9  June 2017

AVL Bulletin

Here’s the latest news about the Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) Project from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES).  If you’ve received this bulletin from a third party and would like to be on our mailing list please drop us a line at  avlfeedback@dfes.wa.gov.au   

Contents

AVL facts and figures

AVL roadshows

AVL local user champions

Portable unit update

Monthly testing

AVL installations 

AVL system integration

AVL facts and figures

1,020 in-vehicle installations.

300 portable units deployed.

739
access requests processed with the number of AVL users growing daily.

We’ve delivered 126 presentations, consultations and awareness training sessions.  

We have 18 AVL Local User Champions throughout W.A.

We’ve had 12,818 site visits to the AVL Portal.  The top 4 pages by number of visits are the AVL Homepage, Rollout Schedule, Training and Access Requests.

AVL roadshows

Our commitment to stakeholder engagement remains one of our highest priorities.  To date we’ve delivered 126 presentations, consultations and awareness training sessions with a further 12 planned between now and July 2017.

During May we took the AVL Roadshow to the following regions:

• Midwest-Gascoyne with
  a show in Geraldton;
• Kimberley with shows in Kununurra and Broome; and
• Pilbara with shows in Port Hedland, Karratha and Exmouth.   

A big thank you to everyone who helped make this happen.  We had impressive turnouts generating lots of feedback, interesting questions and we also picked up some great new recruits for the AVL local user champion group.

AVL local user champion (LUC) group

The AVL LUC’s get together once a month (in person or tele-conference) to catch up on the latest news, ask the team questions, provide advice, raise any issues and share AVL success stories.

If you can spare 90 minutes per month, have an interest in AVL and would like to represent your region/area please email your interest to
avlfeedback@dfes.wa.gov.au.

We have 18 AVL LUC’s spread throughout Western Australia with a good mix of DFES staff and emergency service volunteers.  

Look out for next months update that will include a feature on the AVL LUC’s.

Portable unit update

• All portable AVL units with short antennae leads and frozen units have now been resolved.

• The new alligator clips with enhanced safety features have all been delivered.  

• 100 portable units (with new alligator clips) were deployed to USAR, Kimberley Region, Pilbara Region and Midwest-Goldfields Region. 

• There are additional portable units available.  If you require more please let
  your Regional Superintendent know.  Email requests (with RS approval) to avlfeedback@dfes.wa.gov.au

Monthly testing

As advised by Operational Circular 41/2017, AVL equipped operational vehicles and portable AVL units are required to be tested monthly.  This will ensure the AVL equipment is maintained and will function as intended during operations.  Regular testing will: 

• Confirm that the AVL equipment is functioning correctly;
• Confirm that the connection to the AVL server is functioning correctly;
• Provide an opportunity for updates to be received; and
• Proactively identify faults.

Documentation and training resources to support the test process are available via the AVL Portal.  The AVL Support Specialist will provide monthly reporting and support services to Local Governments and Regional Superintendents.

AVL installations

DFES Managers are encouraged to view the vehicle lists and the detailed schedules that are being loaded on the AVL Portal as they become available.  

Please notify Michelle Marchese on 9395 9553 if there are any discrepancies or issues.    

AVL system integration

Progress has been made on the complex task of integrating the AVL system with other DFES systems.  The business requirements and high level design are complete and the project team are now working on the more detailed design. 

The objective is to provide vehicle locations that can be displayed in other systems such as FESMAPS and WEBEOC as well as exchanging data with Parks & Wildlife. 

The plan is to release integration components progressively over the next months.  A detailed
schedule will be posted on the AVL Portal as soon as it has gone through internal approval. This should be in the next 2 to 3 weeks.