Control Collaboration Project Update Community Safety Committee
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
OFFICIAL Control Collaboration Project Update Community Safety Committee Date: 24 July 2015 Agenda Item: Submitted By: Director of Strategic Development 5 Purpose To update Members on progress with the Control Collaboration project. Recommendations That Members note the progress of the project and approve up to four further visits to Systel France for project team members to support developments of the new Command and Control System. Summary This report contains information on the current position of the Control Collaboration Project, which is a joint project to deliver an integrated Command and Control system for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue (SYFR). The project is complex and highly technical in nature and there have been a number of challenges in fully implementing the system to our exacting requirements. The system has now been live for some time and project teams have been working hard with Systel, the provider, to develop the system and deliver its full functionality. The Project remains within budget and is on track for delivery of the full functionality by late 2015 or early 2016. Local Government (Access to information) Act 1972 Exemption Category: None Contact Officer: Director of Strategic Development Background papers open to inspection: None Annexes: None 10 1 Introduction 1.1 The new Command and Control System provided by Systel went live at WYFRS Service Delivery Centre (SDC) on 13th November 2014 following SYFR who had gone live a few months earlier. Since then WYFRS have mobilised to over 17, 000 incidents including several large multi-pump incidents that have tested the systems functionality. 2 Information 2.1 The Command and Control system provided by Systel for WYFRS and SYFR is designed to provide for 100% redundancy on the entire system to virtually eliminate the possibility of entire system failures or major disruption. It comprises of 3 databases situated over 2 sites connected by 2 fibre optic links taking a diverse route between WYFRS SDC and SYFS Headquarters. 2.2 The resilience offered by the system ensures that each Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) can take each other’s emergency calls and mobilise resources seamlessly without having the need to maintain a secondary control facility within their own FRS. 2.3 The architecture of the new Command and Control System is designed so that each FRS has a fall-back location in the other FRS’s Control Suite that can be utilised during periods where one control room needs to be fully evacuated or a critical failure has occurred on one site. To test the business continuity arrangements, all shifts within WYFRS Control have now undergone fall-back training at South Yorkshire. This training involved operating the WYFRS Control room from South Yorkshire Headquarters for a full day. Further testing will be carried out later in the year that will include a further evacuation from SDC with a full command structure in place operating from South Yorkshire. 2.4 Following the implementation of the new Command and Control system the improved functionality has seen a major change to how resources are mobilised. This includes the recent rollout of new Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) software and Automatic Vehicle Location System (AVLS) which allows the Control Room to mobilise the nearest resource to the incident based on its GPS location. The system, via the AVLS tracking, also allows an appliance to be redirected from a non-life risk incident to a nearby life risk incident if necessary. This will ensure that the nearest resources are always available to attend life risk incidents. All resources can be tracked from within the Control Room utilising the mapping software on the large wall mounted monitors. 2.5 The next major phase of development is the replacement of the MDT hardware solution with new demountable equipment that will give increased operational functionality including, for example, route guidance software and information on vehicles to assist with extrication from road traffic collisions. 2.6 Whilst there have been some notable functional enhancements delivered by the new system, there have also been a number of technical problems which has caused some difficulties, which has an impact on staff within the Control Room. Control Staff have responded well to these challenges and remain focussed and highly professional ensuring the highest possible standards of service at all times. Examples of problems include; where system functionality does not operate as expected; system stability issues when updates to software are applied; and periodic system faults and performance issues. These issues are generally dealt with effectively by Systel but when they occur they can be frustrating and difficult to resolve. 2.7 A significant amount of effort is being put in to addressing the outstanding issues by staff from WYFRS, SYFR and Systel. The system is being developed with improvements seen almost on a weekly basis with the project team making slight changes to the configuration with updates and fixes being carried out by Systel following consultation with the project team. Weekly conference calls are a regular feature with issues discussed with developers in France and representatives from Systel UK. Monthly Project Board meetings, chaired by the Deputy Chief Fire Officer from WYFRS, monitor progress and hold the supplier to account. 11 2.8 A major milestone recently has seen the signing off of Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) which has released the associated payment, with the process being audited by Internal Audit from Kirklees MDC to ensure compliance and provide assurance for both fire and rescue authorities. 2.9 There remain a number of key elements still to be delivered including features such as the Dynamic Cover and Risk Modelling Tool, which will be used to ensure the best possible emergency cover across West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire at all times. During June 2015, the project teams carried out two planned visits to Systel in La Rochelle, France. The first visit was for administrator training that will ensure Control Staff can carry out additional configuration of the system and identify issues with the system through improved fault diagnosis. The second visit was a planned workshop where the project teams were able to sit down face to face with Systel developers and discuss some of the day to day issues currently being experienced with the system. This included issues that meet the tender requirement in theory, but due to differing interpretation do not support the current way of working and are real priority issues for our Control staff. 2.10 This visit also allowed the team to discuss and agree with the Systel development team the specifications for some of the remaining developments and establish a timeline for delivery. 2.11 The visits to France by the project team remain absolutely vital to the delivery of the outstanding developments within the agreed timeline. There remain a number of further developments to discuss and these will need to be facilitated through more workshops later in the year. It is anticipated that a further four visits to France for up to four personnel on each occasion will be required over the coming months. 2.12 The project team are currently working through the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) using a series of scripts to test the functionality of the system that has just been delivered including MDT’s and functionality recently delivered in the latest software releases. 2.13 Relationships continue to build with South Yorkshire through the regular project meetings and also the weekly joint conference calls with Systel. There are inevitable differences in ways of working but these have been factored into the slight variations in configuration over the two sites. An agreement is also in place between both Services to ensure major developments affecting both services are discussed and agreed with Systel before changes are applied. 2.14 Many challenges lie ahead to keep the delivery of the outstanding developments on target and ensure the contract is delivered as per the agreed specification. There have been various issues surrounding the misinterpretation in certain areas where Systel claimed compliance with the original tender specification. This is not unusual for any major ICT project and the solution lies in working pragmatically and diligently with the supplier to address any areas of disagreement and/or misinterpretation. This is what is currently taking place and being monitored through various project meetings and the robust project governance in line with the WYFRS Project Framework. 3 Financial Implications 3.1 The project remains within allocated budgets and due to delays in delivery of certain elements of functionality, a number of key milestone payments are currently being withheld. The situation is closely monitored by the Control Collaboration Project Board and delivery of the elements linked to such payments is audited by Kirklees MDC Internal Audit, who are members of the Board. 3.2 The costs associated with the project team visits to Systel France can be met from within existing resources. 12 4 Equality and Diversity Implications 4.1 Equality and diversity implications have been identified and addressed previously as part of the project. There are no further implications arising which relate specifically to the information contained in this report. 5 Health and Safety Implications 5.1 Health & safety issues have been identified and addressed previously as part of the project. There are no further health and safety issues arising related specifically to the information contained in this report. 6 Organisational Dependencies 6.1 The Control Collaboration project remains a major piece of work and demands resources from a wide range of departments. Continued commitment will therefore be required from staff who are crucial to the successful delivery of the project for at least another 6 months and possibly longer.