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CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
Date: |
December 2, 2004 | |
Author: |
J. McGowan | |
Phone No.: |
665-6053 | |
RTS No.: |
04275 | |
CC File No.: |
3651 | |
Meeting Date: |
January 18, 2005 |
TO: |
Vancouver City Council |
FROM: |
General Manager of Fire & Rescue Services
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SUBJECT: |
Participation in a New Multi-Jurisdictional Fire Records Management System (RMS) |
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve, in principle, the participation of Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services in a new, shared Fire Records Management System that will be housed at and managed by E-Comm, integrated with the Computer Aided Dispatch system and various City of Vancouver databases, and available for use by all participating E-Comm "Class A" shareholder fire departments, with final approval subject to a report back on final system design and costs.
B. THAT Council direct staff to report back with recommendations about the selection and cost implications of a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system to replace Altaris CAD for fire departments that use dispatch at E-Comm.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager/Fire Chief of Fire and Rescue Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The City Manager notes that as part of the migration of public safety CAD and records management, it was anticipated that the current Fire and Rescue Services RMS system, which resides on the old VPD CAD/RMS system would require replacement. Police have now completed the transition off the old system, leaving the records management component of Fire and Rescue as the only user. It is appropriate to transition the department to a new records management system at this time. The system being proposed by the department will be developed with E-Comm and will be available on a shared basis by all its Class A shareholders. Initially, the Vancouver, Richmond and New Westminster fire departments will be involved. This approach will reduce the cost of Vancouver participating as an initial participant in the system and offers the potential of further reducing costs in the future if other departments. Unfortunately, there are unlikely to be significant cost savings as a result of shutting the existing system down, however, staff will work to identify any savings that can be achieved, will offset them against the costs of the new system and will report them as part of the final report to Council.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council has consistently supported effective emergency communications to support daily operations and response planning for major emergencies.
Previous Councils have identified goals for public safety and emergency preparedness, and have passed a number of resolutions providing funding for the City's Emergency Operations Centre, the regional 800 Mhz five zone simulcast digital trunked radio system and numerous other emergency preparedness and infrastructure projects. In recent years, this support has been directed at the upgrading of these services through E-Comm.
On September 23, 1997, in a report from the E-Comm Project Coordinator on behalf of the Chief Constable, the General Manager of Fire and Rescue Services and the City Engineer, Council approved a number of recommendations related to the City's participation in E-Comm, which included the following:
THAT Council authorize participation in E-Comm for Police and Fire Services as Class A shareholders receiving Corporation services, and for other municipal services as Class B shareholders in order to receive services from the Corporation in the future. On full implementation in 2000, the annual cost of Corporation's services for the Police and Fire Services is estimated to be $5.5 million, reflecting debt service, operations, maintenance costs and the transfer of 911 payments currently received from the GVRD to E-Comm.
THAT subject to approval by the E-Comm Board, Council authorizes City staff to continue to work on the development of the building and radio systems as part of the E-Comm implementation program.
SUMMARY
Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services (VFRS) must replace its current records management system. This system was installed in 1989/90 and was shared with the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). This system was purchased and installed primarily for use by the VPD and was made available for VFRS use beginning in 1990. Fire by-law inspections undertaken by the Fire Prevention Division have been managed on this system since January 1992. The system however lacked the ability to manage the inspections conducted by the twenty fire halls, and these inspections are still managed using a paper card system.
A records management system (RMS) is used to store and retrieve information electronically. For the VFRS, this includes information about incidents, property, inspections, preventative maintenance, equipment, permits, employee scheduling, training and personnel. Having this information properly stored and easily retrievable is critical to effective fire and rescue operations.
Recently the VPD partnered with the all BC police agencies to develop and implement a police-specific RMS that will eventually be fully integrate with the justice, court and jail systems within the region. This new system is called PRIME BC and was implemented at E-Comm in 2001. The VPD moved their RMS reporting functions onto PRIME BC in March 2001. Because VFRS is still using the old corporate records management system, ongoing support for this legacy system is still required, and must continue until the VFRS completes its migration to a new RMS.
PURPOSE
This report seeks Council approval in principle for VFRS to participate in a new shared records management system to be housed at and managed by E-Comm. Final approval will be subject to a report back on actual costs and system design. Approval in principle is required in order to move forward with the project implementation. The purchase, installation and maintenance of a new RMS at E-Comm was approved in concept by the Greater Vancouver Fire Chief's Association (GVFCA) in April 2001, and was presented to E-Comm's Board of Directors for information in September 2001.
DISCUSSION
1. The Need For A New Records Management System
The VFRS's current electronic RMS is almost fifteen years old, and must be replaced by the end of 2004 for a variety of reasons. Hardware connecting remote worksites is almost twenty years old, fails frequently and requires substantial staff time and resources to maintain.
As a result, currently at least one third of the City's firehalls do not have operational RMS terminals, and therefore cannot enter their incident reporting information. This information is currently recorded manually, and then entered into the RMS by a clerk in the main firehall. With this system, incident reporting information is chronically lagging; at the time of this report, roughly 2,000 incident entries have not yet been entered. Similar problems exist with the inspection reporting system.
A new RMS must support mandatory provincial government reporting for all fire incidents, incidents with injuries or death, and provide a user-friendly tool that will enhance VFRS's ability to comply with personnel and worksite regulations being imposed by the Workers' Compensation Board. The system must also be Windows compatible, and able to manage departmental functions related to personnel, equipment, training, building and inspection management.
2. Benefits Of & Approach To Creating A Shared Regional RMS
In keeping with the philosophy of shared regional emergency systems where operationally and financially beneficial, VFRS initiated the exploration of a shared, multi-jurisdictional fire RMS, to be available to E-Comm's "Class A" shareholders. Fire departments in the region were formally surveyed by the VFRS, and it was found that support for the concept was substantial. The only stipulation attached to this support was that the RMS software purchased be provided by FDM Software Inc., a locally owned and operated CAD/RMS software vendor headquartered in North Vancouver.
FDM is the only fire RMS software vendor that was found to be readily available and to meet all the current mandatory reporting requirements of BC Fire Commissioner's Office. FDM's fire RMS software is already in use by numerous fire departments in North America, including several in the Lower Mainland (e.g., West Vancouver, North Vancouver City & District, Delta, Langley, New Westminster, Port Coquitlam, and Abbotsford).
It is proposed that E-Comm will be responsible for procuring, installing and managing the software in cooperation with FDM, who will be sole-sourced as the software vendor. FDM will provide system training and documentation for all system modules, and will be responsible for on-going software maintenance, upgrades, warranty and other support functions, working closely with the staff at E-Comm and participating agencies to ensure the system continues to meet end user requirements.
To date, three fire departments are committed to the concept of this shared RMS: Vancouver, Richmond and New Westminster. In addition, the Delta Fire Department, which transitioned into E-Comm for dispatch in June 2004 is already an FDM RMS user, and may ultimately participate in a shared system. There are a number of agencies that have expressed interest and are being included in discussions about system design and cost allocations. As with the other shared systems at E-Comm, participating agencies will pay their share of the costs of purchasing, operating and maintaining the system, based on a cost sharing formula approved by the initial system participants and E-Comm's Board of Directors. It is anticipated that the more agencies that join this system, the more beneficial it will be for participating agencies, both in terms of cost and operational advantages.
General interest in a common shared radio, records management and computer aided dispatch (CAD) systems continues to grow among regional fire departments. It is expected that many fire departments within the region will transition to the shared solutions offered by E-Comm over the next few years, which will have the advantage of lower costs for all participating agencies as well as the operational advantages associated with increased connectivity among the agencies. As an example, the New Westminster Fire Department has recently confirmed that it will be making a transition to E-Comm for Dispatch and the radio system.
A draft Memorandum of Understanding, subject to each Council's approval, has been developed by the Vancouver, Richmond and New Westminster fire departments that reflect their commitment to the project. This document will be used as the basis for moving forward with the project, until a more formal contractual relationship exists among the agencies and E-Comm.
3. Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD)
On July 20, 2004 Council approved the transition of Vancouver Police to Versaterm Police CAD®. The Vancouver Police Department will transition away from Altaris CAD by May 2005. This will leave Vancouver, Richmond and Port Moody Fire Departments and the BC Ambulance Service as only the remaining E-Comm Class "A" shareholders using the Altaris CAD system.
In that report, Council was advised that Fire and Rescue Services was working with other regional fire services to develop a strategy for a coordinated CAD/RMS for their departments. "At present, Vancouver Fire, along with a number of other regional fire services, is looking at developing the required records management system for their service on the same basis as PRIME-BC did for police RMS. One of the options for this transition is to expand the implementation to include a fully integrated Fire CAD system and transition this functionality from Altaris CAD as well. Council will receive a report on this initiative in the near future."
The process of identifying a successor CAD system for those fire departments that are being dispatched by E-Comm is now underway. Finding an integrated CAD/RMS solution may provide an opportunity to optimise the relationship between the CAD and the record management system, minimizing the need for expensive custom interfaces. Vancouver Fire & Rescue and these other fire departments are participating with E-Comm in this process to ensure that any successor fire CAD system will meet current and future requirements in a cost-effective manner.
Recommendations regarding a replacement fire CAD system are expected to be complete early in 2005 and will be the subject of a separate report to Council.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
This report provides Council with the best possible cost estimates known at this time for the City's participation in a shared fire RMS. However, there are still a number of variables relating to the implementation of the system which could affect the City's cost.
The reason this project is being brought before Council for approval prior to all these variables being determined with certainty is that, in order for the project to proceed, each agency that wishes to participate in the shared RMS must get approval from their respective Councils. Council will be apprised of the actual project costs prior to their final approval of this project.
This section contains a discussion of:
(i) the total estimated cost to the City of participating in the shared RMS,
(ii) the important variables that may affect the City's cost as project implementation moves forward, and
(iii) an assessment of the main risks associated with the project.
1. Cost Estimates
The ongoing annual cost to the City of Vancouver associated with the new shared fire records management system is estimated to be approximately $715,000, comprised of two main components described below. It is noted that the system will be implemented over approximately three years, and that the cost in the first three years will be lower.
_ E-Comm RMS Levy (estimated $588,000 per year): This levy covers Vancouver's portion of shared costs: the purchase and ongoing maintenance of software and hardware, project implementation and ongoing staffing costs. The E-Comm RMS levy is based on a cost allocation model that uses the same principles as the E-Comm radio and dispatch cost allocation models. The total annual cost to E-Comm of financing and operating the proposed shared RMS is estimated to be $890,000, which will be fully recovered through levies charged to participating agencies. Cost components underlying this amount are detailed in Table 2 below. According to the allocation model, assuming the Richmond and New Westminster fire departments also participate, Vancouver will pay roughly two thirds of the shared annual costs. This share will drop if more agencies join the system.
_ City of Vancouver's Agency Costs (estimated $127,000 per year): Agency costs cover the purchase of Vancouver's own software and hardware, training, data conversion and implementation costs, and ongoing connection charges. These are costs the City will incur in order to implement a new records management system, which are itemised in Table 2. These costs are not shared, and each agency incurs a set of their own agency costs independent of E-Comm and the other participating agencies.
TABLE 1. NEW FIRE RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: CAPITAL COSTS
SHARED BY ALL PARTICIPANTS, PAID VIA E-COMM RMS LEVY |
PAID BY THE | |
|
A. SHARED CAPITAL COSTS |
||
RMS Software (purchased from FDM) |
$1,456,000 |
|
Hardware & Related Software |
$149,000 |
|
Implementation and Start-Up |
$671,000 |
|
Total Shared Capital Costs |
$2,276,000 |
|
|
B. CITY OF VANCOUVER'S CAPITAL COSTS |
||
User Equipment (Mobile Computers, PDAs) |
$115,000 | |
Training, Data Conversion & Implementation |
$328,000 | |
Total Agency Capital Costs |
$443,000 |
TABLE 2. NEW FIRE RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:
CITY OF VANCOUVER'S ESTIMATED TOTAL ANNUAL PARTICIPATION COST - DETAIL
|
|
% OF COV TOTAL ANNUAL COST | |
|
SHARED OPERATING COSTS |
|||
Debt Charges - Shared Capital Costs (Table 1A) |
$309,000 |
$204,000 |
28% |
E-Comm Staffing & Overhead to Run/Maintain RMS |
$342,000 |
$226,000 |
32% |
Network & Hardware Operating & Maintenance |
$103,000 |
$68,000 |
9% |
Software Maintenance Contract with FDM |
$136,000 |
$90,000 |
13% |
Total Shared Annual Costs (E-Comm RMS Levy) |
$890,000 |
$588,000 |
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CITY OF VANCOUVER'S OPERATING COSTS |
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Debt Charges - COV User Equipment (Table 1A) 1 |
$42,000 |
6% | |
Debt Charges - Other COV Capital Costs (Table 2A) |
$45,000 |
6% | |
Operating Costs (Connection Charges) |
$40,000 |
6% | |
Total Agency Annual Costs |
$127,000 |
||
Total COV Annual Cost of Participation |
$715,000 |
100% |
Notes To Table 1 & Table 2
1. The City's user equipment has a three year life cycle. Since this equipment must be replaced every three years, this amount will remain as an ongoing project cost throughout the life of the records management system.
2. All figures are estimates, in 2004 dollars.
2. Cost Savings Associated with Decommissioning Old RMS
The rationale for participating in the proposed shared RMS is primarily operational rather than cost efficiency. The existing system is at the end of its life, and must be replaced. As this system is very old, there is little in the way of actual cash cost offsets to the City associated with decommissioning this system. Some employee time dedicated to system maintenance will be freed up once the new RMS is implemented, since most of the ongoing maintenance of the new system will be undertaken by E-Comm staff, and paid for via the E-Comm RMS levy. It is estimated that this freed up employee time has a value of approximately $20,000 a year. In addition, it is expected that within two to five years, VFRS's employee management system, SMS, will be decommissioned as all these functions are handled by the shared RMS. When this happens, it is anticipated that the City will save the cost of one FTE in the Information Technology Division, valued at approximately $50,000 per year.
3. Important Variables That May Affect Cost Estimates
There are four main reasons why the City's $588,000 estimated E-Comm RMS levy may change as the project implementation moves forward.
_ Levy will increase if other agencies do not join system. The levy estimate provided in Table 2 is based on the assumption that there will be three agencies participating in the shared RMS at the outset - Vancouver, Richmond and New Westminster. Should either of the other two agencies choose not to join the system, the City's RMS levy will increase. It would not be feasible for Vancouver to go ahead with participation in a shared RMS unless at least one other large agency also participates.
_ Levy will decrease if more fire departments join the records management system. Should more agencies join either in the implementation phase, or at a later date, the City's levy will decrease. The agencies that join the RMS initially will work with E-Comm to encourage more agencies to join the system, as the shared system's benefits are proven, and as their own records management systems become obsolete.
_ Levy will increase if two-way real time CAD-RMS link is added to system. The levy estimate provided in Table 2 is based on the assumption that there will be no two-way interface between the new RMS and Altaris CAD as part of this implementation. The purpose of such an interface would be to create a real-time link between E-Comm's existing Altaris computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system and the new FDM records management system. It is estimated that the one-time development cost of such an interface would range from $500,000 to $600,000. It is important to note that the proposed RMS will be fully operational without this real-time link, using instead a regularly-batched link to the CAD system. All participants would have to approve the cost of the real-time link before it could be taken on.
_ Levy could increase if E-Comm changes CAD vendor. The decision faced by E-Comm to potentially move fire departments off Altaris CAD is being discussed in an upcoming report to Council. If E-Comm were to choose to replace Altaris CAD with another vendor's system, there may be some costs associated with linking the new CAD system with the RMS. Alternately (depending on which fire CAD vendor is chosen), the costs for the RMS interface could be minimal, in particular if the same vendor is chosen for both the RMS and CAD application.
4. Managing Project Risk
Because this project capitalises on E-Comm's expertise related to implementing and managing shared systems among municipal agencies, and because RMS technology can be purchased "off-the-shelf," the risks inherent to this project can largely be anticipated and managed.
_ Financial Risk. The cost components that are subject to the most variability are the FDM software costs, FDM data conversion costs and E-Comm implementation costs. However, because the FDM costs represent only about one-fifth of the City's total participation cost, this is not an overly large risk exposure for the City. The costs of upgrades to FDM software are included in the annual maintenance fee in perpetuity, which eliminates this risk for the City. The risk of the implementation costs increasing substantially is mitigated by both E-Comm's experience in implementing other large shared systems, and FDM's experience with large complex installations.
The most effective way to manage the financial risks will be through ensuring (i) a robust negotiation process with the vendor, (ii) a firm and complete contract with the vendor, that is inclusive and clearly worded, (iii) a good ongoing governance structure that has appropriate City representation, and (iv) a firm policy requiring the approval of the user agencies for any changes that involve significant new costs.
_ Governance Risk. In order for this project to be successful, a proper governance structure must be developed, that balances the needs and relative power between the agencies that are using and funding the RMS, and E-Comm, who is operating the system. This area involves much less risk than it did prior to the establishment of E-Comm, since the governance structures in place for the shared radio and dispatch systems can be drawn upon in developing this one. The governance structure envisioned incorporates the basic philosophy that it will be the user agencies who will "own" the project.
_ Technical Risk. These are the risks concerning whether the software will work properly, and ultimately meet the agencies' needs. FDM, the vendor of the proposed RMS software to be used, has experience with similar-sized installations. The implementation team has communicated with the project manager who implemented a large, complex FDM RMS system in Austin, Texas, who has indicated that they are satisfied with the implementation and the software. The fact that FDM is a local company, headquartered in North Vancouver, could make this installation somewhat more straightforward than the ones they do long distance.
_ Participation Risk. It will not be feasible for Vancouver to participate in a shared system without at least one other large fire department also taking part. The project will not move forward decisively until this has been ascertained. It is not likely that an agency will drop out of the shared RMS once they have joined, as each agency will make a significant up-front investment in training and implementation in order to join the system. Rules around leaving the shared system will be similar to those used in the other shared systems at E-Comm.
GOVERNANCE
While E-Comm will house and operate the RMS, it is intended that the user agencies have a reasonable amount of control over how the system is designed and operated. It is also very important that changes to costs are approved by the user agencies, since they will be funding all costs associated with the RMS. It is anticipated that the design of the governance model will be drawn from those already existing at E-Comm.
The three fire departments committed to the project at this point have appointed among themselves a Managing Deputy who represents the group in all discussions with E-Comm. Appendix A shows how the relationships among the various stakeholders may be formalised.
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
It is estimated the implementation of all of the FDM system modules will take place over approximately five years. This is because the system is large and complex, with a number of different modules to be implemented, and several interfaces with existing systems to be custom-designed.
The first stage will involve implementation of the core modules required by most fire services. It is at this point that the existing VFRS RMS will be decommissioned. The first modules to be implemented include the personnel, incident reporting, and property maintenance and inspection modules. Various custom interfaces between existing City systems and the FDM RMS will have to be developed, and a substantial training effort will be required. The interface between E-Comm's Altaris CAD system and the new RMS will be a one-way link.
After this initial stage, each participating department will then implement the modules that are a priority for their respective agencies. Each agency will be able to coordinate subsequent module implementation and training, as required, or contract directly with the vendor to roll out training on an as-required basis for any of the remaining modules.
If it is deemed necessary, a two-way interface between the Fire Dispatch CAD system and the new RMS will be built in a subsequent phase. The City Councils of all participating agencies would have to approve this step and the associated costs before this would occur.
Some of the key benchmarks for this project are as follows:
· April 2001 - Proposal to the Greater Vancouver Fire Chief's Association (GVFCA) to implement a shared fire RMS at E-Comm approved in concept.
· May 2001 - The E-Comm Fire Services Committee endorses the project in concept, pending finalization of costs and timelines.
· September 2001 - Project presented for information to the E-Comm Board of Directors.
· February 2002 - Multi-agency task force formed to develop a common system and user requirements.
· March to July 2004 - Development of the Project Charter, user requirements, a detailed implementation plan, cost-sharing model with E-Comm, FDM Software Inc. and E-Comm's "Class A" fire department shareholders.
· July 2004 - Get approval from each participating agency's City Council and initiate contract negotiations with proposed software vendor.
· September 2004 - Get approval from E-Comm's Board of Directors, finalize funding arrangements and award contract. At this point project officially becomes an E-Comm project, to be managed and financed by E-Comm.
· September to March 2005 - Implement new system at E-Comm and train staff on the use of the first four modules to be implemented (incident reporting, fire prevention inspections, personnel and properties). Decommissioned VFRS's legacy system.
· January 2005 to December 2009 - Implement new modules and fire agency specific requirements as required.
CONCLUSION
Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services must replace its existing records management system. Research has led to the conclusion that the most cost-efficient and operationally-effective solution is for Vancouver to participate in a shared RMS that is housed at and managed by E-Comm. This solution is expected to cost the City in the order of $715,000 per year once it is completely implemented (total capital and operating costs).
FDM has been chosen as the vendor that can best meet all the regional fire departments compliance requirements related to WCB regulations and voluntary compliance standards of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and can most effectively manage the handling of the complex data related to incident response and reporting, building inspections, and staffing and equipment resources. This report recommends that Council approve in principle the City's participation in the proposed shared fire RMS, subject to a report back with final costs and system design.
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APPENDIX A
PAGE 1 OF 1
APPENDIX A: Potential Governance Models
Figure 1: Management Matrix, Top Level
Figure 2: Managing Deputy's Relationship to E-Comm, FDM, & Agency Project Managers
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