NEXT GEN QUALITY ASSURANCE FOR PSAP Chris Gallahan NICE Systems May 2014 Why QA Current QA Methods Next Gen QA Solution Example of a Next Gen QA Application WHY QA Purpose of QA Promote service excellence Adherence to standards, procedures and policies Consistent performance and level of service In the QA process we want to evaluate the operators strength as well as identify areas for improvement CALEA Public Safety Communications Accreditation Program APCO Project 33 Training Program Certification IAED International Academies of Emergency Dispatch Total Response Accreditation by PowerPhone Standards/Accreditations CALEA Certification and QA CALEA Public Safety Communications Accreditation Program CALEA standards relative to QA require: Evaluate both call taking and dispatch processes Document the QA evaluations Enable the operator to feedback and comment on their evaluations Generate reporting on evaluations Benefits of the CALEA accreditation: Management model for agency administration and operations Better trained public safety personnel Can limit an agency's liability and risk exposure Greater accountability within the communications center Verification of excellence More details: APCO Project 33 APCO P33 Agency Training Program Certification is a formal mechanism for public safety agencies to certify their training programs as meeting APCO American National Standards (ANS) The purpose of APCO P33 is to identify minimum training requirements for the public safety telecommunicator Require agencies to meet or exceed the APCO ANS : Minimum Training Standards for Public Safety TelecommunicatorsAPCO ANS : Minimum Training Standards for Public Safety Telecommunicators Other Accreditation Example: IAED AQUA is a QA application by Priority Dispatch Bundled with their flagship product ProQA Evaluating on calls only Audio call in not available via AQUA AQUA is positioned to help with accreditation from IAED IAED = International Academies of Emergency Dispatch Developed by NENA Development Standards Committee Quality Assurance Working Group Defines recommended minimum components of QA/QI program Created to assist with the establishment, implementation and maintenance of a QA/QI program Defines R&R of the Agency and the Evaluator To be approved by APCO Standards Development Committee and released within few weeks Upcoming NENA/APCO Standards for QA/QI CALEA Public Safety Communications Accreditation Program APCO Project 33 Training Program Certification IAED International Academies of Emergency Dispatch NENAs Recommended QA/QI Standards (to be released) Main Requirements/Recommendations Common to all: Establish fair and consistent evaluation program Evaluate both call taking and dispatch processes Document the QA evaluations Enable the operator to feedback and comment their evaluations Generate reporting on evaluations Standards and Accreditations Adherence to protocols and standard operating procedures Overall performance of each operator Customer service Effective use of resources Quality of operation as a whole What to QA Seamless/Non-intrusive Random/Fair On-going Consistent Comprehensive Documented Automated Attributes of an Effective QA Program METHODS OF QA Manual Semi automated Automated Next Gen QA Methods of QA Programs Word/Excel-based evaluation forms Search and replay call Live monitoring Advantages: Easy to learn Low investment Doesnt require additional application Disadvantages: Cumbersome process Live monitoring limited to evaluators shifts Hard to follow consistent and fair selection Highly time consuming reporting Manual QA Process Automated form based but not necessarily tied to audio recording Doesnt include screen and other media Provided by non-logging vendors Advantages: Procedure specific, e.g. medical dispatch Built for accreditation e.g. IAED, Total Response Disadvantages: The user has to deal with two applications: reply and evaluation Manual selection of calls could be perceived as inconsistent and unfair Limited to call-taker (phone only) evaluation Semi Automated Based/built for Commercial Call Center Limited to single call call-taker phone interaction Partial compliance with QA accreditations/standards Screen recording is optional, limited to single screen Advantages: Allows random selection of calls Complete evaluation while listening to the call and watching screen activity Includes reporting capability Disadvantages: Not comprehensive no way to look at the entire incident handling process No way to include multimedia incident data Generally, not designed to comply with specific PS accreditation or standard Automated NEXT GEN QA SOLUTION Next Gen QA Designed bottom up for Public Safety environments Compliance with CALEA, APCO P33 and the upcoming NENA Standards Tied to the incident communication capture system: phone, radio, text, screen, video, GIS, etc. Next Gen QA Requirements Call selection Manual important for high attention calls Truly random Flexible minimum number of calls per incident type, user, etc. Complete incident capture and review Capture and synch all incident related voice recordings: phone and radio Capture and synch operators screen Assess operators quality of incident handling involving all forms of incoming data Targeted coaching and training Easily pin point knowledge gaps, e.g.: text interaction, reference to GIS data, etc. Provide needs-based coaching and training to groups or specific operators Ensure operator on track acquiring new skills and adhering to evolving procedures Next Gen QA Requirements - Screen Recording Capture all screens of operators workstation Compliments entire incident evaluation What action did the operator take on CAD / CPE / other? Operators Workstation Replay Workstation Next Gen QA Requirements - Reporting Activity reporting insight into the volume of phone and radio traffic Data to support staffing decisions QA reporting - quality performance and trending each individual staff member Measure performance against KPIs to maintain QA and Training accreditations Supervisors and Training Managers: Reconstruct and evaluate Identify knowledge gap Provide proper training Operator: how am I doing? Review evaluations Feedback and sign-off PSAP Managers: Periodic reports to gauge overall teams and centers performance Take improvement measures Workflow that Involves All Users Call / Incident Evaluation Operator Review Management Reports Hosted/Cloud-based QA Solution QA & Screen Recording Quality Assurance Audio Recording & Analytics Operational Applications PSAP APSAP BPoliceFire DepartmentEMS Multi-Agency Datacenter EXAMPLE OF A NEXT GEN QA APPLICATION 25 Automatic Selection of Calls for QA Single Call/Call Taking Evaluation Evaluation of Incident as a Whole Phone call and related dispatch radio Fill evaluation while listening Multimedia Incident Evaluation Operators Feedback Flexible Evaluation Form Design Reporting Capability Reduced turnover Empowered call taker/dispatcher Increased Professionalism Adherence to existing and evolving protocols (e.g. Text-to-911) Effectively and efficiently run PSAP The Value of Next Gen QA Program ABOUT NICE NASDAQ: ~25,000 Customers >80% Fortune 100 Customers $951M FY 2013 Non- GAAP Revenues >35 Local Offices >1000 Service Experts 5,000 Installations Globally Market share leader in US and Canada Largest Cities trust NICE Experience in IP Radio System Deployments Large Projects Experience Unmatched Experience in Public Safety Commitment to Partnerships Successfully Deployed in the Largest Cities in North America Strong Partnerships with Industry Leaders Industry Collaboration Events ICE2 Passive SIP based IP recording and Geo Location info ICE3 Passive VoIP recording and location information ICE4 Location services information and event logging and retrieval ICE5 Active SIP IP recording including video and text ICE8 Multimedia capabilities, allowing text, images, and real-time video Active in shaping standards in NENAs Long Term Development Working Group SIPREC working group within IETF active with the RFC for the SIP based recording 1M+ VoIP channels deployed 25K+ RoIP channels deployed Invented, pioneered and patented VoIP recording Undisputed IP Leader Q&A 39 Thank You