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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AIMS review in Blue Print magazine Blue Print: the magazine of the Emergency Planning Society March 2007 : Please find below a copy of the text which was printed in Blue Print march 07 issue. This was written following the first AIMS (Atlas Incident Management System) local government user group meeting in Southport, England. The article was written by the Chair of the user group Mr Gordon Hector, head of emergency planning and management for Bath and North East Somerset Council: Atlas Incident Management System – Inaugural User Group Meeting (AIMS) The first meeting of this new user group was hosted by Sefton Emergency Planning Unit at Southport Town Hall on 9th February 2007. Considering the inclement weather during the preceding days the turn-out was excellent, proving once again what a pioneering and adventurous group of people emergency planners are ! The AIMS system is possibly the first British local authority-inspired incident management systems for use in running emergency control centres in a response to an incident. It was developed for LAs using stringent parameters set down by a national group of emergency planners chaired by Richard Davies from Leeds City Council which spent over twelve months examining various existing systems and determining what was needed for our use. The approach taken by the AIMS developers, Ultra Electronics APL, a North Lincolnshire- based company, was to start with a complete blank sheet and build the system to the specification supplied by the group. This in todays off the shelf “one-size fits all society” is a breath of fresh air to those of us who have tried in vain to make other systems fit our needs; or should I say “our needs fit their systems”? The result is a system that ticks the appropriate LA boxes and meets the needs of the emergency planning community in a way that off-the-shelf packages have failed to do so many times previously. The software has been developed with input from users and has been set at a price within Local Authority budgets which is certainly a first in my experience. The User Group day started with the customary messages and housekeeping from John Hodkinson of Sefton EP team and yours truly. This was followed by a brief potted history from Richard Davies of how we had arrived at this point with AIMS and what the hopes and aspirations of the national research project group. Richard explained that the original group, which was part of a Cabinet Office-funded project, endeavoured to determine the needs of local authorities for a simple-to-use system that provided accurate reporting information at a price that even councils with meagre budgets could afford. The process used by the group was explained by Richard, who went on to say how impressed he and the group were with the AIMS product and the enthusiastic way that APL had entered into the appraisal. Richard finished with a ‘thumbs-up’ for the software so far and a plea that the user group remember the original specifications for the system to provide a simple but effective system at a cost within most council EP budgets. This was followed by a demonstration of the latest system by Dale Atkins of APL with some interesting insights into company thinking and future plans. The updated system proved to be an instant hit with users who pressed Dale for details of the release date. In the few short months that AIMS has been on the market APL have refined and tweaked the system to produce an even more usable and customer-friendly product. Dale’s presentation was warmly received by users who joined in enthusiastically with the subsequent debate. The overarching theme running through the presentation was the flexibility of APL in their approach to the development of AIMS and their willingness to engage with users. Users responded to this approach and there was a free-flow of stimulating debate with some interesting solutions. The suggestion from the floor that systems such as this should receive support from the Cabinet Office received unanimous agreement from the group. As a ‘dessert course’ Dale served up a demonstration of a new development produced by Ultra Electronics Datel which transformed AIMS from a fixed server-based system to a web-hosted service giving complete portability and flexibility. Phil Clayton of Ultra said one of the main advantages of this system was the resilience provided through secure network technology developed for central government by the company. This product produced a great deal of interest within the group. After a short recess to allow users a closer inspection of the software an open discussion got underway between APL and the users on the future of the group and its direction. This proved very useful with active participation from all quarters and many actions for the future agreed. Delegates form Nottingham City Council, John Severn and Paul Scragg, displayed their training manuals which proved an instant success with the group. It was evident to the group that a great deal of work and expertise had gone into the production of the documents. All were subsequently accepted, with slight revisions, as the format for national training guides. There was a desire within the group to try to devise and adopt a national glossary of terms to be used by all members on future projects. This project was instigated and hopefully will begin to bear fruit at the next meeting. The group then turned its attention to creation of sets of helpful procedures and protocols for use by members. I await the inevitable flood of suggestions on these topics. The final act of the group was to confirm my position as User Group Chair for the foreseeable future, which I accepted. The next Meeting is scheduled for June 2007 in Nottingham. Anyone interested in attending or for any other details can contact me on gordon_hector@bathnes.gov.uk Gordon Hector Chair AIMS User Group
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