This week we had planned to take a detailed look at the new Site Map Portal, but we’re going to save that for next time while we finish the supporting videos.

Instead, we’ll cover some developments across the other portals, upcoming app releases, and a few general updates.

We’ve created a brochure specifically for Service Agents BDMs and Account Managers to use with customers and key accounts. 

The brochure helps explain how AFAM’s additional free services, including the Property Portfolio Portal and floor plan functionality, provide added value and benefits to building owners and property managers. 

Before making it generally available, we’re looking for feedback. If you’re a BDM or Account Manager who thinks this may be useful and you’d like to review the brochure, let us know and we’ll send you a copy.

If you’ve recently had a demo of the Property Portfolio Portal, you may already have seen this feature we’re close to releasing.

The idea is to assign a score to each individual property based on factors such as recurring defects, aged defects, testing history, and other key indicators. These scores are then combined to create an overall portfolio score.

This allows you to compare your portfolio against anonymised portfolios of a similar type, while also identifying the individual sites and contributing factors that may benefit from remedial work to improve the overall score.

We’ll share more details and examples of this feature in action very soon.

The updated Apple version of the AFAM AlarmTech App will be released within the next couple of days.

There’s nothing special required to upgrade — the app will update automatically in the same way as your other apps.

This release brings the Apple version in line with Android and includes:

• New controls for selecting which message types generate notifications and alerts
• A new rules engine that allows alerts based on specific words or phrases
• Improved user interface and usability
• General performance improvements and bug fixes

The rules engine can be particularly useful for identifying specific defect types or prioritising notifications for key customer sites.

The AFAM AlarmTech App is now being used by just under 100 companies and branches.

We considered offering something special to the 100th group to sign up, but it’s difficult to discount something that’s already completely free.

Remember, the app allows you to view all properties you manage or maintain — not just those monitored by AFAM.

If you’d like to get set up, or would like a walkthrough of the functionality, get in touch and we can arrange a demo or assist with onboarding.

Just a reminder that we maintain a full inventory of monitoring equipment spares at our Auckland office.

If you’re in Auckland and urgently need equipment or parts, contact the office and we’ll arrange the fastest possible shipment.

​In our next newsletter, we’ll take a deeper dive into the Site Map Portal, with more detail, visuals, and a look at additional enhancements currently in development.

This week we attended Fire Australia 2026 in Melbourne. Below is a recap from the event, along with an introduction to a new type of portal we’ve recently launched.

​Fire Australia 2026 was held at the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), a venue spanning more than 70,000 square metres of event space. During the conference, several other events were taking place simultaneously—including a national HVAC exhibition, regional conferences, and graduation ceremonies—yet the scale of the venue meant each event operated seamlessly without overlap.

The conference featured a trade show with over 90 exhibitors, alongside a comprehensive program of educational sessions. This year, sessions were delivered across six streams, covering topics such as fire engineering, regulatory frameworks, current industry challenges, and emerging areas like AI adoption and battery energy storage systems (BESS).

While in Melbourne, we also met with several of our customers who are based locally and manage commercial property portfolios in New Zealand.

We’ve included a selection of photos from the event below.

​We’re pleased to announce the launch of our new Site Map Portal. This tool provides a real-time, graphical overview of fire alarm system status across a geographic site—such as a hospital, campus, or industrial facility.

In addition to live system monitoring, the portal delivers an audible alert in the event of a fire, which continues until the alarm is acknowledged. This feature is particularly valuable for sites that require on-the-ground response actions before emergency services arrive.

The portal has been developed in collaboration with customers who need both immediate fire service dispatch (which we continue to handle as standard) and coordinated internal response procedures.

We’ll share more details in our next newsletter, including screenshots and a video demonstration of the portal in action.

As regular readers will know, we maintain a full inventory of monitoring equipment spares at our Auckland office. Anastasia captured a short video of our latest shipment arriving—take a look by clicking on the image below.

Over the next two weeks, our team will be in Wellington and Hamilton, alongside our teams in Auckland and Christchurch.

If you’d like to meet, ask questions, or arrange a demo, feel free to get in touch.

​In our next newsletter, we’ll take a deeper dive into the Site Map Portal, with more detail, visuals, and a look at additional enhancements currently in development.

We explored AFAM’s Reports & Analytics — what’s available and how you can access it. If you missed it, you can catch up here Reporting & Analytics.

This week, we’re taking a closer look at the AFAM Property Portfolio Portal, which we introduced briefly a few weeks ago.

The AFAM Property Portfolio Portal is designed for property owners and managers with multi-property portfolios.

​Traditionally, visibility into the state of fire alarm systems relies on updates from service agents. The Portfolio Portal changes that — giving owners and managers direct, independent access to live system information across all their properties.

At a glance, you can see the overall state of your portfolio, then drill down to granular, real-time data — even individual IoT detector-level information where available.

When you first log in, you’ll see a comprehensive dashboard summarising key details across your portfolio, including:

• Total number of properties
• Properties where a service agent is currently or was recently on site
• Properties providing IoT detector-level information
• Percentage of properties tested last month and so far this month
• The current overall system state across all sites

From the dashboard, you can move into a map view (with a familiar maps style interface) or switch to a table view if you prefer structured data. As you would expect with the map view, the level of detail changes as you zoom in revealing street data, buildings, and features such as parks and trees.

Both views allow you to filter by:

• All properties
• Properties in an ‘off-normal’ state (e.g., isolated or in defect)
• Properties not tested last month
• Properties not yet tested this month
• Properties with IoT detector-level data available

For properties with IoT connectivity, the portal offers deep, detector-level visibility — showing detector types, zones, states, and recent changes.

Where available, floorplans can be uploaded, allowing detectors to be placed visually on each level. Their icons update in real time to reflect live status and individual detector history can be accessed. For multi-storey, or larger single storey properties, multiple floorplans can be uploaded to best represent the property.

(The example shown here displays live data from a seven-storey building in Wellington.)

Access to the portal is completely free. We actively encourage property owners and managers to take advantage of it. Please contact our support team who can enable access to it for you.

If you manage multiple properties, or have clients who could benefit from the portal, you can download our overview brochure by clicking on the image below.

Next week, we’ll take a short break from our usual product and service deep-dives to share some exciting news about AFAM. We’ll also be announcing a major new feature launch and providing updates on a few developments we’ve mentioned in recent weeks.