At the core of the WebEOC platform are the data and process workflows—known as WebEOC Boards—that allow credentialed users to enter and view real-time information and coordinate initiatives through a range of device types.
Since implementation, the utility has been using a wide variety of WebEOC workflows, including some that were modified or created to address its unique operational requirements. The following are some of the WebEOC Boards that the company has found particularly useful in helping it deploy resources, manage recovery finances, and learn lessons for the future.
Support Services: The client uses this workflow to input and monitor resources such as line crews, damage assessors, and vegetation teams. It enables the company to track details such as vendor, personnel, equipment, resource needs, and current work location. The utility’s lodging team also uses the Board to manage the inventory of reserved hotel rooms, ensuring that everyone helping restore service delivery has a place to stay. “This Board has really helped us, especially our logistics side,” says the EM director.
Incident Action Plans: The utility leverages this workflow’s built-in planning capabilities to help implement ICS guidelines and create detailed incident action plans (IAPs). “A lot of the features and reports and things that are built in there fit naturally within the ICS process,” says the EM director. “We were able to use a lot of it out of the box.” The IAP Board offers different templates for different types of events, allowing the emergency management team to build on earlier versions when creating IAPs for the next operational period.
Requests and Tasks: This workflow compliments the Support Services Board with a variety of additional logistics-tracking features. “If we need to have dumpsters or light towers or different things deployed to different sites, we’ll track them through the Requests and Tasks Board,” explains the EM director.
Financial Rollup: This custom workflow was created for the utility by Juvare’s Development Team to capture cost estimates from the Support Services Board and the Requests and Tasks Board so critical financial data could be displayed and viewed in one location. “This Board provides a good high-level view for our leadership and financial teams to see where we are with our cost estimates,” says the EM director. “It’s been very helpful.” The team also uses the Financial Rollup Board to validate invoicing as it comes in after an event—a capability that recently allowed the company to catch an instance where a vendor billed them twice for the same work.
After-Action Review: Emergency response personnel at the company use this workflow to record any ideas they may have about how current procedures can be improved going forward. After a disaster response initiative has concluded, the EM leadership evaluates the suggestions that have been submitted and identify the best ones for future follow-up. “We’ve gotten some really good ideas out of that,” says the EM director.
Materials Delivery: Juvare designed this workflow specifically for the client based on an idea from a member of the utility’s logistics team. After responding to numerous phone calls from impatient field crews, the logistics specialist told the EM director, “Man, it’d be nice if we could have something like DoorDash where the guys in the field can see where the deliveries are.” Designed to provide that exact capability, the Materials Delivery Board leverages telemetric data from company vehicles as well as ArcGIS® APIs to pull in information on current locations, driver IDs, and cargos. “Now it’s all self-service,” says the EM director. “The members in the field that need to know where things are—instead of picking up the phone, they can log in to WebEOC and see where it’s at. It saves some interruptions for our team.”
