Decision management series - Part 5
Compliance, auditability, and liability control
For this final installment in our blog series on Mission Control, we're talking about compliance, auditability and liability control and how to improve them based on Reporting and Visualization. At the root of all three is the Interactive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). In our last post on Guided Decisions, we discussed what an SOP is and how the ability to follow predefined steps necessary to respond to a situation is particularly important when it comes to making decisions and resolving incidents in high-stress situations. But SOPs can also be just as useful for routine activities and day-to-day operations. Understanding this operations data and using it as guide to measure effectiveness is key to leveraging and SOP.
By guiding operators through Interactive SOPs, organizations enhance their ability to comply with organizational processes. This leads to consistent responses and actions across security and operations personnel. And, when you can integrate Interactive SOPs within your physical security system, as you can with Mission Control, you are able to standardize compliance and then audit that compliance, reduce liability and measure the response time of your SLA performance. But how does this happen?
When you integrated an interactive SOP
First, when you integrate an Interactive SOP within your system, you attach a specific set of steps and actions to be triggered by an Incident. For example, a "Perimeter Intrusion" incident in an airport will activate an associated workflow and trigger a series of actions, as well as automatically bring up an Interactive SOP to manage the response to this type of incident. The SOP may include resolution steps such as having on-duty security personnel check any surveillance video associated, dispatch a guard or maintenance personnel to the area, lock down an area and so on. Or, in a retail operational environment, a "Qualified Transaction" incident triggered by using object or facial detection analytics in combination with a Point of Sale transaction event to ensure a person is in front of a register when a drawer opening transaction event is processed. This incident will trigger a workflow that automatically notifies the store manager, adjust PTZ's to different presets and creates bookmarks in the video to simplify investigation and resolution.
Because specific SOPs are attached to specific incidents and fully integrated into the overall response, you not only ensure compliance but also track any action taken by security or operations teams; this means that you can audit responses through audit trail reporting, allowing you to publish reports demonstrating compliance, create Visual Audit Logs to review operator response performance, and implement improvements in your procedures. Simply put, auditing is measuring how well your organization is complying with existing procedures and how efficient the response is to a given incident type. This audit information will lead to deeper understanding and business improvements.
Make improvements across your organization
In the case of repeated "Perimeter Intrusion" incidents at an airport, an audit might show that operator resolution times are much higher overnight in certain sections. Upon further investigation, the administration might discover that the area lighting and camera coverage are not as optimal as in other areas, causing operators more time to complete the necessary investigation. The delays these incidents impact the operators' response time to other incidents within the environment causing a trickledown effect overall. By identifying which step(s) in the Interactive SOP are time-consuming, adjustments can be made in the environment to create efficiencies where there were once delays. This simplifies response and focuses operators on the proper task at hand by providing front-line responders with the ability to make better decisions.
When it comes to compliance, auditability and liability control, what we're talking about is the ability to collect and understand historical data from your operational environment. Visualization of this response data is key. Mission Control provides interactive tools that offer insights for improved outcome efficiency. In the above example, airport operators leverage their physical security system alongside Mission Control to define incident responses. The SOPs are used to guide operator responses, ensure compliance, improve operations, and reduce the demands on security and operations teams.
By understanding what's actually happening in your environment, you can improve staffing, develop better procedures, provide better service and reduce your organization's liability.
To learn more about Mission Control, check out the rest of our blog series including posts on Decision Management, increased Situational Intelligence and greater Visualization.