Cisco Emergency Responder User Preparation

Cisco Emergency Responder User Preparation Overview

This chapter describes the various roles for CiscoEmergencyResponder (Emergency Responder) users. The topics describe not only the use of the software, but help you understand the larger policy and procedure decisions your organization must make to determine how Emergency Responder fits into your organization's emergency response needs.

Emergency Responder Onsite Alert Personnel Preparations

You probably already have emergency response policies and procedures in place. Consider how CiscoEmergency Responder (Emergency Responder) fits into these policies and procedures, and work with your emergency response teams (onsite alert or security personnel) to update these procedures if necessary.

Consider training these personnel on these aspects of Emergency Responder:

  • How to use the Emergency Responder web interface. See the Emergency Responder user web interface online help for information about these topics. The online help includes a user's guide in PDF format that you can print out and distribute to your users. The information in the user's guide is the same as the information in the online help. Train users on these areas:

    • How to log into the user web interface.

    • How alerts show up on the screen and how to view specific (if set by the administrator) or all alerts in the system.

    • How to obtain more information about the location of the call. Summary information includes the actual extension of the caller; the ELIN, which is the phone number the PSAP gets as the number of the emergency caller; the phone location associated with the switch port; and the location field of the ALI. Users can also view the entire ALI.

    • How to acknowledge the call and add comments to it. Consider developing rules for these procedures to ensure consistent behavior from your emergency response teams.

    • How to look up emergency calls in the emergency call history.

  • Explain how they receive notification of an emergency call.

    • A web alert appears for everyone logged into the Emergency Responder user web interface.

    • All personnel assigned to an ERL receive a telephone call when an emergency call is made from the ERL. The telephone call includes information about the extension of the caller.

    • If you configure email addresses for the personnel, they also receive an email, which includes more information than the phone call, including ERL name and phone location. If the email address is for an email-based pager, they are paged. Paging is the most efficient way of getting information to users who are not at their desks.

      If the standby CiscoEmergency Responder server handles an emergency call, all onsite alert personnel get notified of the call, and of the fact that the standby server handled the call. Decide how you want people to respond to these notifications.

  • Explain the ERL naming and phone location you are using. This is the primary information the personnel have for identifying the location of the emergency caller.

  • Explain the organization's policy for responding to emergency calls. Work with the emergency response teams to develop an acceptable policy if you do not already have one.

Emergency Responder ERL Administrator Role

The following table lists the recurring tasks for which an ERL administrator is responsible. A system administrator can also perform these tasks.

Table 1. Cisco Emergency Responder ERL Administration Recurring Tasks

Recurring Task

Description

More Information

Assign ERLs to new or changed switch ports

If switches are added to the network, or if modules with additional ports are added to existing switches, assign the new ports ERLs.

Switch Port Configuration

Create ERLs as required

As your business expands, create new ERLs as required. Work with the telephony administrators to obtain ELINs for the ERLs, and with the network administrator to get the new switches defined in Emergency Responder.

Export ALI data and submit to your service provider

If you make changes to ALI data, add or remove ERLs, or change the ELINs assigned to an ERL (for example, by adding or removing them), export the ALI and resubmit it to your service provider.

Audit the manually defined phones

Regularly check your manual phone definitions to ensure each phone is still assigned to the correct ERL. Work with the telephony administrator to get notification of any adds, moves, or changes that involve these phones. Add phones as required.

Audit the unlocated phones list

Regularly audit the unlocated phones list, and work with the network administrator to determine why CiscoEmergency Responder cannot locate the phones and to resolve the problems.

Add new onsite personnel or remove old ones; update phone numbers

As onsite alert personnel are added, define them in CiscoEmergency Responder and assign them to the appropriate ERLs. Likewise, as personnel are removed, remove them from their ERLs and then from CiscoEmergency Responder. Update phone numbers, email address, and other contact information as they change.

Add IP subnet for the IP subnets to be tracked

If there is a new IP subnet that needs to be discovered by Emergency Responder, then perform the following tasks:

  • Configure an ERL spanning the new IP subnet's geographical location.
  • Configure this new IP subnet and the appropriate mask and assign this IP subnet to the created ERL.

Emergency Responder Network Administrator Role

The following table lists the recurring tasks for which a network administrator is responsible. A system administrator can also perform these tasks.

Table 2. Cisco Emergency Responder Network Administration Recurring Tasks

Recurring Task

Description

More Information

Add new switches

Add any switches that you add to the network to the CiscoEmergency Responder configuration. A switch is considered new if it has an IP address not defined in CiscoEmergency Responder.

Remove old switches

Remove switches from the CiscoEmergency Responder configuration if you remove them from the network. Nonexistent switches in the CiscoEmergency Responder configuration do not create problems, but they do increase the time required to do phone tracking, because CiscoEmergency Responder attempts to connect to the switch must time out before moving on to the next switch.

Update the SNMP read community if it changes

If you change the read community string on any defined switch, you must update the SNMP settings in CiscoEmergency Responder. Until the setting is updated, CiscoEmergency Responder cannot track phones attached to the switch.

Update or remove Unified CM servers

If a Unified CM cluster is added to the network, or one is removed, update the configuration for the CiscoEmergency Responder group that supports the cluster. Although you have the authority to make these updates, your organization might assign the primary responsibility to the CiscoEmergency Responder system administrator.

Check ERL assignments

Use the ERL Debug Tool to check that the correct and expected ERL is used for a selected phone.

Emergency Responder System Administrator Role

The following table lists the recurring tasks for which a system administrator is responsible. A system administrator might also be responsible for some or all of the ERL and network administrators' tasks, as explained in the Emergency Responder ERL Administrator Role and the Emergency Responder Network Administrator Role.

Table 3. Cisco Emergency Responder System Administration Recurring Tasks

Recurring Task

Description

More Information

Add additional CiscoEmergency Responder groups

As telephones are added to the network, you might need additional CiscoEmergency Responder groups. Install and define them and their telephony settings.

Work with the telephony administrator to complete the required Unified CM configuration.

Monitor the system and troubleshoot any problems

Help resolve any problems that arise. Work with the network and ERL administrators, and the telephony administrator, as appropriate.

Create new CiscoEmergency Responder users; remove old users

As onsite alert personnel change, or as CiscoEmergency Responder system, network, and ERL administrators change, add or remove them as required.

Add or remove Unified CM servers

If a Unified CM cluster is added to the network, or one is removed, update the configuration for the CiscoEmergency Responder group that supports the cluster. Although you have the authority to make these updates, your organization might assign the primary responsibility to the CiscoEmergency Responder network administrator.

Monitor the email alerts that CiscoEmergency Responder generates

If your email ID is configured in the server group settings, CiscoEmergency Responder sends email alerts about critical errors to you. You are expected to understand the error and take action to correct the problem.

See Troubleshoot Email Alerts for information to help you understand the email alerts and resolve problems.