• EME stands for Event Management Environment, and Symposium's Horizon represents a totally new way of looking at how technology is used in emergency response and management.

• Far more than a traditional CAD system, the EME is instead an infinitely customizable technology platform (or “environment) that can incorporate and distribute any information or function required by public safety agencies to respond to or manage any type of event.

• The Horizon EME can therefore incorporate any type of functionality (CAD, RMS, mobile data, alarm monitoring, etc.), and combine them in ways suited to each department's individual requirements.

• Instead of trying to develop all these functionalities ourselves, we decided to leverage the knowledge and work of all the other great companies providing public safety technology by making open and customizable integration one of the EME’s core design principles.

• Instead of trying to address a few specific areas of the emergency response and management process, the EME is designed so as to provide open and customizable tools for users at every stage of the process - from IT and administration, and GIS analysts, through to dispatchers, and in-field personnel, as well as management/planning, and third-party technology partners.

• As a result the Horizon EME is not simply a better “piece of the puzzle”, but a comprehensive tool that solves the WHOLE emergency response and management puzzle.

Every department does things differently and has different requirements. Unlike traditional systems, the EME fully adapts to how each individual agency operates. Every aspect of the system – look and feel, data, response rules, workflows and functions – is easily customizable on a user-by-user, agency-by-agency, and jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis.

Mutual aid agreements and combined response protocols call for new levels of co-ordination and resource sharing between agencies and jurisdictions, while maintaining separate operations.

The EME delivers this capability like no other system, providing unmatched sharing of information and functionality between agencies, while supporting separate rules, data, workflows, and standard operating procedures.

The same inherent flexibility that makes the EME ideal for multiple agency installations also makes it ideal for situations where events and incidents for multiple counties, cities, towns, or other geographically-defined areas need to be managed through a common system.

The system enables users to easily manage:

• Multiple jurisdictions in both single and multi-workstation environments

• Different response zones, maps, unit rosters, response protocols and any other jurisdiction-specific information from within one fully integrated system.

Information is only valuable if it’s available to the right people where and when they need it.

The Horizon EME supports sharing of information with remote locations and workstations over standard LAN/WAN configurations, dial-up connections, the Internet, and wireless networks, and maintains the highest performance while minimizing network traffic required to deliver rich functionality. This provides:

• Unmatched flexibility distributing critical information in real time anywhere a network connection can be established

• Maximized robustness and fault tolerance via distribution of critical information across physically discrete servers and databases

This feature also facilitates remote access of the system by Symposium technicians, enabling quick, efficient and effective service and support.

The Horizon EME is a module-based system with many different capabilities that can be easily mixed and matched to reflect different tasks and workflows.

Currently there are 20 modules in the EME, which can be combined and customized to create systems with different capabilities.

Usability is a key feature of the EME. The layout and functions of the system are customizable to reflect how the department operates, and delivers intuitive and easy access to the system for users of all levels and aptitudes.

Another key issue is dependability. The EME was designed for mission critical environments such as 911 dispatch, and has a proven track record of reliability.

The Horizon EME’s advanced thin client-server architecture, makes it ideal for high activity situations, and allows it to be scaled to accommodate:

• Any number of users and workstations

• Agencies or jurisdictions, of any size or call volume

• Without any impact on system performance

• Automatically assigns a unique incident number; the same incident may have different numbers for different agencies

• Handles multiple simultaneous incidents for multiple agencies and jurisdiction

• Supports combined or separate call taking and dispatch functions on all workstations

• Supports multiple distinct response protocols for various agencies and jurisdictions

• Supports mutual aid responses involving more than one agency or jurisdiction

• Enables full customization of Look and Feel, Call Taking and Dispatching Rules, Incident and Unit Information, and Map Views on a per-agency, per-jurisdiction and per-user basis

• Enables customization of all fields and drop down menus

• Incorporates a user-customizable call-taker system to ensure uniform, accurate response

• Supports alias street names (same street known by more than one name)

• Supports premise or common place name (i.e. parks, hospitals), as well as auto-complete

• Incorporates the ability to search for Lookalikes/Soundalikes across multiple jurisdictions

• Supports flagging of specific addresses for specialized vehicle response

• Displays grid references and zones for easy in-vehicle map reference

• Displays site and premise specific information about incident location including such information as Handicapped Persons, Hazardous Materials Information, Key-holder information, pre-fire and site plans, and much more

• List number of times agency has previously attended incident address; easily retrieves previous call information

• Enables response escalation

• Ability to note that subsequent calls may be part of one incident and join them together as one call

• Enables incidents to be stacked for response

• Choice of mouse or command line for command input; Supports accelerator keys for fastest keyboard-based response

• Supports assignment of incident type based on key words typed into the dispatcher notes

• Enables the inclusion of SOP information for various call types

• Dispatches units in accordance with each agency’s response rules

• Supports full manual unit selection and over-ride

• Supports manual dispatch of non-validated calls

• Supports tracking of personnel manning by unit and incident; incorporates colour-coded manning sufficiency alert

• Supports ad-hoc timers and scheduled event notification for such entities as units, incidents and personnel

• Comprehensive time- stamping of all incident, unit, and operator actions

• Record and print user-definable reports to support periodic analysis or summaries of activity

• Provides a time-stamped log where users can record non-emergency daily events

• Supports ESRI™, MapInfo™, MapPoint™, and HorizonMap™ mapping formats

• Enables full map-based dispatching including incident creation, premise selection, LOI’s, custom icons, multiple layers, hydrant location and status, nearby incidents, incident location change, and much more

• Enables any number of concurrent map views to support different agencies and jurisdictions

• Integrated mobile data component

• Send and receive incident information to and from stations, units and personnel via printers, and text-enabled devices

• Enables live-time GPS-based AVL for multiple units, agencies, and jurisdictions

• Supports geo-fencing, alarms, alerts, and historical positional report generation

• Works with widest range of GPS communications engines and portals

• Works across widest range of wireless networks

Unlimited range of systems - Examples including:

• E-911 ANI/ALI (including Phase II wireless compliance)

• RMS (FIREHOUSE, FirePro, etc.)

• Digital Aerial and Satellite Imagery (Pictometry, etc.)

• GPS/AVL gateways (Trimble, Compasscom, etc.)

• Digital Radio (Motorola, Zetron, ect.)

• Digital Voice Loggers (Panda, etc.)

• Medical Dispatch (ProQA, etc.)

• Alarm Monitoring Receivers and Sensors

• Digital CCTV systems

• Third-party Reporting Systems (Crystal Reports, etc.)

• HAZMAT databases

• Corporate Systems (AMANDA etc.)

• Much, Much more