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Mission Manager’s Emergency Management Software Assists First Responders with Personnel and Equipment Management, Training, Live Missions, Reports and More

From natural disasters and search-and-rescue operations to campus security and public events,  Mission Manager’s cloud-based emergency management software helped first responders save lives and property – and also manage training and exercises – in nearly 1,300 missions in 2014.  According to the customers we talked to last year, Mission Manager saved significant time and money for their organizations and helped ensure a well-coordinated response.

 Personnel and Asset Management

As a daily tool, Mission Manager automates personnel and asset management functions, as well as scheduling, task management and reporting processes. Because personnel data is readily available and kept current – with customized login access levels for each member – incident commanders / emergency managers can quickly assemble teams and manage deployments with a click of a button.

UofN-CERTAt the University of the Nations (UofN) Kona, Hawaii,  Mission Manager is used extensively by the UofN-CERT organization, according to Allan Robbins, instructor and CERT team leader. “With Mission Manager, I can quickly come up with the information I need and get a team deployed within minutes versus hours in the past,” he said.

“Within minutes, I can determine team member’s availability, their qualifications and even the languages they speak,” Robbins noted. “It also allows us to track and maintain nearly 1,000 pieces of equipment, including emergency lighting, protective gear, fire hoses, tents and medical gear in our CERT Response Trailer. Mission Manager has been easy to setup and customize – and has saved me a lot of headaches of having to do this by pen and paper, or by memory.”

Document and Training Management

In Illinois, Capt. Roger Bonuchi of the Plainfield Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) also noted that Mission Manager has saved significant time with administrative tasks, such as producing end-of-year timekeeping reports for each member. “Now I can produce these reports within minutes, because the software automatically tracks each member’s hours based on the time/dates entered for each mission – it even records their hours via the RSVPs they’ve responded to in the calendar events,” he said.

Plainfield PEMA SAR briefPrior to adopting Mission Manager in April 2014, PEMA’s scheduling and timekeeping functions were performed on three separate platforms.  “We were all over the place before Mission Manager. We relied on one program for scheduling, another for timekeeping and paging (our software development), a third for callout response, and homegrown solutions for reporting,” he said. “That meant our PEMA IT staff had to maintain several websites, all of which had associated costs. Mission Manager has saved us thousands of dollars by consolidating these functions and saving us from buying a new server and software licenses.”

Mission Manager has also played a vital role for the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit (RMRU), a non-profit organization based in Hemet, Calif., which comprises 30 volunteers.

“We rely on Mission Manager – not only for our communications – but also to record hours of training needed for certifications. Mission Manager  helps us track every hour of every member, giving us credit for what we’re doing … This is extremely  important,  because it shows our value and helps us get funding  so we can carry out our missions,” said Glenn Henderson, who administers Mission Manager for the team, along with RMRU team member Gwenda Yates.

An Online Incident Command Solution

K9-Frankie of Search OneThe same holds true for the Search One Rescue Team, based in Dallas, Texas, whose primary mission is to help locate missing persons with the assistance of its canines teams. Search One relies heavily on Mission Manager to help run both searches and training activities.

“Mission Manager is great for any agency that has to manage multiple assets,” said Jess Romero, Director of Search Managers for the team. “It helps us with daily scheduling. When we create trainings, events and meetings in the calendar, it automatically informs our members so we don’t have to do it each time. It’s a big time saver.”

As an online incident command center, Mission Manager provides a clear picture of incidents as they unfold. The web-based software incorporates over 100 mapping layers, and allows incident commanders to communicate in real time via SMS text, voice or email.  Every detail of the incident is captured and fully integrated into the system – including event logs, team assignments and radio logs – providing a second-by-second record of every event.

Emergency Operations Software

In Nebraska, the Sarpy County Emergency Management Agency uses Mission Manager in the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) for volunteer management and situational awareness SARPY Emergency Managementduring severe weather events. It is also utilized for notifying, assigning and tracking the organization’s Skywarn volunteers who are deployed to pre-identified spotter locations, according to Lynn Marshall, Director of Emergency Management for the agency.

“We have those locations pre-built in the Mission Manager mapping tab for EOC/Spotter activations.  All the field information and radio logs are also captured in Mission Manager, which helps with accountability of our volunteers and becomes a timesaver when we need to run a reports,” said Marshall.

The Sarpy County agency also uses Mission Manager in the EOC to track training and exercises events, including a recent nationwide exercise that involved VA hospital evacuations. “In this case, we used Mission Manager to track and log information that was relayed to us, including how many patients were arriving and to which facilities,” said Marshall.

Back in Hawaii, the UofN CERT in Kona also uses Mission Manager extensively for deployments, including the recent lava flows as well as tsunamis, wildfires and hurricanes. “Whether using Mission Manager for our call-outs, providing our operational maps, or to help us better track our members’ training and our equipment inventory – without one person becoming the bottleneck – Mission Manager has made it much easier to manage our 74-member team,” said Robbins.

Situational Awareness with Extensive Maps

Search One K9 Mission Manager is also a key situational awareness tool for the Search One Rescue Team“Mission Manager allows us to track the status of our canine units in the field in real time,” said Romero, adding that keeping public safety agencies informed during Search One’s missions is a high priority.

In a recent search, Romero presented the status of his canine units to base command using a borrowed laptop. “Right then and there, the agency could see in real time what our canines were doing. They could see areas that we were covering, and I could explain why we were covering those areas. It’s very impactful,” said Romero.

In the law enforcement community, Mission Manager has assisted police and sheriff’s agencies with missions including tactical SWAT operations, SAR / CERT missions, campus security, training and large-scale public events.

One law officer in Southern California noted that Mission Manager is “easy to use, all-inclusive and integrated. The data entered into the tabs cross-pollinates the forms, which makes the reporting process much easier for us. I also like the mapping layers, which draw from multiple sources, including Google maps, Twitter feeds and government sources. We use both the maps and messaging features on a regular basis,” he said.

In the Northeast, Mission Manager has helped SWAT teams manage their daily team operations and live missions. During a large-scale public marathon that required heightened security, a SWAT cops_planning_webteam’s administrator relied on Mission Manager to gather the documentation needed to manage members’ assignments, provide real-time communications and track personnel during the event.

“Mission Manager saved us hours of briefing time and multiple sessions of Q&A, and also helped us track our team members’ activities and whereabouts,” according to the Sergeant, who today uses Mission Manager on a daily basis. “It has helped us cut out the middle man and become more efficient and effective.”

To learn more about Mission Manager or to request a free demo, please email sales@missionmanager.com or call 619-457-6119. Mission Manager is also available for a 30-day free trial at www.missionmanager.net.