Hurricane Katrina taught us many things, most importantly that the nation’s emergency preparedness procedures needed a great deal of improvement. New measurements are needed on a local, state, and federal level to ensure that no other city or region suffers through a similar situation. In the wake of the devastation, the federal government has recently launched a number of emergency initiatives. These include:
 

• The National Response Framework, which provides a blueprint for dealing with disasters;
• The National Emergency Communications Plan that seeks to connect first responders from around the country; and,
• The National Shelter System, which contains maps and data for more than 45,000 shelters nationwide.

While these are steps in the right direction, utility companies need their own emergency management plans to handle specific disaster responses should another hurricane of Katrina’s size and magnitude come knocking at our door. Just this year, Gustav and Ike packed a one-two punch for residents along the Gulf of Mexico, leaving millions without power for days or weeks.

In fact, although the height of hurricane season runs from June to November, utility companies must remain in a state of perpetual readiness for natural disasters throughout the year. Experts agree that having access to information is key, but companies should establish common operating procedures and emergency response plans based on the most up-to-date and accurate data. Part of this readiness is the overall outage management process, which involves pre-event emergency preparedness and incident management during and after a major outage event.

Emergency Management Initiatives
By now, most companies are familiar with emergency management. Its two main components – emergency preparedness and incident management – help companies prepare for any number of disasters and manage responses to various incidents. Most utility companies have some form of emergency preparedness and incident management process in place, which should follow guidelines set forth in the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

A version of NIMS has been in use since the 1970s when it was primarily used to help streamline communications during responses to wildfires. Then in 2004, prior to Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in August 2005, the Secretary of Homeland Security, at the request of the President, federalized NIMS and mandated its use by emergency responders. NIMS is a comprehensive system that improves emergency response operations through the use of the Incident Command System (ICS) and the application of standardized procedures and preparedness measures. These tools promote development of cross-jurisdictional, statewide, and interstate regional mechanisms for coordinating response and obtaining assistance during a large-scale or complex incident such as a major hurricane.

NIMS compliance is a community-wide effort. In addition to emergency management, fire, and medical services, incident response organizations include utilities, local public health, public works, private sector entities, non-governmental organizations, hazardous material handlers, and others. The ICS enables these organizations to develop the foundation for an effective response, requiring emergency preparedness and optimized collaboration, communication, and documentation among the response teams responsible for planning, logistics, operations, finance and administration, information management, liaison, and safety.

Software-Based ICS
Once the federal government established the blueprint for localized disaster response, it left the adoption and implementation up to each jurisdiction and emergency response organization. In response, utility companies and state and local governments have created and implemented a number of methods to manage their respective systems.

An ICS enables utility companies to develop the foundation for an effective outage response, but a typical paper-based or manual ICS is inefficient. Using an automated software-driven information system, utilities can better prepare, organize, manage, execute, and document emergency preparedness and incident management functions.

During implementation of a software-based system, emergency scenarios are identified and second roles, desired response levels, and other utility needs are specified for each scenario. The ability to customize responses to a variety of emergency situations ensures that utilities can maintain control over their processes and incorporate aspects of their current plan that have proven effective.

Using a software-based emergency management system positions utilities to better achieve compliance with ICS standards and institutionalize ICS within the company. This, in turn, automates some of the emergency preparedness and incident management functions. A software-based system provides standardized electronic forms for inputting data and utilizes intelligent business logic to orchestrate critical functions such as resource check-in / check-out, task assignment, individual performance rating, and more. All system transactions also receive a date and time stamp, building a traceable history for auditing.

Enabling an Emergency Management Process
There are many software systems on the market that can help utilities better manage their emergency response capabilities. These systems enable organizations to automate the preparation, organization, management, execution, and documentation of emergency preparedness and incident management functions. In addition to meeting the NIMS requirements, software systems conform to FEMA published guidelines, support second roles management, and contain features of ICS. Software programs also provide graphical representation of a utility’s entire distribution system, enabling a highly effective outage response management and ensuring organizational compliance with ICS standards.

Software-driven solutions based on a business process management (BPM) platform are unique. A solution that helps utility companies increase business effectiveness and efficiency with technology and which also allows them to continually improve and optimize their outage response processes in recurrent natural disasters, such as hurricanes, is extremely important. Moreover, having a repeatable process in place can also help utilities take better advantage of forecasts and proactively enact specific aspects of the emergency plan.

Software-based emergency management systems consolidate in one place all of the pertinent data needed during an incident– from second roles of employees to mutual assistance contracts to post outage analysis. This enables changes to be made efficiently to an entire system, as opposed to piece-meal implementation. Software solutions provide the tools needed to help measure response and identify areas of improvement.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of a software-driven solution is that it enables companies to monitor responses and evaluate incident management to improve internal processes. When a software system is utilized, utilities can define measurement parameters for each incident and expected levels of response. During the response phase, actual performance can be measured against these pre-defined standards. Full-featured software systems contain a user interface that logs all actions with a timestamp for instant reporting of incident response activity. After an event, utility companies can access and analyze this data and produce after incident reports. As with any process, emergency management can also be altered to meet the changing needs of a utility.

Improved Processes = Easier Problem Solving
In addition to helping utilities improve their internal processes, software solutions are equipped to help companies better address key challenges in any disaster response. One of the biggest challenges facing utilities during a hurricane is managing the logistics of the event. Companies must keep track of everything from personnel details and second roles to mutual assistance. With a computer-based solution, companies can identify scenarios and include data from other systems for effective decision-making.

For example, changes in personnel as people are hired, retire, or leave the company can often be overlooked or difficult to ascertain in a paper-based emergency management system. But these updates can be automatically reflected through data integration with the HR system, ensuring that each second role is identified and all employees are assigned proper roles on an on-going basis.
 
Another key challenge during outage situations is managing resources. As other regional utility companies arrive to offer their assistance, the emergency management system keeps track of the resources and supplies that are arriving. Software-based systems contain functionality that allows utilities to receive details of incoming resources. Once they arrive, the system can prompt utilities to capture the safety training for new resources, as well as outline the location of staging areas, lodging, and other logistical details.

Since a software-based system has the capability to interface with multiple legacy enterprise systems, users can access existing data systems such as the mobile dispatch system (MDS) to determine where the outages have occurred and what task is needed at each location. During an outage, the emergency management system helps utilities keep track of how many resources are on hand, where they are working, and how long they have worked. While these systems can keep track of numerous details such as equipment assigned to them, most often utilities choose to maintain only high-level information for these resources in the emergency management systems. The details of individual trouble tickets for power restoration are usually maintained in the outage management and mobile dispatch systems.

Assigning incident management and support tasks to resources also poses a challenge to a majority of utility companies. A software system contains a list of all utility employees, their roles, and training records for second roles, automatically prompting companies to conduct follow-on training if needed. During a hurricane outage situation, second roles are readily identified according to pre-determined scenarios and resources are mobilized to complete their predefined or ad hoc tasks.

For example, local companies need trained patrollers who locate the damage during an outage situation. These employees travel from location to location to gather details of the damage before a work crew is dispatched to the scene. Job details such as a tree on the line or a felled pole help the utility prepare for each incident location, saving time and resources by ensuring response crews are prepared for the work situation they are entering. Assignment and coordination of these tasks can be managed effectively in an automated manner using the software solution.

GIS Integration
Just as residents in a hurricane’s path need to monitor the weather, so do utility companies. Software systems offer extensive capabilities for utility companies to utilize geospatial information system (GIS) portals and download the latest weather data and other satellite imagery. This data along with the company’s power grid information enables the utility to predict which areas will be hardest hit.

The mapping functionality also helps utilities better manage their needs for static and dynamic maps. Companies can create static maps in the system showing details such as staging areas, and they can also connect to a fully functional GIS to perform spatial queries and other advanced data manipulation. This functionality also provides dynamic maps depicting the progress of restoration efforts and geographical areas that still require attention.

The benefits of a software-based emergency management system expand far beyond the height of hurricane season. By putting ICS based procedures in place and managing the process with emergency management software, utilities can better prepare for any natural disaster, other man-made events, and accidents. Enhancing the response processes during the off-season can greatly improve response times, reduce incident management costs, and improve a utility’s overall communication with its resources during an outage.

Having a process-driven model in place not only ensures that a company can learn from each outage event and improve access to the resources on-hand for each successive event, but in the longer view, also results in improved customer satisfaction ratings overall.

About the Authors
Akhlesh Kaushiva serves as Vice President, Commercial IT Services for Avineon, Inc. (www.avineon.com) where he leads business intelligence and business process management efforts among other IT systems for the company’s growing commercial sector. He is a veteran of the utility industry and has led implementation for major utility IT projects.

Anil Jayavarapu serves as the Director of BPM practice for Avineon, Inc. He leads business process management solutions for commercial customers and development efforts for Avineonics®, a state-of-the-art information system that enables organizations to prepare, organize, manage, execute, and document emergency preparedness and incident management functions. He has more than 14 years of experience in the IT and GIS industry performing management, consulting, and technical roles for utility companies.