Reporting Developments of Interest to Stakeholders in
Disaster Management Interoperability Services

CONTENTS:

  1. Update on DMIS
  2. Disaster Management Interoperability Services (DMIS) Outreach
  3. COG Manager's Corner
  4. DisasterHelp.gov Enhancements
  5. Upcoming Events
  6. Upcoming EIIP Virtual Forum
  7. About the Disaster Management E-gov Initiative
  8. About the Interoperations Newsletter

DMIS: It’s Not Just for Disaster Anymore

We are tremendously proud of the work you are doing to make America safer, and are delighted to play a part in that effort. One of the interesting things we've seen over the years is the creative ways in which DMIS is used to support the ongoing missions of State, local and other organizations, and I'd like to build on that theme.

We support the use of DMIS for non-disaster events because it is only through use that one becomes efficient and effective at using the system when needed in an emergency. The following are some ideas for use of DMIS in ways that help the community daily while building expertise for when it is needed most:

• Coordinating planning and management of special events. County fairs, fireworks displays, parades, athletic events and the like. These often involve multiple public service organizations which can all share the common operating picture. Sometimes they can include multiple jurisdictions. Remember, sharing DMIS is relatively simple, and the administrator can manage who has access to what incidents. Our new version will also let you set up an incident template with all of your basic information on it, and you can then copy it when you have to start a new incident.
  
• Setting up a jurisdictional overview "incident." The main organizations such as fire, police, public works keep an open incident updated with any information the mayor or other officials need to know: road closings, traffic accidents, fire or ambulance responses, etc. That way, the mayor has an open map on his or her desktop that allows him or her to see what is happening in the community that he should know about. You might even be able to make the display available on local cable stations so the public could see.
  
• Special work planning. The coordination between different agencies and perhaps contractors can be easily accomplished for things such as road repaving, waterline replacement etc.

The above are but a few possibilities. I know our Responder Liaison Team would also be interested in unique uses or just suggestions on how to make DMIS work better for you in the field. Let us know about them, and we can pass these along in the newsletter.

(Article provided by: Chip Hines , PMP, Program Manager , Disaster Management eGov Initiative, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Emergency Preparedness and Response/FEMA, Department of Homeland Security.)

DMIS Welcomes New Responder Liaison Team Member

We are very pleased to announce that on May 18, Walt Kaplan joined us as a valuable new member of the DMIS Responder Liaison Team. Walt has been employed by Battelle Memorial Institute since September 08, 2003, initially as the CBRNE State Program Manager, then as a Program Manager for the PEP program under the Department of Homeland Security, and most recently supporting Naval Facilities Headquarters Command and Commander Naval Installations Anti Terrorism / Force Protection. From 1998 to 2003, Walt worked as the Special Projects Director for the Special Operations Response Team (SORT), primarily responsible for coordinating occupational health services, purchasing, research and development issues for both HAZMAT and WMD responses. He is a Nationally Registered Paramedic with critical care training, over 16 years field and supervisory experience as a first responder, including over 12 years experience training responders. As a member of SORT, he has been involved with the NDMS National Medical Response Team-East for WMD and the Disaster Medical Assistance Team NC-1, with multiple responses nationwide. He has played an active role in planning/training for both natural and man made disasters with North Carolina Emergency Management and is a member of the State Emergency Response Team. Walt wrote and co-opted the initial North Carolina plan for the reception and distribution of the NPS. He has worked with North Carolina EM on equipment and pharmaceutical planning / purchasing for WMD events and pre-positioned equipment caches. He also provided tactical medical support for both the Winston-Salem Police Department and the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team and is a state certified EMS instructor. Walt is trained as a HAZMAT Technician with a background in law enforcement. He holds a Masters Degree in Public Health and a degree in Biology with concentrations in Public Administration and Criminal Justice. Walt has also served as a member of the Inter-Agency Board for Equipment Standardization and Interoperability (IAB).

On June 13-16, Walt met with the IAB conference in Reno, Nevada to present the current status of DMIS and look to the board for feedback and interest. For more information on the IAB, please see http://www.iab.gov/ .

Virtual Presentation on Data Interoperability for Incident Management – EDXL

On June 8, the EIIP Virtual Forum http://www.emforum.org featured Chip Hines, Program Manager for the DHS/FEMA Disaster Management E-Government Initiative, in a discussion of ongoing efforts to develop incident messaging standards under the umbrella of the Emergency Data Exchange Language (EDXL) to allow exchange of information between differing information systems. Mr. Hines provided an overview of the current work in developing EDXL messaging standards, how this relates to other efforts, and the long term vision for full exchange of information relating to incidents within the emergency response community. He was joined by Lee Tincher who is leading this element of the e-Gov initiative.

Quoting from Mr. Hines’ formal remarks, “Ultimately, it’s our vision that users of incident management software will be able to exchange any information with others without regard to the specific software product they are using. We want to have a seamless transition so that information from another vendor’s product is displayed as it would normally look on the receiver’s software product.

In summary, EDXL is a family of information sharing standards that we are facilitating to allow for seamless sharing of incident information. It’s important to you because it will open up many more avenues to share information when the need to, and without the person on the other end having to figure out how to use what’s been sent.” (To read the June 8 transcript, see http://www.emforum.org/vforum/lc050608.htm .)

Other DMIS Outreach Activities

• Members of the DM staff are currently participating in the Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) 2005. Look for report next month.
• DM provided DMIS presentation and demonstration for an 18-county region in Iowa; State-wide rollout will begin in September.
• DM supported Federal agencies by providing information and scheduling planning / training activities toward OMB DMIS use requirement.
• Staff continued to work on EDXL standards outreach process and identify key outreach targets while planning for next in-person meeting of EDXL Practitioner / Standards Working Group.
• DM supported the Departments of Labor, Justice and Treasury with OMB requirement for DMIS/CAP.
• Staff met with the National Academies of Science regarding the interoperability study they are conducting.
  

3. COG Manager's Corner

The DMIS Team is pleased to announce that the new DMIS Web Services Release Version 2.2 will be available for download in mid-June. CDs should be ready for shipment about a week after the download becomes available. We will be emailing all DMIS Collaborative Operating Group (COG) Administrators very soon to officially announce the distribution dates and instructions.

NOTE: If you are a DMIS COG Administrator, it is vitally important to ensure that your contact information is up-to-date by emailing Rick Hauschildt right now so that we can get in touch with you. Some of the COG contact information in our database is over a year old with no updates received since the original registrations were submitted. Also, please understand that we will all have to work together to expedite the distribution and installation processes, as the currently installed DMIS Web Services Release v2.1.1 will only remain operational concurrently with the new release for a 2-week period. After that, you must utilize the new DMIS Release v2.2.

DMIS Web Services Release Version 2.2 contains the following new features:

• CAP Alerts - Enables Operators to send a message once over multiple networks using multiple formats.
• Save A Copy - Enables Operators to copy an existing incident as a template for future use.
• Quick Start menu - Provides an easy one-click way to begin incidents, alerts, instant message sessions and easy access to the Operator’s Profile.
• Most Recently Used List - Provides the Operator with quick, convenient access to the four most recently used incidents and/or alerts.
• Distribution Lists - Enables Operators to establish a list of COGs to whom new incidents and alerts can be sent on a frequent basis.

The DMIS Team continues to urge all COGs to become thoroughly familiar with the features and tools provided in DMIS by regularly exercising and training within the community as well as collaborating with other DMIS COGs. The time to become proficient is before an actual incident occurs. If there are questions related to DMIS use, installation, status of a DMIS registration request or other registered DMIS COGs in your area, please call or email Rick Hauschildt, DMIS COG Manager, at (540) 288-5671.

4. DisasterHelp.gov Enhancements

DisasterHelp.Gov registrations continue to grow and the portal is constantly updated and enhanced. To register, go to https://disasterhelp.gov/portal/jhtml/index.jhtml .

What’s New at DisasterHelp.gov?

The Disaster Management E-Gov Initiative (DM) provided updates, support and / or outreach as follows using DisasterHelp.Gov:

• FEMA Mitigation: Provided assistance to admin for adding users to access team calendars; began development on alphabetizing the list of users.
• USFA: Completed bulk registration of 66 users.
• Next of Kin Registry (NOKR): Created screen mockups and began development of new disclaimer for site.
• Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP): Conducted onsite training for new administrator and began development of new community.
• Social Security Administration (SSA): Added new sub-community administrators.
• Added DHelp link information to FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute’s Higher Education Activity Reports and Higher Education links.
• Moved two community pages to production for EDXL and NEMA.
• Set up a Readiness Assessment instance for DM installations; resolved issues with the uploading of new status images.
• Updated Welcome Messages.
• Created new accounts and verified new users.
  

July 24-30, 2005: International Conference on Energy, Environment and Disasters (INCEED 2005). Bridging the Gaps for Global Sustainable Development (UNESCO – ISEG – GADR). Charlotte North Carolina. http://www.iseg.giees.uncc.edu/inceed2005/

August 10-12, 2005: Emergency Readiness Conference and Expo 2005. Organizers: University of Texas at Dallas School of Management, CyberSecurity and Emergency Preparedness Institute. Richardson, Texas. See http://som.utdallas.edu/erc2005/ .

August 28-31, 2005: 2005 Annual National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) Conference. Anchorage Alaska. http://www.nemaweb.org

6. Upcoming EIIP Virtual Forum

Welcome to the EIIP!

The EIIP Virtual Forum provides 'live chat' presentations and interactive Q&A with subject matter experts on timely topics on two Wednesdays each month, 12:00 Noon EDT.

June 28, 2005: As we enter the 2005 hurricane season, Betty Hearn Morrow, Ph. D., will share research ten years after Hurricane Andrew to determine how far we have come in preparedness by comparing differences in damage from the September 2004 Florida hurricanes.

Please visit the EIIP Virtual Forum homepage http://www.emforum.org or subscribe to the EIIP Mail List via the Homepage to monitor upcoming topics for June 2005.

No advance registration or user account is required; use the Chat Login link on the EIIP home page at http://www.emforum.org. NOTE: The Forum is using new chat software. Please check your connection prior to your first meeting with us; you may need to download the latest version of JAVA.

About the EIIP: The EIIP is an educational non-profit association of individuals and organizations seeking to enhance their effectiveness in coping with disasters and emergency situations by exploring the opportunity for sharing information and ideas made possible by electronic technology. The EIIP also shares its vision and educational opportunities through the EIIP Community on the DisasterHelp.gov Web site http://www.disasterhelp.gov .

7. About the Disaster Mangement E-gov Initiative (DisasterHelp.gov and DMIS)

The Disaster Management E-Gov Initiative is part of the President's Management Agenda for making government more focused on people and results. Its goal is to provide an easy-to-use, unified point of access to disaster management knowledge, services and toolsets to achieve an accelerated and improved quality of disaster mitigation and response. There are two major parts of the initiative: Disaster Management Interoperability Services (DMIS) and the DisasterHelp.Gov portal. DMIS is focused on the responder/emergency management profession, while the portal provides information and services to citizens, business, federal, state, and local government and non-profit organizations relating to disaster and emergency response.

8. About the Interoperations Newsletter

The Interoperations Newsletter reports on the developments of interest for the disaster management community. Reader comments, questions, and notifications to cancel this newsletter can be forwarded directly to the Editor, Avagene Moore at (931) 762-4768, or the Responder Liaison, Scott Eyestone, at (540) 288-5622; or provided via the DMI-Services Web site at http://www.cmi-services.org/. Your feedback is welcome and appreciated.