September 15, 2011September 15, 2011 PIER System Discussions with Dallas/Fort Worth/ Arlington UASI Region

Top communicators from government agencies, major corporations, universities, non-profit organizations and others use PIER to build trust with exceptional efficiency. Houston UASI Region Atlanta UASI BP (British Petroleum) State of Washington EMD State of UTAH Emerg. Mgmt. Georgia Emergency Management Houston UASI Los Angeles OEM LADWP Marathon Oil Austin UASI NASA Shell US Coast Guard USDA Univ of North Carolina Univ of Houston US Marshals and many more…

PIER’s Beginnings Created out of a major ICS/JIC event (Olympic Pipeline incident 1999) Adopted by US Coast Guard starting in 2000 DEMs, Military, Fed Agencies, State, Local, Oil Industry, Universities, Associations, etc. Used by GEMA since G8 Summit

The PIER Idea: Put everything a communicator or team needs into a single, integrated, easy to use online communications control room. A control center accessible 24/7 from wherever you are.

PIER as a Secure, Web-based Communication Management Platform NIMS-compatible, multi-agency virtual joint information center environment Easy to use and standardized communication processes Content management Self-publishing to dedicated, hosted and battle-ready public/private facing Web site Multi-modal notifications including , SMS, text-to-voice, fax, RSS and feeds social media Contact management Inquiry management

Incident Command Operations PlanningLogisticsFinance Public Information Officer Safety Liaison JIC Manager Liaisons EOC Technology PIER System Virtual Joint Information Center Integration* National Incident Management System (NIMS) JIC structure per NIMS FEMA PIO Guidance Nov 07 Operations Support Info Gathering PIER currently offers integration with WebEOC Info Dissemination

Dallas/Fort Worth /Arlington UASI JIC Communication Workflow Information Gathering Notifications Information Production Information Dissemination Inquiry Management Monitoring/Rumor Management Notify JIC Members of activation, initial role assignment and location. Text, phone and distributions. Confirm participation, location, and status of each participant. Collect factual information related to the incident and response. Sources include WebEOC Significant Events board, Situation Status Unit, On-scene JIC liaisons, media reports, other ICS sections, etc. Provide information in situation updates form through PIER. Create process for verifying individual facts. Work with PIO to secure IC approval for release of verified facts. Use templates to prepare initial statements. Develop “answer” documents in PIER for media responders. Identify formats for releases, quick web updates, fact sheets, answers to inquiries. Plan for photos, videos, maps and other multi-media materials. Secure fast approvals and provide to Dissemination group. Identify items needed for Special Needs populations. Distribute approved information. Maintain frequent updates on JIC website. Distribute to media, community, elected officials, response agencies and other audiences as directed by PIO or JIC Manager. Maintain updated contact lists. Provide reports as directed on distributions. Distribution methods include , fax, text and text- to-voice phone messages as directed. Establish and manage procedure for coordination activities with Liaison Officer and other audience liaisons. Field web inquiries, phone calls and s. Respond promptly and courteously with approved information only. Provide reports on inquiry activities to PIO as directed. Monitor print, online, blogs, broadcast and other social media forms using systems such as PIER MediaTools, Google Alerts, tweetbeep, etc. Develop and distribute PIER surveys as directed by PIOs and in coordination with Dissemination team to gather community and stakeholder input. Identify rumors or misinformation immediately alerting PIO of significant issues.

Simple-to-use, integrated tool sets for PIO’s and Emergency Managers provide complete communications control...and much more Law Enforcement Elected Officials Responders Internal audiences Community Leaders Impacted Public Media PUSH Fax SMS (Text) Phone RSS INTERACTIVE PULL

To support the communications needs of a large UASI Region, PIER is also used for: Joint Information Centers Daily Public Affairs Management Online Press Rooms Crisis Response & Dark Sites Employee & Internal Communications Issue Management Business Continuity Emergency Notification Compliance Communication

USCG’s Formula for Successful Response Building trust with stakeholders requires: Doing the right thing. Communicating well about what you are doing.

Deepwater Horizon drilling rig

Stakeholders

155 million site hits to website since April 20, ,000 inquiries since April 20, 2010 or an average of 560 inquiries per day 11,075 documents created a 5 month period Over 35 million s and SMS texts sent to stakeholders Full tracking of all activities

Critical PIER Functions for PIO’s and Emergency Managers: Fully hosted, Web-based, NIMS compliant, virtual joint information center (VJIC) Collaborative content development with approval workflow process Emergency notifications with multi-mode distributions ( , SMS text, text-to-voice phone, fax, website, social media/RSS) Inquiry management for interactive communications with stakeholders Contact database management Control of public, private and protected website without IT support Management controls and detailed reporting

PIER in use today PIER has been used to manage numerous large scale events including: Hurricane Katrina -- US Coast Guard Atlanta Tornado, Georgia Drought --Georgia Emergency Management Texas City Refinery Accident -- BP Hurricane Humberto -- Port of Houston, University of Houston Los Angeles Power Outages -- LA Dept of Water and Power Cosco Busan Spill (San Francisco) -- US Coast Guard G8 Economic Summit -- Georgia Emergency Management Northwest Storm and Floods -- WA State EMD Thunderhorse Oil Platform -- BP and US Coast Guard Deepwater Horizon Response (BP Oil Spill) (Many more...) Hurricane Katrina--USCG

BP Hurricane Ike Information Provided update information about a major oil refinery located in Texas City, TX Provided information about Gulf of Mexico operations Site populated from BP Emergency Operation Center in Illinois

Marathon Oil Company Employee Communications Access for employees and contractors to provide updated contact information Regular updates provided regarding closures, reopening and other company response activities Updates sent directly to employees using updated contact information 283,000+ site hits

PIER Center to support Johnson Space Center’s Emergency Management’s Communication’s Efforts

Crisis Center State of Washington – EMD

University of Houston Emergency Information Center Class closures, reopening notices posted and sent to 39,000+ students Hundreds of inquiries from students and parents rapidly answered Additional information added to website as needed President's message added to website 4,000,000+ site hits

Example of Harris Co. OEM Regional JIC

Fort Bend Co. OEM

Multi-jurisdiction Public Information Center

Sample of PIER use USCG – Floodwatch

Building trust, one valuable relationship at a time. (281)