Case Study

iXP Creates Strategic Plan for Jefferson County, Alabama’s 9-1-1 and Public Safety Dispatching

Jefferson County, AL

Sector: Government
Focus: Strategic Planning Consulting/ Program Management

Situation

Jefferson County is the largest county in Alabama, with a population of approximately 660,000 over an area of 1,113 square miles. Within the county more than two dozen distinct E9-1-1 public safety answering points (PSAPs) and emergency dispatch facilities provide emergency communications support to more than 50 fire departments and 22 police departments. There are also numerous Emergency Communications Districts (E-911 taxing authorities), creating a fragmented approach to 9-1-1 funding and technology planning.

Critical Issue

With such diverse operations and infrastructure, multiple jurisdictions within Jefferson County are seeking to improve the overall quality of their public safety services to the community by increasing operational efficiency and economy through collocation or consolidation of many of the now-separate PSAP operations.

Reasons

Ultimately, the County’s priority is to ensure its citizens and first responders have the emergency communications systems in place to effectively respond to all local and county-wide emergencies. Jefferson County turned to iXP to provide consulting and project management services to help them meet these goals.

Vision

iXP guided Jefferson County through a fact-finding and visioning process that resulted in a Strategic Plan that could guide further efforts targeted at implementing the strategic goals. This Strategic Plan provided essential information about the current environment, insights on advantages of collocation and consolidation alternatives, and a roadmap for moving the project toward design, funding and implementation.

iXP Provided

The iXP team delivered a customized, comprehensive change management solution for Jefferson County, bringing to bear iXP’s unique methodology (SAIF®, the Solution Architecture Integration Framework) and extensive public safety communications expertise in governance, facilities, operations and technology.

Results

From the foundation of the Strategic Plan, iXP is now working with the County and a multi-jurisdictional Project Governance Board and Operations Committee to plan and implement a shared facility that will allow the participating agencies to improve both the quality and efficiency of their emergency communications functions. iXP services include development of facility and systems needs documentation, procurement specifications and support, and implementation support.

Problem Solved.