- Created by Carl Brown, last modified by Jessica Fleming [X] on Dec 12, 2022
This glossary describes words and acronyms used frequently in eICS and eICS help documentation. Words are defined in general and then, where appropriate, described in relation to eICS.
A
Activate
Incidents and ICS positions can be activated. Incidents are activated when they are noticed, and this means the incident is in the response phase. ICS positions are activated to add them to an incident response guide (IRG), or if the position was previously deactivated and will now be assigned.
Administrator
eICS users are assigned roles, which include the Domain Administrator and Facility Administrator roles. User roles have different permissions, and users with administrator roles are charged with certain responsibilities in the incident command system (ICS). Domain Administrators are responsible for establishing and managing the facilities, library, and contacts in their domain, while Facility Administrators establish and manage the library and contacts for their facility.
Assign
During an incident, contacts are assigned to positions in the ICS Chart. The assigned contact is then the active contact for that position, and contacts that were assigned previously are removed.
Availability request
During an incident, contacts associated with an active IRG receive a notice about the incident and a request to respond with their availability to fulfill the obligations of a certain role for that incident.
C
Candidate
Contacts who are either members of the depth chart for active positions when the incident was created or who were manually selected (enlisted) after incident creation. Includes contacts added to the Labor Pool during planning (General Staffing). It does not include contacts specified in the Other Contacts to Notify area.
Contact
Individual in a facility or domain who has or may have some type of role in an incident or during planning for and recovering from an incident. Related term: external contact
Contacts to notify
Individuals who are not directly involved with incidents, but need to be notified when one occurs. By default, these individuals are not included in your list of candidates, but can be enlisted to assist during an incident.
D
Deactivate
Used in a couple of contexts within eICS. Authorized users can deactivate a contact so that the individual cannot be assigned to ICS position or deployed to an incident. The deactivated contact does not have access to eICS. In addition, an ICS position can be deactivated when it is not needed for a particular incident.
Depth chart
A facility's list of potential contacts who are or may be able to fill each specific ICS position in the chart.
Domain
Entity that purchases eICS for use at one or more facilities. A domain might be a group of facilities such as a health system, an individual facility, or a georgraphic area.
E
Enlist
Contacts included in your Other Contacts to Notify list are not automatically included in your list of candidates when an incident occurs. Enlisting is calling upon these individuals to respond to the incident; the system automatically sends the Request Availability notification to the individual and places them on the candidate list.
EOP
Emergency Operations Plan
Escalate
Feature that allows you to extend an active incident to accommodate an expanded event or situation. Example: A fire on your campus triggers evacuation of a building.
External contact
Individual associated with a facility who may need to be notified of incidents without being a user of eICS.
Examples: vendor providing goods and/or services; county emergency management coordinator
F
Facility
Entity representing an individual organized unit, such as a hospital, nursing home, agency, business, educational entity, or other type of organization.
G
General notification
Contacts who are automatically notified of an incident, but who are not requested to respond with their availability for the incident (Other Contacts to Notify).
General staffing
Contacts who are contacted during an incident with a request for their availability, but who are not targeted for a specific ICS position (Labor Pool).
H
Health system
Entity representing a group of affiliated facilities; also referred to as a facility group.
I
Incident
"(A)n occurrence, natural or manmade, that requires a response to protect life or property." (FEMA, NIMS Resource Center, http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nims/Glossary.shtm)
Incident commander
Individual responsible for all activities associated with the incident, including the development of strategies and tactics, as well as the ordering and release of resources. The commander has overall authority and responsibility for conducting incident operations within Command Center. This ICS position must be active for all incidents.
Incident response guide
Set of tools built into eICS to address types of emergencies and hazards; this template allows the incident command team to name and describe the threat and plan an effective response through using the objectives established for this type of incident and the documents assigned to specific ICS positions. Also referred to as an IRG.
L
Labor pool
Individuals who are not directly involved with patient care and are not associated with a predefined ICS position, such as facility employees in Human Resources, administration, and food services. During an incident, your Command Staff may need to call on these individuals to address immediate nonmedical needs, such as transporting clients. These individuals are included in your list of candidates to be assigned to ICS positions.
Library
Organized set of directories (hierarchical) where a facility or domain stores and shares documentation.
R
Response tracker
Feature that tracks the status and assignment of contacts in the candidate list for positions within the ICS chart. This information is made available in the ICS Chart tab of the incident's dashboard.
Role
Grouping of rights and permission that allows administrators, users, and external contacts varying levels of access to eICS and its features.
S
Staff
Individual within an organization who is associated with emergency management planning, response, and/or recovery; this individual is a user of eICS.
U
Unassign
Remove a contact from an ICS position; the ICS position remains active for this incident.
User
Individual who has access to eICS. Related term: contact