Johannesburg, 27 Aug 2012
Aurecon and software development house, 3fifteen, have begun the process of going live with the Disaster and Emergency Management Portal, an emergency management solution that will aid rapid and co-ordinated responses from government agencies in the instance of an emergency.
Rory Bosman, 3fifteen Business Development Manager, says government is tasked with ensuring that emergency management plans, policies, processes and tools are in place within all tiers of government in South Africa. "Government needs to be compliant with Act 57 of the Constitution. As a result, a national department issued a tender to build a portal to facilitate collaboration, document management and communication between role players, in the event of a major disaster or emergency, such as a flood or fire," says Bosman.
Microsoft Corporation is taking the lead in providing technology solutions and expertise that will assist role players with preparedness, prevention and recovery, and rehabilitation in the field of incident, disaster and event management.
"Aurecon was awarded the tender to design and build the portal. Aurecon's engineering expertise enables us to build a model where the procedures, processes and people work and fit together," says Manus Bolton, project lead at Aurecon. "We then appointed 3fifteen as our implementation partner based on their track record. Through this partnership, we are building a portal that will allow government to meet its mandate. The portal offers the options of either a quickly deployed cloud or an on-premise solution."
Using a road show to demonstrate the portal's functionality to government departments, as part of Microsoft's larger Emergency Management solution, the first iteration of the portal is about to be deployed, with the go-live date following in a few months' time.
"In addition to the portal fulfilling government's legal obligation to citizens, the tools will provide a national command centre, allowing for multiple devices, in multiple locations, to connect to the same data in real-time," says Bosman. "This translates into deploying emergency services in a well co-ordinated, timeous and targeted manner. Effective emergency management tools keep citizens safe and save lives in emergency situations."
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