This chapter describes the various roles for Cisco Emergency Responder (Emergency Responder) users. The topics describe not only the use of the software, but help you understand the larger policy and procedure decisions your organization must make to determine how Emergency Responder fits into your organization's emergency response needs.
You probably already have emergency response policies and procedures in place. Consider how Cisco Emergency Responder (Emergency Responder) fits into these policies and procedures, and work with your emergency response teams (onsite alert or security personnel) to update these procedures if necessary.
Consider training these personnel on these aspects of Emergency Responder:
How to use the Emergency Responder web interface. See the Emergency Responder user web interface online help for information about these topics. The online help includes a user's guide in PDF format that you can print out and distribute to your users. The information in the user's guide is the same as the information in the online help. Train users on these areas:
How to log into the user web interface.
How alerts show up on the screen and how to view specific (if set by the administrator) or all alerts in the system.
How to obtain more information about the location of the call. Summary information includes the actual extension of the caller; the ELIN, which is the phone number the PSAP gets as the number of the emergency caller; the phone location associated with the switch port; and the location field of the ALI. Users can also view the entire ALI.
How to acknowledge the call and add comments to it. Consider developing rules for these procedures to ensure consistent behavior from your emergency response teams.
How to look up emergency calls in the emergency call history.
A web alert appears for everyone logged into the Emergency Responder user web interface.
All personnel assigned to an ERL receive a telephone call when an emergency call is made from the ERL. The telephone call includes information about the extension of the caller.
If you configure email addresses for the personnel, they also receive an email, which includes more information than the phone call, including ERL name and phone location. If the email address is for an email-based pager, they are paged. Paging is the most efficient way of getting information to users who are not at their desks.
If the standby Cisco Emergency Responder server handles an emergency call, all onsite alert personnel get notified of the call, and of the fact that the standby server handled the call. Decide how you want people to respond to these notifications.
Explain the ERL naming and phone location you are using. This is the primary information the personnel have for identifying the location of the emergency caller.
Explain the organization's policy for responding to emergency calls. Work with the emergency response teams to develop an acceptable policy if you do not already have one.
The following table lists the recurring tasks for which an ERL administrator is responsible. A system administrator can also perform these tasks.
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Recurring Task |
Description |
More Information |
|---|---|---|
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Assign ERLs to new or changed switch ports |
If switches are added to the network, or if modules with additional ports are added to existing switches, assign the new ports ERLs. |
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Create ERLs as required |
As your business expands, create new ERLs as required. Work with the telephony administrators to obtain ELINs for the ERLs, and with the network administrator to get the new switches defined in Emergency Responder. |
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Export ALI data and submit to your service provider |
If you make changes to ALI data, add or remove ERLs, or change the ELINs assigned to an ERL (for example, by adding or removing them), export the ALI and resubmit it to your service provider. |
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Audit the manually defined phones |
Regularly check your manual phone definitions to ensure each phone is still assigned to the correct ERL. Work with the telephony administrator to get notification of any adds, moves, or changes that involve these phones. Add phones as required. |
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Audit the unlocated phones list |
Regularly audit the unlocated phones list, and work with the network administrator to determine why Cisco Emergency Responder cannot locate the phones and to resolve the problems. |
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Add new onsite personnel or remove old ones; update phone numbers |
As onsite alert personnel are added, define them in Cisco Emergency Responder and assign them to the appropriate ERLs. Likewise, as personnel are removed, remove them from their ERLs and then from Cisco Emergency Responder. Update phone numbers, email address, and other contact information as they change. |
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Add IP subnet for the IP subnets to be tracked |
If there is a new IP subnet that needs to be discovered by Emergency Responder, then perform the following tasks:
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The following table lists the recurring tasks for which a network administrator is responsible. A system administrator can also perform these tasks.
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Recurring Task |
Description |
More Information |
|---|---|---|
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Add new switches |
Add any switches that you add to the network to the Cisco Emergency Responder configuration. A switch is considered new if it has an IP address not defined in Cisco Emergency Responder. |
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Remove old switches |
Remove switches from the Cisco Emergency Responder configuration if you remove them from the network. Nonexistent switches in the Cisco Emergency Responder configuration do not create problems, but they do increase the time required to do phone tracking, because Cisco Emergency Responder attempts to connect to the switch must time out before moving on to the next switch. |
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Update the SNMP read community if it changes |
If you change the read community string on any defined switch, you must update the SNMP settings in Cisco Emergency Responder. Until the setting is updated, Cisco Emergency Responder cannot track phones attached to the switch. |
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Update or remove Unified CM servers |
If a Unified CM cluster is added to the network, or one is removed, update the configuration for the Cisco Emergency Responder group that supports the cluster. Although you have the authority to make these updates, your organization might assign the primary responsibility to the Cisco Emergency Responder system administrator. |
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Check ERL assignments |
Use the ERL Debug Tool to check that the correct and expected ERL is used for a selected phone. |
The following table lists the recurring tasks for which a system administrator is responsible. A system administrator might also be responsible for some or all of the ERL and network administrators' tasks, as explained in the Emergency Responder ERL Administrator Role and the Emergency Responder Network Administrator Role.
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Recurring Task |
Description |
More Information |
|---|---|---|
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Add additional Cisco Emergency Responder groups |
As telephones are added to the network, you might need additional Cisco Emergency Responder groups. Install and define them and their telephony settings. Work with the telephony administrator to complete the required Unified CM configuration. |
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Monitor the system and troubleshoot any problems |
Help resolve any problems that arise. Work with the network and ERL administrators, and the telephony administrator, as appropriate. |
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Create new Cisco Emergency Responder users; remove old users |
As onsite alert personnel change, or as Cisco Emergency Responder system, network, and ERL administrators change, add or remove them as required. |
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Add or remove Unified CM servers |
If a Unified CM cluster is added to the network, or one is removed, update the configuration for the Cisco Emergency Responder group that supports the cluster. Although you have the authority to make these updates, your organization might assign the primary responsibility to the Cisco Emergency Responder network administrator. |
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Monitor the email alerts that Cisco Emergency Responder generates |
If your email ID is configured in the server group settings, Cisco Emergency Responder sends email alerts about critical errors to you. You are expected to understand the error and take action to correct the problem. See Troubleshoot Email Alerts for information to help you understand the email alerts and resolve problems. |
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