SEEING IN THE DARK: IMPROVING INCIDENT
RESPONSE AND RECOVERY
By Akhlesh Kaushiva PE, Vice President, Commercial IT Services; Anil Jayavarapu, Director-Business
Process Management (BPM) Avineon Inc.
According to U.S. Department of Energy statistics,
unplanned power outages affected more than 27 million customers during 2008. While these outages were caused by a
number of factors, the numbers provide evidence that utility
companies must remain in a state of perpetual readiness for
managing incidents throughout the year.
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.
Having a computer-based emergency management system in
place can help utilities improve customer satisfaction and
enables them to make effective use of their resources. This in
turn dramatically reduces the loss of revenue during such outages.
ENABLING DATA CONSOLIDATION
An Emergency Management Information System is typically configured in the following manner:
The two main components of emergency operation plan –
emergency preparedness and incident management – help companies prepare for any number of disasters and enable them to
manage responses to various incidents. Most utility companies
have emergency preparedness and incident management procedures and processes in place, which should follow guidelines
set forth in the National Incident Management System (NIMS).
Federalized in 2004, NIMS is a comprehensive system that
improves emergency response operations through the use of the
Incident Command System (ICS) features and the application
of standardized procedures and preparedness measures.
The flexible ICS features and principles enable utility companies to streamline the procedures and protocols needed for an
effective outage response. A typical paper-based or manual ICS
is inefficient. By using an automated software-driven information system for emergency management, utilities can better prepare, organize, manage, execute, and document emergency preparedness and incident management functions. Software-based
emergency management systems consolidate all of the pertinent data needed during an emergency in one place – second
roles of employees, training records, contacts, mobilization rosters, mutual assistance contracts, post-outage analysis, etc. This
facilitates efficient periodic updates to all preparedness drivers
and plans, as compared to hard copy and piece-meal implementation of multiple software systems and databases.
Emergency management software systems not only help
utilities achieve NIMS compliance, they also help utilities conform to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
published guidelines. In addition, they provide the necessary
tools to help measure readiness, including help in conducting
exercises and drills. These systems also provide functionality
for task assignment, accountability and status updates needed to
render effective decisions for a highly effective outage response
management. As with any business process, emergency management processes and procedures mature with the changing
needs of a utility.
IMPROVED AND OPTIMIZED TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM
Emergency management software solutions based on a
business process management (BPM) platform are unique.
Unlike traditionally packaged software products, these BPM-based solutions not only help utility companies increase business effectiveness and efficiency, but also allow them to continually improve and optimize their outage response processes
for recurrent natural disasters such as hurricanes. Moreover,
having solutions that can orchestrate repeatable processes in
lieu of pre-packaged functionality driven software products,
utilities can take better advantage of collecting metrics to forecast and proactively enact specific changes to their emergency
plans.
BETTER MANAGE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS
One of the biggest challenges facing utilities during an
emergency is managing the administration and logistics of
resources. Companies must keep track of everything from
employee information to details of mutual assistance crews.
With a computer-based solution for emergency management,
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