Abstract:
A computer-implemented process allows emergency plans to be easily and rapidly created for a plurality of different facilities. An emergency plan is provided in electronic form for each facility. Each emergency plan has a standardized format with a plurality of component parts. Each emergency plan has at least some component parts that are accessible by other facilities. An electronic network is provided which allows at least some of the facilities to electronically obtain the accessible component parts of the emergency plans of at least some of the other facilities. A user interface allows the emergency plan of a facility to electronically import into its emergency plan selected content of one or more component parts of the emergency plan of another facility using the electronic network. The electronic importing is facilitated via the use of the standardized format for the emergency plans.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/663,463 filed Mar. 18, 2005 and entitled “Networked Emergency Management System.” 
     
    
     COMPACT DISC APPENDIX  
       [0002]     This patent application includes an Appendix on one compact disc having a file named appendix.txt, created on Feb. 7, 2006, and having a size of 1,426,049 bytes. The compact disc is incorporated by reference into the present patent application.  
       COPYRIGHT NOTICE AND AUTHORIZATION  
       [0003]     Portions of the documentation in this patent document contain material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     Natural and man-made disasters are more common than ever. In healthcare, their impact is far more serious than facility damage and standard business continuity and extends to the safety of the patients, employees and surrounding community. Yet most hospital emergency managers use a word processor to create emergency management plans and training materials and store them in cumbersome three-ring binders. This makes updating the plan, running drills and responding to an emergency difficult, time-intensive and often ineffective. In addition to the broader safety issues, these tasks are strictly mandated and monitored by regulatory agencies such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and poor performance has direct impact on Medicare reimbursement, fines, and patient perception. There is a clear unmet need for an easy-to-use solution for creating and updating emergency management plans and training materials.  
         [0005]     The Networked Emergency Management System enables emergency managers to share emergency plans and their component parts, best practices, and training materials in a standardized format for the first time. This content is Hospital Emergency Incident Command System (HEICS), National Incident Management System (NIMS) and JCAHO compliant and can be readily customized to one&#39;s unique facility. The present invention transforms a traditional emergency management plan from a lengthy and convoluted set of text documents in a three-ring binder into an immediately accessible live process.  
         [0006]     Existing emergency management software includes at least the following offerings: 
    1. Real-time systems designed to focus on broad county-level emergency response. (Examples: WebEOC® available from Emergency Services integrators, Augusta, Ga., www. webeoc.com; E Team, available from E Team, Inc., www.eteam.com; and Blue 292 software, available from Blue292,Inc., Durham, N.C., www.blue292.com).     2. Real-time systems designed to provide information on emergency-room bed availability in the event of an incident. (Examples: Reddinet®, available from Reddinet, Los Angeles, Calif., www.reddinet.com; and EMSystem available from EMSystem, LLC, Milwaukee, Wis., www.emsystem.com).     3. Incident Management software designed for security professionals to document and track incidents or investigations in an emergency in order to recover the most money from federal reimbursement agencies or private insurers. (Example: IRIMS® software available from PPM 2000 Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, www.ppm2000.com).     4. Business Continuity recovery solutions, primarily focused on corporations and their IT systems. (Examples: Software available from Symantec Corporation, Cupertino, Calif., www.symantec.com; and Strohl Systems Group Inc., King of Prussia, Pa., www.strohlsystems.com).     5. Learning management systems that address compliance and safety. (Examples: PureSafety, Nashville, Tenn., puresafety.com; and Blackboard Inc., Washington, D.C., www.blackboard.com)     6. Offerings for Compliance. (Example: Compliance Suite, available from Environmental Support Solutions, Inc. (ESS), Denver, Colo., www.ess-home.com)    
 
         [0013]     The present invention is distinct from each of these in that it is a platform focused on healthcare, and it is a solution focused primarily on preparedness and mitigation rather than response or recovery.  
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014]     The present invention is described in the context of a preferred embodiment of a web-based software application commercialized as LiveProcess™ (www.liveprocess.com), which is a platform for integrated emergency management. LiveProcess is a service of LiveProcess Corporation, Chatham, N.J. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to this particular implementation of the invention. The present invention is described in the context of a plurality of distributed computers, all of which are linked together by an electronic network, such as the Internet. The computers may be any type of computing device that allows a user to interact with a web site via a web browser. For example, the computers may be personal computers (PC) that run a Microsoft Windows® operating system. The computers may also be handheld, wireless devices.  
         [0015]     The foundation of the present invention lies in the implementation of a standard organization of the emergency management plan format. ( FIG. 10 ) This format first divides an emergency plan into five areas; a Hazard Vulnerability Analysis ( 62 ), emergency policies ( 63 ), procedures that must be followed ( 64 ), emergency resources that are available to the emergency planner ( 65 ) and an Incident Command System command structure, and second, provides a system in which this organization may be utilized. These areas of the emergency plan are common to all emergency plans for all facilities.  
         [0016]     Organizing the high level structure in this manner allows the present invention to operate on emergency management plans, allows interoperability of emergency plan components, allows flexibility to accommodate the differences of facilities, and allows the users of emergency management plans to coordinate their efforts in the four areas of emergency management: Mitigation, Planning, Response and Recovery.  
         [0017]     The present invention allows emergency planners representing a facility ( FIG. 1 ), or networks of facilities ( FIG. 5 ), to interchange elements of their emergency plans ( FIG. 3 ), for example policies, procedures or training modules, instantly. Furthermore, it allows entities without fixed facilities, for example the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), to publish (FIG.  6 ), and route ( FIG. 8 ), emergency procedures, guidelines or training modules and have those procedures, guidelines or training modules instantly implemented at facilities on the network. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]      FIG. 1 :  
         [0019]     Permissions to the emergency plan and its component parts are organized into levels. The emergency planner ( 2 ) is the person or persons whose primary responsibility is creating, updating and maintaining the emergency plan for the facility or network of facilities. This person has full access to his or her facilities emergency plans, procedures, resources and training data. Secondary in permissions to the emergency planner is the emergency planning committee ( 3 ). This is a person or group of persons whose responsibility is to participate in the planning of the facility through review and commentary on the emergency plan. Emergency planning committee members may be blocked from seeing the entire plan, they only need to see what they need to facilitate emergency planning—the particular policies, procedures, resources etc that they have been asked to comment on. The third level of permission is the Incident Command System (ICS) role ( 4 ). Each role in a facilities ICS organizational chart may view the plan, especially his or her part in the plan, but will not have permission to change, edit, or add to the plan. The next level of permission is that of the facility employee ( 5 ). This person does not have a specific role in the ICS, but still must know, and be familiar with, general emergency plan policies of the facility. This person only has access to the non-ICS portions of the plan that pertain to employees or residents of a particular facility. The final level of permission is that of the general public who have a need for access to a facilities emergency plan ( 6 ). This level of permission is read-only and is limited to information designated as for public use. All of these levels of permission taken together constitute a facilities planning and training permissions levels ( 1 ).  
         [0020]      FIG. 2 :  
         [0021]     During a Drill or an Actual event, the emergency plan will be accessed using the permissions shown in  FIG. 2 . Every emergency response is judged as to its severity, if the emergency warrants the Incident Command System will be activated. The top level of permissions in the Incident Command System are given to the Incident Commander ( 8 ). This allows him or her to change the status of the emergency response, direct the facilities response to the given emergency, and to change the roles required in the emergency response as needed. The ICS roles he or she activates ( 9 ) have permissions to read the emergency plan, with focus on their part of the emergency plan—meaning that their procedures are displayed upon login to facilitate the emergency response. The remaining permissions, that of the facility staff ( 10 ) and the general population ( 11 ) are give further access to the emergency plan, at levels equal to their participation in the emergency response.  
         [0022]      FIG. 3 :  
         [0023]     A network of facilities may interchange elements of the emergency plan during planning and training phases. The emergency planner ( 13 ) at facility  1  ( 12 ) may exchange ( 13   a ) policies, data, or communications with his or her counterparts ( 18 ) and ( 23 ) at facilities ( 17 ) and ( 22 ). The emergency planning committee associated to facility  1  ( 12 ) may participate ( 14   a,    14   b ) on the planning committees of other facilities ( 17 ) and ( 22 ) by providing review, commentary and feedback on elements of any given emergency plan or component of an emergency plan. Each Facility ( 12 , 17 , 22 ) may have a different ICS organization ( 15 , 20 , 25 ) and facility staff roles in the emergency response planning and training ( 16 , 21 , 26 ).  
         [0024]      FIG. 4 :  
         [0025]     During an emergency response drill or emergency event, Incident Commanders ( 28 ,  32 ) at separate facilities ( 27 , 31 ) may exchange information ( 28   a ) in the form of plan components, event log messages, communications, and data file interchange. Activated ICS roles at separate facilities may exchange communications and data, log message events with their counterparts at other facilities. This would be the case in a multi-facility response during a drill or actual event.  
         [0026]      FIG. 5 :  
         [0027]     Facilities, constituting an emergency planner, an emergency planning committee, ICS roles, facility employees and general public associated with a particular facility, may form a network of facilities ( 39 , 40 , 41 ). Each of these facilities may exchange emergency plan components with the other ( 39   a,   40   a,   41   a ).  
         [0028]      FIG. 6 :  
         [0029]      FIG. 6  shows an entity ( 42 ), such as the CDC, publishing information ( 42   a,   42   b ) such as a specific health guideline, to a network of facilities ( 43 ,  45 ). members of the network may elect not to recieve guidelines ( 44 ), or may not have plans that are pertinent to the information being broadcast. Since all facilities are on the network, they may then exchange the information with each other on an as-needed basis ( 43   a,    43   b,    44   a ).  
         [0030]      FIG. 7 :  
         [0031]     Facilities on a network ( 49 ,  47 ,  48 ), who regularly exchange information ( 47   a,    48   a,    49   a ) may also publish information to an entity ( 46 ). A sample use is in a public health early warning system where facilities are on the lookout for specific indicators, and are instructed to report incidents to an entity who correlates the data ( 49   a ) into a composite picture.  
         [0032]      FIG. 8 :  
         [0033]     An entity E 1  ( 50 ) may also route data ( 50   a ) received from facility F 4  ( 51 ) to ( 50   b,   50   c ) a network of facilities F 1 , F 2 , F 3  ( 54 ,  52 ,  53 ). These facilities may then share the information ( 52   a,   53   a,   54   a ).  
         [0034]      FIG. 9 :  
         [0035]     Entities may be associated with each other, creating a network of entities E 1 , E 2 , E 3  ( 55 , 56 , 57 ). These may share emergency plan information ( 57   a,    55   a,    55   b ), receive reporting information ( 61   a ), as well as route that information to networks of facilities ( 57   b,    57   c ).  
         [0036]      FIG. 10 :  
         [0037]     The Standard Emergency Plan Format consists of the Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA) ( 62 ), Facility specific policies ( 63 ), Procedures ( 64 ), Emergency resources that are available to the facility ( 65 ), and a described ICS such as the Hospital Incident Command System (HEICS).  
         [0038]      FIG. 11 :  
         [0039]     The structure of the platform at each facility or entity consists of the following areas: A mapping and geospatial information system (GIS) area ( 67 ), the planning area ( 68 ), an area which presents the entire community ( 69 ) of emergency planners for information interchange, an area for reference ( 70 ) where emergency planners may look up information using simple and advanced search techniques such as keyword or facility type, and area where facilities or entities may publish information to the community ( 71 ), a response area ( 72 ) where those with ICS roles may set or view the current response phase of the emergency plan, and view information pertaining to their particular role in the response to an emergency, or in a drill for a particular emergency. A reporting area ( 72   a ) allows the emergency planner and select ICS roles to create and view reports pertaining to the emergency plan. A Training area is provided where the emergency planner creates, maintains and updates drills, training materials and their component parts.  
         [0040]      FIG. 12 : Database tables—Plan Table Structure  
         [0041]      FIG. 13 : Database tables—Hazard Vulnerability Analysis Table Structure  
         [0042]      FIG. 14 : Database tables—Policy Table Structure  
         [0043]      FIG. 15 : Database tables—Resource Table Structure  
         [0044]      FIG. 16 : Database tables—Incident Command System Table Structure  
         [0045]      FIG. 17 : Database tables—Emergency Planning Committee Task table structure  
         [0046]      FIG. 18 : Database tables—Emergency Planning Committee table structure  
         [0047]      FIG. 19 : Database tables—User Facility table structure  
         [0048]     FIGS.  20 - 64 : Scenario Screenshots (see scenario section)  
         [0049]      FIG. 65 : Plan ERD—Plan ( 74 ) contains GIS Data information ( 75 )  
         [0050]      FIG. 66 : Plan ERD—Plan ( 76 ) contains version log ( 77 ) of version records ( 78 ).  
         [0051]      FIG. 67 : Plan ERD—Plan ( 79 ) contains Emergency Planning Committees ( 80 ) which contain multiple user groups ( 81 ) each of which may contain multiple users ( 82 ).  
         [0052]      FIG. 68 : Plan ERD—Plan ( 83 ) may contain multiple HVAs, each of which identify a multitude of Hazards ( 85 ), each of which may contain Policies ( 86 ), Resources ( 87 ) and Forms( 88 ). Policies may have Procedures associated with them ( 89 ), and resources may have specific forms associated with them such as Memoranda of Undersatandings (MOU) ( 90 ).  
         [0053]      FIG. 69 : Users have abilities according to their permission level. Users ( 91 ) may variously view, edit, or comment on: Plans( 92 ), Procedures( 93 ), resources( 94 ), Training Scenarios ( 95 ), Policies ( 96 ), HVAs ( 97 ), and Forms ( 98 ).  
         [0054]      FIG. 70 : The Plan ( 99 ) may contain one or many resource assessments ( 100 ), each of which may contain Resources ( 101 ).  
         [0055]      FIG. 71 : The emergency plan ( 102 ) may contain one or many Response Guidelines ( 103 ) each of which may contain a single guideline ( 104 ).  
         [0056]      FIG. 72 : The emergency plan ( 105 ) contains one or more organization charts representing an ICS, each of which designates ICS Roles ( 107 ), each role may contain references to specific forms ( 108 ) used by that role in the ICS. Roles ( 107 , 109 ) may be assigned to one or more Users ( 110 ).  
         [0057]      FIG. 73 : The emergency plan ( 111 ) has a collection of policies, a poly index ( 112 ) which contains one or many pollicies ( 113 ), which may identify a related Hazard ( 114 ) and resources ( 115 ) that may be used in that policy.  
         [0058]      FIG. 74 : The Emergency Plan has a collection of Drill catalogs ( 117 ) each of which contain one or many Drill Scenarios ( 118 ).  
         [0059]      FIG. 75 : Drill Scenarios may be associated to a specific hazard or hazards ( 120 ), and may contain one or many; Master Sequence of Events Lists ( 121 ), After Action Reports( 122 ), Patient Catalogs( 123 ) and Educational Materials( 124 ). The Patient Catalog lists multiple patient cards ( 128 ) each with an ID ( 125 ), a list of symptoms ( 126 ) and an observer guide ( 127 ).  
         [0060]      FIG. 76 : Educational Materials ( 129 ) consist of Tests ( 130 ), pre-tests ( 130 ) and Study material ( 131 ). Tests have associated Users ( 132 ) and Test Results ( 133 ). 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0000]     I. Overview  
         [0061]     The Networked Emergency Management System is preferably realized as a web application located on one or more servers and is accessed using standard web protocols (HTTP, HTTPS) from an internet web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari, web enabled personal digital assistants (PDAs), or web-enabled wireless telephones.  
         [0062]     The present invention allows the user, through a secure login, to access the platform according to permission level, from emergency planner ( FIGS. 1-2 ) to member of the general public ( FIGS. 1-6 ). What the user sees, and what they are allowed to do with the present invention, relies on the amount of permissions they have been granted on the system. The Emergency Planner has the highest level of permissions and will be presented with the tools needed to create, update and maintain an emergency management plan for a facility of network of facilities.  
         [0063]     Emergency Planners use the system to exchange emergency management information centered around a standardized emergency plan and each of the plans component parts; the Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA), Policies, Procedures, Resources and a detailed Incident Command System. ( FIG. 10 ) For example, the emergency planner may wish to import a policy from a facility that has more experience with a particular kind of hazard. Using the present invention, they may do so instantly ( FIGS. 24-26 ).  
         [0064]     The HVA ( FIGS. 10-62 ) is a standard tool of the emergency planner. The advantage of the present invention&#39;s implementation of the HVA is the standardization of the format used in calculation of risk, allowing all emergency planners to use the same basis of risk. It also standardizes the hazards risk is calculated for. The function used to calculate risk is 
 
 r =( p /maxtotal —   p )*((sum_impacts)/maxtotal_impacts)*100 
 
 where 
    r is risk in terms of a percentage     p is likelihood     maxtotal_p is sum of maximum possible likelihoods     sum_impacts is a summation of all impact scores     maxtotal_impacts is a sum of the maximum possible impacts    
 
         [0070]     This function may be seen in use in the HVA ( FIG. 39 ) In addition, the present invention provides an optional simple method of entering information into the HVA, intended to simplify use by the new or inexperienced planner. ( FIG. 38 ). This method asks the planner a series of questions, the answers to which inform the results of the HVA. When the questionnaire is complete, the user is shown the completed HVA. ( FIG. 37 ).  
         [0071]     Policies ( FIG. 10-63 ) in the framework of the present invention constitute all of the textual material of the plan with the present invention and provide two important advantages, namely, the ability to interchange policies between plans with a single click ( FIG. 24 ), and the ability to label a segment of the Policy as a Procedure, allowing it to be listed separately with other policies for rapid review during an emergency drill or actual response.  
         [0072]     Procedures ( FIGS. 10-64 ) are sections of policies that directly correspond with steps or instructions that must be taken in an emergency plan. An example of a procedure is “How to don protective gear in a hazardous materials response”. Such instructions would be labeled a Procedure in the present invention and added to the facilities emergency management plan. Since these instructions have been labeled, a procedure allows them to be listed separately in the Procedures area, and may be read with a single click.  
         [0073]     Resources in the present invention address the need to collect records of all emergency management resources available to the emergency plan in the event of an emergency, a drill, or during planning or recovery phase to estimate the financial expense of an emergency. These resources list the type of resource (fire department, pharmaceutical supplies, or bed availability), details on the resource, number, contact information, and the geospatial location of those resources so that they may be plotted on a map ( FIG. 52 ).  
         [0074]     The Incident Command System is an organizational chart specifically for use in emergency management. It lists all roles in the emergency response, their titles and hierarchical relationship to each other. ( FIG. 54 ) The advantage that the present invention provides, besides providing all relevant emergency information in one place in the form of HVA, policies, procedures, resources and ICS, is that each role of the ICS may be edited. This allows the emergency planner to edit any chosen role in the ICS, and change the specifics of their role, such as the title of that role, its mission or any of its responsibilities or forms that are required by the role. ( FIG. 57 ).  
         [0075]     The Emergency Planner has access to all areas of the system: Home/Map, Plan, Community, Reference, Publish, response, Report, and Train. The Home mapping area is used by the planner to visualize the status of the network and to determine the geospatial importance of the facility&#39;s location, the location of potential hazards, the location of existing or potential physical features, and geospatial historical data, such as flood, hurricane or earthquake risk. ( FIG. 53 ,  FIG. 52 )  
         [0076]     The Plan area offers the emergency planner access to all components of the emergency plan via a tabbed graphic user interface. ( FIG. 22 ). Each area of the plan listed in  FIG. 10  may be accessed.  
         [0077]     Emergency Planners may communicate with each other using the common interface of a bulletin board in the Community area. ( FIG. 60 ) This area is available only to users with emergency planner permissions, and is organized into emergency management related forums such as “Disasters &amp; Events” and “Public Health”. Forums may be used to post messages between emergency planner, facilitating cooperation between organizations.  
         [0078]     The Reference area ( FIG. 61 ) allows the emergency planner to search the internal database for information published by others on the network. Users may search by means of keyword, facility type, facility size, bed count and geographical location. Items in the internal database are uploaded by users on the network via the Publish area. ( FIG. 62 ). To upload a data file, the emergency planner simply fills out the supplied fields, selects the file and presses Submit. At this point, the uploaded file may be accessed by all other planners on the network.  
         [0079]     Response is used by the users of the plan with ICS permissions—this area allows them to see the portions of the plan that specifically relate to them, as they have been assigned to specific roles of the ICS. ( FIG. 55 ,  FIG. 57 )  
         [0080]     The Reporting Area allows the emergency planner to generate reports related to the emergency plan, including but not limited to: all Emergency Planning Committee comments, communication dates and times, and feedback, historical changes to the emergency plan and its component parts, audit trails of user access to the plan, actions logged during training, training test results by user or by test, After Action reports, changes and status of emergency resource inventories.  
         [0000]     II. Database Tables  
         [0081]     1. lp_user  
         [0082]     This table holds every user in the LiveProcess community from Noble Trainees to LP Administrators. It is primarily tied to the LPUser class defined in classUser.php.  
                                                                                   key_user_id   int(11)           usr_forum_id   int(11)           usr_keys   smallint(6)           usr_planner   tinyint(4)           usr_first   varchar(50)           usr_last   varchar(50)           usr_username   varchar(50)           usr_password   varchar(50)                usr_salutation_id   int(11)                usr_dcreated   int(11)           usr_dmodified   int(11)           usr_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0083]     2. lp_group  
         [0084]     This table holds the groups of the LiveProcess community. It is primarily tied to the LPGroup class defined in classGroup.php.  
                                                                                   key_group_id   int(11)           grp_forum_id   int(11)           grp_fullname   varchar(255)           grp_name   varchar(64)                grp_abbreviation   varchar(8)                grp_prefx   tinyint(4)           grp_prefy   tinyint(4)           grp_prefzoom   tinyint(4)           grp_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0085]     3. lp_user_group  
         [0086]     This table links entries in the lp_user table to entries in the lp_group table. Through this table, users may belong to more than one group.  
                                                                     key_user_group_id   int(11)                ug_user_id   int(11)           ug_group_id   int(11)           ug_isprimary   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0087]     4. lp_group_plan  
         [0088]     This table links entries in the lp_group table to entries in the pln_plan table. Through this table, one group can have many plans and one plan can belong to multiple groups.  
                                                                     key_group_plan_id   bigint(20)                gpp_group_id   bigint(20)           gpp_plan_id   bigint(20)           gpp_sortorder   int(11)                      
 
         [0089]     5. lp_facility  
         [0090]     This table holds all the facilities that will have a plan.  
                                                                                                                                                 key_facility_id   bigint(20)                fac_name   varchar(255)           fac_bedcount   int(11)           fac_type   tinyint(4)                fac_description   text                fac_address1   varchar(255)           fac_address2   varchar(255)           fac_address3   varchar(255)           fac_city   varchar(255)           fac_state   varchar(32)                fac_zipvarchar(32)                fac_phone   varchar(64)                fac_faxvarchar(64)           fac_url varchar(128)                fac_country   varchar(255)           fac_region   varchar(255)           fac_county   varchar(255)           fac_latitude   float(10,5)           fac_longitude   float(10,5)           fac_altitude   int(11)           fac_prefx   tinyint(4)           fac_prefy   tinyint(4)           fac_prefzoom   tinyint(4)           fac_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0091]     6. lp_group_facility  
         [0092]     This table joins facilities to groups  
                                                                 key_group_facility_id bigint(20)                gfc_group_id   bigint(20)           gfc_facility_id   bigint(20)           gfc_dcreated   int(11)           gfc_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0093]     7. lp_user_facility  
         [0094]     This table joins users to facilities. This will be helpful in picking out which users sees which plans.  
                                                                 key_user_facility_id bigint(20)                ufc_user_id   bigint(20)           ufc_facility_id   bigint(20)           ufc_dcreated   int(11)           ufc_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0095]     8. lp_potentialclient  
         [0096]     This table holds contact information of people who filled in our join page form during the early summer of 2004 before our SalesForce connection was implemented. This table is now obsolete.  
                                                                                         key_potentialclient_idint(11)                pc_first   varchar(255)                pc_last varchar(255)                pc_email   varchar(255)           pc_status   int(11)                      
 
         [0097]     9. lp_profile  
         [0098]     This table holds the profile information used to create our profile page. This table is used primarily by classProfile.php.  
                                                                                   key_profile_id   int(11)           pro_user_id   int(11)           pro_type_id   int(11)           pro_name   varchar(255)           pro_title   varchar(255)           pro_facility   varchar(255)           pro_body   text           pro_snippet   text                pro_photo_name   varchar(255)           pro_thumbnail_name   varchar(254)           pro_logo_name   varchar(255)           pro_photo_caption   text           pro_date_published   int(11)                pro_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0099]     10. lp_salutation  
         [0100]     This table holds all the salutations. It links to the lp_user.usr_salutaion_id cell for each user.  
                                                                     key_salutation_id   int(11)                sal_name   varchar(50)           sal_sortorder   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0101]     Plan Tables  
         [0102]     11. pln_plan  
         [0103]     This table lists all the plans available on the LiveProcess Community. It is used primarily by the LPPlan class in classPlan.php.  
                                                                                                               key_plan_id   bigint(20)           pln_name   varchar(255)           pln_title   varchar(255)           pln_path   text           pln_filename   varchar(255)                pln_description   text                pln_author_id   bigint(20)                pln_overview_id   bigint(20)                pln_heics_id   bigint(20)           pln_dcreated   int(11)           pln_dmodified   int(11)           pln_version   varchar(255)           pln_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0104]     12. pln_overview  
         [0105]     This table holds all the overviews for LiveProcess plans. It is not being used currently.  
                                                                                                 key_overview_id   bigint(20)                ovr_name   varchar(255)           ovr_title   varchar(255)           ovr_copy   text                ovr_description   text                ovr_author_id   bigint(20)           ovr_dcreated   int(11)           ovr_dmodified   int(11)           ovr_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0106]     13. pln_plan_epc  
         [0107]     This table links executive planning committees (EPCs) to plans. Through this table, EPCs can look at multiple plans and plans can be reviewed by more than one EPC.  
                                                                     key_plan_epc_id   bigint(20)                ple_plan_id   bigint(20)           ple_epc_id   bigint(20)                      
 
         [0108]     14. pln_plan_heics  
         [0109]     This table links HEICS systems to plans. Through this table, one plan can hold one or many HEICS or one HEICS can belong to one or many plans.  
                                                                     key_plan_heics_id   bigint(20)                plh_plan_id   bigint(20)           plh_heics_id   bigint(20)                      
 
         [0110]     15. pln_plan_hva  
         [0111]     This table links HVAs to plans. Through this table, one plan can hold one or many HVAs or one HVA can belong to one or many plans.  
                                                                     key_plan_hva_id   bigint(20)                phv_plan_id   bigint(20)           phv_hva_id   bigint(20)           phv_sortorder   int(11)                      
 
         [0112]     16. pln_plan_resource  
         [0113]     This table links resources to plans. Through this table, one plan can hold one or many resources or one resource can belong to one or many plans.  
                                                                                   key_plan_resource_id   bigint(20)                plr_plan_id   bigint(20)                plr_resource_id   bigint(20)                      
 
         [0114]     17. pln_plan_facility  
                                                                 key_plan_facility_id bigint(20)                plf_plan_id   bigint(20)           plf_facility_id   bigint(20)                      
 
         [0115]     EPC Tables  
         [0116]     18. pln_epc  
         [0117]     This table describes an EPC. It is primarily used by the LPEpc class defined in classEPC.php.  
                                                                                   key_epc_id   bigint(20)           epc_name   varchar(255)                epc_description   text                epc_author_id   bigint(20)           epc_dcreated   int(11)           epc_dmodified   int(11)           epc_keys   int(11)           epc_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0118]     19. pln_epcgroup  
         [0119]     This table describes an EPC group. It is primarily used by the LPEpcgroup class in classEPC.php.  
                                                                                                                             key_epcgroup_id   bigint(20)                epg_name   varchar(255)                epg_description   text                epg_author_id   bigint(20)           epg_dcreated   bigint(20)                epg_dmodified   bigint(20)                epg_keys   int(11)           epg_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0120]     20. pln_user_epcgroup  
         [0121]     This table joins users to an EPC group. Through this table an EPC group can have multiple users and one user can belong to multiple EPC groups.  
                                                                                                 key_user_epcgroup_id   bigint(20)                uep_user_id   bigint(20)                uep_epcgroup_id   bigint(20)                uep_keys   int(11)           uep_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0122]     21. pln_epc_epcgroup  
         [0123]     This table joins EPCs and EPC groups. Through this table, an EPC can have one or many EPC groups and one EPC group can belong to one or many EPCs.  
                                                                                                 key_epc_epcgroup_id   bigint(20)                eeg_epc_id   bigint(20)                eeg_epcgroup_id   bigint(20)                eeg_sortorder   int(11)                      
 
         [0124]     Incident Tables  
         [0125]     22. inc_incident  
         [0126]     This table is used by the response section of the platform which will allow incident commanders to create the incident and general staff to view the various states of the incident. Reports can be created from the data in this table as well.  
                                                                     key_incident_id   bigint(20)                inc_facility_id   bigint(20)           inc_code_id   bigint(20)           inc_tier_id   bigint(20)           inc_dstart   int(11)           inc_dend   int(11)           inc_dstatus   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0127]     HEICS Tables  
         [0128]     23. pln_heics  
                                                                                   key_heics_id   bigint(20)           hcs_name   varchar(255)                hcs_description   text                hcs_author_id   bigint(20)           hcs_dcreated   int(11)           hcs_dmodified   int(11)           hcs_status   bigint(20)                      
 
         [0129]     24. pln_heicsrole  
                                                                     key_heicsrole_id   bigint(20)           hsr_formtemplate_id   bigint(20)                hsr_author_id   bigint(20)           hsr_name   varchar(255)           hsr_dcreated   int(11)           hsr_dmodified   int(11)           hsr_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0130]     25. pln_heics_heicsrole  
                                                                                                                             key_heics_heicsrole_id   bigint(20)                hsr_heics_id   bigint(20)                hsr_heicsrole_id   bigint(20)                hsr_parent_id   bigint(20)                hsr_commandcenter   varchar(255)           hsr_commandcontact   varchar(255)                hsr_sortorder   int(11)                      
 
         [0131]     26. pln_heicsrole_user  
                                                                               key_heicsrole_user_idbigint(20)                hru_heics_heicsrole_id   bigint(20)                hru_user_id   bigint(20)           hru_firstname   varchar(255)           hru_lastname   varchar(255)                      
 
         [0132]     27. pln_heicsformtemplate  
                                                                                             key_heicsformtemplate_id bigint(20)                hft_name   varchar(255)                hft_description   text                hft_mission   text           hft_blueprint   text           hft_author_id   bigint(20)           hft_dcreated   int(11)           hft_dmodified   int(11)           hft_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0133]     28. pln_heicsform  
                                                                                                                                           key_heicsform_id   bigint(20)                hsf_heicsformtemplate_id   bigint(20)                hsf_name   varchar(255)                hsf_description   text                hsf_mission   text           hsf_header   text                hsf_effectivestart   varchar(255)           hsr_effectiveend   varchar(255)                hsf_author_id   bigint(20)           hsf_dcreated   int(11)           hsf_dmodified   int(11)           hsf_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0134]     29. pln_heicssheet  
                                                                     key_heicssheet_id   bigint(20)                hss_name   varchar(255)           hss_filename   varchar(255)           hss_path   varchar(255)           hss_dcreated   int(11)           hss_dmodified   int(11)           hss_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0135]     30. pln_heicsrole_heicsform  
                                                                 key_heicsrole_heicsform_id bigint(20)                hrf_heicsrole_id   bigint(20)           hrf_heicsform_id   bigint(20)                      
 
         [0136]     31. pln_heicsrole_heicssheet  
                                                                 key_heicsrole_heicssheet_id bigint(20)                hrs_heicsrole_id   bigint(20)           hrs_heicssheet_id   bigint(20)                      
 
         [0137]     32. pln_heicsformsection  
                                                                     key_heicsformsection_id   bigint(20)                hfs_name   varchar(255)           hfs_author_id   bigint(20)           hfs_dcreated   int(11)           hfs_dmodified   int(11)           hfs_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0138]     33. pln_heicsform_heicsformsection  
                                                                 key_heicsform_heicsformsection_id bigint(20)                hfs_heicsform_id   bigint(20)           hfs_heicsformsection_id   bigint(20)           hfs_sortorder int(11)                      
 
         [0139]     34. pln_heicsformitem  
                                                                 key_heicsformitem_idbigint(20)                hfi_name   varchar(255)           hfi_body   text           hfi_type   tinyint(4)           hfi_author_id   bigint(20)           hfi_dcreated   int(11)           hfi_dmodified   int(11)           hfi_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0140]     35. pln_heicsformsection_heicsformitem  
                                                                               key_heicsformsection_heicsformitem_id   bigint(20)                hfh_heicsformsection_id   bigint(20)                hfh_heicsformitem_id bigint(20)           hfh_sortorder int(11)                      
 
         [0141]     36. pln_heicstemplate  
                                                                                                                                       key_heicstemplate_id bigint(20)                hst_name   varchar(255)           hst_title   varchar(255)                hst_description   text                hst_heics_heicsrole_chain   text                hst_heicsformtemplate_heicsrole_chain   text                hst_heicssheet_heicsrole_chain   text                hst_author_id   bigint(20)           hst_dcreated   int(11)           hst_dmodified   int(11)           hst_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0142]     Task Tables  
         [0143]     37. tsk_plantask  
                                                                     key_plantask_id   bigint(20)                plt_name   varchar(255)           plt_tablename   varchar(255)           pit_baseurl   text           plt_idprefix   varchar(8)           plt_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0144]     38. tsk_task  
                                                                                   key_task_id   bigint(20)           tsk_plan_id   bigint(20)                tsk_element_id   bigint(20)           tsk_plantask_id   bigint(20)           tsk_assigner_id   bigint(20)                tsk_message   text           tsk_dcreated   int(11)           tsk_dclosed   int(11)           tsk_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0145]     39. tsk_task_user  
                                                                     key_task_user_id   bigint(20)                tku_task_id   bigint(20)           tku_user_id   bigint(20)           tku_dassigned   int(11)           tku_dseen   int(11)           tku_dlastseen   int(11)           tku_dclosed   int(11)                      
 
         [0146]     40. tsk_comment  
                                                                                                 key_comment_id   bigint(20)                cmt_task_id   bigint(20)                cmt_plantask_id   bigint(20)           cmt_element_id   bigint(20)                cmt_user_id   bigint(20)           cmt_body   text           cmt_dcreated   int(11)                      
 
         [0147]     Tables for HVA  
         [0148]     41. hva_analysis  
                                                                                                                             key_analysis_id   int(11)                anl_name   varchar(255)                anl_description   text                anl_version   varchar(255)                anl_facility_name   varchar(255)           anl_facility_bedsize   int(11)                anl_author_id   int(11)           anl_dcreated   int(11)           anl_dmodified   int(11)           anl_status   int(11)                      
 
         [0149]     42. hva_analysis_section  
                                                                                   key_analysis_section_id   bigint(20)                ans_analysis_id   bigint(20)                ans_section_id   bigint(20)           ans_sortorder   int(11)                      
 
         [0150]     43. hva_analysis_template  
                                                                                                                             key_analysis_template_id   int(11)                ant_name   varchar(255)                ant_description   text                ant_hazardlist   text                ant_vulnerabilitylist   text                ant_author_id   int(11)                      
 
         [0151]     44. hva_hazard  
                                                                                   key_hazard_id   int(11)           haz_name   varchar(255)                haz_description   text           haz_category_id   int(11)                haz_author_id   int(11)           haz_status   int(11)                      
 
         [0152]     45. hva_hazard_analysis  
                                                                                                 key_hazard_analysis_id   int(11)                hza_section_id   bigint(20)           hza_hazard_id   int(11)                hza_analysis_id   int(11)                hza_sortorder   int(11)                      
 
         [0153]     46. hva_hazard_category  
                                                                     key_hazard_category_id   int(11)                hzc_name   varchar(255)           hzc_status   int(11)                      
 
         [0154]     47. hva_section  
                                                       key_section_id   bigint(20)           sec_name   varchar(255)           sec_author_id   bigint(20)           sec_dcreated   int(11)           sec_dmodified   lint(11)           sec_status   tinyint(4)                      
 
         [0155]     48. hva_vulnerability  
                                                                                                 key_vulnerability_id   int(11)                vul_type   varchar(255)           vul_label   varchar(255)                vul_ismitigation   tinyint(4)                vul_min   int(11)           vul_max   int(11)           vul_question   text           vul_author_id   int(11)           vul_sortorder   int(11)           vul_status   int(11)                      
 
         [0156]     49. hva_vulnerability_analysis  
                                                                                             key_vulnerability_analysis_id   int(11)                vla_hza_id   int(11)                vla_vulnerability_id int(11)                vla_value   varchar(255)                      
 
         [0157]     Tables for Resources  
         [0158]     50. pln_resource  
                                                                                                                     key_resource_id   bigint(20)                res_company   varchar(255)           res_address1   varchar(255)           res_address2   varchar(255)           res_address3   varchar(255)           res_city   varchar(255)           res_state   varchar(8)                res_zipvarchar(32)                res_phone   varchar(64)                res_faxvarchar(64)                res_email   varchar(255)           res_website   varchar(255)           res_type_id   bigint(20)           res_author_id   bigint(20)           res_latitude   float(10,5)           res_longitude   float(10,5)           res_altitude   decimal(10,0)           res_dcreated   int(11)           res_dmodified   int(11)           res_status   int(11)                      
 
         [0159]     51. pln_resourcetype  
                                                                                                 key_resource_type_id   bigint(20)                rst_name   varchar(255)                rst_category_id   int(11)                rst_sortorder   int(11)           rst_dcreated   int(11)           rst_dmodified   int(11)           rst_status   int(11)                      
 
         [0160]     52. pln_contact  
                                                                                                                     key_contact_id   bigint(20)           cnt_resource_id   bigint(20)                cnt_first   varchar(255)           cnt_last   varchar(255)           cnt_title   varchar(255)           cnt_address1   varchar(255)           cnt_address2   varchar(255)           cnt_address3   varchar(255)           cnt_city   varchar(255)           cnt_state   varchar(8)                cnt_zipvarchar(16)                cnt_phone   varchar(64)           cnt_mobile   varchar(64)                cnt_faxvarchar(64)                cnt_email   varchar(255)           cnt_dcreated   int(11)           cnt_dmodified   int(11)           cnt_status   int(11)                      
 
         [0161]     Tables for Codes  
         [0162]     53. pln_code  
                                                   key_code_id           cod_name           cod_color           cod_title           cod_description           cod_author_id           cod_dcreated           cod_dmodified           cod_status                      
 
         [0163]     54. pln_plan_code  
                                                   key_plan_code_id           plc_plan_id           plc_code_id           plc_sortorder                      
 
         [0164]     55. pln_segment  
                                                   key_segment_id           seg_author_id           seg_name           seg_title           seg_body           seg_isprocedure           seg_type           seg_dcreated           seg_dmodified           seg_status                      
 
         [0165]     56. pln_code_hazardannex  
                                                   key_code_hazardannex_id           cdh_code_id           cdh_hazard_id           cdh_sortorder                      
 
         [0166]     57. pln_code_segment  
                                                   key_code_segment_id           cds_code_id           cds_segment_id           cds_sortorder                      
 
         [0167]     58. pin_code_heicsform  
                                                   key_code_heicsform_id           chf_code_id           chf_heicsform_id           chf_sortorder                      
 
         [0168]     Training Tables  
         [0169]     59. tm_patient  
                                                   key_patient_id           pnt_first           pnt_last           pnt_sex           pnt_age           pnt_dob           pnt_race           pnt_address           pnt_city           pnt_state           pnt_complaint           pnt_presenting           pnt_meds           pnt_presentillness           pnt_historymed           pnt_historysoc           pnt_exam           pnt_pulse           pnt_resp           pnt_bp           pnt_temp           pnt_spo2           pnt_author_id           pnt_dcreated           pnt_dmodified           pnt_status                      
 
 III. SCENARIOS 
 
         [0170]     1. Introduction  
         [0171]     This section will provide usage scenarios for the LiveProcess platform.  
         [0172]     Key features of LiveProcess include:  
         [0173]     1. Easily create, maintain and update an accurate, current and facility specific all-hazards HEICS-based plan.  
         [0174]     2. Provide a clear understanding of potential roles and responsibilities in any incident as well as reports that is so simple anyone can be an incident commander.  
         [0175]     3. Provide role-specific, immediate 24/7 secure access anywhere to the most current plan and real-time response activation.  
         [0176]     4. Ability to quantify actual and potential losses and therefore value the mitigation effort.  
         [0177]     5. Reduce time away from the worksite for training.  
         [0178]     6. Ability to more quickly develop a broad range of customized drills.  
         [0179]     7. Effectively and efficiently integrate into regional plan without rewriting your facility&#39;s plan.  
         [0180]     2. Documentation of Usage Scenarios  
         [0181]     2.1 S1 Create New Plan  
         [0182]     2.1.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0183]     A user wishes to create an emergency management plan for his facility and have it available online for authorized users to view.  
         [0184]     2.1.2 Description  
         [0185]     To create a new plan, the user would log into LiveProcess, click on the “PLAN” tab, and then on the “Create New Plan” link as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . This would bring up the “Add New Plan” page, where the user would fill in a filename, title, description, and version number for the plan and then click “Submit.” A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 20 .  
         [0186]     2.2 S2 Select Plan/Open Plan  
         [0187]     2.2.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0188]     A user wishes to select and open an existing emergency management plan for his facility so that he can view and edit the content.  
         [0189]     2.2.2 Description  
         [0190]     To select and open a previously saved version of a plan, the user would click on the “PLAN” tab. This would bring up the plan main page, where he could view a list of available plans, categorized into sections entitled “Your Plans” and “Group Plans.” To open a plan, he would click on the plan title, as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . This would bring up the plan details page shown in  FIG. 3 . A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 21 .  
         [0191]     2.3 S3 Add a Policy  
         [0192]     2.3.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0193]     The user wishes to add a policy to his emergency management plan. He may already have the policy content in a Microsoft Word document or an Adobe Acrobat PDF but would like it to be available online at LiveProcess where authorized users may access it.  
         [0194]     2.3.2 Description  
         [0195]     Once a user has created a plan, he is able to add policies to it. To add a policy, the user would click on the “PLAN” tab, select and open a plan, and then click on the “Add a Policy” link located on the plan details page, as illustrated in  FIG. 3 . This would take the user to the “Add Code” page, shown in  FIG. 4 , where he would input a title and description for the policy. The “Add Code” page also enables him to indicate whether the policy is an “Active Policy” and/or a “Shared Policy.” After filling in the information, the user would click “Submit” to save the new policy. Corresponding screenshots are shown in  FIGS. 22 and 23 .  
         [0196]     2.4 S4 Import a Policy  
         [0197]     2.4.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0198]     The user wishes to import a policy created by another hospital or user, into his own emergency management plan.  
         [0199]     2.4.2 Description  
         [0200]     When a user adds a policy to his plan, he has the option to make it private or to share the policy with other users of LiveProcess. If a policy has been made public, other users may import it into their own plans. To import a policy, the user would click on the “PLAN” tab, select and open a plan, and then click on the “Import a Policy” link located on the plan details page, as illustrated in  FIG. 5 . This would take the user to the “Policy Search” page, shown in  FIG. 6 , where he would input keywords to search for a policy. After hitting “Search” the user will see a list of search results. He would then click on one of the policies to view it, as shown in  FIG. 7 . To import the policy into his plan, he would click on the “Attach (Policy Name)” link. The policy would immediately be added to his plan, where he could edit it to make it specific to his facility. Corresponding screenshots are shown in  FIGS. 24-26 .  
         [0201]     2.5 S5 Add Segment  
         [0202]     2.5.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0203]     The user would like to add a segment, or section, to a policy in his emergency management plan.  
         [0204]     2.5.2 Description  
         [0205]     To add a segment or section to a policy, the user would click on the relevant policy, and then click on “Edit” as shown in  FIG. 8 . This would take him to the policy details page where he would click “Add Segment” as shown in  FIG. 9 . This would take him to the “Add Segment” page, shown in  FIG. 10 , where he would type or paste in the text of his policy segment, and then click “Submit.” Corresponding screenshots are shown in  FIGS. 27-29 .  
         [0206]     2.6 S6 Add Comment  
         [0207]     2.6.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0208]     The user wishes to post a comment on a particular policy, segment of a policy, or procedure. He wishes to send this comment to certain members of his emergency planning committee and have it time/date stamped.  
         [0209]     2.6.2 Description  
         [0210]     In order to post a comment, the user would first select the relevant policy, segment, or procedure, and then click “Comment,” as show in  FIG. 11 . This would take him to the “Comment” page, shown in  FIG. 12 , where he could choose to comment on the entire policy or a particular segment of the policy. The user would then type in his comment or question into the “Message” box, select which committee members should receive his comment, and then click “Submit.” Corresponding screenshots are shown in  FIGS. 30-31 .  
         [0211]     In the example in  FIG. 12  above, the user is posting a comment on the “Donning Protective Clothing” segment of the “Code Triage—Code C (Chemical) policy. Specifically, he is asking whether staff will be using “Tyvek suits with booties.” He has selected that this question be sent to members of his “Emergency Planning” and “Hazmat Committees.” 
         [0212]     2.7 S7 Respond to Comment  
         [0213]     2.7.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0214]     A user or emergency planning committee member wishes to view and respond to comments posted on the plan.  
         [0215]     2.7.2 Description  
         [0216]     When a comment is posted on a policy, members of the selected committees receive an email indicating a comment has been made. When the committee members log into LiveProcess, they will be able to view the comment by clicking on “Your Task List.” In the example shown in  FIG. 13 , a person named “Sue Demo” who is a member of the “Emergency Planning” committee has logged in and clicked on “Your Task List.” She can now view a list of Tasks or Comments. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 32 .  
         [0217]     When “Sue Demo” clicks on a Comment title, she is taken to the “Comment page” where she can view the comment and respond to it by typing into the Message box and clicking “Submit.” In the example shown in  FIG. 14 , “Sue Demo” has responded to the comment by indicating what type of Tyvek suit staff will be using. Every comment and response is time date stamped, so that a complete record of communication is kept for accrediting agencies such as JCAHO. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 33 .  
         [0218]     2.8 S8 Add a Procedure  
         [0219]     2.8.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0220]     The user would like to add a procedure to his emergency management plan.  
         [0221]     2.8.2 Description  
         [0222]     The user would like to quickly view and access the parts of his emergency plan policies that are procedures. This is done via the Procedures page. The user can add a procedure to this page by tagging it within his policies. To do this, the user would select the policy that contains the procedure, as shown in  FIG. 15 . The user would then put a check next to the option “Is a Procedure for this Code” as shown in  FIG. 16 . Corresponding screenshots are shown in  FIGS. 34-35 .  
         [0223]     After clicking Submit, the procedure selected will then appear on the Procedures page as show in  FIG. 17 . A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 36 .  
         [0224]     2.9 S9 View HVA  
         [0225]     2.9.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0226]     A user wishes to view the HVA (Hazard Vulnerability Analysis) for his facility.  
         [0227]     2.9.2 Description  
         [0228]     A user would be able to view the HVA for his facility by clicking on the “PLAN” tab and then “HVA.” This would display a standard Kaiser model of the facility&#39;s HVA as shown in  FIG. 18 . A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 37 .  
         [0229]     2.10 S10 Create/Edit HVA  
         [0230]     2.10.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0231]     A user wishes to create or edit the HVA (Hazard Vulnerability Analysis) for his facility.  
         [0232]     2.10.2 Description  
         [0233]     A user would be able to create or edit the HVA for his facility by clicking on the “PLAN” tab, selecting “HVA,” and then clicking either “Normal View” or “Expert View.” Clicking “Normal View” presents the HVA in questionnaire format as shown in  FIG. 19 . Clicking on “Expert View” presents the HVA in grid format as shown in  FIG. 20 . Either format allows the user to edit the information. As soon as new data is entered and submitted, the “Risk” column in the HVA is automatically recalculated. Corresponding screenshots are shown in  FIGS. 38-39 .  
         [0234]     2.11 S11 View Resources  
         [0235]     2.11.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0236]     A user wishes to view the resources available to his facility.  
         [0237]     2.11.2 Description  
         [0238]     A user would be able to view the resources for his facility by clicking on the “PLAN” tab and then “Resources.” This would display a list of all resources relevant to his facility, as shown in  FIG. 21 . The user can zoom in to resources beginning with a particular letter by clicking on the alphabet bar header at the top of the page. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 40 .  
         [0239]     2.12 S12 Create Resource  
         [0240]     2.12.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0241]     A user wishes to create or add new resources to the resource list in his plan.  
         [0242]     2.12.2 Description  
         [0243]     To add a new resource to his plan, the user would click on the PLAN tab, Resources, and then “Create Resource” as shown in  FIG. 22 . This would take him to the “Create Resource” page shown in  FIG. 23 , where he would enter the name, address, and contact info for the resource. Corresponding screenshots are shown in  FIGS. 41-42 .  
         [0244]     2.13 S13 Import Resource  
         [0245]     2.13.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0246]     A user wishes to import a resource, from the existing LiveProcess database of resources, into his plan.  
         [0247]     2.13.2 Description  
         [0248]     A user has the option to create his own resources or to import resources into his plan from the LiveProcess database of resources. To import a resource, he would click on the PLAN tab&gt;Resources&gt;Import a Resource, as shown in  FIG. 24 . A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 43 .  
         [0249]     After clicking on “Import Resource,” the user is taken to the “Resource Search” page, shown in  FIG. 25 . From here, he would click on the state in which he would like to locate an import a resource. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 44 .  
         [0250]     For example, if the user clicked on California, the “Search Results” page, shown in  FIG. 26 , would display all the California resources available in the LiveProcess Resource Database. From there, the user would simply click on a resource to add it to his plan. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 45 .  
         [0251]     2.14 S14 Create EPC  
         [0252]     2.14.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0253]     A user wishes to set up his emergency planning committees (EPC) in LiveProcess so that he can submit plans for review and approval.  
         [0254]     2.14.2 Description  
         [0255]     A user is able to set up his EPCs by clicking on HOME&gt;EPC. This takes him to the EPC Creator page shown in  FIG. 27 . From here the user has two options, he can use the LiveProcess EPC template, which automatically sets up 7 blank committees, or he can create a custom EPC. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 46 .  
         [0256]     If the user chooses “Custom EPC,” he is presented with the “Create New EPC” page shown in  FIG. 28 . A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 47 .  
         [0257]     2.15 S15 Edit EPC  
         [0258]     2.15.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0259]     A user wishes to edit his emergency planning committees (EPC) in LiveProcess. For example, he may want to remove some people from an EPC.  
         [0260]     2.15.2 Description  
         [0261]     To edit an EPC, the user would click on HOME&gt;EPC and then click on the title of the committee he would like to change. This brings up the page shown in  FIG. 29 . From here, he can choose to “Add User” or “Remove User.” A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 48 .  
         [0262]     If the User clicks on “Remove User,” he is taken to the page shown in  FIG. 30 . From here, he simply clicks on the name of the user he would like to remove. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 49 .  
         [0263]     2.16 S16 Map of Region  
         [0264]     2.16.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0265]     A user wishes to view a map showing his facility and local region.  
         [0266]     2.16.2 Description  
         [0267]     To view a map showing his facility and local region, the user would click on HOME&gt;Map. He would automatically be shown a map specific to his region, as shown in  FIG. 31 . This is based on his login. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 50 .  
         [0268]     2.17 S17 Mapping Hazards  
         [0269]     2.17.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0270]     A user wishes to have a visual way to assess which hazard types pose a risk in a particular region or across the United States.  
         [0271]     2.17.2 Description  
         [0272]     A user may gather historical hazard incident data by using the GIS MAP located on the HOME tab of LiveProcess. For example, the user could select “hail” from the “Hazard Type” picklist as shown in  FIG. 32 . A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 51 .  
         [0273]     After selecting “Hail” as Hazard Type and “Number of Events” as Data Type, the user would click “Submit.” The map would then automatically change to a color-coded display indicating the incidence of hail throughout the region, as shown in  FIG. 33 . (Red=High, Orange=Moderate, Yellow=Low) A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 52 .  
         [0274]     2.18 S18 Mapping Resource Types  
         [0275]     2.18.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0276]     A user wishes to have a visual way to view the types of resources located in a particular region or across the United States.  
         [0277]     2.18.2 Description  
         [0278]     A user may gather info on available resources by using the GIS MAP located on the HOME tab of LiveProcess. As shown in  FIG. 34 , the “Resource Type” picklist contains options such as Fire Depts., Pharmaceuticals, Ventilators, and Water. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 53 .  
         [0279]     2.19 S19 ICS View  
         [0280]     2.19.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0281]     A user wishes to view the ICS (Incident Command System) or HEICS (Hospital Incident Command System) structure used by his facility. This includes a listing of all roles and associated responsibilities.  
         [0282]     2.19.2 Description  
         [0283]     To view the ICS structure for his facility, the user would click on the PLAN tab, select a plan, and then click on ICS. This would bring up a page displaying all 49 of the standard HEICS roles. The standard view, shown in  FIG. 35 , displays each position title. The Crosswalk view, shown in  FIG. 36 , displays each position title and the name of the person assigned to the position. Corresponding screenshots are shown in  FIGS. 54-55 .  
         [0284]     2.20 S20 ICS Job Action Sheet  
         [0285]     2.20.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0286]     A user wishes to view the job action sheet (JAS) associated with a specific role in the incident command system (ICS).  
         [0287]     2.20.2 Description  
         [0288]     To view role-specific job action sheets, the user would click on ICS, and then click on one of the 49 position titles. If a JAS has already been created, this would bring up the role details page, shown in  FIG. 37 . From there, the user would click on the link under “Job Action Sheets.” This would automatically open a new web browser displaying the Job Action Sheet, shown in  FIG. 38 . Corresponding screenshots are shown in  FIGS. 56-57 .  
         [0289]     As shown in  FIG. 38 , the Job Action Sheet autofills in the name of the person who has been assigned the position. If there is a “Reports to” person, that name will be autofilled in as well, based on assignments made by the user.  
         [0290]     2.21 S21 ICS Custom Job Action Sheet  
         [0291]     2.21.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0292]     A user wishes to create a custom job action sheet for a specific role in the incident command system (ICS).  
         [0293]     2.21.2 Description  
         [0294]     To create a custom job action sheets, the user would click on ICS, and then click on one of the 49 position titles. If no JAS has been created yet for the role, this would bring up the role details page, shown in  FIG. 39 . From there, the user has the choice to either “Create a standard HEICS-based Job Action Sheet” or “Create a Job Action Sheet using the Job Action Sheet Wizard.” A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 58 .  
         [0295]     2.22 S22 ICS Forms  
         [0296]     2.22.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0297]     A user wishes to view the standard forms associated with a specific role in the incident command system (ICS).  
         [0298]     2.22.2 Description  
         [0299]     To view the standard HEICS forms associated with a role, the user would click on the links located under “Forms” on the role detail page. This would automatically open a new web page displaying the selected form, as shown in  FIG. 40 . A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 59 .  
         [0300]     2.23 S23 Community  
         [0301]     2.23.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0302]     A user wishes to communicate with other emergency management professionals in a secure online forum.  
         [0303]     2.23.2 Description  
         [0304]     To communicate with other members of the LiveProcess community, the user would click on the Community tab. This would display the Community page shown in  FIG. 41 . In Community, the user can access various online discussion forums. The user may post comments, polls, file attachments, and links in the online discussion forums. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 60 .  
         [0305]     2.24 S24 Reference  
         [0306]     2.24.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0307]     A user wishes to search and view reference materials provided by other emergency management professionals.  
         [0308]     2.24.2 Description  
         [0309]     To search and view reference materials posted by other LiveProcess members, the user would click on the REFERENCE tab and type keywords into the search box. In the example shown in  FIG. 42 , the user has done a search on the keyword “decon.” To view one of the documents, the user would click “Import” and then choose to open or save the document to his computer. The Reference area contains many different file types, including MS Word docs, Excel files, PowerPoint presentations, and PDFs. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 61 .  
         [0310]     2.25 S25 Publish  
         [0311]     2.25.1 Scenario Definition  
         [0312]     A user wishes to publish reference materials so that they can be accessed by other emergency management professionals.  
         [0313]     2.25.2 Description  
         [0314]     To publish reference materials so that other LiveProcess members may access them, the user would click on the PUBLISH tab, fill in the brief form describing the material, and then upload the file from his computer. The user may publish many different file types, including MS Word docs, Excel files, PowerPoint presentations, and PDFs. A corresponding screenshot is shown in  FIG. 62 .  
         [0315]     One preferred embodiment of the present invention is implemented via the source code in the accompanying Appendix.  
         [0316]     The present invention may be implemented with any combination of hardware and software. If implemented as a computer-implemented apparatus, the present present invention is implemented using means for performing all of the steps and functions described above.  
         [0317]     The present invention can be included in an article of manufacture (e.g., one or more computer program products) having, for instance, computer useable media. The media has embodied therein, for instance, computer readable program code means for providing and facilitating the mechanisms of the present invention. The article of manufacture can be included as part of a computer system or sold separately.  
         [0318]     It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention.