Discussing Preparation for "ASAP to PSAP"CommSys is presenting information to our ConnectCIC Partners on ASAP Alarm Information Exchange Service

IntroductionsOur goal is to provide an overview education and insight to prepare you for when customers begin to ask about the ASAP to PSAP program

Presenter: Bob Turner President at CommSys, Inc.turner@commsys.com937-425-0402

Coordinator: Kelli Adkins Marketing Director at CommSys, Inc.marketing@commsys.com937-425-0411

What is ASAP to PSAP About? APCO and the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) have been working together to improve the alarm monitoring companies communication needs to Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) CAD systems with an innovative offering known as the Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP).

This effort has been a public/private partnership that offers a better, faster and cost-effective solution to delivering alarm based calls for service directly to the CAD system.

The Alarm ProblemCurrently alarm monitor companies transfer information to a PSAP via a back door phone number

Information is verbally transferred from the alarm company operator to the PSAP call taker This adds between 3 and 10 minutes per callIn high volume situations (severe weather) calls may never get answered handled

ASAP and APCO/ANSIAlarm Exchange

GoalsThe goals of the Alarm Exchange are for dispatch centers to eliminate the following:Phone calls for alarmsErrors in information transferResponse delays induced by re-entering call information to the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) System Provide real-time information to Public Safety

HistorySince 2005 APCO has been involved with improving the interface from alarm monitoring companies primarily represented by the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA)APCO has developed an ANSI Standard CSAA has developed a service to support the delivery of ANSI standard messagesBill Hobgood, of Richmond, VA, has been the primary advocate for APCO

Central Station Alarm AssociationCSAA members = alarm monitoring companiesCSAA members provide monitoring services to the 36 million alarm systems in the United States CSAA has worked to foster and improve relations between its members and various related groups:law enforcement and fire officials, the insurance industry, equipment suppliers and government/regulatory agencieshttp://www.csaaul.org

The ChallengeHow do you connect 600 central stations with 6500 PSAP CAD Systems?Direct connects are obviously out of the questionWhat covers a majority of the PSAPs in the country?The CJIS networks.

The CJIS SolutionNlets became the logical choice, since over 80% of the dispatch centers have access to state CJIS networks Nlets, via the state message switches, can be used as a conduit to deliver messages to and from dispatch centers

NletsNlets is a not-for-profit corporation owned by the state governments of the United StatesNlets is completely separate from the United States federal government Governed by an elected board of directors made up of representatives from state criminal justice organizations Nlets primary mission is the interconnection of state owned Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) DMV and Criminal History are transmitted through NletsHowever they do much moreNletshttp://www.nlets.org

The ImplementationNlets is not prepared to deal with neither the technical nor operational issues associated with interconnecting with each of the individual CSAA members or participantsThe worked with three central stations and everyone figured out it wasnt going to work

Nlets entered into a strategic partnership with CSAACSAA would construct a technical environment to aggregate and manage connections from central stations

The ASAP ServiceImplemented by the CSAA using the Nlets backboneHosted in the Nlets Operations Center in Phoenix

CommSys InvolvementCommSys was contracted with by the CSAA to manage the development and implementation of the ASAP Service technologySystem ArchitectProject Manager

Why CommSys?Our knowledge of CJIS, CAD systems and building systemsThe existing architecture within our ConnectCIC SolutionLegacy knowledge of the program and the intent for innovation

We expect to be responsible for managing andoperating the service for the CSAAhttp://www.commsys.com

ASAP StatusCSAA ASAP Service is in productionOne Central Station and One PSAPVector SecurityCity of Richmond Four more Central Stations are prepared for production Four other PSAPs are in various stages of go liveHouston is on the older protocol version

Technical Overview

Definition and Wiring DiagramThe ASAP Service is a method of delivering ANSI Alarm Exchange XMLbetween central stations and PSAP via the state message switch

Technical DetailsALQ/ALR MessagesNLETS has designated two message keys to support the delivery and transmission of message to and from the dispatch centersThese are the ALQ/ALR messages: The ALQ is unidirectional messages from the alarm monitoring company to the dispatch center Addressed to CAD system by an ORI designated to the CAD system The ALR messages is the reverse direction, from the dispatch center to the alarm monitoring company Messages are sent to the Message Broker via ORI and CSID

ANSI Alarm Exchange XMLIn both cases, the ANSI Alarm Exchange XML is treated as an opaque data payload The CJIS systems never look at the contents Only the alarm monitoring companies and the dispatch centers interpret or construct the XML messages Documented in CSAA-APCO ANSI 2.101.1-2008Beware: it is already out of dateSchema 3.3 is required for ASAP (ANSI was Schema 3.1)

Typical WorkflowAlarm Company sends initial alarm to PSAP PSAP Accepts or Rejects

PSAP Dispatch sends chat or update message to alarm company

Alarm company replies via update

PSAP automatically report dispatch and close-out

ASAP ImpactBig Picture

Removing the Call Taking StepASAP removes PSAP call taking stepThe Call for Service goes directly to the dispatch queue The Central Station is now charged with the call taking actionsThey where already doing thisHowever they have even a greater responsibility

How will this impact CAD vendors?This is not E911 ALIThough there are related issues more laterIt is more complex This is a workflow system with a two-way conversation PSAP dispatchers can communicate with alarm company operatorsChat function CAD system needs to provide updates (high-level) to alarm company

CSAA Members have valueSome question: what is the value of the alarm company? To name a few False Alarm suppressionEquipment diagnosis, maintenance and repairEventually address validation

Challenges with ASAPCAD System You need to have a CAD to CAD oriented interface Essentially an alarm company has a CAD system This is a complex interface

Challenges with ASAPAddress verificationIt is like E911 all over again, except the PSAP has the geobaseThis will need to be bumped against the alarm monitoring company for them to correct We believe this will be the greatest impediment to quick implementation

How can CommSys help you?Testing tools with ConnectCIC New Features to ConnectCIC to support ASAPThere will be a charge Future training and education

ConnectCIC Alarm Exchange OptionA set of features licensed in ConnectCIC to make implementing Alarm Exchange Easier Licensed on a per CAD system basis via ORI Availability will be 3rd Qtr 2012

Alarm Exchange Option FeaturesMessage Routing to alternate ConnectCIC API connection Accept ASAP messages to a different connection than your normal ConnectCIC External to normal ConnectCIC messagesNo XML in XML problems- continued -

Alarm Exchange Option FeaturesMessage Flow ControlConnectCIC can be told to reject ASAP messages rather than handing them offNeeded in high demand situations Aged Message RejectionMessages that are too old are automatically Rejected at the ConnectCIC- continued -

Separate LoggingSeparate messages from normal CJIS flow Embedded URL managementFor video camera feedsCant get to the Internet on most CAD workstations

Alarm Exchange Option Features

Expectations for your CustomersThis is not a flip the switch offeringDevelopment work to doTesting Your customer will need to work with central stations to resolve addressing issues I would expect from the time your PSAP make contact with a central station it will take a year

Thank You

Presenter: Bob Turner President at CommSys, Inc.turner@commsys.com937-425-0402

Coordinator: Kelli Adkins Marketing Director at CommSys, Inc.marketing@commsys.com937-425-0411

Questions/Answerswww.commsys.com 800-842-5225 info@commsys.com