How to Create a Safe and Successful Major Event using Incident Management Software: White Paper Example The 19 th Annual Ride For Roswell Kristen Lovejoy, PhD Buffalo Computer Graphics, Inc. 4185 Bayview Road Blasdell, NY 14219 716-822-8668 klovejoy@bcgeng.com www.bcgeng.com
Contents Introduction... 3 Background Information on The Ride For Roswell... 3 Decision to use Incident Management Software... 3 How The Ride For Roswell Utilized Incident Management Software... 4 Incident Creation... 4 Training... 5 Day of The Ride - How Incident Management Software was Utilized... 6 Lessons Learned... 9 Best Practices... 11 Have a Clear Workflow Process... 11 Train... 11 Dedicate Staff to Technical Support... 12 Analyze the Big Picture... 12 Conclusion... 12 Page 2 of 12
Introduction Major events generate serious logistical and safety issues. In addition to hot button issues, such as terrorist attacks, there are more mundane yet still critical safety issues that need to be considered. For example, severe weather, such as excessive heat, can pose safety issues at outdoor events. Injuries and Illnesses also need to be handled, especially during sporting events and concerts. In addition to safety issues, logistical issues must be considered such as how to coordinate volunteers, how to keep track of attendees, and generally how to make the event successful. Incident Management Software can help manage these issues. Incident Management Software is designed to prepare for, track, manage, and report on severe life safety issues that can occur during major events, however these same tools can also be used to manage routine logistical and safety issues. Another key reason to use such software to handle the standard issues involved in running a major event is to familiarize staff members with the software so they are prepared if normal turns ugly. Handling a major event follows many of the same processes as handling a severe emergency incident: resources, personnel, and finances need to be tracked, tasks need to be assigned and followed through on, safety issues need to be quickly and efficiently addressed, and the public needs to be kept informed. Situational awareness is critical to running a successful event and incident management software provides all the tools necessary to achieve these goals This paper is meant to showcase how Incident Management Software can help event coordinators manage logistical and safety issues that arise during major events. It uses the 19 th Annual Ride For Roswell as an example of the successful implementation of Incident Management Software, as well as detailing lessons learned from the event and suggestions for best practices. Background Information on The Ride For Roswell The Ride For Roswell is North America s largest single-day cycling event and the single largest annual fundraising event in Western New York, benefiting research and patient care programs at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI). The Ride has raised nearly $30 million for RPCI over the past 19 years. The 19th annual event was held June 27 th & 28 th 2014. The June 28 th biking event consisted of 11 rides on 9 routes, ranging from 3 to 100 miles, 8178 riders, and over 1600 volunteers. Decision to use Incident Management Software Previously, The Ride For Roswell was run without using any dedicated software or system. Volunteers had to cook up their own methods for handling all of the information using spreadsheets or creating their own macros, which would often crash. Volunteers did not have an efficient way to take calls and get riders the assistance they needed. They also didn t have a reliable way to track all of the information that came in to the call centers, meaning there was no way to create comprehensive after action reports. Page 3 of 12
Through hard work and persistence volunteers and event coordinators were able to make previous events successful. However, as the event increased in size each year the inadequacies of the older methods became clearer and the staff realized they needed a better way to manage the event. Tom Johnston, Senior Event Coordinator, noted event managers cannot support 10,000 people without a real software system, relying on homemade products is just not enough. The problem was clear and the staff began to look at other options. They did not need to look far. Erie County had already been using a locally manufactured incident management solution since 2004 to handle incidents and events throughout the county. Erie County generously allowed the staff access to their Incident Management Software DisasterLAN (DLAN). In addition to getting access to the software for free from the County, the staff was also provided free training and support from the product manufacturer, Buffalo Computer Graphics (BCG). Because of their close proximity, it was easy for Erie County, The Ride For Roswell, and Buffalo Computer Graphic staff members to work together to prepare for the event. How The Ride For Roswell Utilized Incident Management Software Incident Creation Before the event, a main site and training site were created as incidents within Erie County s DLAN system. The training incident was used during training sessions to keep the test data and real data separate. All of the routes and other pertinent mappable information, such as the location of rest stops and police stations, were loaded into the main incident site for easy visual situational awareness. Figure 1: DLAN GIS COP Viewer Specific roles and users tailored for The Ride were also added into the system. By giving each role a very specific name related to its function, such as Route Manager East, Bike Repair Page 4 of 12
West, and Call Taker, it was easy to identify what types of information needed to be sent to each role. For example, if a call taker got a call about a flat tire on one of the east routes, he/she would know to send this information to Bike Repair East. Generic user names were also entered into the system, such as Call Taker 1, to speed up the process of logging in volunteers. Once logged in to the system, users would enter their full name, email, and phone number for tracking purposes and in case they needed to be reached for clarification after their shift. Before The Ride, rider s cell phone numbers were also collected to be added to the NY-Alert system for mass notification to riders in case of an emergency. Thankfully, there was no emergency situation that warranted its use during The Ride. Training Since this was the first time the staff would utilize the software, training was essential. Two training sessions were held by BCG for key personnel and volunteers. Trainers used a hands on approach, coaching staff members and volunteers as they created mock tickets in order to familiarize themselves with the system. Figure 2: Training Ticket Part of the training process was for key staff to understand how calls could be handled in the system and come up with an easy to follow procedure for volunteers. During the training, a BCG staff member realized that a better procedure for checking volunteers in and out was needed, so he simplified the process by implementing an automatic routing procedure for this type of ticket. Ideally all volunteers would have gone through the training before the event, however this was not possible. Consequently, on the day of the event, just in time training was provided by BCG staff for those who could not attend the training, and proved an effective solution. Page 5 of 12
Day of The Ride - How Incident Management Software was Utilized On the day of the event there were two points of operations. The main call center was setup at the Amherst Police Station and one of Erie County s Mobile Operations Center (MOC 1) was located on the University of Buffalo s North Campus where the ride began. A BCG staff member was assigned to both centers to assist volunteers. In addition to Ride For Roswell staff and volunteers, representatives from local police departments and other first responders were monitoring police feeds and other pertinent information sources to relay to The Ride staff for a coordinated response. Figure 3: Erie County s Mobile Operations Center (MOC 1) Figure 4: Amherst Police Station The call centers opened at 6:00AM and remained opened until 3:00PM when the routes were closed. The nine routes, which covered 2 counties, were divided into East and West and a Call Manager and Bike Repair Station was assigned to each region. Route Ride Riders Start Time 3 EAST 3 Mile Family Ride 436 10:30 AM 10 WEST 10 Mile River Ride 838 10:00 AM 20 WEST 20 Mile Early River Ride 818 08:00 AM 20 WEST 20 Mile Late River Ride 842 09:30 AM 30 WEST 30 Mile Early River Ride 826 07:00 AM 30 WEST 30 Mile Late River Ride 825 09:00 AM 33 EAST 33 Mile Country Ride 934 08:30 AM 44 EAST 44 Mile Country Ride 878 7:30 AM 45 WEST 45 Mile Canalside Olmstead Ride 376 07:00 AM 62.5 EAST 62.5 Mile Country Ride 810 6:30 AM 104 EAST 104 Mile Country Ride 339 6:30 AM Table 1: Route Information Page 6 of 12
Each Call Center volunteer was given a cheat sheet provided by BCG to help them input information. Using this system, all calls were able to be handled in a timely manner. Figure 5: Ticket Creation How To Sheet for Call Takers This system created a clear workflow for staff and volunteers. Call takers would create the initial ticket, set the priority, and route it according to the ticket kind. The ticket would then be completed by someone up the chain. In the below example, a call taker created a request for transportation that she routed to the Route Manager East. The Route Manager East, in conjunction with a CB Radio Operator who was in direct communication with truck drivers, then tasked the ticket to Truck 9 and changed the status from New Call to Tasked. Figure 6: Tasked Ticket Page 7 of 12
When the rider was picked up by Truck 9, the Route Manager East changed the status of the ticket to Completed, indicating that no other action was needed. Figure 7: Completed Ticket In total there were 315 tickets created during the event. Route guide check-in/outs accounted for 124 of these tickets. This information was able to be quickly handled using the partly automated system put in place during training, allowing call takers to free up phone lines for rider questions and problems. Figure 8: Ticket Manager General Stats Page As Figure 8 shows, more than half of the tickets were entered in to the system with the priority set to none. This included all route guide check in/out related tickets and other informational tickets, such as when rest areas closed. These items were read only and were marked completed once read. Page 8 of 12
For other types of tickets, priorities were set based on the guidelines in Figure 5 or the judgment of the volunteer. All medical service tickets were automatically set to high priority, which displayed in red; transportation request and other non-medical requests to help riders were marked as medium, which displayed in yellow; requests for equipment repair were set to low, which displayed in green. This allowed for managers walking around the room to quickly glance at a screen and visually assess the magnitude of calls coming in. In addition to automatic priority settings, call takers could manually change the priority of a ticket. For example, two repair tickets were marked as medium because it was the second time a rider called in and the problem had yet to be resolved. In these cases the volunteers made the proper judgment to move the ticket up the priority hierarchy for more immediate attention. The system gave volunteers clear guidelines, while also giving them some room to use their judgment, combining structure with flexibility. Figure 9: Volunteers Taking Calls during the Event With such a large event, just keeping track of when each rider starts and finishes is a major undertaking. When any sort of problem is added to the equation, it can become completely overwhelming. However, with a good group of volunteers and the right tools, everything can be tracked and managed. DLAN helped staff and volunteers by creating a common platform for entering data and a clear workflow to complete each task. Lessons Learned As with any new process there were areas that could be improved. One big area of concern was training. Although Tom Johnston noted that people learned the system quickly and it was very adaptable for people to use on the spot, having more knowledge about its capabilities would have improved the event. For example, the process of checking volunteers in and out could have been further improved if staff members had learned the system earlier. Mr. Johnston also noted that having someone available to troubleshoot and further train staff on the software was essential to the success of the event. While having someone available was helpful, Judith Epstein, Director, Grant and Foundation Development, added, [the] Software was easy to use, to be trained on and to educate others about how to use it (train-the-trainer model). IT support was not needed during the event on a regular basis. The screen was intuitive and easy to navigate. Choosing software that was easy to learn helped mitigate the problem of not being able to train all volunteers before the event. Page 9 of 12
Although the system was generally intuitive, more extensive training would have allowed the staff to use the software more effectively. For example, the DLAN ticket includes a contact field that allows users to enter in a location without needing a full street address. The staff and volunteers were not aware of this and did not use this field. If they had they could have kept better track of trouble areas and acted accordingly. Johnston notes, We need to manage response versus administrative tasks and make the team more nimble. The software provides the tools, but users need to know how to use them. Because of staffing, the team was also unable to use the full set of situational awareness tools available through the system. All staff members were busy dealing with specific calls and incidents, so no one was able to analyze the big picture information that was available to them. Next year Johnston hopes to have an extra staff person available just to look at the situational awareness overviews, such as the GIS maps and weather monitoring. Figure 10: GIS COP Viewer Since The Ride For Roswell staff was using Erie County s system, they did not have yearlong access to the system. If they had they would have been able to use it in the planning phase and created a better workflow. Tom Johnston notes, Other organizations need to consider how it fits in with the host organization and how they can get online quicker. The earlier an organization can start using the system, the better it can be utilized during the event. Increasing not just access to the software, but access to the software support staff would also have improved workflow efficiency. Epstein notes, It's important to make sure the software programmer is conversant in the lingo about the event. The programmers assigned to The Ride For Roswell got up to speed very quickly and were able to make last minute programming changes based on input from staff 48-72 hours before the event... even during the event, a new report was created. One of the BCG support staff members assigned to The Ride was able to change settings using the administrative controls within DLAN to better fit Page 10 of 12
the desired workflow; no programming changes were needed. Although these customizations were able to be made on the spot, having support staff work with the event staff during the planning stage and understand the needs of the coordinators would have further improved the process. Next year the staff hopes to utilize the ticket manager more efficiently, using the contacts field to enter in location information and possibly creating forms to help create consistency in what information is included. In addition to utilizing more fields in the ticket manager, next year Johnston would like to use the system to better track resources. Johnston states, It was a much better event because of this software and if we use it again it will just get better and better. As his and other staff members experience with the software grows, they will be better able to unlock the software s full potential. Best Practices Based on the lessons learned from the event, some suggestions for best practices emerged including having a clear workflow process, training on both the software and the process, dedicating staff to technical support, and analyzing the big picture. Have a Clear Workflow Process Having a clear workflow process before the event also contributes to the success of the event. Epstein notes that event organizers should Encourage software programmer to meet with the event managers at least 6-8 weeks prior to the event and have the event managers provide a thorough explanation of all the what ifs that could happen and provide sufficient detail to the programmer. The programmer should develop what they think is the best option and then beta test with the event staff to see if all items are appropriate. Combining the staff s knowledge of the event and the developer s knowledge of the software will generate a better process than either could on their own. If the event team does not have direct access to the software team, simply having staff members run through different scenarios within the software will help them to detail How To instructions for volunteers and create a more streamlined process for inputting information. Train Training on the software and on the workflow process before the event is key. No matter how intuitive a software product is, using it for the first time can be intimidating. Well trained volunteers will be able to take calls quicker and more efficiently. If possible, integrating an event management software product in to day to day processes will further increase familiarity and help managers discover all the ways the software can be used during an event. As staff s familiarity with the software increases so does the potential of the software to contribute to the success of the event. However, training everyone who will be using the software during the event may not be a possibility, especially if the event relies heavily on volunteers. In these situations it is important to provide just in time training or pair Page 11 of 12
individuals who have gone through training with those who have not to help get everyone up to speed. Dedicate Staff to Technical Support Anytime software is added in to the equation, IT issues may arise. The Ride For Roswell staff were able to have a trained professional from BCG available on site to answer questions, provide just in time training and help with any problems that might arise. However, in lieu of this, dedicating one staff member who is very familiar with the software and technical support in general will help the event run more smoothly. Analyze the Big Picture During an event it is easy to get caught up in handling every issue individually as though they were isolated events. However, many times if staff members step back and look at the big picture, patterns emerge. If possible, dedicate a staff member to monitoring overall situational awareness tools during the event. If not possible, analyze the after action reports to see if there were any hot spots or patterns that can be better managed to make the event more successful in the future. Conclusion Incident Management Software can help event coordinators manage both logistical and safety issues that arise during major events. Tom Johnston notes, DLAN was a complete help to us. It gave us a consistent standard database to operate in and elevated the level of care we could give during the event. The example shows how Incident Management Software can be used to enhance overall event coordination, through better task management, monitoring, and reporting. Incident Management Software gives coordinators the tools they need to create safe and successful events. Page 12 of 12