A Key Role

A Key Role

Data Reporting and Dispatching Features Essential for Converged Security Systems

The city of Calgary in southern Alberta, Canada has achieved international acclaim with its annual Calgary Stampede and its legacy of world-class sporting facilities and events. Along with this reputation, the city also has made a name for itself as a leader in creating a 21st century security operations strategy that centralizes its municipal security tasks— cyber, logical and physical—to better protect its approximately 1.1 million residents, 22,000 employees, and more than 750 sites and critical infrastructure units including transit and water services.

Playing a critical role among the advanced technology solutions the city uses to help develop and establish this innovative plan, PPM’s enterprise incident management software solution is used across the municipality’s 32 different business units for cross-divisional tracking, dispatching/reporting, investigation, and analysis of incidents and events. The software, Perspective by PPM, pulls all of these various areas together within a single work group structure so that incidents and events across any of the business units can be managed in one centralized hub.

Owen Key is the city’s chief security officer/chief information security officer as well as the chief architect of the unified security operations strategy. The incident management software, with its innovative reporting tools and interactive dashboard, has been an integral part of his initiative uniting the functions of the various security departments. These include information security, internal investigations, physical security and emergency management as well as a security advisory group to ensure the departments perform collectively and in a cohesive manner.

“Incident management software gives us far better insight into the operations of this complex municipal environment,” Key said. “We can do drilldowns on information from sites to business units to types of incidents that are occurring. Just about whatever you can imagine is possible, including tracking incidents in regard to our information security.”

Using the city’s centralized repository, information from all of the systems (i.e. video surveillance, incident reports, access, fire and alarm, etc.) is stored and available for business units to run queries and build their business intelligence. The stored data is also used for analysis or investigation utilizing the incident management software. As an example, incidents in one of the city’s public buildings can be matched with any number of criteria such as audio, financial, or even people counting to look for building utilization. Additionally, the city has been able to use other aspects of the incident management software to maximize internal resources. Key said that Perspective’s dispatching capabilities were centralized throughout the organization to enable enterprise-wide alarm response and more efficient and proactive dispatching of guard services and resources.

He also said that while incident management improves security in any large enterprise including medical, education or transportation facilities, information analysis can also provide the ammunition needed to help obtain further resources to protect assets. He cites the example of a city recreation center suffering from repeated vandalism, where data from the incident management software can provide the justification for a request for further capital expenditures such as video surveillance cameras.

“The numbers and the information are there and when we need to make a presentation we can do so with a two or three-page report, with graphics, that paints a picture of the situation—whether it’s a request for additional video surveillance cameras for a recreation center or for our annual report to the corner office,” he said. “Perspective is excellent in this regard because it gives us the numbers to allow us to get our point across quickly and concisely. We can be collaborative with the business units and realistically identify the risks. That is something everyone can understand and get on board with.”

The successful adoption of the centralized security program by city employees is also attributable to the integration capabilities of the various sub-systems. Key points out, it wouldn’t take too long for information overload to set in or for the system to completely bog down if software solutions were simply added without any integration capability. The ability to integrate and control the various systems under a single platform, either through PSIM or SEIM solutions, has helped deliver improved situational awareness while eliminating the problems of false alarms or false information.

Key’s strategy of focusing on technology interoperability has been effective in harmonizing policies and procedures and providing information that is useful for both routine and irregular situations. As IT and security networked systems continue their convergence, this strategy, and PPM’s enterprise incident management software, is the right solution to maintain the flow of vital and useful data.

This article originally appeared in the August 2015 issue of Security Today.

Featured

  • Video Surveillance Trends to Watch

    With more organizations adding newer capabilities to their surveillance systems, it’s always important to remember the “basics” of system configuration and deployment, as well as the topline benefits of continually emerging technologies like AI and the cloud. Read Now

  • New Report Reveals Top Trends Transforming Access Controller Technology

    Mercury Security, a provider in access control hardware and open platform solutions, has published its Trends in Access Controllers Report, based on a survey of over 450 security professionals across North America and Europe. The findings highlight the controller’s vital role in a physical access control system (PACS), where the device not only enforces access policies but also connects with readers to verify user credentials—ranging from ID badges to biometrics and mobile identities. With 72% of respondents identifying the controller as a critical or important factor in PACS design, the report underscores how the choice of controller platform has become a strategic decision for today’s security leaders. Read Now

  • Overwhelming Majority of CISOs Anticipate Surge in Cyber Attacks Over the Next Three Years

    An overwhelming 98% of chief information security officers (CISOs) expect a surge in cyber attacks over the next three years as organizations face an increasingly complex and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven digital threat landscape. This is according to new research conducted among 300 CISOs, chief information officers (CIOs), and senior IT professionals by CSC1, the leading provider of enterprise-class domain and domain name system (DNS) security. Read Now

  • ASIS International Introduces New ANSI-Approved Investigations Standard

    • Guard Services
  • Cloud Security Alliance Brings AI-Assisted Auditing to Cloud Computing

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today introduced an innovative addition to its suite of Security, Trust, Assurance and Risk (STAR) Registry assessments with the launch of Valid-AI-ted, an AI-powered, automated validation system. The new tool provides an automated quality check of assurance information of STAR Level 1 self-assessments using state-of-the-art LLM technology. Read Now

New Products

  • Compact IP Video Intercom

    Viking’s X-205 Series of intercoms provide HD IP video and two-way voice communication - all wrapped up in an attractive compact chassis.

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area.