|
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
Q2 2007
IN THIS ISSUE
|
|
FEATURE
Readiness '07 User Conference
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS SPOTLIGHT
Regional Security Alerts and the Virginia Tech Incident
E TEAM PRODUCT STEERING COMMITTEE (PSC) UPDATE
by Lou Vargo, PSC Chairman
PRODUCT NEWS
E Team R3.0 and R6.2 Debut
ESP Launch of the Channel Initiative
READER CONTRIBUTIONS
Do you have an interesting tip on how to best use ESA, ESP or E Team? What about input on an aspect of emergency or security management? We welcome contributions to the Readiness Quarterly, so please contact us at info@nc4.us if you have a story idea.
FEEDBACK
Is there something else you'd like to see in this newsletter? Contact us at info@nc4.us.
|
|
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
|
E Team Customer Call
Thursday, June 14
11am PDT / 2pm EDT
|
|
|
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS SPOTLIGHT
NC4 alerts proved of significant value to our customers during the recent Virginia Tech mass shooting incident. Even though you may not have facilities in a specific area, it is possible to receive alerts of national importance such as this, the deadliest college shooting in US history. NC4 received positive feedback for early and continued NC4 alerts regarding the unfolding situation from customers, even from those who did not have facilities nearby.
Here are just two examples of how the NC4 alerts proved valuable for customers who did not have any facilities in the Blacksburg vicinity:
A major organization with no 'locations of concern' near Blacksburg had an employee in a training class at VA Tech the day of the shootings and several of their employees had children attending VA Tech.
A major manufacturing company with no corporate locations near VA Tech had ten recruiters on campus that day. Because the Director of Customer Service was getting NC4 alerts on his BlackBerry, he was aware of the evolving situation.
If you did not get the alerts regarding the VA Tech incident, it may be prudent to set a REGION alert profile for all severe and extreme
security incidents
in the
United
States. If you need assistance in creating a region profile for security incidents, please contact support@nc4.us
An overview of NC4s coverage on the Virginia Tech mass shooting is available.
|
|
EXECUTIVE CORNER 
NC4 President, Jim Montagnino
NC4 is proud to have provided the Emergency Managers and First Responders with a higher level of readiness than ever before for Super Bowl XLI, a national security event of the highest ranking. We put our National Incident Monitoring Centers and Situational Response solution, E Team into duty in Miami for the game. Highly trained analysts stationed at NC4 monitoring centers on each coast of the United States, were prepared to alert Miami officials within minutes to incidents that would pose a threat in South Florida.
Read the full press release
|
|
FEATURE
NC4 Hits the Mark with Readiness '07 User Conference in San Diego
 Mother nature provided great weather again this year as we kicked off the NC4 User's Conference - Readiness '07. Monday was a busy day of pre-conference activities starting with E Team training sessions in the morning, followed by an afternoon packed with a variety of activities. We hosted our annual golf tournament at the Cottonwood Golf Club. Our players from the northern climes thoroughly enjoyed warming themselves in the 94-degree afternoon. For those that didn't care to swing the sticks, we hosted a relaxing harbor tour and an excursion to the world famous San Diego zoo where pandas and peccaries were the highlights. We closed the day with an informal Welcome Reception, where guests mingled with NC4 personnel and colleagues from throughout North America.
Tuesday got underway with LAPD Chief William Bratton officially opening the Conference with the keynote address. Chief Bratton captured the audience's attention, speaking from both his law enforcement background and personal experiences about preparedness and leadership. He discussed his shared interest in information sharing and the importance of public/private partnerships, suggesting that this relationship could be leveraged in an effort to prevent terrorism. The Chief's keynote set the stage for a dynamic conference. The day continued with insightful user presentations from Joe Lee from Wachovia; Sergeant Mark Tharp from the LAPD, Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center; Coleen Bell from Oakland Fire Department Office of Emergency Services Homeland Security; and Fire Chief Fred LaMontagne from Portland, Maine. Each shared with the User Group their use and experiences with External Situational Awareness (ESA) or the E Team solution. Afternoon sessions covered new product releases as well as presentations on the CyberCop Portal, Security Implications in a Collaborative World, and the Global Incident Monitoring Solution. E Team users were afforded the opportunity to learn about the new Analysis and Reporting Engine (ARE). The first full day of sessions concluded with a group dinner and another occasion to network with colleagues and NC4 personnel.
Wednesday started with NC4's George Johnson presenting Cyber Security in Today's Times. More user presentations rounded out the morning with presentations by James Coursey and Bob Graves from Abbott Labs and an Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) panel presentation that included Spencer Hawkins from City of Orlando, Garry McCormick from Charlotte/Mecklenburg, Jonathan Lord from Miami-Dade, and Robie Robinson from Dallas. Highlights of the day included product roadmap sessions, Tips and Tricks classes, presentations on the new Internal Situational Awareness (ISA) solution, NC4 Incident Monitoring Center Operations and the Extranet for Security Professionals. In addition, there were training sessions for E Team users.
Amidst and despite a background of hotel construction noise, the conference was rated a success by our attendees. Thank you for your welcomed feedback throughout the conference. NC4 values each and every customer and is committed to the User's Conference directly reflecting the best of what customers want.
If you are interested in viewing pictures from Readiness '07, click here (file is large - time to load will depend on your connection speed).
We are already looking forward to seeing you next year at Readiness '08 in Hilton Head, South Carolina, April 21-23.
|
|
E TEAM PRODUCT STEERING COMMITTEE UPDATE
by Lou Vargo, PSC Chairman
For all of the users that attended the Users Conference in San Diego, the Product Steering Committee thanks you for your time and any input that you gave to our members. Interactions at the User's Conference and your input throughout the year help each of us on the committee to present your ideas and needs to NC4. I encourage each of you to visit the support.nc4.us website to view the PowerPoint presentations from the conference.
At the conference, Cathi Salomon, Program Manager presented the changes that will be coming with the next release of the E Team software (E Team R3.0). The PSC is very proud of this release as there are several changes that we presented on behalf of the users. The Hazardous Materials-specific Incident report was a direct recommendation from one of our users. The map icon customization was another example of a need identified by the users and presented to the PSC. The committee was able to recommend this change and it will now become a feature within the software.
I encourage you to consider planning for the Users Conference next April on Hilton Head Island. I look forward to seeing many of you there. Until then and as always, I invite each of you to continue to share your ideas with the Product Steering Committee by emailing me at
lvargo@wheelinghospital.com.
|
|
E TEAM PRODUCT NEWS
E Team R3.0 and R6.2 Debut.
E Team Release 6.2 on Oracle 10G is scheduled for release in the second quarter. This release adds support for Oracle 10G.
E Team Release 6.2 will include the following enhancements:
Enhanced GUI Ability hide/unhide left and right navigation frames, providing maximum view display
as well as the ability to configure the system
for left frame or drop down menu navigation.
Form Enhancements Ability to categorize Resources and Critical Assets.
New Modules/Forms, including Disaster Relief reports, Damage Assessment reports, a HazMat T-II Facility report, a Vendor report, a Personnel Record report and the Tip Intel Submission form.
Beginning in the second quarter, E Team Release 3.0 on Domino
will be available for selected customers in an
extended Beta program. Release 3.0 is intended
for customers who plan to remain on the Domino platform
for the foreseeable future. There are numerous enhancements in this version which were voted on by the Product Steering Committee.
Many of these enhancements will be considered
for future release in the R6 platform. However, none are included in the second quarter R6.2 release.
Following is a list of the enhancements in R3.0:
Form Control Ability to enable/disable form tabs globally or on a form-by-form basis.
View Management Enhanced view management, including ability to change view titles.
Customize Default Notification Messages Customer determines what data should be sent on a form-by-form basis.
Auto Closure of Reports Related to Events Role related. Configurable to allow for closure, new status value, retain/clear relationship.
Map Icon Customization True Type Fonts. Customer can use E Team supplied font sets or can add their own. Ability to associate icon for each keyword type value.
Targeted Alerts Enhancements Targeted Alerts by Groups using same process as Notification Groups including the ability to create Notification/Targeted Alerts groups from within documents and designate whether Alerts generated from Responsibility fields go to Individual or Position.
Data Sharing Specific Views Provides user with at-a-glance ability to see what has been shared and with whom.
Alternate Record Shading for all Views Allows for clearer distinction between records.
HazMat Specific Incident Reporting Based on NRC (National Response
Center) Continuous Spill Form.
For questions pertaining to these new releases or to participate in our Beta
program, please contact support@nc4.us
|
|
ESP - LAUNCH OF THE CHANNEL INITIATIVE
The ESP Group has recently released a new
version of the core collaboration product that
features a capability to support
cross-organizational groups. This new release
(version 110) has been called the Channels
release because of its ability to open new
channels of group collaboration.
The goal of the channels initiative is to create
a new category of named "shared space" where
subscribers can create special collaboration
groups outside their normal group hierarchy.
These groups support group interaction using the
capabilities that are part of the standard ESP
collaboration suite. Subscribers can be invited
or they can request membership through
appropriate community administrators. Once a
subscriber becomes a member of a channel, he or
she has the ability to filter and manage
information using the familiar features and
functions that are available with any other
group. This insures that any given group of
subscribers can be granted rights to collaborate
outside of their normal hierarchy of group
relationships using standard ESP collaboration
tools.
There are two levels of access to a channel:
Channel Administrator and Member. An
Administrator can manage access by granting
or removing access rights to individual
members. A member can view, subscribe and
contribute to a channel. Site and Community
Administrators have the ability to see all
channels within a given portal.
Administrators also hold the sole right to
create channels and the right to authorize
subscriber access to channels. Multiple
subscribers from different organizations
can be granted administrative rights to the
same channel by the appropriate site or
community administrators.
There are three types of channels: (1) Open
(Public), (2) By Request, or (3) Private. An
Open channel is published to all members of
the portal and is open for public access A
By Request Channel, is visible to all member
of the portal and any member may issue a
request to access the Channel. The channel
administrators must approve or reject these
requests for access. A private channel is
only available to those subscribers who have
been given explicit access to view and
subscribe to that channel by a Channel
Administrator. Private channels are not
publicly advertised.
This new channels feature is designed to
augment and extend the powerful group
collaboration capabilities that are already
built into the ESP portal product.
For more information on Channels, please contact info@nc4.us or call 877.624.4999.
|
|
NC4, 100 N. Sepulveda Blvd., El Segundo, CA 90245, 877.624.4999
www.nc4.us | www.eteam.com | www.espgroup.net
If you no longer wish to receive this report please reply and enter REMOVE in the subject line.
A printable version of the newsletter is available here.
|