Different control centers
require individual solutions.
As one of the first links in the rescue chain, control centers for fire departments, emergency medical services, and disaster management are crucial for providing quality care to the population and ensuring the success of operations. Control centers are increasingly becoming the focus of reform processes in emergency response and healthcare.
Two aspects are particularly evident:
The pace of change and adaptation requirements, as well as the demanded performance capacity, are steadily increasing – and the control center has long been more than just the "emergency call center."
The rapid handling of emergency calls remains a key quality indicator.
For effective solutions to gain acceptance among both decision-makers or cost bearers and employees, comprehensive implementation concepts must incorporate both core processes and support processes.
Our Methodological Approaches
Control center needs planning begins with an intensive examination of the coverage area. We seek to understand which tasks the control center performs (original and voluntary or delegated), what requirements and expectations exist, and which regional characteristics and hazard potentials must be considered.
We employ a mixed-methods approach to assess main processes and conduct business process analysis.
We perform data analysis, assess tasks and processes in the administrative area, and conduct management interviews.
We firmly believe that needs planning is not purely mathematical and that the requirements and appropriate staffing of the control center cannot be calculated solely through an algorithm. Nevertheless, precise analyses form the foundation of every needs assessment.
Staffing Assessment for Dispatch Operations
The following processes are considered when assessing personnel requirements in dispatch operations:
Emergency call reception and processing,
Dispatch,
Alerting, and
further processing of operations (regular operations and "special situations").
Based on simulations in our proprietary and extensively proven analysis tool, we determine the needs-based and optimized staffing times for dispatch workstations (console staffing times).
We conduct the assessment on two levels:
From both assessment steps, we determine the maximum requirements per hourly interval and define implementation-suitable console staffing times from the results, differentiated by time periods (“Monday – Friday,” “Saturday,” “Sunday and public holidays”). Working time regulations and any applicable collective bargaining conditions are naturally taken into account.
Based on dispatch operations and the specific requirements of the coverage area, we develop a comprehensive concept for the control center’s command organization. We also determine the need for ad hoc or additional staffing to ensure adequate special situation capability.
1. Risk-based per hourly interval:
for adequate service reliability in emergency and call reception, taking into account empirically occurring duplicate events. For this purpose, planning service levels are defined as a basis, which specify maximum waiting times for various caller groups as controlling values.
When implementing the call-taker/dispatcher system, a second risk-based assessment is conducted to ensure adequate dispatch reliability for operations.
2. Frequency-based per hourly interval:
for adequate processing reliability of operation-related activities (based on operation and call volume)
"For us, personnel staffing in control centers is far more than pure mathematics. In addition to our proven algorithm, we rely on well-founded organizational analyses – this allows us to determine the actual requirements in 24/7 operations and in the administrative area precisely and practically."
Assessment of the Administrative Area
The foundation of any optimization of organizational structure and processes is the critical analysis of the current state. In particular, we review processes in the areas of
Management, system administration, and data maintenance
Quality management, and
Training and continuing education.
For this purpose, we employ the classic instruments of task-critical, organization-critical, and business process-critical analysis. We follow the procedures outlined in the Federal Office of Administration’s handbook for organizational studies and personnel requirements assessment. On this basis, we derive the administrative personnel requirements in a transparent manner.
Do you require a comprehensive organizational study of your control center? We are happy to optionally expand our services to include all aspects of organizational analysis and examine your workflows, processes, and structures in detail.
Please consider when preparing service descriptions:
The administrative area deserves just as thorough an examination as dispatch operations. Deriving administration and overhead requirements as a percentage of dispatch operations personnel requirements is no longer state-of-the-art. However, since the methodological investigation approaches fundamentally differ from the assessment of dispatch operations, we recommend separate and specific identification of this task area in your service description.
Our commitment is always to develop comprehensive and individual implementation concepts. This includes looking beyond our own scope and, within the framework of our expert independence, seeking solutions together with our clients.
We use our diverse and extensive project experience to support our clients in development processes. The introduction of standardized emergency call interrogation or a call-taker/dispatcher strategy are just two examples.
We understand the different needs and develop individual solutions:
For career fire departments, an economical 24-hour shift and the question of integration with operational service functions are often central. District control centers require effective concepts for special situation operations, and regional control centers need a concept for rapid ad hoc staffing despite large coverage areas.
We are members of the Control Center Professional Association (Fachverband Leitstellen e.V.) and contribute to various working groups on process development and the determination of fundamental key performance indicators.
We see ourselves as cultural translators. We "speak" control center – and equally the language of politics, treasury, and business administration.
We are intimately familiar with the expectations, requirements, and tensions of needs planning from our broad experience. Against this background, we can communicate the results of needs planning to various stakeholders confidently and appropriately.
Our partner Sven Ohrem brings not only high methodological competence from consulting.
As a former dispatcher, shift supervisor and project manager of a cooperative regional control center, as well as head of an integrated control center, he is also intimately familiar with the practical challenges on site.
Your big PLUS
Our clients
Control Centers
Operators of security control centers
