WebEOC® Professional is Crisis Information Management Software (CIMS) developed over a decade ago to meet the needs of emergency management agencies (EMAs) at the federal, state, and local levels. Today, WebEOC is used by government agencies such as the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security (CDP, FEMA, ICE, TSA, and USCG), Health and Human Services, EPA, and NASA. It is also used by corporations, public utilities, universities, and more.
Although WebEOC and its product suite provide specialized tools for managing crisis information and emergency response, WebEOC can also be used to manage any and all events, agencies, organizations, and more.
WebEOC includes a default set of boards and plugins that enable any agency to begin using it almost immediately. Agencies can use any or all of the boards as-is, or they can build an unlimited number of boards and forms tailored to local requirements. Within the context of WebEOC, a board is an electronic display that allows you to transmit and share information in real-time with other WebEOC users. WebEOC boards are the equivalent of large, chronological, or topical paper-based boards that, for years, dominated every EOC and command center around the world.
Background
WebEOC was one of the first web-enabled, commercial-off-the-shelf CIMS systems developed for emergency management. As a web-based product, WebEOC ushered in the era of “virtual” EOCs, making it possible to monitor and manage an emergency response from anywhere in the world. With WebEOC, crisis information is immediately and universally available to authorized users everywhere. It can be configured based on local requirements, and it gives agencies and organizations the ability to link to a wide assortment of different systems. WebEOC can be used during the planning, mitigation, response, and recovery phases of any emergency. It can also be used by agencies and organizations during day-to-day activities to manage routine, nonemergency operations.
WebEOC’s design is based on the following tenets of emergency information management systems. CIMS should:
Be affordable.
Be user-friendly.
Be easy to maintain by existing EMA staff with access to the vendor’s technical support.
Be easy to configure and tailor to the conditions of the agency.
Allow for remote access by authorized users located outside the local area network (LAN).
Comply with the provisions for the National Incident Management System (NIMS).
Comply with the provisions for the Incident Command System (ICS).
Support users who implement both the ICS and Emergency Support Functions (ESF) structure.
Integrate with other systems, such as mapping, and other CIMS and telephonic alert notification systems.
Integrate public health into emergency management.
Operate within a variety of network configurations.
Have a wide range of features consistent with the four phases of emergency management.
Have help desk support on a 24-hour basis.
Audience
People who use WebEOC are classified as either users or administrators. Individuals who set up, configure, and customize WebEOC in accordance with an agency’s unique needs are WebEOC administrators.
Purpose
This hub provides detailed instructions and the information that you need to operate WebEOC during daily operations or in response to an emergency.
WebEOC is a tool that can be customized locally based on the unique needs of your organization. It provides levels of access that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of individual users and organizations. Therefore, all WebEOC features covered may not be available to all users. In addition, the features and tools shown may look different in your instance of WebEOC. Contact your WebEOC administrator for questions about a specific capability.
