112 emergency telephone number information system

Customer: Emergency Response Center (ERC)

Sector:  public sector

Activity Review

The Emergency Response Center was established on the basis of the ruling of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, referring to the EU Council Decision 91/396/EEB specifying that the State Members had to ensure that the common European emergency call phone No. 112, which may be installed alongside all the other existing NATIONAL emergency response phone numbers, would be installed in the public telephone networks, the networks of the integrated services and public mobile communication networks until 31 December 1996.

The Emergency Response Center has been performing its activities on the basis of the Law of the Emergency Response Center of the Republic of Lithuania, the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, international agreements of the Republic of Lithuania, the statute of the Interior Service, other laws and legal regulations of the Republic of Lithuania.

ERC task has been defined in the Law on the Emergency response Center - ensure the reply to the emergency calls and response to the aid requests. The principles of ERC activities as defined in the Law:

1) A principle of an uninterrupted service supply, which means that the emergency calls are received into ERC and the aid  requests are responded around the clock during working days, days-off and holidays.

2) A principle of expedition, which means that the ERC ensures immediate and precise response to the aid requests.

3) A principle of regularity, which means that the assigned tasks are implemented and the functions are performed by the ERC officers, who have had special training courses and acquired proper qualification.

Description of the Activities Performed by the Emergency Response Center

The Emergency Response Center was established by pursuing to ensure that it would be possible to call out an aid in case of any accident by unified phone No. 112. After the ERC has started its activities the old emergency call phone No. 01, 02, 03 are operating in parallel. The calls by these numbers are automatically directed to the ERC. Thus the principal idea of the ERC activities is ensured – the information about a distress received simultaneously and it is ensured that, if needed, all the services rendering a proper aid are notified simultaneously – Police, Urgent Medical Aid, Fire Protection and Rescue service, utilities services, which are going to respond to an aid request simultaneously.

The main figures, by which the activity scope of the Emergency Response Center is characterized, are these:

• 4 regional divisions have been in operation;
• Over 300 employees have been working in the ERC;
• Up to 7 million callsare received annually by the ERC (i. e. 19,000 a day on the average);
• An average time, through which an operator from the ERC answers a call, is 4.8 sec.;
• An average time, through which an ERC operator prepares a message about an aid request, is 2 minutes.

Development concepts of emergency response phone 112 information system and preparation of a technical project for the development

Challenges

The activities of the Emergency Response Center has been closely related to the specialized information system, designed to administer aid calls, manage forces, co-ordinate actions by rendering aid.The ERC information system has been implemented by using the specialized software package ELS Geofis (the new version of the product – „Siveillance ELS Web“; manufacturer – "Siemens AG"). In 2004 after the ERC IS pilot Project implementation the implemented information system has been successfully operating, its aid calls have been administered successfully in Vilnius and Vilnius region.

In order to ensure that the ERC IS would function and assist the ERC to perform function in the whole Lithuania, under the order from the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, Private Limited Liability Company ERP, after winning a public tender, prepared a ERC development concept and a technical design in 2006. The major goal by preparing these documents was to reply into questions: how many ERC regional centers are needed in Lithuania in order to ensure qualitative administration conforming to the requirements of aid calls on common telephone number 112 and assess an alternative economic and technical feasibility. It was also an important task to prepare rational proposals regarding the development of the system technological framework, because referring to the information system activity environment and value to the public, the prepared technical design had to ensure that the designed information system would  conform to the requirements of reliability, functioning, quick-operation and uninterrupted performance.

ERP solution

Experts from the Private Limited Liability Company ERP has investigated the experience of the other EU states by arranging the activities of common aid phone No. 112, possible development prospects, used organizational and technological solutions. A thorough analysis of the legal deeds of the EU and the Republic of Lithuania, regulating the activities of the ERC and aid services, the processes of the ERC activities and interaction with the other aid services and the analytical report of the existing situation has been prepared. Statistical information about the number of aid calls, received within the territory of Lithuania from all the networks and all the operators, distribution of calling flow pursuant to the aid services, a day of the week, a time of the day has been collected and analyzed as well as a number of real events in comparison with the whole flow of calls.  A pursuing situation analysis document, encompassing a description of the blueprinted optimized activity processes, general functional, technical and technological requirements for ERC informational system as well as the requirements of ERC operators’ number has been prepared on the basis of the outcomes of the existing situation analysis report. 

The experts of Private Limited Liability Company have offered several ERC safeguarding models in the whole Lithuania:1center, 2 centers, 2 major and 2 reserve centers and 4 centers.Together with the specialists of ERC and the aid services, after analyzing possible ERC activity alternatives, the experts of Private Limited Liability Company ERP has prepared documents for the analysis of recommendations and risk assessment, where each of possible BPC activity models has been analyzed in details in terms of social, technical, technological, economic and risk aspects, the recommended BPC activity model substantiated on the detailed analysis outcomes has been submitted. After the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Lithuania has approved the recommended BPC activity model, BPC information system technical design has been prepared encompassing the general and detailed requirements for information system functioning, security, reliability, uninterrupted operation, as well as the requirements for software, technical hardware, telecommunication equipment and BPC operators’ working places.

Outcomes

Project outcome – prepared concept for the development of common aid phone number 112 information system in the whole territory of Lithuania, blue-printing BPC activity model in order to ensure qualitative administration of calls by aid number 112 and BPC IS technical design, encompassing the general and detailed requirements for information system functioning, security, reliability, uninterrupted operation, as well as the requirements for software, technical hardware, telecommunication equipment and BPC operators‘ working places.

Pilot implementation of Emergency Response Phone 112 Information System and Information System Development

Challenges

The Emergency Response Center has started its activities on 1 September 2004, by commencing a pilot implementation of specialized information system, designed to administer aid calls, manage forces, co-ordinate activities by rendering an aid in Vilnius and its region. The information system had to ensure that an operator of the Emergency Response Center by receiving a call for an aid request would receive appropriate information, mandatory to identify an event type, make a decision which aid services must respond within the shortest time as well as ensuring a communication with a calling person, if needed. The information system had also to ensure that it would be possible to automate maximally the ERC interaction processes with the aid services, guarantee exchange of information with the crews of the aid services by rendering an aid using various communication devices – radio, GSM and GPRS communication. Very high requirements were raised to the technical requirements of the information system – IS must operate efficiently on 7x24x365 mode, have high quick-operation parameters, must ensure recording of the operator‘s actions and conversations, must ensure interfaces with external data bases of various types and formats, must be easily adapted and replaced by the change of activity needs.

ERP solution

A specialized software package ELS Geofis  (the new version of the product – „Siveillance ELS Web“; manufacturer – "Siemens AG") has been selected as a technological basis for the ERC information system, which is used for automation of activity processes at the Emergency Response Centers and Aid Services over 100 world countries.

The information system has been adjusted to the ERC activity needs on the basis of the requirements stipulated in the legal regulations of the Republic of Lithuania, activity and response scenarios have been introduced, integrations with telecommunication stations have been implemented, the responsive forces and their types have been described and introduced, the users‘ interfaces have been translated into Lithuanian, the maps have been brought into line and loaded, integrations with data basis of addresses and stationary phones have been implemented as well as capacitating to identify a calling person's phone number and address in an automated manner. By the development of external information suppliers’ technical options, integration with mobile telephone network operators’ information systems has been implemented and it has permitted to implement an extremely important function – instantaneous automatic identification of a person's location calling from his/her mobile phone. Integration with TETRA Digital radio communication network has permitted to implement additional forces’ management functioning options – see the crews' locations, movement, status, changes of their status, exchange SMS with the crews and transfer voice messages by safe encoded radio communication.

Integration with traffic-light information system has developed an additional function permitting, if needed, to make a „green street“ for the motor vehicles of the aid services in Vilnius, ensuring acceleration of the arrival of the crews from the aid services into the location of any event.

Outcomes

A specialized solution has been implemented, designed to automation of the Emergency Response Center‘s activities and encompassing such major functional spheres:

• Automation of reception of aid calls over common aid phone No. 112, encompassing an automatic phone number and a calling person‘s location (both calling from the stationary and mobile phone) and address identification; questions-replies tree and an automatic event type identification (classification); automated responding forces‘ proposal submission referring to the event type, response and submission of action instructions;
• Responding forces’ management and communication functioning, encompassing ensurance of communication with the aid service crews over various communication channels (TETRA, GSM, GPR).Information system permit to watch the forces’ presence location, their status in real-time, submit primary and additional information about the event directly to the crews;
• Explicated geographical information (GIS) functioning, enabling interactively reflect the calling person‘s presence location, an event location, crews’ presence location, movement and etc.

Back