Crisis Management

William L. Scherlis
scherlis@cs.cmu.edu

Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science

27 September 1999

Crisis Management
An Application Case Study
What is Crisis Management
Crisis Management technologies Crisis Management challenges for software technology research 1. Software Swat 2. Composition on demand 3. Managing rapid change 4. Code-ification 5. Quality: analysis, assurance, validation 6. Human interface

27 September 1999

NSF Software Workshop

Dimensions of Crisis Management (CM)

Context Dimensions
Distinct phases of activity
Planning Preparedness/Mitigation Response Recovery FEMA State, Local NGOs Business Citizens Data inputs Databases Reports and documents Applications Communications channels

Dimensions of Challenge
Interdependent organizations
Federal/state/local, NGOs, utilities, private sector supplies, etc. Thousands of organizations potentially involved Wide variation in access to IT resources

Broad spectrum of players

Organizational structure varies by phase

C2 during response Situation awareness Decision support Federation during planning Interoperation and metadata Transactional during recovery

Diversity of artifacts

People under stress

Human-systems interaction

27 September 1999

NSF Software Workshop

CM Technologies
Examples
Reliable communications Information integration
Multi-source data analysis Variable quality Geographical info

E-Commerce
Supply chain creation
Inventory management Forward deployment Business transactions Pre-certification

Modeling and simulation Instant bureaucracy Situation awareness Collaboration

Citizen single point-of-access

Information Transactions

Authentication and trust

Citizens, responders, suppliers, organizations Reconfigurable authorization

Information escrow

27 September 1999

NSF Software Workshop

1. Software Swat Teams

Key Software Research Issues
Elements of a Software Swat capability
Rapid assembly of reliable teams, components, and tools The aggressive iterative process:
Requirements elicitation and analysis Baseline technologies modeling Contextual system design Patterns of integration Adaptation and assembly Analysis, testing, and assurance

Early deployment Continuous improvement and re-release

No new bugs Rapid response to unanticipated needs

Rest on principles of predictability of evolvable processes Predictable outcomes Adjustment of features, quality, performance

27 September 1999

NSF Software Workshop

2. Composition on demand
Key Software Research Issues
Composition: rapid system assembly and adaptation
Rapid integration of subsystems/components Overcome diverse kinds of incompatibilities with Software Architecture Use component attributes to enable predictable integration Seek compositionality: Predict properties of systems from properties of components.
Without compositionality, the entire system must be retested Analyze/assure component properties just once.

Rapid information integration Reconcile/adapt similar data models Program understanding to capture/express data design Provide information assurance despite rapid assembly Emply diverse techniques to adapt components for safe use
Sandbox, wrap, transform, etc.

27 September 1999

NSF Software Workshop

3. Managing Rapid Change

Key Software Research Issues
Composition: rapid system assembly and adaptation
Enable geographically dispersed teams to collaborate Example: Oklahoma City rapid software integration Information sharing (and access control) Information awareness Coordination of effort (i.e., concurrency control) Rapid adaptation of components and assemblies With predictable results:
Use analyses to predict the effects of change Use specifications to avoid full re-analysis and testing Use manipulations to facilitate functional change

Continuous improvement Rapid early deployment Iterate and update while in use (Also important for operational e-commerce sites) Improvements in components, integration, user interface, etc.
Assimilate new releases from component suppliers
27 September 1999 NSF Software Workshop 7

4. Quality: Analysis, Assurance, Validation

Key Software Research Issues
Quality: Getting the important things right
Managing security-vs-responsiveness Now: High security usually means highly constrained functionality Validation of integration Metadata about quality, sourcing, etc. Trace conclusions/results to sources and retain audit trail Compositionality The good-enough test
Units, Order-of -magnitude, Reasonableness

Models and simulations Develop explicit domain models to frame specifications and assurance Exploit code-ified domain models Crisis management exercises The usual mode of operation for crisis responders Include the IT dimension Augmented reality Modeling Reality
27 September 1999 NSF Software Workshop 8

5. Creating the Discipline

Key Software Research Issues
Code-ification of new domains
Capture using domain-specific language and domain-specific tools Example domains FEMA business rules Information policy: privacy, access Response processes Situation awareness Analysis Consequences of access changes Business rule interactions

27 September 1999

NSF Software Workshop

6. Crisis Management User Interfaces

Key Software Research Issues
Human interface
Rapid creation of new human interfaces Responders Citizens Business Collaboration CM teams
Software engineering teams

Communities Citizens Under stress Diverse information and transaction needs Responders Under stress Diverse information and transaction needs

27 September 1999

NSF Software Workshop

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Crisis Management
An Application Case Study
What is Crisis Management
Crisis Management technologies Crisis Management challenges for software technology research 1. Software Swat 2. Composition on demand 3. Managing rapid change 4. Code-ification 5. Quality: Analysis, assurance, validation 6. Human interface Success in Crisis Management depends increasingly on a solid foundation of software technologies
27 September 1999 NSF Software Workshop 11