Title: Information-Decision-Collaboration Assessment: An Integrated Requirements Approach for Emergency Management Decision Support Systems
Abstract: Modern emergency management is a demanding profession characterized by accelerated decision- making, dynamic information needs, and complex collaboration to execute mission objectives. Decision support systems in this setting must be suitably optimized in turn, with clear requirements to inform such design. To date, comprehensive approaches to capture these requirements remain underdeveloped, per a defined need in the literature. This pilot study establishes the Information-Decision-Collaboration Assessment as an integrated method for eliciting these requirements, in order to inform effective development of such systems. The method records key tasks across all three aspects, and captures emergent themes which may further contextualize this understanding. The method was developed through a review of similar frameworks for sociotechnical systems, and cohered with selected task analysis approaches, to arrive at a comprehensive means of assessment. The method was first trialled through a preliminary survey, then refined for the interview process presented as the central focus of this paper. Results of this study produced a richly contextualized body of insights, which depicted critical tasks across information, decision-making, and collaboration needs of emergency management practitioners. Analysis of these results identified common themes, challenges, and success factors, concluding with directly stated requirements to serve such needs. In summary, the Information- Decision-Collaboration Assessment appears to be a suitable vehicle for understanding these requirements for the emergency management sector, and may be evaluated as a foundational approach from which to build further study. (Less)
Publication Year: 2021
Publication Date: 2021-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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