Virtual Joint Information Center



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Bureau of Preparedness and Response

Virtual Joint Information Center

Standard Operating Guidelines

June 22, 2011

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Virtual Joint Information Center (JIC) Process

Executive Summary

During an emergency or disaster, assembling key Joint Information Center (JIC) staff at the appropriate location may be impossible or ill-advised. A virtual JIC serves the need for timely information gathering and disseminating in a response by collecting information from responders and JIC staff across a wide area and developing essential tools in an online setting. The functionality of a physical JIC can be mimicked in a virtual JIC from development and dissemination of messages to collaborative discussions via email or threaded bulletin board chats. Media monitoring, internal messaging, and rumor investigation and control capabilities can also function at full capacity in this format.

This scalable process can be activated for smaller incidents or for larger responses. The use of this process is appropriate during an Emergency Support Function (ESF)-8 event or a targeted activation at the local, regional, and state level. The process takes the place of a physical JIC or the Information Management Branch or Unit (IMB/IMU) - which can be part of the Operations or Planning Section - and other branches of the Incident Command structure.

The proposed guidance utilizes already existing tools at the Florida Department of Health along with open-source, web-based or cloud-based software at no cost to users. These tools are intended to provide functionality and three-deep redundancy in a disaster situation.

These Standard Operating Guidelines are to be used during a response with and align to the Rumor Investigation and Control, Media Monitoring, and Internal Messaging Standard Operating Guidelines, the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) Annex, and the state JIC/Joint Information System (JIS) Guidelines.

This dynamic document is based on a survey of FDOH public information officers.

Overview

A virtual JIC is a crucial part of the Joint Information System (JIS). It allows responding public information officers (PIOs) in many locations to post and access the latest verified information from an online location. In addition to providing crucial information throughout the emergency, the virtual JIC can be used to share information before a physical JIC has been established.

The operation of a virtual JIC allows interaction among incident-management sites, and ensures delivery of consistent, timely information to those who need it.

A virtual JIC collects information from many sources and assembles it in one place. If needed, multiple state agencies, partners, and county and city governments may contribute information through a virtual JIC.

During an emergency or disaster, authorities can feed critical information from the affected areas to JIC staff for assessment and potential message development and distribution. The lead agency’s Office of Communications Director or delegated authority may then place selected information from the virtual JIC to an external website for the public to complement information disseminated through traditional media.

Message development and approval will occur based on established procedures in the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communications (CERC) Annex and JIC/JIS Guidelines. The virtual JIC will provide templates, key messages to and from stakeholders, fact sheets, and frequently asked questions as deemed necessary by the JIC Lead.

These virtual JIC standard operations guidelines (SOG) provide procedures for setting up a virtual JIC operation within the scope of a given response, as well as maintaining its level of functionality as the response mandates. The scope of the process is event and location specific with focus on the county but, not exceeding the state of Florida.

For this report, the process for a state level virtual JIC will be clarified with advisement for counties and regions. Prior to its development, an assessment tool was developed and implemented to determine the experience and needs of CHD PIOs during prior responses. Questions included open- and closed-ended, multiple choice, and Likert Scale. Survey questions inquired about the preferred access points and materials needed. Results were analyzed and are reflected in this SOG in Attachment C.

Access Points

The Virtual JIC is comprised of information that could be accessed in several locations. State and county level responses have the opportunity to determine how they would like their virtual JIC to come together with multiple access points. Existing capabilities are available as are open source tools.

Although a social media policy has not been fully implemented, FDOH continues to support a YouTube channel along with an online newsroom where audio and video files are stored. Based on the success of both of these tools, audio/video files would not be maintained on the virtual JIC software in an effort to save space and maintain access speed.

At the internal level for smaller events, the virtual JIC can be sustained utilizing internal tools only available to FDOH employees within the FDOH firewall. Event specific information could be accessed from any of the following with primary two-way communication taking place via email and phone calls.

• Crisis and Risk Communications Web Site



• Event specific internal web site (dark pages)

• Sharepoint site located in the Office of Communications

At the external level for smaller events, the virtual JIC can be sustained utilizing external tools available to FDOH employees, partners, the public, and the media outside the FDOH firewall. Transparent event specific information could be accessed from any of the following with primary two-way communication taking place via email and phone calls.

• Event specific external website (dark pages)

• Crisis and Risk Communications Web Site (under development)



For larger events at the internal level requiring a greater level of information security, the virtual JIC can be sustained utilizing password protected sites available only to internal and external responders specific to the incident. This capability is helpful in the event the FDOH server is unavailable or external responders are unable to access information within the FDOH firewall. The web-based capability will allow for access from any point on the globe with Internet access while providing a layer of password protected security. Primary or secondary two-way communication can also take place via the threaded discussion feature capability or via email and phone calls.

• FDENS Document Library/Discussions (see Attachments B)



• DropBox, Doodle, and Google Groups (see Attachments A and B)







• Collanos Workspace (see Attachments A and B)



Although the majority of the access points are provided as a turn key system, others may need minimal guidance to access the information in other areas.

Information Storage and Access

Several of the tools provide document management capabilities for storing and organizing media kits, fact sheets, and other information resources. These are easily accessible but kept on password-protected sites. These include:

• FDENS Document Library (see Attachment B)



• DropBox (see Attachments A and B)



• Collanos Workspace (see Attachments A and B)



Collaborative Communication

During a response, JIC participants will often want to communicate about a situation or a problem that may arise. Email and phone calls are often used to bridge the need to communicate with others. In the event, email or phones are unavailable, online options are available with various levels of security and the capability to capture threaded conversations. These include:

• FDENS Discussions (see Attachment B)



• Google Groups (see Attachments A and B)



• Collanos Workspace (see Attachments A and B)



Additional Attachments:

Attachment A: Open Source Virtual JIC Tools

Attachment B: Role of proposed tools – Alphabetized

Attachment C: Assessment Results

*Sources: FDENS, Florida RDSTF JIC/JIS Guidelines, FDOH CERC Annex, Oregon Department of Human Services, Osceola CHD, Volusia CHD, CDC, Florida State University College of Communication and Information Science, Clinton (NY) CHD, Google, DropBox, Doodle, Collanos.

Attachment A - Open Source Virtual JIC Tools

DropBox



• Use for storing documents, photos, templates, etc.

• Free for up to 2 GB of file storage; monthly charge thereafter.

• Can invite potential recipients allowing an icon-access point to reside on their desktop or can access with username and password.

• Can access from any location worldwide.

• Can update files in one location and see the updates across the saved locations.

• Can manage who has access to folders – add and delete as needed.

Doodle



• Use for scheduling meetings and setting up polls.

• Free no matter how frequently it is used.

• Can access from any location worldwide.

• Convenient for scheduling meetings and events across platforms i.e. Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, etc.

Google Groups



• Free online discussion group.

• Threaded conversations take place in real time.

• Can access from any location worldwide.

• Convenient for discussions that need a paper trail or for when a conference call is unavailable.

Collanos Workspace



• Free download and use no matter how frequently it is used

• Can manage several projects at once

• Can work online and offline

• Can invite unlimited team members, communicate with them in real-time or asynchronously, assign them distinct permissions and know their presence status any time.

• Can notify team members of updates to documents

• Can integrate and share any project-related content including images, music, and video files.

• Can instant message team members.

Attachment B - Role of proposed tools - Alphabetized

Collanos Workspace – open source, password-protected, Internet-based (cloud) site offering a single location to store documents, invite teammates to participate, communicate with teams in real time, notify teams of document revisions, and share files in multiple formats; accessible outside the DOH firewall

Crisis and Emergency Risk Communications Web Site – provide information, FAQs, release templates, and other resources for PIOs on various hazards, diseases, and bioterrorism weapons

Doodle – open source, password-protected, Internet-based (cloud) site offering a single location to conveniently schedule meetings and events across platforms i.e. Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, etc. and set up polls; accessible outside the DOH firewall

DropBox - open source, password-protected, Internet-based (cloud) site offering a single location to store and manage documents and files of different formats, user access, and offer single point updates to documents for users; free for up to 2 GB of file storage; monthly charge thereafter; accessible outside the DOH firewall

Event specific external website (dark pages) - customized site page offering event-specific information to the general public and external partners (i.e. emergency responders, healthcare professionals, hospitals, etc.)

Event specific internal web site (dark pages) – customized site page offering information, resources, and tools specific to the event to internal audiences (i.e. responders, PIOs, support staff, etc.)

FDENS Document Library/Discussions – web-based, password-protected site housed within the DOH Emergency Notification System offering a location for all information from the Crisis and Risk Communication site and event-specific site to be housed and for online discussions to take place among internal and external audiences; available outside the DOH firewall for partner access: overview and training guide available at

Google Groups – open source, password-protected, Internet-based (cloud) site offering a single location to paper trail threaded, real-time, online discussions; accessible outside the DOH firewall

Sharepoint site located in the Office of Communications – redundant communication site for PIOs providing similar information as found on the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication site

Attachment C - Assessment Results

The results of the PIO assessment of training and virtual JICs were implemented in February 2010.

The following data pertains to the responses received about virtual JICs:

• 76.8% have never worked with a virtual JIC (N=181)

• 79.4% don’t have a virtual JIC (N=175)

• PIOs strongly agree or agree that they prefer the following attributes in a virtual JIC (N=175):

o Offers media kits and other approved materials for dissemination – 93.1%

o Ease of use – 92%

o Provides links to other pertinent sites – 88.5%

o Accessibility outside the DOH firewall – 88%

o Interactive capability – 86.1%

o Includes reference information re: all hazards – 85.2%

o Accessibility inside the DOH firewall – 82.6%

• PIOs felt accessing information during a response was easiest through (N=173):

o Password protected website – 72.6%

o DOH Office of Communications Website – 71.6%

o DOH Office of Communications Sharepoint – 64.1%

o FDENS – 59.1%

o Non-DOH website – 57.7%

o J Drive – 46.9%

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