A framework for interoperability assessment in crisis management

Abstract It is noticeable the growth of various types of concerns in large centers, whether by citizens or public officials. In that sense, an important dimension is crises management such as in cases of natural disasters. This scenario calls for a task force in an attempt to predict or solve emergencies, especially in managing and integrating public and private spheres, which in turn are centered on public authorities, service providers, citizens, volunteers and systems. In order to allow the exchange of information and joint actions of those involved entities, the fulfillment of interoperability requirements becomes a critical factor to promote improved performance of the actions taken in these situations. Based on the literature and related worldwide initiatives, the main concerns and attributes of crisis management are identified from the perspective of interoperability. Founded on this knowledge a framework that supports a Disaster Response Management System (DRMS) development cycle is proposed focusing on a diagnostic step based on a multi-criteria decision analysis techniques (MCDA) to assess potential interoperability of a public entity or locality. The proposed MCDA method facilitates the specification of integrated solutions for the public sector to meet interoperability requirements in disaster management (DM) scenarios. In this paper the assessment method was based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process technique (AHP), and applied to a company involved in the DM domain, responsible for the information technology infrastructure of a city in the south of Brazil. The findings show the main gaps of the entity under the interoperability perspective, allowing the identification of key areas for improvement of its DM capabilities coherent to the DRMS deployment process.