Intelligent Task Support
for Information Portals
and Virtual Operations Centres

Effective collaboration requires a shared understanding of the problem and a shared commitment to an agreed plan. I-C2's Intelligent Task Support software ensures all the participants in a team effort have the information they need and can see other participants' information, including planned actions and issues that remain to be resolved.

What are information portals and virtual operations centres?

Information portals and virtual operations centres are specialized visualization tools which bring together diverse information streams in a single, synthesized interface. The information can be made available on devices ranging from a PDA screen to a command room active white board.

The information synthesized in the interface can be a wide range of things, for example:

• communication channels with other team members;
• documents, plans and procedures -- for example evacuation procedures for buildings or the position of road works;
• information from sensors and other devices -- for example readings from heat sensors, data from fire alarms, views from CCTV cameras, etc;
• the availability of services -- e.g. the availability of beds in hospitals, the location and availability of rescue vehicles, etc.

The problem with information portals

In these advanced visualization tools unlimited information streams can be made available, but users find it difficult to cope with multiple information streams.

Especially in emergencies, the information streams are often unusual and unexpected, and responding to the emergency may require the coordination of a diverse team of rescue workers. Plans and procedures are often available to deal with emergencies, but the response coordinator needs to find time to read and react to the relevant procedures.

The solution to this problem is I-C2's Intelligent Task Support software.

Adding intelligence to information portals

I-C2's technology adds intelligence to enterprise information portals and virtual operations centers. By analysing dynamic information streams and relating new information to established plans and procedures, I-C2 software can anticipate the consequences of unfolding events and suggest different courses of action to the operator in charge.

This task support is delivered to the team by means of Intelligent Process Panels. Every entity (a user, a service or a device) has an Intelligent Process Panel associated with it. The Panel visualizes the current state of affairs of that entity, including actions it has carried out or is intending to carry out, constraints it faces, or issues it needs to resolve.

Intelligent Process Panels are fully integrated with the rest of the information portal. They provide guidance to the users about significant events in the information streams. Because plans and procedures have been stored as knowledge, the I-C2 system can reason about possible outcomes and suggest a course of action via the process panels.