Unified Communications Center centralizes Washington, D.C. emergency response call-center services

Business Challenge

To improve call response time and coordinate efforts among first-responder agencies, the District of Columbia needed a centralized facility.

Solution
The district engaged IBM and Avaya to build the data and telecommunications infrastructure for a new, state-of-the-art 911/311 contact center.

Key Benefits
- Reduces response times and increases interoperability for incoming calls, improving public safety
- Provides a command center for coordination of agency efforts
- Improves utilization of district resources and public funding

The District of Columbia represents a truly unique public safety environment and thus presents unique challenges to its contact centers. In addition to providing traditional law enforcement, fire and medical services, the district is also home to federal homeland security, law enforcement and emergency response agencies, foreign embassies and military facilities. Like most large cities, the district over the years had developed several dispersed contact centers to handle both 911 emergency and 311 non-emergency calls using varying technologies and processes at each location. Separate protocols and systems made communications difficult and resulted in delays. Antiquated private branch exchange (PBX) systems could not handle increasing call volumes, quickly respond to incoming wireless calls or take advantage of sophisticated routing and tracing capabilities.

Urgent need, full scale response
The need for a new, centralized facility to handle first responder communications was clearly demonstrated during the “Beltway Sniper” crisis in 2002. For a few tense months, a gunman terrorized the district and surrounding suburbs, shooting people with a high powered rifle seemingly at random locations and times with no connection between victims. The reporting of the crimes, the gathering of leads and the coordination of law enforcement efforts were hampered by the maze of local, state and federal jurisdictions and multiple dispatching and 911 systems. These events, plus the need for hardened command and response center in a post-9/11 environment, spurred the district into action. The solution was the creation of the Unified Communications Center (UCC), a state-of-the-art facility and redundant site that could serve as both a centralized contact center and a command post for cross-agency coordination. IBM, in a collaborative engagement with Avaya, provided the key project management and integration capabilities needed to bring together the various vendors, agencies and interests together and to make this huge undertaking a reality. The UCC is a US$110 million dollar investment by the district that serves as a model for other cities. The contact center itself features workstations in a stadium like configuration that facilitates clear views of large display screens, enabling 911/311 operators and supervisors alike to see activities and locations in real time. The facility is also designed to meet the needs of law enforcement agencies and to serve as a command post during crisis events. The building is designed for increased security, with metal detectors, bullet-proof glass, gun vaults and other measures. Living quarters, eating facilities and even childcare facilities are also on-site to help operators, administrators and support staff do their jobs during extended periods of crisis. The facility is entirely self sustaining, with dedicated emergency power generation equipment. A second, nearby site provides fully redundant failover capabilities. The telecommunications solution at the heart of the center includes a completely redesigned data and voice architecture that utilizes some of the district’s existing technology investments. As the incumbent telecommunications provider, much of existing equipment and technology from Avaya could be put to use in the new telecommunications infrastructure. New, sophisticated automatic call distribution software and intelligent workstations were installed. A growing challenge for 911/311 contact centers, including those in the district, is the proliferation of mobile phones. Outmoded contact center technologies resulted in significant delays when processing calls from mobile phones. With the new UCC, operators and dispatchers are able to utilize a sophisticated call processing application to help identify the calling party, including those on mobile phones, and to determine the optimal dispatch of public safety personnel. The telecommunications solution also includes digital voice logging that enables the UCC to more easily and cost-effectively archive and store calls for possible future use. In addition to the call routing and management capabilities, the new infrastructure includes essential components such as timing systems, digital audio/visual systems, network performance monitoring and enhanced security.

A relationship big enough for the job
IBM and Avaya engineers worked closely to collaborate on the design of the telecommunications infrastructure. The teams focused on creating systems that are reliable, resilient and scalable for future needs. The infrastructure needed to be fully redundant without a single point of failure. “The UCC was a very involved project that required the cooperation of more than ten vendors, and communication with local, state and federal governments,” said Chris Oakes, IBM sales executive. IBM’s broad systems integration experience and understanding of the solution elements, combined with our project management capabilities ensured the success of the project.” IBM has a broad range of integrated communications services designed to help businesses and public entities create communications environments that are flexible and responsive to changing demands. Integrated communications services combine IBM’s IT and business solutions expertise, proven methodologies, highly skilled global resources, industry-leading management platforms and processes, and strategic partnerships with
other industry leaders.

A facility for today and tomorrow
The new facilities were fully operational and redundant on the first day of operation, a requirement of the project that underscored the importance of theUCC to the district. The UCC was also designed to accommodate future needs. The telecommunications infrastructure is designed to scale to accommodate future expansion and upgrades of the facility. And the open-systems approach enables the infrastructure to integrate with other systems as needed. The center’s 911 operators and dispatchers do a tough job, one that requires at least seven months of training before they are permitted to answer calls by themselves. With the new facility the district also has greater flexibility in the assignment and training of operators and dispatchers. With a newly-consolidated call environment, employees can be trained to respond to a greater variety of calls, which helps improve their skill training, reduces overall training costs, and enables the UCC to rapidly respond to real-time changes in call volumes. In addition, the ergonomics of the system helps reduce the amount of tasks each operator must perform simultaneously. Although the UCC required a major investment, the district hopes to reduce the overall costs of handling calls. The project leverages some existing investments, streamlines hiring and training processes and eliminates the costs associated with maintaining multiple sites the district previously operated. While building a state-of-the-art command center creates headlines, ultimately the real measure of the UCC’s success, and that of the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) that oversees its operations, is in the center’s ability to serve the citizens that depend on it. Today, the UCC handles more than 3.5 million emergency and non-emergency calls annually. The Office of Unified Communications(OUC) is truly where public safety meets public service,” said OUC Director Janice Quintana. “Our business model has succeeded through simplification of operations, consolidation of functions and restructuring of our organization through thoughtful decision making based on empirical data and industry best practice information. All of these measures have been undertaken to ensure that the OUC is highly productive and efficient, which has resulted in superior, easily accessible and reliable service to the community. We remain committed to maintaining the public’s trust in our agency and will continue to provide the world-class service that the nation’s capital and its residents and visitors deserve."

For more information

Please contact your IBM sales representative
or Avaya, or visit
http://www.ibm.com/solutions/avaya