COMCARE has been awarded a contract to conduct a thorough interoperability inventory and gap analysis of current and future emergency information exchange and interoperability capabilities of the emergency response agencies that support the 18 jurisdictions of the National Capital Region (NCR). The project is being funded through Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grants awarded to the NCR.
The Application Inventory and Gap Analysis (AIGA) project is one of five initiatives within the National Capital Region Interoperability Program (NCR-IP). The related tasks within the NCR-IP include EOC Integration, Regional Wireless Broadband Network (RWBB), Data Hub, and I-Net Integration. The program is housed under the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Technology Officer (DC OCTO) and under the direction of the Senior Policy Group for Interoperability (SPGI) and the Metropolitan Area CIOs.
THE NEED
Many important steps have been taken since 2001 to improve the National Capital Region’s (NCR) ability to respond to a major emergency event. New and better cooperative organizational relationships have been established. Drills and exercises have demonstrated weaknesses and built working relationships across professional and jurisdictional boundaries. Voice interoperability is being addressed and high speed wireless and wired connections for emergency agencies are being deployed over much of the NCR. Some agencies have purchased emergency management tools and alerting systems for individual emergency leaders. To continue this progress toward full interoperability, all NCR agencies which may respond to emergencies need the ability to share data effectively and securely. Data interoperability among agencies is absolutely essential for them to respond to major incidents in a coherent, coordinated manner.
In today’s environment of rapidly changing technology and the increasing demands of government organizations to operate effectively and more efficiently, agencies need to ensure that their information technology projects are being implemented at acceptable costs, within reasonable and expected timeframes, and are contributing to tangible, observable improvements. Governments within the NCR have recognized the importance of this activity and have made this initiative a first step in achieving regional data interoperability. To that end, the Metropolitan Chief Information Officers (CIOs) have developed a plan for achieving data interoperability across the NCR and the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) has been tasked with the program management of the projects to accomplish that plan.
COMCARE'S APPROACH
The AIGA project has two main objectives. The first is to conduct an inventory of the applications and systems used within the NCR to support emergency response efforts. In addition, the inventory documents to the greatest extent possible which agencies are using these applications. The focus of this investigation is to identify the top “candidate” systems to be included in an interoperable data network across jurisdictions and agencies. For the purposes of this project the following Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) will be included in the scope of the inventory assessment:
- Firefighting, Urban Search & Rescue, HAZMAT (#4,9,10)
- Communications (#2)
- Health and Medical Services (#8)
- Transportation (#1)
- Public Works & Engineering (#3)
- Mass Care (#6)
- Energy (#12)
- Emergency Planning & Management (#5)
- Law Enforcement (#13)
NCR Interoperability Imperatives
The second key objective is to provide a gap analysis between the current and the desired emergency information exchange and interoperability capabilities in the NCR. The analysis focuses on the process for data flows between agencies within and across ESFs and the features and functionality of candidate interoperability applications. A model view of common data across ESFs will be developed based on this analysis.
The project focuses on information exchange from an inter-agency and inter-jurisdiction perspective. The AIGA project is intended to start the definition of data interoperability within the NCR.
Data collection for the inventory portion is being accomplished using three methods: surveys, interviews, and facilitated scenario workshops. Each method is conducted in parallel and repeated as necessary to obtain a complete picture of the current and desired data sharing environment.
Surveys are being used with the entire sample population because it is the fastest way to get basic, framing data regarding the current applications and systems from the agencies in the region. In depth interviews are being conducted in order to complete the data collected from the surveys. The goal of the interviews is to gain detailed insights on how the applications are used and who uses them. Finally, a series of facilitated scenario workshops are being conducted in which a representative audience of all NCR jurisdictions and each Emergency Support Function discusses information sharing before, during and after an event. These exercises determine the actions, systems, information needs, and processes used during an emergency event. The goal of this method is to tie the data collected into meaningful process models, to validate data collected from previous research, and to obtain the breadth of data needed to perform the gap analysis.
The methodology of the gap analysis stems from the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). The CMM focuses on improving the processes within an organization, the procedures that people will follow, and the tools needed to enable and support both. This model lays the groundwork for establishing metrics that can measure and evaluate process performance.
FROM VISION TO REALITY
COMCARE recently completed the application inventory, reviewed the data collected, and conducted the gap analysis.
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