields are completed, the Move button becomes available. Click the Move button to complete the process. Alternatively, click the Cancel button to stop the process and return to the original connection path – terminal association.
9. Within the Actions ribbon group, click the Save (to save and stay) to continue moving connection ranges, or click Save & Close (to save and exit) to return to the Building list.

Deleting the terminal if empty

When you move a range, pay close attention to the Delete terminal if empty checkbox. By default, this box is checked to indicate that once the terminal is empty it will be deleted from the building. Click the box to clear the checkmark to leave the terminal within the building even if it is empty.