Contacts are the internal and external people, facilities, and organizations that participate in, might be affected by, or need to be notified about an incident.

Internal contacts are assigned one or more roles for each domain or facility with which they are associated. External contacts have limited access to facility information, and, in most cases, have been added mainly to ensure they receive notifications.

In general, internal contacts are individuals with some type of role in incident planning, management, or recovery. A contact can be assigned any level of access to eICS structures, features, and tasks, depending on their user role. For example, administrators have access to eICS and are responsible for managing some aspect of incident command or the eICS system.

Accessed through Planning, the Contacts page lists contacts on the left in alphabetical order by default. Clicking a contact name reveals details about that person on the right. Details include general information about the contact's account, as well as positions, facilities, and notes.

Access

Contacts with an eICS username, login email , and password can access the system. Basic system rights allow these individuals to manage their own profile and access an incident's dashboard when appropriate. Contacts with administrator rights can create contact accounts, enter contact information, and share that information with other users in the domain or health system. In general, administrators have more access to eICS features than facility staff. 

A contact can be associated with zero-to-multiple facilities. If the contact is associated with a facility, that user is automatically associated with that facility's domain. Each contact must be assigned exactly one role for each domain or facility with which they are associated.

You can deactivate the contact's access to eICS without changing their association with the domain or facilities. The contact is treated as an external contact and continues to receive notifications when appropriate. You cannot deactivate a contact who is currently assigned to an active ICS position. You must first remove the assignment.