Mounted search and rescue

["irvin lichtenstein" <ilichten1@verizon.net>]

When evaluating a product that is in reality a service as web based products are, you  have to evaluate access, reliability of the service, the communication link, and your subscriber equipment.  We currently use two web based products, R-San, and Knowledge Center.  Both are hosted on multiple servers at multiple EOC’s  and are provided with backup equipment, power, and Internet connections.  Both are furnished and supported by the region’s county EMA’s.  The Commonwealth has provided each fire and EMS station with response reporting software.  The fire companies got Firehouse which is also available for multiple concurrent users and via a web based service.  It provides for staff records and attendance at training in its most basic form and the inventory/maintenance and training modules are cheap for the single user versions.  Most fire companies pay $100 per year per module for telephone technical support of their on-site single user copy.  Several fire companies have developed improved interfaces for entering reports.

 

You must also look at what systems you have to interact with.  In PA we interact with other EMA’s  via either Knowledge Center or Web EOC while on a mission.  The state is developing a Position Task Book system for ICS positions but has not yet implemented one. There are guidelines for reporting “major” incidents to the state level EMA.

 

Assuming you pick a reliable web based service is it secure enough for your purposes?  Any system that contains personnel records must be secure against both outside visibility and inside corruption.  Most of your records are subject to audit, FOIA or public records requests, may have to be maintained for very long periods (such as haz mat exposure reports) and most are confidential (medical baselines, personal identification, school transcripts) under state or federal law. Any system that allows access remotely is suspect, particularly if logs of transactions are either not kept or are also available by the same method as the content of the system.  All the county, state, Red Cross, and federal (FEMA, NFA, EMI) training facilities keet academic records on secure systems and your members can furnish certification or transcripts as needed.  In an effort to protect students FEMA is now assigning a separate student ID instead of using SSAN.  Most colleges and universities do the same.  And many training sites are using a learning management system as part of their web based course wear which is auditable, verifiable, and based on results of courses taken, not manual data entry.

 

Irv Lichtenstein

SEPASAR

From: msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Paul Fleming
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 6:15 PM
To: Mounted search and rescue
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Need data base recommendations.