HK1219339B - Personnel crisis communications management system - Google Patents

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for providing personnel communications management within an enterprise or group of related enterprises during crisis-situations. In particular, the systems and methods provide event management, shared situational awareness, personnel tracking, and unified crisis notification management to multiple users. The subject matter described herein relates to crisis management, and in particular, information proliferation to and from personnel and other individuals associated with an enterprise.

Description

Personnel crisis communication management system

Technical Field

The subject matter described herein relates to crisis management, and more particularly, to the dissemination of information to and from personnel and other individuals associated with a business.

Background

The occurrence of man-made and natural disasters (e.g., nuclear accidents, gunshots, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, etc.) has resulted in a great deal of death, injury, and property damage over the past decade. First responders and emergency management officials in places, regions and countries have been challenged as follows: communicate with multiple organizations, government agencies, emergency management personnel, and individuals in the affected area while reacting quickly and efficiently. This challenge is accompanied by the inherent difficulty of synchronizing incoherent and incompatible communication and emergency management systems, thus resulting in significant delays in crisis management and response.

Through these disasters and response experiences, a variety of needs have been recognized. Among these needs is the need for a rich and fast crisis communication tool, the need to develop a common understanding of the crisis situation using various data sources (including the general public), the need to disseminate to affected personnel in real time information and instructions related to actionable actions, and the need to track personnel status and location on a large scale throughout the crisis.

As these demands arise, technological developments have also emerged. With new communication technologies and ubiquitous, ubiquitous Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure, emergency global (mass) notification subsystem (EMNS) providers are currently providing single button, unified alerts to facility-based devices (e.g., fire alerts, public address systems, loud Voice (Giant Voice), etc.) and personal devices (e.g., via phone calls, text messages, email, computer pops, etc.). Current EMNS systems use various channels and formats to communicate outbound (from an operations center) to affected personnel, and to handset and track the responses sought.

While emergency notifications focus on outbound (outgoing) communications, lessons learned from disasters also indicate the need to collect inbound (inbound) reports (from the crisis site and its victims). For example, campus gunshots, flood areas, field fires, or terrorist activities are reported. The recent public service activity "See sizing, sayssizing" from the U.S. department of homeland security and the "Every solar solution is a sensor" program inside the U.S. department of defense are examples of the following philosophies: collecting, analyzing, and taking action on inbound information is critical to effective crisis situation management.

Until recently, 911 communication, which is the primary source of such inbound information, was not sufficient to capture rich content. The range of 911 communication is extended to adopt the updated technology via the next generation 911 project (NG 911). Embodiments of NG911 now support communication flows over IP networks, which also support newer and more advanced capabilities that support rich communications from the public to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs).

Disclosure of Invention

Systems and methods for communication management of personnel within (and persons associated with) an enterprise or related group of enterprises during a crisis event are disclosed, as well as computer-readable storage media storing instructions for performing such methods. Various embodiments provide some or all of the following: shared situation awareness, inbound event management, unified crisis notification, personnel status reporting, and personnel location tracking. Integrating these features within a single system architecture enables the efficiency of crisis event management to be improved over the use of multiple different systems. This provides, for example, a more efficient response to a crisis event, fewer casualties, and minimal property damage.

The disclosed systems and methods extend the scope and flow of situation awareness and enrich multimodal communication beyond the operations center or command and control center to all enterprise components, organizations and individuals, thus enabling organizations to effectively act in an informational, efficient and expeditious manner.

In one embodiment, a reliable and traceable communication management method is used, for example, in life safety applications where reliable information about message delivery is critical. In at least one embodiment, the enterprise's existing communications, network, and data infrastructure is used for crisis event communication management, which further improves the overall efficiency of the crisis management process.

One example embodiment of a system and method for personnel crisis communication management includes the following 6 features:

1. a crisis communication management platform that manages multi-directional, multi-modal communications between enterprise personnel and other related personnel during a crisis event as well as during routine enterprise operations.

2. An enterprise-level design that supports various components of enterprise communications provides views and communication channels of appropriate types for each component type. Component types include, but are not limited to, emergency management personnel, emergency first responders, incident commanders, business management personnel, business members, and individuals associated with business members.

3. The integration of critical crisis management functions within a single platform includes all capabilities, particularly inbound event management, shared situation awareness, unified notification, personnel status reporting, and personnel location tracking.

4. Tradeoffs in existing enterprise infrastructures, including but not limited to network hardware and personnel databases. This tradeoff results in, among other benefits, a reduction in acquisition and maintenance costs for the enterprise.

5. Closed-loop, audible, multi-directional, interactive, and multi-modal communication methods that result in communication reliability as required by life safety systems.

6. The interconnection of multiple enterprises within the scope of personnel safety promotes the synergy between the various crisis management organizations that are typically required in real life crisis.

Other embodiments include different and/or additional features than those outlined above.

Drawings

The figures depict various embodiments for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the systems and methods illustrated may be employed without departing from the principles described herein.

Fig. 1 is a high-level diagram illustrating a networked system for providing crisis communication management for an enterprise or group of enterprises in accordance with one embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a high-level diagram illustrating the configuration of an enterprise network, according to one embodiment.

Fig. 3A is a high-level diagram illustrating components of an integrated application for providing crisis communication management for an enterprise or group of enterprises, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3B is a high-level diagram illustrating components of the system database shown in FIG. 3A, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the exchange of information between various components, according to one embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for providing crisis communication management for an enterprise or group of enterprises in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating situation-aware diffusion between computing devices of different components, according to one embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing messages received by a crisis communication management system, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for associating a message with an existing event, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a high-level diagram illustrating a subsystem for providing person state tracking, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a high-level diagram illustrating a unified emergency notification subsystem, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates one embodiment of components of an example machine capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium and executing them in a processor (or controller).

Detailed Description

Today there is no system that integrates all critical crisis communication management components, including inbound reporting processing, shared situation awareness, personnel tracking, and outbound global notification into a single platform. Existing operation center systems rely mostly on voice communications (radio, mobile and fixed telephone) for operating communications. The general combat map resides in the operations center but is not shared with personnel and others on site and is not integrated with information received from the site, including media, the location of the first responder, etc.

As described above, timely and effective crisis communication management is needed to provide reliable, timely information to all individuals in need associated with an event without compromising the data security of the enterprise and other entities involved in the event. The inbound and outbound communication flows implemented on the IP network facilitate a more efficient way to communicate with affected enterprises and emergency services personnel during a crisis situation. The enterprise may be a corporation, a college park, an industrial facility, a military base, a military unit, a local jurisdiction, etc. The enterprise may be geographically tied to a location (e.g., a factory) or geographically distributed (e.g., all offices of a multinational company).

The widespread adoption of data communication devices such as smart phones has provided an obvious opportunity to improve crisis management systems, which has not been recognized. These devices provide expanded capabilities including integrating geographic location awareness and multimedia support (e.g., media playing, capturing, and sharing), which can be used to help businesses and emergency personnel report and respond efficiently to emergencies. The value of such inbound reports is enhanced where they include and/or can be associated with additional information describing the reported event, such as a photograph or video of the event, the location of the event, and/or information about the individual making the report. In some cases, information about the individual making the report is particularly valuable because it can help confirm the validity, accuracy, and context of the received report. System deployment architecture

Fig. 1 illustrates a networked system for providing personnel crisis communication management for an enterprise or group of enterprises in accordance with one embodiment. The personnel crisis communication management application is deployed on one or more primary server farms 100. Each group contains one or more servers that act in concert to provide high availability, security, and scalable functionality for users. Any number of server farms can be used as backup farms 101, which are typically located at sites where failures, such as network and power outages, are independent of failures at the primary farm.

In one embodiment, the application is deployed at the business premises of the enterprise, behind a firewall 106 and can be securely integrated with a user directory database, internal resources such as a network, a telephone PBX, in-building and "loud" alarm system, physical security sensors, and the like. In another embodiment, the application is provided as a software as a service (SaaS) in a cloud configuration. Hybrid solutions can also be configured in which some aspects of the application are in the field while other aspects are accessed from the cloud. In other embodiments, dedicated hardware configured to provide some or all of the functionality described herein is deployed at the business premises of an enterprise.

One or more operation centers or command and control centers 102 enable system operators and administrators to control all functions of the system using off-the-shelf web browser-running computers or mobile devices connected to the network directly or via a Virtual Private Network (VPN). In some embodiments, a dedicated display and control system, such as a large touch sensitive screen, is installed at command and control center 102 to enable an operator to efficiently view and interact with the shared situation-aware display.

One or more enterprise parks or facilities 103 contain systems and equipment that run applications of the systems. These facilities, described in more detail with reference to block 2, enable a user to be notified of an event and directed to take action and respond to instructions provided by the system. Similarly, non-enterprise members 107, which may be hosted by an enterprise campus or located remotely, are provided with the same functionality. The types of non-enterprise members 107 included in the system depend on the attributes of the enterprise. For example, such non-enterprise members may include lessees of military facilities, family members and family members of service members, visitors to a university park, contractors working for a company, and so forth.

The server farms 100 and 101, command and control center 102 and enterprise facility 103, and the enterprise's off-the-shelf network 105 operate within the enterprise's private cloud 105, which is protected from the internet by the enterprise's firewall 116. Non-enterprise members 107 may be served by the same private cloud 105 or by separate networks (public or private) protected by a firewall 106.

The system is also capable of communicating with both member and non-member components of the enterprise via the internet 108. Mobile devices, such as tablet computers and smart phones, running mobile applications 110 communicate with the system through their respective wireless carrier networks 109. Other mobile devices, such as mobile telephones and pagers, communicate via their respective wireless 109 or fixed telephone 113 carrier networks. Text message aggregator 111 can be used by the system to send messages to all types of mobile devices using the Short Message Service (SMS) protocol. In one embodiment, the system may also receive SMS messages from text message aggregator 111 and/or messages directly from mobile device 112. The landline telephone devices 114 are capable of communicating with the system through their respective telephone carrier networks. In other embodiments, the system communicates with the components using additional and/or different devices and communication networks, including dedicated, customized built-in communication devices and/or network infrastructure.

In one embodiment, the system also communicates with components over the internet 108 via social networks such as FACEBOOK and TWITTER, and/or sends alerts through public safety systems such as Emergency Alert Service (EAS) and Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS).

Fig. 2 illustrates a configuration of a portion of the broader network shown in fig. 1 within an enterprise's private cloud 104, according to one embodiment. The illustrated embodiment utilizes an existing IP network 105 of an enterprise. The private cloud 104 of the enterprise provides a highly secure environment for the system to operate within.

In the illustrated embodiment, the network portions within the enterprise's private cloud 104 include a Network Alarm System (NAS)103-1, a Telephone Alarm System (TAS)103-2, a public announcement system 103-3, and an event trigger system 103-4. A typical deployment also includes one or more servers running the application 100 and off-the-shelf database management systems. Alternatively, a custom designed database management system can be used. When more than one server is deployed, they can be configured as a "server farm" with load balancing that provides high performance, scalable operation. The deployment form may also include a hot backup server farm 101.

NAS 103-1 includes a computer pop-up warning application running on desktop or laptop computers 103-11 throughout an enterprise that provides the ability to communicate bi-directionally with office workers of the enterprise. Members of the enterprise may also be able to communicate bi-directionally with the enterprise's email system 103-12 and/or IP-based telephone system 103-13.

A Telephone Alert System (TAS)103-2 interfaces with the enterprise's non-IP telephone 103-21 through the enterprise's private branch exchange (PBX) 103-22. In one embodiment, the TAS 103-2 is also used to provide notifications to components outside of the enterprise's private cloud 104. For example, in the case of a crisis event, the TAS 103-2 makes an automated telephone call to one or more component home telephone numbers or mobile phones.

The enterprise's public announcement system 103-3 can interface to the system through the IP integration module 103-31. Such public announcement systems include, but are not limited to, the ready-made loud sound 103-32 system for outdoor notifications and the indoor fire alarm/global notification subsystem 103-33 for in-building notifications.

The event trigger system 103-4 provides event input to the application that is used to identify when a crisis event occurs. In the illustrated embodiment, the event triggering system 103-4 includes an intrusion detection system 103-41, an access control system 103-42, a video surveillance system 103-43, and an IT surveillance system 103-44. In other embodiments, the event triggering system 103-4 includes different and/or additional systems, such as systems that monitor temperature, humidity, industrial equipment operating parameters, and the like.

Fig. 3A is a high-level diagram illustrating components of an integrated application 200 for providing crisis communication management for an enterprise or group of enterprises, according to one embodiment. In the illustrated embodiment, the integrated application 200 includes subsystems for providing inbound event management 202, shared situation awareness 203, unified crisis notification management 204, and personnel tracking 205.

In addition to the integrated application 200, some embodiments include a mobile application 207 used by mobile users with devices such as smartphones or tablet computers that interface to the integrated application through a Personal Security Service (PSS) 206. The service can run on any server or server farm on the internet (or otherwise connected to the mobile application 207 and an instance of the integrated application 200) and can serve one or more enterprise integrated applications 200. In one embodiment, the PSS 206 serves as an interface to connect a mobile application 207 running on a device (e.g., a smartphone) connected to the public network 108 to an integrated application hosted on a system within the enterprise's private network 104 without compromising the security of the private network.

The functionality of the integrated application is supported by a system database 201 (e.g., a database management system) that contains several logical persistent library sets. In one embodiment as shown in FIG. 3B, the system database 201 includes a system catalog repository 211, a user profile repository 212, an operations repository 213, a tracking repository 214, and a diagnostics repository 215.

The system catalog library 211 contains system configuration and setup data. In one embodiment, the system catalog repository 211 includes a catalog of alarm scenarios, a library of video and audio modules, custom attribute configurations, organizational hierarchy, device and delivery configurations, integrated agent configurations, operator roles and permissions, event configurations, transaction roles, and static layers. This data is set by the system installer and maintained by the system administrator and operator. In other embodiments, the system catalog corpus 211 contains additional and/or different data.

The user profile repository 212 contains user profiles and corresponding data. In one embodiment, the user profile repository 212 includes user attributes, contact details, and delivery preferences. The user profile data can be synchronized with an external people database set, such as an active directory or LDAP. A web-based system management password protection module is provided to a system administrator to manage the synchronization. Web-based and mobile self-service password protection modules can also be provided to end users to register and update their own profile information. In other embodiments, the user profile repository 212 contains additional and/or different data.

The operations database set 213 contains operations data that includes published alert messages and corresponding target and recipient lists. In various embodiments, the operations database set 213 also contains additional and/or different data, such as geographic planes, inbound events, inbound multimedia, activity logs, and the like.

The trace repository 214 contains trace event data, such as alert delivery events (e.g., notifications that messages have been successfully sent, received, and responded to). In various embodiments, tracking repository 214 also includes personnel tracking events, check-in/check-out notifiers, and the like.

The diagnostic corpus 215 contains a running centralized system event log that captures application-level events sorted by event source and severity. In one embodiment, the diagnostic library 215 is optimized for high throughput. In one embodiment, the diagnostic corpus 215 also contains expected and application level log data. The data in the diagnostic corpus 215 can be used for system health monitoring, fault localization, and the like.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary exchange of various types of information between enterprise components involved in human communication, according to one embodiment. Those components include, but are not limited to, a command and control center/operations center 301, an operations team/first application partner 302, and general people/business members 303. The flow of situation awareness and response actions is extended to all components within the enterprise and to the general public, thus enabling the enterprise and/or community to effectively take action in an informational and expeditious manner.

During a crisis event, it is critical to establish the flow of information between authorities, organizations and individuals and to gain visibility into the crisis-related activities that are taking place. In one embodiment, this is accomplished by integrating a bi-directional communication channel into the crisis management communication process by leveraging the ubiquitous mobile devices, mobile networks, and smart phones used today. Aspects of the disclosed systems and methods help improve information flow during crisis situations.

Various content including alarms, support information, location information, event reports, site reports, emergency requests, distress requests, personnel status, and personnel location can be processed and distributed by a single integrated system. By using an integrated system, the scope of any given content is extended. All content within the system is potentially available to all components anywhere, if desired, under the authority of role-based security and access permission agreements for the enterprise.

The integrated system also enables general members of the enterprise and/or general public and emergency response teams to report information and status back to the operations center and within smaller groups. The content may include multimedia data-which enables text, audio, image and video information to be provided by and delivered to any component associated with the enterprise where needed (and authorized).

Fig. 5A and 5B illustrate a method for providing crisis communication management for an enterprise or group of enterprises using the hardware configuration shown in fig. 1-3, according to one embodiment. Members of the enterprise report 401 the event to the operations center or command and control center. The member communicates the event report through the enterprise's network 105 and/or the internet 108 using a software application (e.g., mobile application 207) running within the mobile device 110 or a stationary device (not shown). In embodiments including a PSS 206 such as that shown in fig. 3A, the event report is transmitted via the PSS. In one embodiment, the event report includes the location, a visual and/or textual description of the event, and optionally the proposed action(s) to take.

Assuming it is used, the PS 206 of the system receives 402 the event report and publishes it to all subscription servers, each representing an organization within the enterprise or a neighboring organization. If the PSS 206 is not used, a dedicated routing module (not shown) can be used to publish the event report to all subscription servers.

Each subscription server subsystem receives 403 the event report and enters it into the system database 201. In one embodiment, the system attempts to correlate the reported event with other events within the system based on the time, location, and description of the reported event.

If the event report corresponds to a new event, the system notifies 404 the operator of the operations center. In one embodiment, the system displays the new event on the operator's screen, showing the location of the event on a map display along with other relevant visual and/or textual information, including potentially relevant events.

The operator analyses this information and recommends 405 a possible path to the event location to the first application partner that is reachable. In one embodiment, the operator recommends 405 the possible paths by drawing them on a map. The server automatically or manually (activated by the operator) notifies the mobile device of the first opponent of the watch and includes all relevant location and event status information.

The first responder's device confirms 406 that the event was received (either by requesting user confirmation or automatically) and continuously provides location tracking information back to the server subsystem, updating the operator display of the operations center. The first counterparty's device displays the relevant event information updated in substantially real-time.

When the incident scene is reached, the first party engages (e.g., signs in) the system and reports back to the system 407, updating the status of the incident with textual and/or visual information. The system also updates the operator's client. Other enterprise and non-enterprise components may also receive some or all of the information updates based on their roles and corresponding access rights. In one embodiment, the verbally received updates (e.g., the security perimeter established using the radio) are entered by the operator, thus updating the system and the display of all relevant operators and first responders. In another embodiment, verbal updates are processed automatically or semi-automatically. For example, the system may use a voice-to-text algorithm and present the recommended updates to the operator for manual approval, thus reducing the amount of time it takes for the operator to enter the updates.

If necessary, the operator uses the unified crisis notification subsystem 204 to trigger 408 a textual and/or visual alert to the relevant components (e.g., security personnel, management personnel, and members of the enterprise). In one embodiment, the alert includes appropriate instructions (e.g., send first respondent add-ons, members to avoid certain locations, etc.) and/or request status updates from all relevant personnel (e.g., "OK," "help needed").

The personnel tracking system 205 of the system collects 409 responses and optionally also geographical locations from all personnel and provides reports to all subscribers indicating abnormal situations requiring further action. In one embodiment, the person tracking subsystem 205 logs the responses into the system database 201 and makes them available for future data and trend analysis.

FIG. 6 illustrates a propagation of situation awareness between computing devices of different components, according to an example embodiment. The diagram highlights visual and textual information available to various enterprise components using the fire event use case as an example. This diagram depicts views presented to a user of the role of three different components in an enterprise: operators of the operation center, fire chief and members of the enterprise. The view on a particular device depends on the role of the corresponding individual with respect to the enterprise. Although three roles are shown in the figure, any number of roles, and thus any number of views, can be supported.

After the three devices are turned on and their respective users log in (500, 501 and 502), the members of the enterprise observe the fire and use her smartphone 110 running the mobile application 207 of the present invention to edit and send a report 503 describing the observed event, her own status (e.g., "safe" or "at risk"), and the image or video of the fire she took. The application 207 automatically adds the location of the mobile device and a timestamp to the report before sending the report. The report is then sent to the appropriate system 200 through the enterprise's personal security service 206 (assumed used by the enterprise).

The report is received by the system 200 and is automatically, semi-automatically, or manually classified and processed by the application 200, and in particular the inbound event manager 600 of the application. Among other types of events, a view of an operator's character that is subscribed to a fire event flashes an alarm on the operator's view, indicating the fire event, the event location, and the status of the member sending the report on a map display. When requested by the operator, a complete description (e.g., text, images, and/or video) of the fire event is displayed 504 in its view. The operator verifies the event and dispatches the appropriate fire suppression team 505 according to the standard operating procedures of the enterprise.

The fire chief's view also subscribes to fire events. Upon receiving the fire event, the display of the fire chief indicates the location of the fire on map 506. The fire chief queries the system and its view enlarges to include all available information about the event. Once the fire chief has assessed the incident, he decides that additional resources are needed, a security perimeter is to be established around the location, and members of the enterprise and the public should stay behind the perimeter. Using its own device 110, the fire chief sends an appropriate message to the system 507 to establish the perimeter and indicate the corresponding instructions that should be issued. In one embodiment, the perimeter is a predetermined shape (e.g., a circle) having a radius that the focal length of the fire department sets. In another embodiment, the fire chief defines the perimeter by drawing it on a map (e.g., on a touch screen with a stylus). In other embodiments, a hybrid approach is used, such as initially defining the perimeter as a circle, but enabling the fire department leader to move edges to account for specific features, such as extending the perimeter to take advantage of a natural bottleneck that is easier to close at one end.

The view of the operator at the operations center is updated with information sent by the fire chief indicating the resources that have been classified and the additional resources requested. The map of the operator of the operations center is updated to show the safety perimeter 508. All members of the enterprise receive a notification showing the security perimeter on their mobile device's map and corresponding instructions 509 to stay behind the security perimeter. In situations other than a fire (e.g., reporting of an unknown biological agent), personnel within the security perimeter may be instructed to remain within the perimeter in order to prevent diffusion of the unknown biological agent.

The operator of the operation center and the fire dispatcher allocate additional first counterparty resources. The allocated resources are displayed in view 510 at the operation center and the fire department leader. All additional first counterpart views are updated to reflect the latest status 511 of the event. The first responder resource collaborates in fire fighting and other rescue operations and reports state 512 to the system, which is updated 513 on all subscription views.

The operator of the operation centre closes the accident. Using this system, he notifies the members of the enterprise, the general public and the first party of the emergency end 514. These notifications pop up on the first application partner 515 and member 516 views. In a similar manner, the geographic marking showing the security perimeter established by the fire chief is eliminated from all views.

Figure 7 illustrates an example method for a crisis communication management system (such as that shown in figure 1) to process a received message according to one embodiment. Fig. 7 attributes the steps of the method to the Inbound Event Manager (IEM) subsystem 202, but in other embodiments some or all of the steps are performed by other entities in the system. Further, some steps may be performed in a different order and/or in parallel. The IEM subsystem 202 manages the flow and processing of event reports coming into the system from a variety of sources (e.g., people, other organizations, individuals, and other systems); such events may include emergency situations reported by individuals, live reports from first responders, events from physical security sensors such as video surveillance systems, and so forth. In one embodiment, the event report includes some or all of the following: a textual description of the situation, the source of the event report, multimedia content associated with the event, and the geographic location of the event. The IEM subsystem 202 applies business logic to incoming events, allowing for efficient handling during emergency situations, for example by sending the events to the appropriate system components along with a shared situation map and notifying the appropriate team.

After IEM processing begins 600, IEM subsystem 202 waits to receive 601 a communication from any device or external system over the network. Where applicable, the encrypted communication is decrypted 603, authenticated 604, and the message contained in the communication is verified 605. Any communication that is not successfully decrypted, authenticated or verified is rejected 608 without further processing.

If the message is successfully authenticated 604 and verified 605 (and decrypted 603 if necessary), then IEM subsystem 202 attempts to associate 606 the message with an existing event. If 607 is successful, the message is saved 613 as part of the associated event 613. If no event can be associated with the message, IEM subsystem 202 creates 609 a new event, associates the event with at least one event type, and classifies 612 the event if system settings requirements 611 fall into a security and/or sensitivity category. IEM subsystem 202 retains 613 the message as part of the newly created associated event.

If the originator of the communication requires 614 that the communication be successfully received and processed, then the IEM subsystem 202 constructs an acknowledgement message and sends 615 it to the originating device or system. The process then idles and waits 616 for the next communication message.

Figure 8 illustrates a method for associating 606 a message with an existing event for a crisis communications management system, such as that shown in figure 1, according to one embodiment. Fig. 8 attributes the steps of the method to IEM subsystem 202, but in other embodiments some or all of the steps are performed by other entities in the system. Further, some steps may be performed in a different order and/or in parallel.

During a crisis event, the operation center typically floods messages from personnel and automation systems describing what may be essentially the same incident. Associating messages relating to a single real crisis event with a single event within the system can therefore greatly improve the efficiency of emergency event management. In this manner, decision makers responsible for managing incidents can be presented with more relevant views without being overwhelmed by redundant and/or duplicative data.

After process start 606-1, IEM subsystem 202 extracts metadata (e.g., location, time, and description information) from the incoming message. IEM subsystem 202 determines whether the metadata extracted from the message matches information describing existing events within a threshold tolerance. In one embodiment, if the extracted location matches the location of the existing event within a specified distance 606-3 and the message time matches the time of the existing event within a specified time range 606-4, the system adds the incoming message to the set of messages associated with the existing event. Otherwise, IEM subsystem 202 determines 606-7 that no match was found and proceeds to create 609 a new event.

If the association is successful, then the IEM subsystem 202 uses an algorithm to attempt to associate the description contained in the incoming message with the description contained in the matching event. In one embodiment, the IEM subsystem 202 matches 606-6 the incoming description contained in the message with the description of the event based on shared common keywords (e.g., "fire," "flood," etc.). In other embodiments, IEM subsystem 202 matches the description coming in the message to the event using other criteria, such as an automatic comparison of multimedia data included in the message with information associated with the event. For example, if the event is of the "fire" type and the incoming information includes an image of the fire, a match may be determined. Conversely, if the image shows a car accident, the IEM subsystem 202 may additionally create a new event.

If the IEM subsystem 202 determines that new information is substantially present in the incoming message, it updates 606-8 the description of the existing event and queues the incoming message for publication to authorized interested parties that subscribe to such information. In one embodiment, the operator may view the information at any point and decide to blend the incoming information into an existing event or, if desired, decouple the message from the associated event to create a new event.

FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of a Personnel Status Tracking (PST) subsystem 205 that provides real-time visibility and detailed information regarding the location, status, and status of members of an enterprise. The operations center uses the PST subsystem 205 to assess accountability status from a select group or the entire enterprise population and collect accurate reports of accountability (e.g., status, and location). In one embodiment, individuals may also provide unsolicited reports of their current status and location.

In one embodiment, the PST subsystem 205 uses the concept of "manage by exception," i.e., manage those individuals who do not report when expected (e.g., their status is "unknown" or "out of date") or report an abnormal condition. The PST subsystem 205 provides awareness of personnel location, surroundings, and demand across multiple teams. The PST subsystem 205 may also provide real-time reporting. Thus, the operator can be provided with a single collective dashboard that "digs in depth" to granular organizational details.

In one embodiment, the PST subsystem 205 provides personnel status and accountability functions, including: capturing status from individuals, maintaining a history of personnel status, proactively soliciting individuals to report their status, targeting specific groups to obtain subsequent reports based on their status, viewing real-time personnel accountability reports, enabling entry of personnel status by agents (e.g., by system operators), enabling "sign-in" reports of user status (e.g., "i am here and well"), and enabling "sign-out" reports of user status (e.g., "do not worry about me").

In the embodiment shown in fig. 9, the PST subsystem 205 is based on tracker processing 700. The free-running process 700 is responsible for managing the operation of the PST subsystem 500. The PST subsystem 205 keeps track of messages from members of the enterprise entered at the database 702, the database 702 notifying the tracker process 700 via manual input by an agent at one of the input event manager 600 or the client 704 each time the system receives a message from a member of the enterprise. The message may include, but is not limited to, an event report, a response to a request to report status, and/or an event automatically generated by event trigger system 103-4, such as an access control event automatically generated when a personnel badge is scanned (e.g., "personnel X just entered location Y at time Z").

In one embodiment, the tracker process 700 keeps track of all status and location messages from members of the enterprise, whether the reports are solicited or unsolicited, sends requests to selected members of the enterprise for their status and location via the notification engine 703, tracks their status and location for solicitations that the members of the enterprise do not answer, aggregates and correlates the status and location of the members into various reports that can be automatically displayed on any of the authorized clients 704 by triggering updates via the status and location query processor 701.

Fig. 10 illustrates an embodiment of an integrated emergency notification subsystem, which includes an integrated application 200. The integrated application 200 unifies and automates the emergency notification processing across the enterprise end-to-end. Using a web-based console, smart phone, or tablet device, the operator can activate an alert and receive a response from any location for virtually any notification device or system.

NAS 701 delivers audio/visual pop-up notifications to computer desktop and email system 702 and responses from components of those devices. It also sends notifications to the component via the component's subscribed to social network 703 (e.g., FACEBOOK and TWITTER). Email is delivered and received using secure methods, such as digital signaling using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

The unified communications Interface (iPBX)704 communicates and receives text, image and video messages to the enterprise's VoIP phone 706 and/or microsoft LYNC unified communications platform 707 over the enterprise's secure voice over IP (VoIP) network 705. It also delivers voice alerts to fixed and cellular phones 710 via Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) gateway 708 and public telephone network (709), as well as to a large dial-up service that is on-site or hosted.

A Notification Delivery Management Service (NDMS)712 interfaced to the system via a secure public cloud 712 delivers and receives text, images, and image alerts to smartphones and tablet devices. The supported smartphones and tablets may also provide location information to the system via the NMDS 712.

The digital display interface 714 communicates text, video, and video alerts to a supported digital display system 715.

The IP integration module 716 interfaces to various non-IP notification subsystems 715, such as loud sounds, sirens, public addresses, voice-enabled fire alarm control panels, in-building fire alarm notification panels, and local radio and television stations via Emergency Alarm Systems (EAS).

Radio interface 718 conveys voice messages, including VHF, UHF and push-to-talk (PTT) radios, to various first-party and security forces Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems 719. The supported radios may also provide location information to the system through their built-in GPS.

Exemplary use case

The following exemplary use case illustrates how the above-identified components can interact to provide crisis notification management and shared situation awareness in an embodiment configured for use by law enforcement. The law enforcement officer observes the vehicle leaving the crime scene and creates a report identifying it as a vehicle of interest using the mobile application 207 running on the law enforcement officer's mobile device 110. The mobile application sends a message including an event report to the integrated application 200. In one embodiment, the event report includes the law enforcement officer's identification, the event location, the event time, and vehicle related information (e.g., white Chevy Impala with a north-facing license plate of "SUSPECT"). The event report may also include pictures, video, audio, text comments, and other types of available multimedia data. For example, the message may include footage of a dashboard camera of the vehicle from law enforcement officers at times before and after the reported event, which is automatically connected by the mobile application 207, and a photograph of the vehicle of interest taken by law enforcement officers and manually added to the report.

According to this embodiment, the identification of the law enforcement officer included in the event report includes the serial number of the mobile device 110, the user name, the official job number, the officer name and level, and/or any other available information that can be used to identify the officer that issued the report.

According to this embodiment, the location and time of the event is determined automatically by the mobile application 207 (e.g., using the GPS and internal clock functions of the mobile device 110) and/or manually via user input from law enforcement officers. In one embodiment, the location and time are automatically determined unless law enforcement officers provide this information in lieu of the automatic determination. For example, if a law enforcement officer observes an event while in a hazardous situation and withdraws to a safe location before reporting the event, the law enforcement officer can provide the location and time of the actual event rather than using the automatically determined current time and location.

In one embodiment, a message including an event report is sent to the integration application 200 via the PSS 206, which the PSS 206 screens for harmful content before forwarding the message to the integration application. In other embodiments, the PSS 206 or other routing mechanism communicates the message from the mobile device 110 to the integrated application 200.

Once the message is received by the integrated application 200, it is processed by the inbound event management system 202, which examines the message and, in this case, determines that it includes a report for the vehicle of interest. In one embodiment, the inbound event management system 202 queries the system database 201 using the identification information provided in the report to verify that the report is from a registered law enforcement officer.

Once the report has been verified (if needed), the unified crisis notification subsystem 204 queries the system database to identify all law enforcement officers and/or law enforcement stations that are currently monitoring and/or capable of monitoring the road near the event (as determined by the personnel tracking subsystem 205). The unified crisis notification subsystem 204 then sends a message to some or all of the identified law enforcement officers and/or law enforcement stations identifying the vehicle of interest and requesting confirmation of receipt. In one embodiment, the message is sent to all identified law enforcement officer's mobile devices 110 and 112 and a computer system placed within a law enforcement station (e.g., an officer barracks). In other embodiments, the message is sent only to those devices 103, 110, and 112 that are confirmed to be secure, such as those devices connected to a private network within the site. While this somewhat reduces the availability of this information to on-site law enforcement officers in the short term, it also prevents the information included therein from becoming public, which may be revealed to the suspect and reduce the chance of arrest. In one such embodiment, the unified crisis notification subsystem 204 attempts to send a message to all identified recipients and the message is filtered by the PSS 206 to ensure that network security is maintained and that sensitive information is not transmitted over an unsecured public network (e.g., the wireless carrier network 129).

The message issued by the unified crisis notification subsystem 204 issues information included in the initial report provided by law enforcement officers sighting the event. The receiving computing device (e.g., site computer 103, officer's mobile devices 110 and 112, etc.) presents the information from the report (or a subset thereof) to other law enforcement officers. In some embodiments, the message further includes a request to verify successful issuance of the message. In one such embodiment, a confirmation regarding the display of the information is automatically sent to the integrated application. In another such embodiment, the user is prompted to confirm receipt (e.g., by making a specified user input), wherein the confirmation is sent to the integration application 200 when receipt is confirmed. In this manner, an operator of the integrated application 200 (e.g., at a command and control center) knows that not only was the message issued, but also that the content of the message was viewed. The response may also include location information used by personnel tracking subsystem 205 to update the location of personnel on site. The location information may be in the form of geographic location data (e.g., current GPS location, cellular tower location data, etc.) or based on information provided by personnel (e.g., "i are currently at the intersection of 25 th and 4 th").

The shared situation awareness subsystem 203 provides an overview of the event and the publishing of information about the event. The integrated application 200 provides a map of the area surrounding the event, which is overlaid with available information about the event. The operator can be provided interactive controls to manipulate the map display, such as zooming in and out on the map, scrolling, filtering the superimposed information, and so forth. In one embodiment, the map is overlaid with an indication of the location included in the initial report, the locations of all law enforcement officers in the area (as determined by the personnel tracking subsystem 205), and the locations of additional reports submitted regarding the event. The operator can drill down and view additional information included in the report and/or related to the person by selecting the corresponding indicator on the map. The superimposed information also indicates which law enforcement officers have received information about the vehicle of interest.

The shared situation learning subsystem 203 can also display additional information received by the inbound event management subsystem 202 from the field personnel's mobile device 110. For example, if law enforcement officers see a vehicle they consider interesting, they can report using the mobile application 207. These reports are processed by the integration application 200 and, if validated, added to the map provided by the sharing situation awareness subsystem 203. In this manner, the operator is able to analyze the potential witnesses of the vehicle of interest to determine whether they are likely to be true witnesses or false positives. In one embodiment, this additional information is automatically pushed to the field personnel's equipment (if permitted by the security requirements required by the PSS 206). In another embodiment, such additional information is only issued if the operator determines that it is relevant and/or correct.

The map and overlay information (as well as additional information that can be obtained by deep mining of a particular report/people representation) allows the operator to quickly assess the overall situation associated with the vehicle of interest. In this way, the operator can easily determine where within the coverage area there is a gap where the vehicle of interest may escape and request that another law enforcement officer who has learned of the event move to a new location or distribute the report to another person in order to increase coverage.

In some embodiments, the shared situation awareness subsystem 203 enables map and overlay information to be available to mobile devices 110 of field personnel at the command and control center (or a subset thereof). In this manner, all law enforcement officers participating in a search for a vehicle of interest are able to make informed decisions as to what action to take at any given time. For example, a group of officers at a site may elect to group to fill in nearby gaps in coverage without requiring direct instructions from a command and control center. In one embodiment, personnel in the field can report such expected actions to the integrated application 200 via the mobile application 207. In this way, the operator of the command and control center can see not only the current situation, but also how the situation develops and, if necessary, issue new instructions. For example, if two groups of personnel on site decide to move to fill the same gap in coverage, the operator can intervene and direct one group to take an alternative course of action.

The unified crisis notification subsystem 204 also enables law enforcement agencies to publish information to the public. For example, if an operator of a command and control center determines that a vehicle of interest is traveling eastward and driving in a manner that endangers the public based on the map and overlay data provided by the shared situation awareness subsystem 203, the operator can issue a message to the public warning them of a potential hazard. The message can be delivered via one or more channels, including messages to the mobile device 110, the public announcement system 115, the social network 115, and the like. Thus, law enforcement is able to effectively control which information is kept secure and which information is publicly available on a case-by-case basis based on operational and public safety factors while an event progresses.

Once the event has been resolved (e.g., the vehicle of interest has been intercepted by law enforcement and the driver detained), the operator of the command and control center logs the event resolution in the integrated application 200. With due regard to role-based security and access rights protocols, the unified crisis notification subsystem 204 suitably issues notifications to personnel and other interested persons in the field that the event has been resolved. In addition, the sharing situation awareness subsystem 203 updates the map display provided at the command and control center and by the personnel's mobile application 207. In one embodiment, the sharing situation awareness subsystem 207 removes all indications of the event from the map immediately upon resolution. In another embodiment, the event remains on the map for a period of time (e.g., for a fixed period of time until removed by an operator, etc.), but is visually distinguished as having been resolved (e.g., presented in a different color than the unresolved event). Computing machine architecture

The disclosed software structures and processes are configured to operate on a machine, such as a computing system. Fig. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an example machine capable of reading instructions, for example, from a non-transitory machine-readable medium and executing them in one or more processors (or controllers). In some embodiments, a special purpose machine configured to perform some or all of the functions described herein is used. In particular, FIG. 11 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the exemplary form of a computer system 800, and instructions 824 (e.g., software or program code) for causing the machine to perform one or more of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed within the computer system 800 described above. The methods include those described using fig. 5 through 8. In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server machine or a client machine in server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment.

The machine 800 for this configuration may be a mobile computing device, such as a tablet computer, an ultrabook (or netbook) computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a web appliance, or similar machine capable of executing instructions 824 (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by the machine 824. Additionally, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute instructions 824 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example computer system 800 includes one or more processors 802 (e.g., a Central Processing Unit (CPU), and may also include a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), one or more radio frequency integrated circuits (or chips) (RFICs), a wireless fidelity (WiFi) chipset, a global positioning system (GPS chipset), a decelerator (one-dimensional, two-dimensional, or three-dimensional), or any combination of these). Computer system 800 also includes a main memory 804 and a static memory 806. The components of the computing system 800 are configured to communicate with each other via a bus 808. Computer system 800 may further include a graphical display unit 810 (e.g., Plasma Display Panel (PDP), Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), glass display) that may be configured for capacitive or inductive touch sensitivity to allow direct interaction with the software user interface through display 810. The computer system 800 may also include an alphanumeric input device 812 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 814 (e.g., a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointing tool), a storage unit 816, a signal generation device 818 (e.g., a speaker), and a network interface device 820, which are also configured to communicate via the bus 808.

The storage unit 816 includes a machine-readable medium 822 on which are stored instructions 814 (e.g., software) embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 824 (e.g., software) may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 804 or within the processor 802 (e.g., within a cache memory of the processor) during execution thereof by the computer system 800, the main memory 804 and the processor 802 also constituting machine-readable media. The instructions 824 (e.g., software) may be transmitted or received over a network 826 via the network interface device 820.

While the machine-readable medium 822 is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term "machine-readable medium" should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers) that are capable of storing the instructions (e.g., instructions 824). The term "machine-readable medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing instructions (e.g., instructions 824) for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies disclosed herein. The term "machine-readable medium" includes, but is not limited to, data repositories in the form of solid-state memories, optical media, and magnetic media.

Additional configuration considerations

Throughout this specification, multiple instances may implement a component, an operation, or a structure described as a single instance. Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustrated and described as separate operations, one or more of the individual operations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that the operations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures and functionality presented as separate components in the example configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as separate components. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements may fall within the scope of the subject matter herein.

Various implementations of the systems and techniques described here can be realized in digital electronic and/or optical circuits, integrated circuits, specially designed ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof. These various embodiments may include embodiments of one or more computer programs capable of being executed and/or interpreted on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which may be special or general purpose, coupled to receive instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device.

These computer programs (also known as programs, software applications, scripts, or program code) include machine instructions, e.g., 824, for a programmable processor, e.g., 802, and can be implemented in a high-level procedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, a computer program may be a structured function in a unit called a "module". As used herein, the terms "machine-readable medium" and "computer-readable medium" refer to any computer program product, non-transitory computer-readable medium, apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal. The term "machine-readable signal" refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor.

As used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "contains," "has," "having" or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. In addition, "or" means inclusive or rather than exclusive or unless expressly stated to the contrary. For example, any one of the following satisfies condition a or B: a is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), a is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both a and B are true (or present).

While this specification contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure and what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particular embodiments of the disclosure. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, the division of various system components in the embodiments described above should not be understood as requiring such division in all embodiments, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products.

Various embodiments have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims. For example, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results.

Upon reading this disclosure, those skilled in the art will recognize additional alternative structural and functional designs for a personal communication management system through the principles disclosed herein. Thus, while particular embodiments and applications have been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are not limited to the precise construction and components disclosed herein. Various modifications, changes and variations apparent to those skilled in the art may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods and apparatus disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (23)

1. An integrated personnel crisis communication management system for distributing information to users associated with an enterprise, comprising:

a database comprising data relating to a plurality of users and event records configured to store information relating to events relating to the enterprise;

an inbound event management subsystem operatively connected to the database, the inbound event management subsystem configured to: in response to receiving a new communication, classifying the new communication as corresponding to the event and further configured to supplement the information related to the event based on the new communication;

a notification subsystem operatively connected to the inbound event management subsystem, the notification subsystem configured to send a notification to one or more devices associated with a user, the notification sent in response to the new communication;

a share case awareness subsystem operatively connected to the database, the share case awareness subsystem configured to: providing, in response to the new communication, a first subset of the information related to the event to a first user device associated with a first user of the plurality of users for presentation in a user interface, and providing, in response to the new communication, a second subset of the information related to the event to a second user device associated with a second user of the plurality of users for presentation in a user interface, the first subset determined based on data stored in the database that is related to the first user, and the second subset determined based on data stored in the database that is related to the second user; and

a people tracking subsystem for tracking the status of a plurality of tracked users, the people tracking subsystem configured to:

receiving status updates from a first subset of a plurality of user devices, each user device associated with a corresponding tracked user, and each response including a status for the corresponding tracked user;

identifying a second subset of the user devices from which a most recent status update was not received;

for each of the second subset of the user devices, determining an inferred state for the corresponding tracked user, the inferred state based on previous state information associated with the corresponding tracked user; and

aggregating the state of the tracked user and the inferred state for presentation.

2. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein classifying the new communication as corresponding to the event comprises:

comparing metadata included in the new communication with data describing the event in the event record; and

determining that the new communication corresponds to the event if the metadata included in the new communication matches the data describing the event within a threshold tolerance.

3. The integrated personnel crisis communication management system of claim 1, wherein the inbound event management subsystem is further configured to: in response to receiving additional communications that are not related to the event, adding an additional event record to the database, and adding information to the additional event record based on the additional communications.

4. The integrated personnel crisis communication management system of claim 1, wherein the notification subsystem is further configured to: in response to the new communication, an additional notification is sent to a notification device associated with the enterprise.

5. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 4, wherein the device is one of: a networked computer; a smart phone; an IP telephone; a flat plate; a satellite phone; a fixed telephone; a mobile phone; a social network server configured to post the additional notification via a social network; a speaker system; a display panel; a television system; land mobile radio; a fire alarm control panel supporting voice; and a website server configured to add the additional notifications to a website feed.

6. The integrated personnel crisis communication management system of claim 1, wherein the new communication is received from a device, and the inbound event management subsystem is further configured to, in response to receiving the new communication:

authenticating a certificate of the device;

verifying content contained within the communication; and

acknowledging receipt of the new communication to the device.

7. The integrated personnel crisis communication management system of claim 1, wherein the new communication is received from an automated system associated with the enterprise, and the inbound event management subsystem is further configured to, in response to receiving the new communication:

authenticating a certificate of the automated system; and

verifying content contained within the communication.

8. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein the inbound event management subsystem is further configured to associate the event with a security/sensitivity category based on the communication and store the security/sensitivity category in the event record, the one or more devices to which the notification is sent being determined based on the security/sensitivity category.

9. The integrated personnel crisis communication management system of claim 1, wherein the communication includes at least one of the following types of information: location, image, audio, and video.

10. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the information related to the event is determined based on at least one of: a type of the event; a role of the first user in relation to the enterprise; a role of the first user in relation to the type; a geographic location of the first user; a geographic location associated with the communication; the first user viewing characteristics of a first subset of devices; and a characteristic of a network connecting the management system to the device.

11. The integrated personnel crisis communications management system of claim 10, wherein the status and the inferred status are presented by:

providing a dashboard display indicating the status of viewed users, the viewed users being a subset of the tracked users;

providing user interface controls in conjunction with the dashboard display for at least one of: view the status of a selected one of the viewed users in greater detail, filter the viewed users based on status, filter the viewed users based on location, filter the viewed users based on a specified role, and filter the viewed users based on recentness of status updates.

12. A computer-implemented method for personnel crisis communications management for an enterprise, comprising:

receiving a first message including new information related to an event;

analyzing the first message to determine a correspondence between the event and an event entry in a database, the database comprising a plurality of event entries, each event entry containing information relating to a corresponding event;

adding the new information to the event entry in the database in response to the determined correspondence;

comparing the new information to existing information in the database related to a corresponding event, the comparing comprising:

identifying keywords in the new information;

identifying keywords in the existing information; and

determining that the new information is substantially different from the existing information in response to the new information including a keyword that does not appear in the existing information;

identifying a first subset of users and a second subset of users based on information related to the users stored in a database;

in response to the new information being substantially different from the existing information, generating a first report related to the event based on the new information, the event entry, and information stored in a database related to the first subset of the users;

in response to the new information being substantially different from the existing information, generating a second report related to the event based on the new information, the event entry, and information stored in a database related to the second subset of users;

transmitting the first report to user equipment associated with the first subset of users; and

transmitting the second report to user equipment associated with the second subset of users.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the analyzing comprises:

comparing the location data included in the first message with the location data included in the event entry;

comparing time data included in the first message with time data included in the event entry; and

determining that the event corresponds to the event entry in response to the comparing the location data and the comparing the time data.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein analyzing the first message comprises:

comparing the location information included in the first message with location information associated with the event entry to determine a location similarity;

comparing the time information included in the first message with the time information associated with the event entry to determine a time similarity; and

determining the correspondence between the event and the event entry in response to the location similarity being greater than a location threshold and the temporal similarity being greater than a temporal threshold.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving positioning data for a plurality of business people at regular intervals, the positioning data indicating locations of corresponding business people when the data was transmitted; and

displaying the location of at least one of the plurality of business people to a user.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

requesting status updates from a plurality of business personnel;

receiving a status update from at least one of the plurality of business personnel, the status update including a current status; and

displaying the current state to a user.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

adding additional information to the event entry in response to user input by a user.

18. A method for providing personnel crisis communication management, comprising:

receiving a communication including additional information related to an event;

determining that the event corresponds to an event record in an event database, the event record containing available information related to the event;

supplementing the available information related to the event based on the additional information related to the event;

identifying a plurality of users associated with the event for which additional information is available based on attributes of the event and information related to the plurality of users stored in the event database;

sending a notification to a plurality of user devices associated with the plurality of users, the notification indicating that the available information related to the event has been supplemented;

providing first information related to the event to a first user device associated with a first user of the plurality of users for presentation in a user interface of the first user device, the first information including the supplemental information and being based on a permission level of the first user;

providing second information related to the event to a second user device associated with a second user of the plurality of users for presentation in a user interface of the second user device, the second information including the supplemental information and being based on a permission level of the second user;

receiving status updates from a first subset of a plurality of user devices, each user device associated with a corresponding tracked user and each status update comprising a status for the corresponding tracked user;

identifying a second subset of the user equipment from which a most recent status update was not received;

for each of the second subset of the user devices, determining an inferred state for the corresponding tracked user, the inferred state based on previous state information associated with the corresponding tracked user;

aggregating the state of the tracked user and the inferred state;

providing a dashboard display indicating the status of viewed users, the viewed users being a subset of the tracked users; and

providing user interface controls for a third user for at least one of: view the status of a selected one of the viewed users in greater detail, filter the viewed users based on status, filter the viewed users based on location, filter the viewed users based on a specified role, and filter the viewed users based on recentness of status updates.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: sending an additional notification to a notification device associated with the event, the notification device being one of: a networked computer; a smart phone; a flat plate; an IP telephone; a satellite phone; a fixed telephone; a mobile phone; a social network server configured to post the additional notification via a social network; a speaker system; a display panel; a television system; land mobile radio; a fire alarm control panel; and a website server configured to add the notification to a website feed.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

authenticating a certificate of the device from which the communication was received;

verifying the additional information within the communication; and

acknowledging receipt of the communication to the device.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the communication is received from an automated system, and the method further comprises:

authenticating a certificate of the automated system; and

verifying content contained within the communication.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining a security/sensitivity category for the event based on the available information; and

storing the security/sensitivity category in the event record.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the permission level of the first user is based on at least one of: a security/sensitivity category; a type of the event; a role of the first user; a geographic location of the first user; a geographic location associated with the communication; a characteristic of the first user equipment; and a characteristic of a network to which the first user equipment is connected.