© CommSys, Inc. ~ May 2012 Discussing Preparation for "ASAP to PSAP" CommSys is presenting information to our ConnectCIC Partners on ASAP Alarm Information.

Discussing Preparation for "ASAP to PSAP"

CommSys is presenting information to our ConnectCIC Partners on ASAP Alarm Information Exchange Service

Introductions

Our goal is to provide an overview education and insight to prepare you for when customer begin to ask about the “ASAP to PSAP” program

Presenter:Bob Turner – President at CommSys, [email protected]

Coordinator:Kelli Adkins – Marketing Director at CommSys, [email protected]

What is “ASAP to PSAP” About?

APCO and the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) have been working together to improve alarm monitoring company to Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) CAD communications 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 Problem

• Currently 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 call– In high volume situations (severe weather) calls may never get

answered handled

ASAP and APCO/ANSIAlarm Exchange

Goals

• The goals of the Alarm Exchange are for dispatch centers to eliminate the following:– Phone calls for alarms– Errors in information transfer– Response delays induced by re-entering

call information to the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) System

– Provide real-time information to Public Safety

History

• Since 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 messages

Bill Hobgood, of Richmond, VA, has been the primary advocate for APCO

Central Station Alarm Association

• CSAA members = alarm monitoring companies– CSAA 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 agencies

http://www.csaaul.org

The Challenge

• How do you connect 600 central stations with 6500 PSAP CAD Systems?– Direct connects are obviously out

of the question– What covers a majority of the PSAPs

in the country?

The CJIS networks.

The CJIS Solution

• Nlets 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

Nlets

• Nlets is a not-for-profit corporation owned by the state governments of the United States– Nlets 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 Nlets– However they do much more

Nlets

http://www.nlets.org

The Implementation

• Nlets is not prepared to deal with neither the technical nor operational issues associated with interconnecting with each of the individual CSAA members or participants– The worked with three central stations and everyone

figured out it wasn’t going to work

• Nlets entered into a strategic partnership with CSAA– CSAA would construct a technical environment to

aggregate and manage connections from central stations

The ASAP Service

• Implemented by the CSAA using the Nlets backbone– Hosted in the Nlets Operations Center

in Phoenix

CommSys’ Involvement

• CommSys was contracted with by the CSAA to manage the development and implementation of the ASAP Service technology– System Architect– Project Manager

Why CommSys?

• Our knowledge of CJIS, CAD systems and building systems

• The existing architecture within our ConnectCIC Solution

• Legacy knowledge of the program and the intent for innovation

We expect to be responsible for managing andoperating the service for the CSAA

http://www.commsys.com

ASAP Status

• CSAA ASAP Service is in production– One Central Station and One PSAP

• Vector Security• City of Richmond

• Four more Central Stations are prepared for production

• Four other PSAPs are in various stagesof ‘go live’– Houston is on the older protocol version

Technical Overview

Definition and Wiring Diagram

The ASAP Service is a method of delivering ANSI Alarm Exchange XML

between central stations and PSAP via the state message switch

Technical Details

• ALQ/ALR Messages– NLETS has designated two message keys to

support the delivery and transmission of message to and from the dispatch centers

These 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 XML

• In 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 2.101.1-2008– Beware: it is already out of date– Schema 3.3 is required for ASAP

(ANSI was Schema 3.1)

Typical Workflow

• Alarm 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 Impact“Big Picture”

Removing the Call Taking Step

• ASAP removes PSAP call taking step– The Call for Service goes

directly to the dispatch queue

• The Central Station is now charged with the call taking actions– They where already doing this– However they have even a

greater responsibility

How will this impact CAD vendors?

• This is not E911 ALI– Though there are related issues – more later– It is more complex

• This is a workflow system with a two-way conversation

• PSAP dispatchers can communicate with alarm company operators– Chat function

• CAD system needs to provide updates (high-level) to alarm company

CSAA Members have value

• Some question: what is the value of the alarm company?

To name a few …– False Alarm suppression– Equipment diagnosis, maintenance

and repair– Eventually address validation

Challenges with ASAP

• CAD 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 ASAP

• Address verification– It is like E911 all over again, except the

PSAP has the geobase• This 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 ASAP– There will be a charge

• Future training and education

ConnectCIC Alarm Exchange Option

• A 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 Features

• Message Routing to alternate ConnectCIC API connection

– Accept ASAP messages to a different connection than your normal ConnectCIC

– External to normal ConnectCIC messages

• No ‘XML in XML’ problems

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Alarm Exchange Option Features

• Message Flow Control– ConnectCIC can be told to reject ASAP

messages rather than handing them off• Needed in high demand situations

• Aged Message Rejection– Messages that are too old are

automatically Rejected at the ConnectCIC

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Alarm Exchange Option Features

• Separate Logging– Separate messages from normal

CJIS flow

• Embedded URL management– For video camera feeds– Can’t get to the Internet on most

CAD workstations

Expectations for your Customers

• This is not a “flip the switch” offering– Development work to do– Testing

• 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, [email protected]

Coordinator:Kelli Adkins – Marketing Director at CommSys, [email protected]

Questions/Answers

www.commsys.com 800-842-5225 [email protected]