This is the module's closing lesson. Plan on about 90 to 120 minutes. Start with the risk map from Lesson 1. Then fill in the entity list, response scenarios, responsible people, and a test schedule. At the end, you'll run through scenario tests from the dashboard.

A real-life problem: you have a system, but no plan

A few weeks after finishing the module, you come back to Home Assistant and can't remember which helper tests the escalation, and which one just tests a push. The flood sensor works, but you're not sure whether the water valve will close. The home alarm is armed, but you haven't tested it in two months. Your partner asks: "is this actually safe?": and you answer, "I think so, something's showing green."

That's not a technical failure. It's a lack of documentation and a schedule. Automations without a plan age quietly: a battery dies, an entity gets renamed, someone turns off monitoring "for a moment" and forgets to turn it back on.

In this lesson, you close out the module with one artifact: a home security plan. The dashboard from Lesson 11 is its operations center. A plan in a notebook or a file is its long-term memory.

What's actually the risk

Step 1: go back to the risk map

In Lesson 1 you built a risk map and the input_boolean.security_audit_started helper. Now fill it in with what you actually built over the module. For each item, add: the HA entity, its status (working / missing / planned), and the lesson number the logic came from.

Example of a completed map: an excerpt

## Flooding
- Kitchen / sink: binary_sensor.kitchen_flood: working: L4
- Bathroom / washer: binary_sensor.bathroom_flood: working: L4
- Boiler room: no sensor: planned Q3

## Doors, windows, gate
- Front door: binary_sensor.front_door: working: L6
- Garage gate: binary_sensor.garage_gate: working: L6

## System failures
- Router / internet: binary_sensor.internet_available: working: L3/L10
- Critical sensors offline: sensor.critical_sensors_offline: working: L10

Step 2: inventory the entities and helpers

Here's a template for the inventory. Copy it into your plan and only fill in what you actually have. Don't copy everything blindly: your house might have fewer sensors, or different entity names.

If a row's status is "missing": note in your expansion plan when you'll fill it in. If an entity has a different name: write down the right one. The plan has to reflect your system, not the course's ideal example.

Step 3: response scenarios

For every important event, describe the chain from Lesson 1: detect → confirm → notify → escalate → respond. It doesn't have to be YAML: it's a description for you and your household.

Copy this table into your plan and adapt the "What the person does" column to your household. HA doesn't replace your decision: it just speeds it up. Without that column, the plan stays a technical list of entities.

Step 4: people, access, and responsibility

A security system doesn't run in a vacuum. Someone has to get the notification, someone has to acknowledge it, someone has to know where the dashboard is and what the alarm-stop button does.

If you live alone: put yourself down for every role, but also note who takes over when you're away (a neighbor, family, a roommate).

Step 5: a test schedule

Tests break down into three levels. You don't have to run everything every day: but you have to know what you're checking and when.

Monthly checklist: shortcut for the plan

Step 6: a home security plan template

Copy the template below into a notebook, a Markdown file, or a cloud document. Fill it in during this lesson. This is the most important output of your work in this module.

# Home Security Plan: Module 18
Plan owner: ____
Date created: ____
Last review: ____
Next monthly test: ____

## The overriding rule
HA is an extra layer. Smoke, CO, and gas detectors work on their own.

## Risk map
(paste the completed map from Step 1)

## Entity inventory
(paste the table from Step 2)

## Response scenarios
(paste the table from Step 3)

## People and responsibility
(paste the table from Step 4)

## Test schedule
- Weekly: push test (L2)
- Monthly: checklist (L10 + L11)
- Quarterly: one live scenario

## Dashboard
- Name: Security
- View: Home Status
- Status sensor: sensor.home_security_status

## Gaps and expansion plan
1. ____
2. ____
3. ____

## Notes from the last test
____

Helper: home security plan complete

input_boolean:
  home_security_plan_ready:
    name: "Home security plan ready"
    icon: mdi:shield-check-outline

We don't set initial: false here. This helper is meant to remember its state across a Home Assistant restart. Only turn it on once the plan is filled in and the first monthly test has passed. You can add it to the dashboard next to security_audit_started from Lesson 1: that way you can see: the audit is underway, and the plan is ready.

Scenario tests from the dashboard

This is the practical part of the mini project. Open the Security dashboard and run through three scenarios in order. Log the results in the "Notes from the last test" section of your plan.

A test log and a plan for a non-technical person

Set the schedule for life-safety detectors (smoke, CO, gas) according to the manufacturer's instructions: not a single general quarterly rhythm. A test date with no result isn't enough. Set the helper's date once the full test is done:

- action: input_datetime.set_datetime
  target:
    entity_id: input_datetime.last_security_test
  data:
    date: "{{ now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d') }}"

Only once the whole test is done: not right after clicking the button.

## Test and issue log

| Date | Scenario | Tester | Result | Issue found | Fix deadline | Retest after fix |
|------|----------|--------|--------|-------------|--------------|-------------------|
|      |          |        |        |             |              |                   |

## A mandatory retest after a system change

Repeat the relevant test after:
- replacing a phone,
- renaming a device or an entity,
- replacing the router or access point,
- changing the Zigbee coordinator,
- updating or migrating Home Assistant,
- replacing a sensor, valve, siren, or UPS,
- changing the SMS recipient's phone number,
- adding or removing a household member.

## A one-page reference for a non-technical person

- what the siren means,
- where to shut off the water,
- how to acknowledge an alarm (I'M RESPONDING),
- who to call,
- what not to turn off,
- when to leave the house,
- how to disarm the alarm,
- what to do if HA isn't working.

An expansion plan: what's next after the module

The module gives you a foundation. Few people finish it with sensors covering every room. The "Gaps and expansion plan" section in the document is mandatory: even if you only have one gap.

Every quarter, open the plan and check whether the priorities have changed. A new washing machine, a bathroom renovation, or a new household member is a reason to update the document: not just add an entity in HA.

The dashboard as the plan's operations center

The plan in a file says what should work. The dashboard says what's working right now. Once a month, open both: the plan with its checklist, the dashboard with its status and logbook. If something doesn't match: say, the plan lists a sensor, but the dashboard shows the entity as unavailable: fix it, or update the plan.

An optional helper: the date of the last test

input_datetime:
  last_security_test:
    name: "Last security test"
    has_date: true
    has_time: false
    icon: mdi:calendar-check

After running the checklist, set the date manually on the dashboard. We're not forcing automation here, because the date is meant to mark a genuinely completed test, not just clicking the helper.

Common mistakes

What not to do

The module's final assignment

Key takeaways

What you're taking away from the whole module

When to consider the module finished

End of the module

You've completed Module 18: Home Security. You now have more than a set of automations: you have a way of thinking: detect, confirm, notify, escalate, respond: and a document that keeps it alive.

The next step isn't another lesson full of YAML. It's the first monthly test on your calendar, and updating the plan whenever something in the house changes. A security system you don't test is a system you don't actually trust: and rightly so.

In Module 19, we'll shift from security to comfort: thermal comfort in the home. You'll build heating logic around how your house actually holds and loses heat, tie it to presence and schedules, and use the same disciplined testing habit you just practiced here to keep it honest room by room.

Congratulations. You have a plan, a dashboard, and the tools. Now take care of them the same way you take care of your home.