Public Safety & Mission Software
Simulation & Training Software
Training and exercise tools for dispatchers, responders, and emergency managers.
What this covers
Dispatchers, responders, and emergency managers train constantly. Software can make that training more realistic and less disruptive, from CAD training environments to exercise injects and after-action tools.
Typical activities
- Training environments that mirror production systems without touching live data
- Scenario and inject management tools for exercises
- After-action data capture and reporting
- Learning management integration and completion tracking
- Modeling and simulation for evacuation, staffing, and resource planning
- Support for federal work in live, virtual, and constructive training through teaming partners
What you receive
Configured training environments, exercise tools, and reporting that feeds improvement planning.
Why it matters
Training environments that behave like the real thing produce staff who are ready. Data from exercises turns lessons into plans.
When agencies usually need this
The need is normally noticed rather than planned. Common triggers:
- New dispatchers learn on a live console, so every mistake is a real one.
- Practice incidents are created in production CAD or RMS and deleted by hand before NIBRS, NFIRS, or NEMSIS extracts are submitted.
- A CAD, RMS, or 911 call handling upgrade is scheduled and there is nowhere to rehearse the new workflow before cutover.
- Exercises run from a paper scenario with injects delivered by phone and email, so timing drifts and little of what happened is captured.
- An existing training instance has not been refreshed since installation, so its response plans, unit recommendations, and geofile no longer match production.
- Continuing education hours are recorded in one system while the skills are exercised in another, and the two cannot be reconciled at audit time.
How a training instance differs from a copy of production
Copying the software is not the same as copying the configuration. A training instance is useful to the extent it carries the same response plans, unit recommendations, geofile, call types, and protocol settings as production, refreshed on a stated cadence and after major upgrades. Records inside it should be synthetic, should carry a visible test marker, and should not leave: alerting, paging, the state message switch, and reporting extracts are disabled, stubbed, or approved in writing before first use.
Recurring problems: a training instance that shares a database or an interface path with production, so a test dispatch reaches a real unit; a fixed scenario library that cannot be edited to match local geography, mutual aid partners, or actual response plans; exercises that run only when vendor staff are on site, so cadence collapses once implementation funding ends; and visual fidelity bought ahead of the decision points the exercise is meant to train.
Licensing and interfaces to confirm before scoping
Existing contracts usually decide the shape of this work. Many CAD, RMS, and call handling agreements govern whether a non-production instance is licensed at all, how many seats it carries, and how often it may be refreshed from production, so read them before writing requirements. The learning management system normally stays the system of record for course catalogs and completion, which makes the task pushing exercise results and supporting evidence into it rather than replacing it. Emergency management, GIS, and notification tools are better exercised in their real form, since an exercise that bypasses them rehearses a workflow nobody will use. The inventory of outbound paths, and the named party responsible for keeping each one closed, belongs in the design document.
Requirements worth writing into the solicitation
- Separation. A named non-production environment, an enumerated list of disabled outbound interfaces, and a test marker on every record created in it.
- Data handling. Synthetic data by default, a documented sanitization procedure if production records are ever used, and a retention and disposal rule for training and exercise records.
- Refresh. Configuration refreshed from production on a stated cadence and after major upgrades, with the responsible party named.
- Authoring rights. The agency owns its scenarios, inject libraries, and evaluation forms, can export them in a documented format, and can run a routine exercise without vendor labor.
- Accessibility. Conformance with the standard the agency is actually held to, which for most state and local agencies comes from ADA Title II and state policy rather than Section 508, including captions or transcripts for scenario audio and keyboard access to evaluator forms.
Acceptance is best structured as a proctored exercise on your own geofile and response plans that ends with a generated after-action draft. Useful measures afterward are refresh lag, exercises run without vendor support, corrective actions closed before the next cycle, and time for a new dispatcher to be released to solo work.
Working with HQT on this
HQT scopes this kind of work as a fixed-price or time-and-materials engagement with a written statement of work, named staff, and a defined acceptance process. We are candid about what we can take on and prefer a well-run project to an oversized one. Contact us to discuss a requirement, a draft scope, or an upcoming solicitation.
Frequently asked questions
Can we use a copy of our live CAD or RMS data in a training environment?
You can, but it changes the security posture of the training system. Criminal justice information stays in scope of the FBI CJIS Security Policy wherever it is stored or processed, so a training instance holding real records generally carries the same access control, auditing, and personnel screening requirements as production, and your state CJIS Systems Agency administers how that applies. Most agencies are better served by synthetic data built to match local geography, call types, and response plans, using production records only when a specific training objective requires it and a written sanitization procedure is in place.
Do we need a separate training environment, or can we train in production?
Training in production creates two recurring problems. Practice records contaminate reporting extracts and quality assurance data and have to be removed by hand, and a mistyped entry can reach a real unit or an alerting system. A separate environment that mirrors production configuration avoids both. The practical constraint is usually licensing, since some CAD, RMS, and call handling contracts limit non-production instances or price them separately.
How does this software fit with HSEEP exercises and after-action reporting?
The Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program is FEMA's common methodology for exercise program management, design, conduct, evaluation, and improvement planning, and it describes artifacts such as a master scenario events list and an after-action report with an improvement plan. Software does not replace that structure. It helps carry it out by timing injects, recording what participants did and when, and assembling evaluator notes into a draft report before people leave the room. Grant-funded exercise programs often reference HSEEP, so check the conditions attached to your funding source.
Will our CAD, RMS, or 911 call handling vendor have to be involved?
Usually yes, at least for licensing, environment provisioning, and configuration refresh, since the incumbent vendor typically controls whether a non-production instance exists and how it is built. Scenario authoring tools, integration work, and after-action reporting can often be handled by another party. Write down who owns the refresh schedule and the outbound interface inventory so neither vendor assumes the other is doing it.
Are exercise materials and after-action reports subject to public records requests?
Treat them as potentially disclosable unless your counsel advises otherwise. State public records laws often exempt certain security plans, vulnerability assessments, or critical infrastructure information, but those exemptions vary by state and are usually narrower than agencies expect. Involve your records officer and counsel early so exercise documentation is written and retained with disclosure in mind, and so sensitive details are separable from the narrative portions of an after-action report.