Every night, someone on your team has to remember to lock the doors, turn off the lights, set the thermostat back, and arm the security system. Every morning, someone has to reverse all of it. These are simple tasks, but they depend entirely on people remembering to do them, doing them in the right order, and not skipping steps when they're in a hurry. Alarm.com's automation engine eliminates that dependency. With Rules, Scenes, and Schedules working together, your business handles its own opening and closing routines, responds to events automatically, and keeps energy costs under control without relying on staff to remember every step.
Surety Business provides all of these automation features as part of its Business Alarm and Business Plus plans. Here's how each tool works and how they combine into a fully automated business workflow.
The Three Automation Tools at a Glance
Alarm.com's automation engine is built around three distinct tools. Each one triggers differently, and understanding the difference is key to setting up automation that actually works for your business.
| Tool | How It Triggers | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Rules | Automatically, when a specific event occurs | Arm system then lock doors; sensor opens then lights turn on; card swipe then disarm |
| Scenes | Manually, with one tap in the app | Open/close routines; multi-device control in a single button press |
| Schedules | Automatically, at set days and times | Thermostat setpoints by time of day; light on/off schedules; access control door lock/unlock times |
Rules respond to events. Scenes respond to you. Schedules respond to the clock. Together, they cover virtually every automation scenario a small business needs.
Rules: Your Business Responds Automatically
Rules are event-triggered automations. When a specific event occurs, the system takes a defined action automatically, with no manual input required. Rules are created and managed through the Rules Builder in the Alarm.com Customer app or website, and they can be time-restricted so they only run during specific hours or on specific days of the week.
The Rules Builder supports the following trigger types, each with direct commercial applications:
Arming-triggered rules fire when the panel is armed or disarmed. Arm the system to Away mode and all Z-Wave locks lock, the thermostat shifts to an energy-save setpoint, and lights turn off. Disarm the system in the morning and the reverse happens. This is the foundation of most business open/close automation.
Sensor-triggered rules fire when a door/window sensor opens or closes, or when a motion sensor detects activity. A back door opening after hours can trigger back-room lights to turn on and send a notification to the owner. A motion sensor detecting activity in a restricted zone can start video recording.
Lock-triggered rules fire when a Z-Wave lock is locked or unlocked. An employee unlocks the front door with their code, and the system automatically disarms. Note that unlock-triggered rules are only available for keypad lock models, per Alarm.com documentation.
Access Control-triggered rules (requires the Smarter Access Control add-on) are purpose-built for commercial environments. These include: disarm on card swipe (a valid credential at a reader disarms the panel; requires LTE module), first card unlocks door (the first valid credential of the day unlocks a door indefinitely until a locking schedule fires; works offline), arm/disarm on double card swipe (double-swipe at a reader arms or disarms the panel; requires LTE module), lock/unlock on double card swipe (double-swipe locks or unlocks a specific access control door; works offline), first person in (unlocks a door when the first valid credential is presented within a defined time window; works offline), and arm panel to lock / disarm to unlock (panel arming automatically triggers access control doors to lock, and disarming triggers them to unlock). All access control rules are configurable by user group, so you can control which employees have which privileges.
Alarm-triggered rules fire when an alarm event occurs. An intrusion alarm can turn on all interior lights, which both deters the intruder and improves camera footage quality. A fire/smoke/CO alarm can automatically unlock a designated exit lock.
Location-triggered (Geo-Fence) rules fire when a user's phone enters or leaves a defined geographic radius around the business. The owner leaves the property and the system arms automatically. The owner arrives and it disarms and unlocks the door. Geo-Fence rules are created in the Rules Builder under location-triggered rules.
Additional trigger types include garage-triggered (actions fire when a garage door opens or closes), gate-triggered (same for gates), doorbell-triggered (actions fire on a visitor detection or button press), and remote-triggered (actions fire when a keyfob button is pressed, which can trigger a Scene).
Scenes: Open and Close Your Business in One Tap
A Scene is a single button in the Alarm.com app or website that executes multiple actions across multiple devices simultaneously. There is no limit to the number of custom Scenes you can create on an account.
Scenes can control: the security system (arming), Z-Wave locks, garage doors, Access Control doors, thermostats, Z-Wave lights, Lutron lights and shades, water valves, Sonos speakers, and Legrand speakers. A Scene can also turn a thermostat on and change its mode (Cool, Heat, or Auto) even if the thermostat was previously off.
Every Alarm.com commercial account gets two default Scenes that cannot be deleted or renamed: Open and Close. These are pre-built for business open/close routines and are customizable with your enrolled devices. A typical Close Scene might arm the system to Away, lock all Z-Wave locks, lock all Access Control doors, set the thermostat to 60 degrees, and turn off every light in the building. One tap from the app, and the entire closing routine executes in seconds. No more "did I lock the back door?" questions.
Arming options within Scenes include No Entry Delay (bypasses the entry delay when the Scene arms the system) and Force Bypass (automatically bypasses any open sensors at arm time), giving you flexibility for real-world closing situations where a sensor might be in a faulted state.
Important: Scenes are on-demand only. They must be triggered manually by pressing the button. Scenes cannot be placed on a recurring schedule to auto-run. If you need timed automation, use Schedules or Rules with arming schedules as the trigger. However, a Scene can be scheduled to run once at a specific future date and time through the One-Time Scheduled Scene feature.
Scenes are compatible with the Surety Business Alarm and Business Plus plans. They are not available on standalone video-only plans. Access Control doors included in Scenes require network connectivity to execute.
Schedules: Let Time Do the Work
Schedules automatically run actions at defined days and times with no manual trigger needed. They keep your business operating on a consistent rhythm regardless of who is working that day.
Thermostat Schedules are one of the most impactful automation features for controlling energy costs. You set temperature setpoints by time of day and day of week. For example: heat to 70 degrees at 7:30 AM Monday through Friday (before staff arrive), set back to 60 degrees at 6:30 PM (after close), and drop to 55 degrees overnight and on weekends. Schedule changes can be set on the hour or half hour (e.g., 08:00, 12:30, 14:00), and the minimum interval between setpoints is one hour. Temperature Sensors can be assigned to schedule presets for zone-level precision. Note that thermostat schedules are off by default and must be enabled per thermostat.
Two additional thermostat features extend the value of schedules. Smart Away automatically pauses the thermostat schedule and shifts to an energy-save setpoint when the system is armed Away or when all Geo-Devices leave the Geo-Fence, resuming the schedule when the system is disarmed. If your business closes early or unexpectedly, Smart Away prevents the HVAC from heating or cooling an empty building. The Extreme Temperature Energy Savings rule automatically adjusts thermostat setpoints during extreme outdoor temperature events to reduce peak demand charges.
Access Control Lock/Unlock Schedules automatically lock or unlock Access Control doors at set times. Front door unlocks at 8:00 AM Monday through Friday; locks at 6:00 PM. Holiday Schedules can pause lock/unlock schedules and certain access rules on designated holidays, though rules that interact with the security panel (such as Swipe to Disarm) remain active on holidays.
Light Schedules turn Z-Wave lights on or off at set times, supporting specific times as well as sunrise/sunset-based triggers with time offsets.
Business Hours settings define your official open/close hours for the account, which are used by Commercial Reports and Access Control schedules to contextualize data and behavior.
The Open/Close Workflow: Everything Together
Here's how Rules, Scenes, and Schedules work together across a typical business day:
Morning: The thermostat schedule starts heating the building to 70 degrees at 7:30 AM, so it's comfortable by the time staff arrive. The Access Control lock/unlock schedule unlocks the front door at 8:00 AM. The first employee swipes their keycard, and the Disarm on Card Swipe rule automatically disarms the panel. The First Card Unlocks Door rule keeps the door unlocked for the rest of the business day. No one touched the app. No one entered a code. The building opened itself.
During the day: Sensor-triggered rules monitor after-hours zones. If someone opens the back warehouse door unexpectedly, lights turn on and a notification goes to the owner. Geo-Fence rules can alert the owner if the system is disarmed when it shouldn't be. Access Control event-triggered video rules record clips when a door is accessed, when access is denied, when a door is forced open, or when a door is held open too long.
Closing: The last manager taps the Close Scene in the Alarm.com app. In one action: the system arms to Away, all Z-Wave locks engage, all Access Control doors lock (via the Arm Panel to Lock rule), the thermostat shifts to 60 degrees, and every light turns off. One tap, confirmed.
Overnight: The thermostat schedule drops the setpoint to 55 degrees at 8:00 PM for deeper energy savings. The Access Control lock schedule serves as a backup, re-locking doors at 9:00 PM in case anything was missed. If the alarm triggers overnight, all interior lights turn on automatically to deter the intruder and aid camera footage.
Energy Savings: A Real Business Benefit
Commercial HVAC typically accounts for 35 to 50 percent of a small business's total energy bill. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, setting back the thermostat 8 degrees for 8 hours per day can reduce HVAC costs by up to 10 percent annually. Alarm.com thermostat schedules make that setback automatic, aligning temperature setpoints precisely with your actual business hours so you're never heating or cooling an empty building overnight or on weekends.
Smart Away adds an additional layer: if the system is armed Away during normally scheduled occupied hours (closed early, snow day, unexpected shutdown), the thermostat shifts to an energy-save setpoint automatically rather than running at full comfort levels for a building with no one in it. The Extreme Temperature Energy Savings rule further reduces costs by adjusting setpoints during peak demand events.
The math is straightforward. If your business spends $1,500 per month on energy and HVAC represents 40 percent of that, you're spending $600 per month on heating and cooling. A 10 percent reduction from thermostat scheduling alone saves $60 per month, or $720 per year. Factor in Smart Away events and light scheduling, and the automation features can realistically offset a meaningful portion of your monthly monitoring cost.
Automation + Video: Smarter Surveillance
When automation rules are combined with video, your security system becomes proactive rather than just recording what happened after the fact.
Access Control events can trigger video recording rules. A door accessed by a specific user starts a clip recording. A denied access attempt starts a clip recording, capturing who tried to enter and was rejected. A door forced open or held open beyond its limit triggers recording automatically. These clips are tagged to the specific event, making them easy to find in the event history without scrubbing through hours of timeline.
Alarm-triggered rules improve camera effectiveness in a different way. An intrusion alarm can turn on all interior lights instantly. This serves two purposes: it deters the intruder (a suddenly illuminated building is far less attractive than a dark one), and it dramatically improves the quality of camera footage by providing proper lighting for the cameras to capture usable detail.
Sensor-triggered rules add another layer. A motion sensor detecting activity in a closed area of the building can start recording on the nearest camera and send a push notification, giving you real-time awareness of unexpected activity.
What You Need at Surety Business
All of the automation features described in this article are available through Surety Business Alarm plans. The Access Control add-on is required for Access Control-specific rules. Z-Wave locks, lights, and thermostats are required for their respective automation features. Everything is managed from a single Alarm.com account that integrates security, video, access control, and automation into one platform and one app.
If your business still relies on people to remember every step of the opening and closing routine, or if your thermostat runs at the same temperature 24 hours a day because nobody thought to change it, automation is the fix. Rules respond to events automatically. Scenes give you one-tap control of your entire business. Schedules keep everything running on time. Together, they turn your security system into a full business operations platform.