Concepts and Fundamentals
This page describes common concepts and functions available to all users across all modules and registers.
The system supports a highly flexible and modular configuration while maintaining a consistent and user-friendly approach to data management.
It features a unified, end-to-end workflow that provides effective management of data throughout its entire lifecycle.
By learning some system basics, you will quickly gain the confidence to navigate and perform tasks in any module.
Events, Users, Positions and Duty
At the core of the system are Events, which provide a structured way to securely organise activities around themes, topics and incidents. Events are created whenever a planned or unplanned activity requires use of the system. They define the required functions, determine which positions and resources are used, and through the user competency system, which Users have access.
Users are individuals with log in access the system.
Positions define a user's permissions and determine what they can access.
To participate in an Event, a user must:
Be assigned a Position within that event
Go On Duty with that Position
The system allows users to be on or off-duty for multiple positions across multiple events simultaneously.
Being On Duty makes the user available to accept task assignments and receive notifications.
Registers, Assets and Resources
Each event is set up with a series of Registers which are structured databases containing specific types of information - referred to as Items. Registers have defined structure and workflow rules and available Positions, Resources and Assets.
Resources include people, equipment, services or organisations that support an Event. They can be assigned to items and tracked across the event.
Assets are typically locations or properties related to the Event, such as homes, businesses or community facilities.
To manage register items (eg. requests, inspections, cases), users must go on duty with a Position that has access to that register.
Modules
Registers, positions and resources are grouped into Modules, which appear in the main navigation menus. Core modules include:
Dashboard
Reports
System Administration
Other modules configured for specific tasks like operations, recovery, assessments and compliance.
Contacts, Organisations and Workspaces
Contacts are records of individuals, and can be associated with Organisations. Contacts may receive communications through the system in accordance with their communication preference. Users are specific types of Contacts with login access to the system.
Organisations (eg agencies, companies) are groups of related contacts. Contacts and Users can only be associated with a single Organisation.
Organisations can also be associated with positions. Positions associated with Organisations provide special access to collaborate in their private Workspaces. This allows information and functions to be secured so that users can go on duty and access and collaborate in a group. For example, to access shared documents or to be assigned tasks.
Workflow and Communications
Depending on the configuration of each module, registers can be used in combination to perform various actions. Items may be assigned to users and positions, and can utilise resources and relate to assets.
Additionally, registers implement workflows using combinations of status, priority, assignment, counters, escalations, notifications and communications, which help users and teams to effectively manage an event.
At every step of the way each change is audited, and data within each register item must conform to its workflow rules and schema constraints, meaning nothing can be lost or forgotten.
Administrators can import data, including data from other systems for management in bulk. Data sharing can be automated via the Application Programming Interface (API).
Built-in reports provide analysis, summarisation and data sharing with others.
Sites and Regions
Your organisation may have multiple instances of the system called Sites. These Sites usually share the same modules, registers and functionality but with a separate sets of events.
There are a couple of advanced configurations where information is shared across a single Site or multiple sites:
Multi-Site - a deployment which features multiple Sites used simultaneously that users with sufficient privileges can navigate between. This is sometimes set up before the launch of the main Site during testing and training. Rarely it is used in enterprise deployments where there are multiple separate departments or organisations using the same configuration but independently of each other.
Cluster-Site - a deployment where a single Site is used by multiple organisations with shared information each organisation is defined by a Region.
Neither of these configurations are common and beyond the initial testing and training, most are deployed with a single Site and Region.
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