iXP Develops New Shared Communications Center for Sandy Springs and Johns Creek, GA

Sector: Municipal Emergency Response

Focus: Shared E911/Dispatch Emergency Communications Center

Started: 2008-2009

Situation

The newly incorporated cities of Sandy Springs and Johns Creek, Georgia engaged iXP to provide both consulting and project management services to develop an E911/Dispatch Emergency Communications Center to serve their respective newly formed police and fire operations. Sandy Springs and Johns Creek, with respective populations of 100,000 and 60,000, are both located within the northern Atlanta metro area and, although only recently incorporated, represent well established and vibrant communities.

Not satisfied with the level of public safety and civic services being provided through a county system, both cities have made significant efforts to create local services while upgrading the quality, scope and response to their residents. Having completed much of the process, they turned to iXP to provide the final, critical piece of their public safety forces - an Enhanced 911/Emergency Communications Center.

Solution

This effort resulted in a "ground up" design, implementation and operation of a Communication Center and associated technologies. It featured the identification and build-out of the facility and a comprehensive technical program. Among the items implemented are an integration of a CAD system with interfaces to multiple RMS programs, 9-1-1 and general telephony systems, Automatic Vehicle Location system, and an early warning system. iXP needed to plan and execute a CAD solution that was right for a newly consolidated dispatch operation, while also being a good fit for several incumbent RMS environments in the participating agencies. We developed the requirements, requested solutions from vendors, evaluated options, selected and implemented the new systems. Since this is a build-own-operate situation, we have the added insights of not just making recommendations but then implementing and operating successfully based on those recommendations. Therefore, Governance processes, the Concept of Operations and Standard Operating Procedures have also been developed in accordance with high levels of accepted public safety communications practices and nationally accepted standards with an expectation of national accreditation in the future.

iXP also performed a detailed operations and staffing analysis for the E911/Dispatch Emergency Communications Center.

Results

The result is a state-of-the-art Communications Center that jointly serves the police and fire operations of these two cities, coordinate critical communications with contract EMS services and is poised strategically to expand the scope of operations to include additional emerging incorporated cities or existing neighboring operations to take advantage of economy of scale.

iXP provided the services to find and 'outfit' the facility, design and procure all the technology and systems in support of the 9-1-1 center (including CAD, telephony, radio, Logging/Recording, time synchronization, etc.), and hired and trained the employees that are now providing the call taking and dispatch services.

Continuing as a trusted partner, iXP is now operating the Communications Center and selected technologies on a service level delivery basis founded on the outcomes of the staffing analyses. As such, our operational and staffing models and recommendations, as well as the technologies selected and implemented, must be based on sound methodologies as we 'live by' our recommendations under a performance-based contract.

Value Delivered. Problem Solved.