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ITEM CM7

 

COMMUNITY SAFETY SCRUTINY COMMITTEE - 1 DECEMBER 2008

FIRE SERVICE COMMAND AND CONTROL ROOM – THE FiReControl AND FireLink PROJECTS

 

Report by Assistant Chief Fire Officer Colin Thomas (Oxfordshire’s Senior User for the FiReControl and FireLink Projects and Joint Regional Project Board Member)

 

Purpose/Background

 

·                    Regular update for Community Safety Scrutiny Committee.  This is now based on the Highlight Report which we produce for the Joint Project Board

 

Project Summary

 

·                    General assessment – we still await confirmation of the installation dates for FireLink Phase B (the latest tentative date for the start is 30 Mar 09 – any further delay will cause problems as it will then clash with our planned programme for the Early Station End Equipment installation).  At the same time, we have been told that there will shortly be an announcement from the FiReControl project concerning delay; although, as we are later in the programme, we are unsure how much this will impact on our planned cutover date of Jan 09.

 

·                    Our own work in the Fire & Rescue Service (FRS) to prepare for FireLink Phase B continues with the contractor’s vehicle surveys completed in Oct 08.  Detailed resource and logistics plans are in place and merely await a firm start date.   For FiReControl, the enabling work to ensure our fire stations are ready for the Early Station End Equipment (ESEE) is well underway and should be completed within the time and cost estimates.   The Data Conversion and Migration Toolkit (DCMT1) has now passed its technical assurance tests and we expect to receive it in Mar 09.   In the meantime, we are pressing ahead with the work to prepare our Gazetteer data for conversion.

 

·                    The detailed Highlight Report is below:

 

Progress (last month)

Coordinator to describe how they are proactively delivering FiReControl (referencing TRN plan activities where appropriate).

This can be the regional progress report (if one is already being produced) and should include issues that have been resolved at the FRS level.

  1. F04330 – Gazetteer Data migration. We have received the IA report and attended a CLG workshop to analyse the results.  Action Sheet raised to initiate preparatory work on Gazetteer prior to installation of DCMT1 – now expected Jan/Feb 09.
  2. F03180 – ESEE enabling work continues (4 stations out of 24 completed).  Now have electrician and assistant working full-time on project – completion planned Apr 09.  This is planned to be followed by EADS ESEE installation starting May 09 (dependant upon timing of FireLink Ph B)
  3. F08090 – Change to national call sign system.   Project on track to deliver change to national call signs on 31 Mar 09.    Vivista have quoted for work on mobilising system.  Plan to let contract for work in Nov 08.
  4. F09130 – Incident Reporting System (IRS).  Oxfordshire successfully implemented the IRS on 1 Oct 08.    Initial impressions are that it is working well.  A survey to gain an estimate of the impact of using the system on our costs will be carried out at the end of the first quarter of operation (Jan 09).
  5. Project Support Assistant now in post to support both FireLink and FiReControl project teams.
  6. Service Delivery attended a SE WoW workshop first week of Oct (predominantly to harmonise PDAs) and subsequent workshop starting on 20 Oct on SOPs.
  7. PM visited Kent to discuss their assurance process and use lessons to improve Oxfordshire work.
  8. FireLink Ph B surveys undertaken in week 20 -24 Oct.    Timing for Ph B installation remains fluid.
  9. PM, Data Manager and WoW secondee (to start in Dec 08) attended Data and Tech seminars in SE RCC on 28/29 Oct.

Problems (Key points for discussion, Issues, Risks)

This should include all areas where the FRS cannot resolve an issue without regional team or national input.

It should also include the RED issues in the DART reports at the FRS level that need national input to deliver.

1.      FiReControl Delay – DCMT1 is unlikely to be installed until Feb/Mar 09 – this is for Gazetteer only.  This represents a delay of over 1 year compared to the original plan yet there has been no change to cut-over dates and represents significant time compression – impossible to tell at present when the lack of time will become critical.  With little hard information on the data migration task (or DCMT2 and future software uploads for other data groups) this is fast becoming an issue.  All DCMT1 serials are RED on DART.  We are expecting an announcement soon from the national project team acknowledging a slip in the project timetable.

2.      FireLink –Firelink Phase A has yet to be closed out due to a number of issues relating to resilience, this has a knock on effect which is continuing the uncertainty over FireLink Ph B is making resource planning difficult since the same scarce resources are required for both projects and avoiding potential over-tasking is a problem with such fluid timescales.

a.      We still require basic questions on cost on operational use to be answered by the project to allow us to decide on the number and disposition of the new equipment to be finalised.

b.      There are still some small equipment design issues to be overcome before finalised equipment can be installed

Plans (next month)

Coordinator plans to help delivery next month. This section should become, to large extent, the progress section at next months meeting

  1. Continue with ESEE enabling work
  2. Start work to harmonise current Gazetteer with NLPG prior to installation of DCMT1
  3. Continue with call sign change implementation
  4. Initiate work to improve assurance process within FRS
  5. Progressing work to conduct internal business process review of ‘In Scope in FRS’ and ‘Out of Scope’ processes.
  6. Revise communication plan
  7. PM to attend OCC management of change workshop
  8. Continue planning for FireLink Ph B, putting resources in place to support the movement of vehicles, testing and user training.

Meetings held with EADS or CLG

 

  1. None for FiReControl

Communications activities

1.         First formal indication of project rescheduling passed to all Control personnel and elected members by memo from ACO.

2.         Project information on the Intranet completely revised and renewed

3.         Report on project progress given to OCC Community Safety Scrutiny Committee.

4.         Routine monthly Joint Implementation Group meeting held

 

 

 

Risks

(Scored as High or Very High on the FRS Risk Register, or new risks that the Coordinator has identified)

 

RISK

DESCRIPTION

Delay

Project slippage jeopardizes FRS ability to maintain Control Room staffing and technology

Unable to resource Data Migration

Inability to meet scale of task (or effect of timescale compression) leads to delay, increased errors and impacts on cut-over dates

Inadequate retention of control Room staff

Inability to retain control room staff compromises ability to maintain service standards

Lack of staff transferring to RCC

Staff not transferring to RCC leads to insufficient RCC staff, lack of expertise and threatens ability of RCC to deliver agreed service.  Increased threat of redundancy and associated cost to FRS

 

 

 

TRN                      =  training 

IA                           = Intelligent Addressing – A company whose name is shortened to IA

WoW workshop   = Ways of Working  (this used to be called Convergence – the process of harmonizing procedures across FRSs)

SOP                      =  Standard Operating Procedure

PM                        =  Project Manager

DART                   =  Delivery and Reporting Tool (a CLG reporting system for the FiReControl project)

NLPG                   =  National Land and Property Gazatteer 

ACO                     =  Assistant Chief Fire Officer

 

 

 

COLIN THOMAS

Assistant Chief Fire Officer - FiReControl & Firelink Senior User

Tel: (01865) 855206

 

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