TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- A final report for the evaluation of the Consolidated Dispatch Agency was released Thursday at the agency's board meeting.
The report includes 38 recommendations on ways to enhance the current system that dispatches police, fire, sheriff and emergency medical services, said the city.
Information from the City of Tallahassee
The City of Tallahassee, Leon County Government and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office hired Gartner Consulting earlier this year to provide an assessment of the new CAD System as a result of increasing concerns about the system’s stability, performance and functionality.
The report provided risk ratings in six areas: Performance, Vendor Maintenance / Management, Scope Management Requirements, Governance and Testing. The greatest area of concern was in the area of performance, where the report noted that the CAD System had a history of instability during the first 12 months of operation. However, it noted that since January 2015, there have only been two full system outages for 16 minutes attributable to Motorola.
The report references a lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities and agreed upon standards, making it difficult to accurately assess the nature and severity of the current system. It also states that the process used to implement the CAD System was not adequate for a project of this size and complexity, which resulted in misaligned expectations of how the system would be delivered, tested and accepted. Additional testing was needed prior to going live with the system to better help identify functional gaps and system errors. The report noted that the CDA Board, made up of the City Manager, County Administrator and Sheriff, provides a consistent structure for direction and decision making and notes opportunities for stakeholder input and regular communications.
“The board and the public have just received this report today. We take all of the recommendations seriously and fortunately are already implementing a number of steps to address them,” said CDA Director Timothy Lee. “The Board and our community knew that they were tackling a major challenge to bring together these services into one agency and the report highlights changes we can make now to build upon those efforts. It provides a solid path to continue to improve our services to this community and to demonstrate that this new system can continue to save lives in our community.”
The executive summary and the full Gartner report are available to the public on the Consolidated Dispatch Agency’s website at www.TLCCDA.org.
