by Jill Edwards, Manager Strategy

29 July, 2013

Value derived from last meeting: a recap
The network last met in October 2012 and since that time has been able to resolve a mobile communications problem.  Leveraging from developments in Queensland, FRNSW have now followed that lead and purchased a number of rapid deployment communications kits.  The detail of this equipment is being shared amongst agencies.  New Zealand Fire Service has been able to assist the Northern Territory with developing a station management system. The NZ system has been in place for some time, and the New Zealand Fire Service was happy to share the details with the NT and discuss with them the methodology used.

Hot topics for discussion this time: keeping pace
At this meeting the major topics of discussion were strategies around:

• operational management systems
• shared resources, and 
• information standards

It is evident the significant rate of change is having an effect on the design and use of current technology platforms and systems. The CIO’s are dealing with the challenge of making investment decisions now, in the context of rapidly changing political, economic, technology and social environments. 

From discussions each agency is exploring what type of platforms, security measures, and new opportunities they can use to support their current and emerging business needs. Traditional approaches for the use of technology are fast becoming irrelevant or unworkable, so new approaches and innovation is required now.

Current ICT projects were shared by the participants, with an emphasis on finding different ways to roll out mission critical technology support in a way that is forward thinking, yet budget conscious.  Richard Host from FRNSW shared the progress made towards the NSW strategy; sharing resources between the three major emergency services agencies in NSW, namely FRNSW, NSWRFS, NSWSES. The strategy leverages the strengths and systems all three agencies offer.
 
The multi-agency approach to technology resource sharing was highlighted as a major initiative occurring in all jurisdictions.  Victoria’s approach is seen as leading the way. 
Participants agreed that each jurisdiction should use the same standards regarding systems and integration; and they believe that one source of truth will give the highest quality of data and information to assist in those whose role it is to make critical, tactical and strategic emergency management decisions. As a result of discussions it was agreed that the next Network meeting will review the OASIS Standards and what is applicable to our business needs.  A focus will be on community warnings and sharing of Total Fire Ban and Fire Danger information.

Multi-agency integration: single instances
The CIO Network was able to see integration in action whilst on tour of the Victorian State Control Centre (SCC). Cain Trist from the Office of the Fire Services Commissioner, with help from Gary Murphy, explained how the SCC operates and its relationship to other incident control centres established throughout the State.  The principle feature being specifically for multi-agency use and not duplicated as is the case in other states.    
Darryl Obelt, Program Director from the Fire Service Commissioners Office provided participants with an outline of one of Victoria’s major initiatives - VINE (Victorian Information Network for Emergencies). VINE is addressing the need to provide “the best possible information, delivered to whoever requires it as it happens”, and will contain all relevant information, before, during, and after an emergency.

Mobile Connectivity: embracing ‘bring your own device’
Agencies are facing the paradox of sourcing equipment that is required to be robust enough to perform in hazardous environments out on the field, and yet be suitable for agency business and personal use.  An example of that is moving from the traditional pager and hand held radio, to a smartphone bring your own device (BYOD) option. This presented the CIO Network with further challenges that opened up more discussion about the limited future of pagers and radios and finding the right balance of the past ideals of technology, adapting to the rapid growth in the popularity, familiarity and willingness to make the move to BYOD. 
Moving into this space represents challenges and potential risks that need to be weighed up such as identity validation, mobile network reliability, effectiveness of equipment in the line of duty, and minimising operating costs. The CIOs will look at Whisper software as a possible dispatch system to replace paging notifications. 

Fully embracing smart-technology is seen to be inevitable. Being able to access platforms for highly specialised operations, whilst combined with the ease and use of a mobile device represents significant potential to increase efficiency and support front line personnel.

SES Tasking and Incident Reporting: ipads in action 
Victoria State Emergency Service presented their prototype of OIMS Lite, the incident reporting tool they use for operations. Currently their reporting process is paper-based, filling out forms during or after the incident and then entering the information into the OIMS database. By using that old approach, their process is slow, and mostly inaccurate.  Their trial of an iPad app showed how simple yet effective apps can be whilst on the job, making reporting an easy task that would save time, and allow the timely submission of accurate incident data. The possibilities of moving into a BYOD arrangement eases budgetary limitations and seems to be a common sense move to ensure agencies are reducing the number of devices any one person is required to work with. 

Social Media: gathering intelligence 
Smartphones have revolutionised speed, accessibility and flow of information.  The resultant social networking revolution has seen the emergence of phenomenon such as crowd trending, crowd sourcing and rapid fire sharing of information.  Using technology to harvest such information is of particular interest to the CIOs as early notification and streaming of information is a valuable source of incident information and intelligence.

In some cases members of the public are getting warnings out to their local community and these notifications are treated as a fairly reliable source of information. Social crowd tending/sourcing technology is of particular interest to the participants because of the instant stream of information that becomes available across popular platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. The participants want to look further into technology that can trawl those sites and monitor feeds and to look at simple technology, such as Ushahidi, that can perform the task of analysing ‘trends’ and alerting an emergency service organisation there is an issue. 

Research: a new opportunity
The new Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre was introduced to the group and an outline of the current research projects provided.  The research is a terrific opportunity to address a number of industry issues; however, it does represent degrees of technology challenges.  Many tools and models that the research proposed will require data and information support.  Participants are interested in learning more and understanding what the implications are for their agencies.

Meeting Highlights: the take-aways
All participants reinforced how valuable the meeting has been and the information and new knowledge that is being taken back to their agencies, particularly:

• Common Operating Picture, incorporating the before, during and after concept as explained in Richard Host’s earlier presentations,
• Standards and tackling the next tranche of information exchange standards so that we can continue to improve the movement of important information within and between systems,
• Sharing of resources and how important it is to work towards ‘one instance’ of data sources that can be used by those who need it, and
• A common approach: there are so many common issues and there is a lot that can be achieved by taking a common approach to solving our problems.  

For further information contact Jill Edwards, jill.edwards@afac.com.au 
Return to the August 2013 Activity Update