Colgate University Successfully Utilizes New DLAN Features During Inter-Agency Exercise
Colgate University used their full scale inter-agency emergency management exercise as an opportunity to test some of the newest DLAN Features. Specifically, they utilized the Mobile Responder App and GIS Premium to improve field coordination and situational awareness.
Dan Gough, Associate Vice President for Campus Safety, Emergency Management, and Environmental Health and Safety at Colgate University, recently described his experience with DLAN and how it has improved campus operations.
Colgate has been utilizing DLAN for campus incident management since 2013. The use of DLAN at Colgate has allowed university personnel to be extremely effective during high-priority incidents.For example, in April DLAN was used to help coordinate the response to a public health emergency on campus. Thanks to the quick response of Colgate and their partners, a potential outbreak was successfully contained.
Gough notes, “Having worked at several different colleges and universities, as well as being a staff member in State Emergency Operation Centers, I find DLAN to be the most user friendly and dynamic Emergency Management Software available.” As a result of their positive experiences, Colgate decided to add additional functionality to their DLAN system, including the Mobile Responder App, which allows field staff to easily send/receive information, and GIS Premium, which includes advanced mapping features.
In July staff from the University and other community, county, and state partners participated in a full scale inter-agency emergency management exercise. The exercise brought together numerous agencies and over one hundred participants. It set out to test their enhanced capabilities with three main objectives: practice inter-agency coordination, practice several potential life saving techniques, and provide a training opportunity for local emergency response departments.
The scenario simulated a coordinated response to a residential hall fire. Gough noted the exercise was extremely successful and the new DLAN features added to the team’s ability to quickly respond to the incident. The Mobile Responder App was used by patrol officers in the field to send photos from the scene back to the EOC and GIS Premium was used for real-time geolocation, modeling and coordination.
Gough noted the usefulness of DLAN’s role-specific views. DLAN allows different user groups to see the information that is most important to them. As an example, Colgate’s Emergency Operations Center Staff can view detailed reports and utilize the full functionality of the system, while their Executive Group, can get more succinct reports and view customized status boards to get real-time common operating picture updates that are extremely useful for their roles and responsibilities. With the addition of the Mobile Responder App, field staff can now also utilize the system in a way that better matches their role.
BCG is glad to have the opportunity to work with Colgate University and to help the campus and community meet their safety goals. We look forward to continuing to work with them and to continually add new features and functionality to DLAN to meet their evolving needs.
About Colgate University
Colgate’s mission is to provide a demanding, expansive, educational experience to a select group of diverse, talented, intellectually sophisticated students who are capable of challenging themselves, their peers, and their teachers in a setting that brings together living and learning.
