Information systems management (ISM): Repertoires of collaboration for community warning (CW) and emergency incident response (EIR)

Due to the nature of disasters as emergent scenarios involving diverse stakeholders, it is suggested that ESA should consider supplementing their traditional command and control ISM responses with varying repertoires of collaborative action. Collaborative management and integration of information and processes around the organizations, people, systems and ICT infrastructure that support CW & EIR represents a paradigmatic shift in our thinking. This paper firstly defines the areas of focus for ISM in CW & EIR and then examines data collected by the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission to highlight ISM issues and problems in this scenario that impacted effective collaborative action. This analysis is summarized to focus on lessons learned and make preliminary recommendations in the development of a set of high-level scenario dependent, information and process management improvement guidelines. These recommendations are expressed through the combination of “command and control” structures with suggested “repertoires of collaboration” as well as ISM structural and management improvements and metrics.