Author(s)

A. Amaye, K. Neville, A. Pope

Abstract

Disasters expose the strengths and weakness of multi-jurisdictional and multi-disciplinary networks of public sector, private industry and non-governmental agencies that operate in emergency management (EM). The design of information systems (IS) for multi-agency use has to consider a broad spectrum of functionality, environmental constraints, and system specifications for these complex networks. Mindfulness, a key feature of high reliability organizations, provides a theoretical framework focused on collective capabilities critical to groups engaged in emergency preparedness threat and risk analysis. This research in progress paper proposes a process oriented approach for group decision support systems (GDSS) which supports mindful anticipation and containment of unexpected events. The complexity of disasters and multi-organizational response requires advancements in interoperability centred on capabilities for active preparedness in addition to system interface. The paper describes mechanisms to improve interoperability and multiagency coordination in EM through capability based performance in the IS domain.

Keywords

emergency preparedness, process framework, information systems, decision support systems, interoperability