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pdfNIMSCAST Technical Users Guide
Version 1.0
April 2007
Questions, comments and suggested improvements related to this document are encouraged.
Inquiries and information should be submitted to:
Federal Emergency Management Agency
500 C Street, SW
Washington DC 20472
[email protected]
www.fema.gov/emergency/nims
202.646.3850
NIMSCAST TECHNICAL USERS GUIDE (version 1.0)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. NIMSCAST Overview ............................................................................................................................................ 3
What is the NIMSCAST?....................................................................................................................................... 3
II. Accessing the NIMSCAST Tool.......................................................................................................................... 4
Logging In for First Time ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Choosing a Strong Password................................................................................................................................ 5
Forgotten/Lost Password ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Updating User Information .................................................................................................................................... 7
III. NIMSCAST Accounts ......................................................................................................................................... 8
Accounts................................................................................................................................................................ 8
State/Territory Authorized Account Access (Official) ............................................................................................ 8
Public Account Access .......................................................................................................................................... 8
Account Hierarchy ................................................................................................................................................. 9
Account Types....................................................................................................................................................... 9
Account Information .............................................................................................................................................. 9
Creating Sub-Accounts ....................................................................................................................................... 10
Relocating Accounts in your Hierarchy ............................................................................................................... 13
Selecting an Account........................................................................................................................................... 16
IV. User Permissions ............................................................................................................................................. 16
What is a NIMSCAST User? ............................................................................................................................... 17
User Permissions ................................................................................................................................................ 18
Creating User Permissions.................................................................................................................................. 18
Edit User Permissions ......................................................................................................................................... 19
Remove User Permissions.................................................................................................................................. 20
V. Search for Accounts and Users....................................................................................................................... 21
Searching for Accounts ....................................................................................................................................... 21
Searching for Users............................................................................................................................................. 22
VI. Email Users....................................................................................................................................................... 23
Communicating with Users.................................................................................................................................. 24
VII. Assessment Modules ..................................................................................................................................... 26
Selecting an Assessment Module ....................................................................................................................... 26
FYs 2005-2006 NIMS Baseline Assessment ...................................................................................................... 27
FY 2007 NIMS Compliance Metrics .................................................................................................................... 31
Corrective Action Plans ....................................................................................................................................... 34
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VIII: NIMSCAST Reports and Rollup .................................................................................................................... 35
Reporting and Rollup........................................................................................................................................... 35
Managing Assessment Versions......................................................................................................................... 35
Reports ................................................................................................................................................................ 37
FY2007 NIMS Compliance Metrics Reports ................................................................................................... 37
FY2005 - FY2006 NIMS Assessment Reports ............................................................................................... 38
Submitting Account Responses to Parent Account ............................................................................................ 38
Rollup Reports..................................................................................................................................................... 40
IX. Account Migration............................................................................................................................................ 42
What is Account Migration?................................................................................................................................. 42
X. Submitting Feedback........................................................................................................................................ 43
XI. Logging Out ...................................................................................................................................................... 44
Appendix A............................................................................................................................................................. 45
Sample Account Structures................................................................................................................................. 45
Appendix B............................................................................................................................................................. 46
User Permission Privileges ................................................................................................................................. 46
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I: NIMSCAST OVERVIEW
What is the NIMSCAST?
The NIMS Compliance Assistance Support Tool (NIMSCAST) is designed as a free, web-based self-assessment
tool for State, territorial, tribal, and local governments to evaluate and report their jurisdiction’s achievement of all
NIMS implementation activities released since fiscal year (FY) 2005 by the NIMS Integration Center. In addition,
the NIMSCAST will provide a method for States, territories, tribal, and local jurisdictions to document their
Corrective Action Plans for Tier 1 metrics which a jurisdiction is not compliant. The NIMS Capability Assessment
Support Tool (NIMCAST) was released in January 2005. With the release of FY2007 NIMS Implementation
Activities and Compliance Metrics, the NIMCAST name has been modified to better reflect the overall use of the
tool.
The NIMSCAST is designed for jurisdictions to complete a comprehensive self-assessment based on FY2007
Compliance Metrics.
By using the NIMSCAST, jurisdictions will be able to assess their compliance and
implementation with NIMS requirements and identify successes and shortfalls. At the end of FY2007, the NIMS
Integration Center will have the ability to assess NIMS implementation at the National, FEMA region, State,
territory, tribal, and local jurisdictions. This information will allow the NIMS Integration Center to provide
information to Congress, identify best practices, and shortfalls so that appropriate technical assistance can be
provided.
Additionally, Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-5 requires Federal Departments and agencies to
make adoption of the NIMS by State and local organizations a condition for Federal preparedness assistance.
The NIMSCAST facilitates the adoption of the NIMS by State, territory, tribal, and local governments in order to
meet the requirement established in HSPD-5. Completed assessments will allow Federal Departments and
agencies to review awardees reports prior to monitoring for assistance programs and target best practices and
short falls for future award years.
The NIMSCAST Technical Users Guide will not only identify enhancements to the NIMCAST but provide specific
steps in how to best use the system. The table of contents is linked to major and sub-parts of various features in
the NIMSCAST. When viewing this document on your computer, place your mouse cursor over an item in the
table of contents and left click your mouse. This will allow you to jump to a specific topic area.
Please send any comments regarding this document or the NIMSCAST tool to [email protected] .
Emails may also be sent, by clicking on “Questions/Comments” located on the upper, right side of the screen
within the NIMSCAST.
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II: ACCESSING THE NIMSCAST TOOL
In this section you will learn how to:
¾
¾
¾
¾
Log into the NIMSCAST
Choose a Strong Password
Obtain a Lost/Forgotten Password
Change a Password
The NIMSCAST is a web-based application and can be located at www.fema.gov/nimscast. A user can access
the NIMSCAST by one of two ways—official invite or self-registration. If you are invited to the site, then another
user has registered your information within the NIMSCAST and given you access to a particular account that is
located with in an account hierarchy. If you self-register, then a user can create an account that will not be
located within an account hierarchy, but still allow for an account to be created. The types of account access are
referred to as State/Territory Authorized Account Access and Public Account Access. Please see the NIMSCAST
Accounts section on page 8 for further information.
Logging In for First Time
Once you’ve been registered or self-registered as a first-time NIMSCAST user an email will be sent that contains
a temporary password link to the email address that was used in the New User registration, see sample email
below:
1st Link
2nd Link
F i g u r e 1 : N I M S C AS T T e m p o r a r y P a s sw o r d
< 24 Hours
If it is less then 24 hours from the time that the email was sent, the user can click on the first link (see
Figure 1) provided to access the tool and establish a permanent password. The link will take a user into
their account where they will create a strong password and enter it twice.
> 24 Hours
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If it has been more then 24 hours since the email was sent, the temporary password has expired. If
your temporary password has expired, click on the second link (see Figure 1) in the email to reset or
renew your temporary password. Another email will be sent to the user with a password link.
Choosing a Strong Password
Once a user clicks on the first link in the password email, they will be taken into their account to create a new
password. When choosing a password, create a password that contains a minimum of eight (8) characters to
include each one of the following:
1 Lower case character (a-z)
1 Upper case character (A-Z)
1 Special character (!@#$%^,etc...)
1 digit (0-9)
Example: “Football#66” or “terUim%11” etc…
Select the “Change Password” button to accept the new password.
Forgotten/Lost Password
If you have forgotten or lost your current password, you can select the Reset Password link located on the login
screen, as displayed in Figure 2 below.
F i g u r e 2 : P a s sw o r d R e s e t S c r e e n
After you enter your email address, a new temporary password will be emailed to you. Your current password will
no longer be valid.
If it is less then 24 hours from the time that the email was sent, you can use the first link (see Figure 1) provided
to access the tool and reset your password. The link will take a user into their account where they will create a
strong password and enter it twice.
If it has been more then 24 hours since the email was sent, your temporary password has expired. Click on the
second link (see Figure 1) in the email to reset or renew your temporary password.
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Changing Your Password
If you need to change your password you can either generate a new temporary password as described previously
or you can use the “Change Password” screen to enter a new password. You will need to provide both your old
password as well as your new password to complete the change. Strong password requirements are enforced for
the new password you select.
Instructions to Change a Password
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
From the Log In Screen click on “Change Password”
Enter email address
Enter current password
Enter new password twice
Click “Change Password”
F i g u r e 3 : P a s sw o r d C h a n g e
& Key Points to Remember
Ö The emailed link for resetting a password is only good for 24 hours.
Ö If it has been more then 24 hours since requesting a password, you must reset your
password again.
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Updating User Information
The NIMSCAST stores basic contact information that was provided during the registration process or supplied by
an administrator who invited you to access the NIMSCAST. You can update this information through the “Edit
User Info” link on the left navigation menu, pictured in Figure 4 below:
Figure 4: Editing User Information
This screen (Figure 4) provides with the user with the ability to modify the information about their user account.
The email address that you use to login with can be changed in the email section of the “Edit User Info” link
located in the Navigation menu. Once an email address is modified, it will become the user’s new login
(password will not change).
The user has the ability to tailor which system generated email messages you wish to receive. To opt-out of a
particular message, uncheck the box next to the description of the email message. As additional system
messages are added to the system, the messages available to opt-out of will be updated.
Instructions to Updating User Information:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Click on “Edit User Info” located in the Navigation menu
Chose the field(s) to be edited
Enter correct information
Click the box to the left as to whether or not you would like to be notified when there is a change to your
permission privileges.
5. Click “Save” to keep changes
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III: NIMSCAST ACCOUNTS
In this section you will learn how to:
¾
¾
¾
¾
¾
¾
¾
Distinguish between Account Types
Create an account
Move an Account
Remove Data from an Account
Edit an Account
Delete an Account
Switching between Accounts
Accounts
The NIMSCAST has two locations that accounts can reside in, State/Territory Authorized Accounts (Official) or
Public Accounts. In the Official account structure, accounts hold assessment information for individual States,
tribes, local jurisdictions and/or organizations. An account can represent an assessment by one or multiple
jurisdictions and/or agencies that create a method to report on NIMS compliance for a particular year and report
(rollup) that information up to a main account. For an Official account, it is organized into a hierarchy structure as
part of a State or territory. The hierarchy structure is to be determined by the State/territory NIMS Coordinator or
designee. For guidance on account hierarchy structure setup, please refer to Appendix A.
A Public Account is an account created outside the official account structure. Although the user can create an
account to answer assessment questions, the account it not directly linked in an account hierarchy. The
assessment information can not be submitted for Rollup either unless it is migrated to the Official side. For further
information on Rollup please see page 38. For further information on Migration please refer to page 42
State/Territory Authorized Account Access (Official)
The preferred method to gain access to the NIMSCAST tool is to be nominated by another user of the
NIMSCAST. The NIMSCAST maintains an account hierarchy that reflects the hierarchical organization by FEMA
region, State, territory, tribal, and local jurisdictions and their supporting organizations. Official account access is
located within the FEMA region hierarchy and completed assessment information is linked to accounts above and
below it. For example, an account for Loudoun County Fire and Rescue in Virginia would look like:
“USA > Region 3 > Virginia > Loudoun County > Fire and Rescue”
indicating it is directly linked to Loudoun County in the state of Virginia, located in FEMA Region 3. To determine
if your account is located in the State/territory Authorized Account Access, look to the upper, right of the
Navigation menu, where the user will see “Switch Account” with “USA” and the account string to follow, indicating
the account location. The account name in bold at the end of the string is the account that the user is currently in.
All tribal accounts have been moved directly under the appropriate FEMA region and are not linked to a State. If
a tribe would like to be moved under a State account hierarchy, please notify your FEMA Region NIMS
Coordinator.
Their
contact
information
can
be
found
at:
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nims/regional_nims_coor_roster.pdf .
All local accounts with State/territory access, will be submitting their final assessment within their State or territory
account hierarchy.
Public Account Access
If access to the State/territory official account hierarchy is not available, a user has the ability to create their own
account outside the official account hierarchy. These accounts cannot directly participate in submitting their
response to the State/territory. Instead a user can use the tool to self-assess their NIMS compliance and
implementation progress. If the same user is later granted access to an account inside the state hierarchy, the
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user will have the ability to initiate a migrate action to transfer the responses into the state hierarchy of accounts.
If your current account is on the Public side, you will see an account path, located to the upper, right of the
Navigation menu, that looks similar to this:
[Switch Account] Public > Virginia > Loudoun
If you are a local jurisdiction and would like to use the NIMSCAST to complete an assessment, it is recommended
that you contact your State/territory NIMS coordinator to obtain access to an official account.
All State/territory NIMS Coordinators or designee are granted permission to view Public accounts for their
State/territory.
Account Hierarchy
In the NIMSCAST, an account represents a States, tribes, local jurisdictions or organizations assessment.
Accounts on the Official side are set-up in an organized hierarchy created by each State or territory. At the
National level within the NIMSCAST, every State and territory is organized under their respective FEMA region. It
is the responsibility of the State or territory to establish an account hierarchy that best demonstrates their
reporting needs.
In the original NIMCAST, accounts were referred to as child or grandchild. This reference changed depending on
where in the hierarchy an account was located. A local account could be referred to as a parent, child, or
grandchild depending on the account that is being referenced. With the release of the NIMSCAST, the reference
to parent, child, and grandchild is being removed with the new references to be the Main Account and SubAccounts. When referring to a sub-account, the term “levels” should be used.
Account Types
Within the State/territory authorized account access, the FY2007 metrics are represented by three different types
of accounts: State/territory NIMS Coordinator, State/territory agencies and departments, and tribal/local
jurisdictions. The State/territory NIMS Coordinator account represents how NIMS is implemented from the
State/territory NIMS coordinator or coordinating agency through the state/territory as a whole. The State/territory
agencies and departments account represents those agencies and departments that do not have the
responsibility to implement NIMS throughout the States/territory, but implement NIMS within their own
agency/department. The tribal, local, or other account represents intrastate regions, tribal entities, county, parish,
municipality, independent city, fire district, town, township, city, unincorporated town or village, local public
authority, school district, response agency, non-governmental agency, and private sector, which implements the
NIMS.
& Key Points to Remember:
Account Types
Ö
Ö
Ö
Ö
State/Territory NIMS Coordinators
State/Territory Departments and Agencies
Tribal/Local Jurisdictions
Other
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Account Information
Accounts also store specific information about the account. The additional data fields that are collected are:
•
•
•
•
Account Name - A required field capturing a short text description of the jurisdiction.
Description - An optional field to provide additional description of the account.
Jurisdiction Type - A selection of available jurisdiction types, such as State/territory, State/territory
department or agency, local, or tribal, which will determine which version of the metrics survey will be
used.
State – For the State/territory NIMS coordinator or coordinating agency. This account will reflect
how NISM is being implemented at the State/territory level.
State Agency – For the State/territory agency that is not responsible for State/territory wide
NIMS compliance and implementation.
Tribe - For tribal jurisdiction types only, select the tribe that best describes the jurisdictions.
Local - For local jurisdiction types only, select the county that best describes the jurisdictions
location.
Other - For agencies or departments that are not part of State, territory, tribal or local
government.
Disciplines - A required categorization of the response disciplines that are represented in the account
when completing the assessment
Creating Sub-Accounts
When the NIMSCAST was released in January 2005, States
and territories accounts were pre-populated with tribal,
county and independent city accounts. Since that time,
States and territories have made requests to re-structure
their account hierarchy. Please refer to “Moving Accounts”
or “Deleting Accounts” if you have no additional accounts to
add. Please refer to Appendix A for account structure
recommendations.
& Key Point to Remember:
You must have administrative
permission to create an account
Within the NIMSCAST, accounts can be referred to as a Main or Sub-account. Users with Administrative
permissions determine if sub-accounts will have the ability to create their own sub-accounts.
Instructions to Create a New Account:
1. Verify that you are in the correct parent account by looking to the upper, right of the Navigation menu at
“Switch Account”. The active account is in bold at the end of the account string.
2. Click on “Manage Sub-Accounts”
3. Click on “Create New Account”, located above the list of account names.
4. Fill in the required information. Name is always the name of the account (location, discipline, etc.)
5. Click “Create Account” when account information is entered.
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F i g u r e 5 : C r e a t i n g a n Ac c o u n t ( c o n t i n u e d i n F i g u r e 6 )
Also within Manage Sub-Accounts, an administrator can review or make changes to existing information. The
following child account information is displayed:
Account Name – Name of the account.
Contact Info – Email addresses for Administrative users of the particular account.
Jurisdiction Type - The jurisdiction type that this account is associated with (Federal, State, State
Agency, Local, Tribal)
State – The State that this account is associated with.
Sub-Accounts – The number of immediate sub-accounts this account has established.
Users – The number of users that have a direct association with this account.
Last Rollup Date – The date of the last rollup for this account.
& Key Point to Remember
Ö Always verify that you are in the correct account before adding sub-accounts by
reviewing the “Switch Account” string to the upper, right of the Navigation menu.
Ö The account name in bold is the active account.
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F i g u r e 6 : C r e a t i n g a n Ac c o u n t ( c o n t i n u e d )
& Key Point to Remember:
You must be an administrative user to establish sub-accounts.
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Deleting and/or Clearing Accounts
Users with administrator permission have the ability to delete empty
accounts, clear responses or delete the entire sub-account with
responses entered. Great care should be taken as once account has
been cleared or deleted, the data cannot be recovered and will need to
be re-entered into the system.
& Key Point to Remember:
Once you clear or delete an
account, it can not be
undone.
Deleting or Clearing Account Instructions
1.
2.
3.
4.
Click on “Manage Sub-Accounts” in the Navigation menu
Select the “X” next to the account that you want to take action on.
Depending on the response status in the account, you will be presented with two options to clear the
responses.
Ö Clear Responses Only
Ö Clear Responses and Delete Account
Ö If an account has its own sub-account, you will not be able to delete until the sub-accounts are
moved to another under another main account or have been deleted.
Confirm deletion by clicking on the submit button.
F i g u r e 7 : D e l e t i n g a n Ac c o u n t
Relocating Accounts in your Hierarchy
Many States and territories created sub-accounts during FY2005 and 2006. Once an assessment question was
answered, an account could not be deleted or re-located, instead a new account had to be created entirely. A
feature has been added to allow Administrators the ability to move accounts within their hierarchy without losing
assessment information or user permissions.
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Relocating Account Instructions
5.
Switch to the main account that is to be moved.
6.
Select the “Manage Sub-Accounts” link in the Navigation menu to get a listing of all the sub-accounts of
the current account. Below the listing is a link that gives administrators access to the Account Movement
capability. Selecting this link will provide the following screen from which the user should select the
account(s) they want to move. If the current accounts are being moved to accounts that have not been
created yet, the administrator must create the new accounts first. For example, if a State will be
structured by intrastate regions instead of by counties the intrastate regions must be created, then the
counties can be moved under the appropriate intrastate region.
7.
Select the accounts that should be moved by clicking in the box to the left of the account name, select the
continue button.
8.
Select the location that the accounts are to be re-located to. Use the Preferences to adjust the scope of
the accounts that are displayed, controlling the level of inheritance that is returned. Complete this step by
selecting the account that should be the new parent of the accounts selected in Step 1.
F i g u r e 8 : M o vi n g a n Ac c o u n t
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F i g u r e 9 : S e l e c t i n g a n d M o vi n g a n Ac c o u n t
5.
Confirm that the accounts are correct and select the “Move Accounts” button. The system will then
relocate the selected accounts.
F i g u r e 1 0 : C o n f i r m i n g a n Ac c o u n t M o ve
& Key Points to Remember
Ö Account information, assessment answers, and user permissions will
remain intact when moving accounts.
Ö Refer to Appendix B for examples of account structures.
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Selecting an Account
For users with access to more than one NIMSCAST account it is important to ensure that you are operating in the
correct account. The current account is displayed to the upper right of the Navigation menu, following the words
“Switch Account”. This option is only visible to users with permission to more then one account whether on the
Official or Public side. To change accounts select the “Switch Account” link. Once selected, a page is displayed
that can display all of the accounts that you have access to. Accounts for which you have direct permissions
assigned are always displayed on this page.
F i g u r e 1 1 : Sw i t c h i n g a n Ac c o u n t
Additionally you have access to all accounts below an account that you have “Administrator” permission to. This
type of permission is called “Inherited Permissions”. To control the length of the list that is returned, users can
use the control box on the right. The control lets you specify the number of levels of inheritance that you would
like to display. Specifying “0” will result in only accounts that you have direct permission will be displayed. The
control also allows you to control whether or not Public Accounts are displayed.
User Permissions
In this section you will learn how to:
¾
¾
¾
Create User Permissions
Edit User Information
Remove User Permissions
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& Key Point to Remember:
A user is the person or people that
manage the account information,
assessment, and reports.
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What is a NIMSCAST User?
Users are the personnel entrusted to manage their jurisdictions NIMSCAST account and to complete the
assessment. There can be one or many users with different permission types for one account. User accounts
are used to logon to the NIMSCAST system using a password. All users are assigned to a particular account and
are assigned a permission type.
Personal information associated with a user is captured to facilitate
communication amongst NIMSCAST users. The following data fields that are collected for each user:
Name - the name of the user.
Organization - the organization that the user belongs to.
Email – The email address of the user, used with a password to logon and for system generated emails
alerting user to system events.
Phone- Phone number for the user
Email receipt preference- Can be used to tailor whether the user receives system notifications on the
occurrence of the specified event.
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IV. USER PERMISSIONS
Permissions capture the relationship between users and accounts. Every user is assigned to a particular account
and depending on the permission type can view accounts below them which they would have inherited rights to.
The following are the types of direct permissions that a user can be assigned to the current account.
Administrative (Admin) - Gives user full access to an account, including adding additional users to an
account, adding child and grandchild accounts, and submitting for rollup.
Standard - Allows a user to provide responses to survey but not add additional users or accounts, submit
for rollup.
Read-only - Gives user access to view reports on an account but not enter any data, manage users,
create new accounts, or submit for rollup.
None - Explicitly removes access to this account (not recommended).
Creating User Permissions
Instructions to Add a User to an Account (Figure 12):
1.
Select the “Manage Permissions” link in the Navigation menu.
2.
Select the “Add User” from the Manage Permissions page.
3.
Enter the new user’s email address and the desired permissions, the system will determine if this user
already is known to the system.
Figure 12: User Permissions
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F i g u r e 1 3 : Ad d i n g U s e r s
4.
If this user is not known, a subsequent page will appear to collect additional contact information on the
user.
5.
Following the registration, the user is sent an email inviting them to joining the system with a temporary
password or providing notification that they have access to a particular account.
Edit User Permissions
At times user permissions need to be modified from one permission type to another. The ability to change a
permission type is only available if you have administrator (or inherited administrator) permission on the current
account.
Instructions to Edit User Permissions (Figure 14):
1.
2.
Select the “Manage Permissions” link in the Navigation menu.
Select the current permission listed in blue for the user that needs to be modified.
Select the appropriate permission type
Click “Edit Permission”.
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Figure 14: Editing User Permissions
Remove User Permissions
You can also quickly remove a user’s permission to a selected account from the “Manage Permissions link”.
Instructions to Remove User Permissions from Account:
1.
2.
3.
Select the “Manage Permissions” link in the Navigation menu.
Select the “X” to the far right of the user that you wish to remove.
You will see the final confirmation box, illustrated in Figure 15, which you should read carefully to ensure
the appropriate permission is being removed.
F i g u r e 1 5 : U s e r P e r m i s s i o n R e m o va l
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V: SEARCH FOR ACCOUNTS AND USERS
In this section you will learn to:
¾
¾
Search for Accounts
Search for Users
Searching for Accounts
Administrators with access to a large account hierarchy can use this feature to quickly search the hierarchy for
accounts meeting the specified criteria. The account name search feature will accommodate partial or full
account name searches and is not case sensitive. The system will return all account names associated with the
search located within the user’s inherited account structure. For example, if you search for Loudoun, any account
names with the name Loudoun will be returned in the results.
F i g u r e 1 6 : Ac c o u n t S e a r c h
Figure 17 displays an example of Account Search Results:
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F i g u r e 1 7 : S a m p l e o f Ac c o u n t S e a r c h R e s u l t s
Instructions to Search for Accounts:
1. Select the “Account Search” link on the Navigation menu.
2. Enter partial or full account name information.
3. After search results have been returned, click on the appropriate account string to be taken to the
account.
& Key Points to Remember:
Ö A user can enter a partial or full account name to search for.
Ö Search results can only search in accounts that you have direct
or inherited permission on.
Searching for Users
Administrators with access to a large hierarchy of accounts can use this feature to quickly search for users within
their sub- accounts meeting the criteria specified. As with the Account Search feature, partial or full information
can be entered. The search is not case sensitive and will return any user whose name or email contains the
search criteria.
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F igu re 18: Us er Se arc h
Instructions to Search for Users (Figure 19):
1.
2.
3.
4.
Click on “User Search” in the Navigation menu.
Enter partial or full user name or email address information.
Click “Search”
Click on one of following options:
Email address – take the searcher to ‘Email Users” so that an email can be sent.
Account string – will take the searcher to “Reports” so that account reports can be viewed.
Permission type – will take a user into “Manage Permissions”, so that permission privileges can be
modified.
Figure 19: User Search Results
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VI: E-MAIL USERS
In this section you will learn to:
¾
E-mail Users
Communicating with Users
Administrative users may use the NIMSCAST e-mail features to facilitate communication to other users within the
NIMSCAST account structure. E-mails can be targeted to specific account and/or sub-accounts within the
account hierarchy. The NIMSCAST e-mail service cannot store e-mails sent or received for users. When an email is sent, it is sent on behalf of the user, who will also receive a copy of the e-mail to their e-mail address in the
system. To use the features, users must follow a simple five step procedure.
Instructions to E-mail User(s):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Switch to the appropriate account to use as the basis for the e-mail message.
Select the “E-mail Users” link located in the Navigation menu to access the e-mail sending functions. The
following screen will be displayed:
Select the appropriate group of users to include in your e-mail from the following list of options:
Current Account Only - Will send e-mail to all users with direct association with the current account.
No child accounts will be included.
Current Account and Child Accounts - Will send e-mail to all users with a direct association with the
current account or an account that is a child of the current account.
Current Account, Child Accounts, and All Grandchild Accounts - Will send e-mail to all users with
direct association with any account at or below the current account.
Provide the subject and e-mail text to be sent to all the users meeting the above criteria.
When complete and ready to send the e-mail, select the “Send E-mail” button on the bottom of the form.
The system will queue your message for delivery to the specific set of NIMSCAST users. Once the message has
been delivered you will receive a copy of the message as well as a listing of all the users to whom the message
was sent.
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F i g u r e 2 0 : E - m a i l i n g O t h e r N I M S C AS T U s e r s
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VII: ASSESSMENT MODULES
In this section you will learn to:
¾
¾
¾
Select an Assessment Module
Begin Entering Data into the Assessment Module
Enter Corrective Action Plan Information
Selecting an Assessment Module
The “Assessment” link located in the Navigation menu, is used to select the NIMSCAST module for which the
assessment will be completed. Currently there are two choices of modules, as evident in Figure 21 below—the
original FYs 2005-2006 NIMS Baseline (NIMCAST) module, and the recently released FY2007 NIMS Compliance
Metrics module.
F i g u r e 2 1 : N I M S C AS T M o d u l e S e l e c t i o n
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FYs 2005-2006 NIMS Baseline Assessment
The FY2005 and 2006 baseline assessment was launched in January 2005. The assessment module was
created to provide a baseline and/or updated report on NIMS Compliance. The assessment was deconstruction
from the NIMS document. During FY2005 and 2006 many States and territories used this module to establish a
NIMS compliance baseline. If a tribal or local jurisdiction has not completed this assessment please contact your
FEMA region, State or territory NIMS coordinator for guidance.
The account user(s) are responsible for collecting all feedback from those personnel tasked to provide input on
the jurisdiction’s NIMS assessment. Once all necessary information is gathered, the account user must complete
the online tool and submit the assessment for rollup to the main account.
A box at the top of each section contains a specific NIMS reference. Each reference is taken verbatim from the
NIMS document and its section and page number in the NIMS is listed.
Below the reference area, there are capability assessment statements adopted directly from the NIMS reference.
Note that some NIMS-derived compliance statements are broken down into several bulleted statements.
Additionally, if a NIMS reference has multiple unique parts, each part may be addressed individually in separate
statements; however, there is only one “YES/NO” question for each NIMS reference section.
The assessment overview page displays each section containing a series of questions related to the particular
section. In addition, the user can track completion progress of the account which is displayed to the right of each
assessment statement. An checkmark indicates that the response has been recorded and a warning triangle
indicates that an answer is still required.
Instructions to Accessing the FYs 2005–2006 Assessment:
1. Click on “Assessment” from the Navigation menu.
2. Click on a chapter in blue. If this is the first time answering questions answering questions for this
assessment module, click on “II. Command and Management”.
3. Click on a statement in blue. This will take the user into the question.
4. As a user answers questions for this assessment, they will see a green checkmark appear in the right
column of the screen. Any questions that have not been completed will have a yellow triangle with an
exclamation point in the right column.
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F i g u r e 2 2 : F Y 2 0 0 5 - 2 0 0 6 N I M S C o m p l i a n c e As s e s s m e n t
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F i g u r e s 2 3 : C o m p l e t i n g t h e F Y s 2 0 0 5 - 2 0 0 6 B a s e l i n e As s e s s m e n t
Users may voluntarily provide proof of compliance or a compliance strategy in the boxes at the bottom of the
screen.
A boxed question mark: indicates a link to a related online resource. Highlighted text provides a link to the
NIMCAST list of acronyms or the NIMCAST glossary:
Both the acronym list and the glossary can also be accessed through the links in the resources menu that
appears on every page of the site.
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F i g u r e 2 4 : C o m p l e t i n g t h e F Y s 2 0 0 5 - 2 0 0 6 B a s e l i n e As s e s s m e n t ( c o n t i n u e d )
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FY 2007 NIMS Compliance Metrics
The FY 2007 NIMS Compliance Metrics are organized into seven sections which reflect the order that the metrics
were released on October 24, 2006. When the parent Administrator created a particular sub-account, the account
type was marked as State/Territory, State Agency, tribal, local, or other. When the account type was established
the appropriate metrics were automatically assigned. The following account types have been assigned the
following metrics:
•
•
•
•
•
State – FY07 NIMS Compliance Metrics: State/Territory
State Agency – FY07 NIMS Compliance Metrics: State/Territory, with N/A options
Local – FY07 NIMS Compliance Metrics: Tribal/Local
Tribal – FY07 NIMS Compliance Metrics: Tribal/Local
Other – FY07 NIMS Compliance Metrics: Tribal/Local
Please refer to account types for specific descriptions on page 9.
Accessing FY 2007 NIMS Compliance Metrics
The assessment overview page, shown below, displays each section containing a series of metric questions
related to the particular section. In addition, the user can track completion progress of the account which is
displayed in the three columns to the right. As the user answers each question the columns will auto fill with the
appropriate symbol as illustrated in Figure 27.
F i g u r e 2 5 : Ac c e s s i n g F Y 2 0 0 7 N I M S C o m p l i a n c e M e t r i c s
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The final two columns indicate how the response complies with the metric response. Tier 1 metrics are those that
have been determined to be required to be affirmatively answered in order to be considered compliant with NIMS.
The other column shows the accounts responses against the metrics that have not been identified as Tier 1.
Figure 26: Metrics completion and Status
To answer each metrics question, begin from the metrics overview summary and select the desired question. A
question can be selected by:
1. Click on the “+” next to the section title to open the list of questions.
2. Click on the question statement in blue, to open up a question.
At the top of each question, the Compliance Requirement is displayed. A link is provided to obtain additional
guidance for responding to the metrics question. If the metrics question has been determined to be a Tier 1
question, a yellow box containing what a Tier 1 metric question represents. If a metrics question has been
determined to be a Tier 2 question, a yellow box containing what a Tier 2 metric question represents.
At the end of each metrics question a “Notes” box to enter additional information is provided. The user can
determine what additional information can be entered. Once the user is finished filling out the metric question(s)
on the page there are three (3) options at the bottom of the page:
Save & Continue – saves all information that was entered for the metrics question and takes the user to
the next question.
Save Incomplete and Continue – the user will see this option if “Save & Continue” is clicked and not all
of the questions have been answered. The user will be able to save any answers entered and return to
complete at a later time.
Skip – allows the user to skip to the next question. This option will not save any entered answers.
Cancel - returns the user back to the list of assessment questions.
Once the question(s) has been answered, responses are saved to the database by selecting the “Save &
Continue”. If only partial responses are present the system will highlight those areas which still require
responses. If the responses are incomplete, an additional option to “Save as Incomplete” is provided to allow the
user to continue with the survey and return to the partially completed question at a later time.
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Figure 27: FY 2007 Compliance Metric
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C o r r e c t i ve Ac t i o n P l a n s
When a non-compliant response to a Tier 1 metric question has been recorded, a corrective action plan must be
developed and recorded in order for the metrics response to be complete. When a user marks a metric that
indicates it is non-complaint and then clicks save and continue the corrective action plan (as section below) will
appear at the end of the metric. A user can save a non-compliant response as incomplete and return to it later. A
user can not submit for rollup until all fields of the corrective action(s) are filled in.
A corrective action plan
captures the following information:
Reason for Non-Compliance – identify the reason(s) why the particular activity and/or metric can not be
met by September 30, 2007.
Corrective Action – identify the actions or steps to be taken correct the reason for non-compliance.
Expected Date of Compliance – identify the date that corrective action should be implemented or
achieved.
Point of Contact – identify the individual, department/agency, or jurisdiction responsible for executing the
corrective action.
F i g u r e 2 8 : P r o vi d i n g a C o r r e c t i ve Ac t i o n P l a n
Instructions to submit a Corrective Action Plan:
Ö
Ö
Ö
Ö
Answer the metric question(s) on the screen.
Click “Save & Continue”. Corrective Action Plan will appear at bottom of page.
Fill in all Corrective Action Plan fields. Click “Save & Continue”.
If a user would like to fill out the Corrective Action Plan later, click “Save Incomplete & Continue”.
& Key Points to Remember:
Ö A corrective action plan must be documented for a Tier 1, non-compliant
answer.
Ö All corrective action plan fields must be filled in before submitting the
assessment.
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VIII. NIMSCAST REPORTS AND ROLLUP
In this section you will learn to:
¾
¾
¾
¾
¾
Manage Report Versions
Viewing Account Reports
Submitting for Roll Up
Viewing Roll Up Reports
Manage Corrective Action Plan Reports
Reporting and Rollup
The NIMSCAST provides two different types of reports to aid users in understanding their NIMSCAST
assessments. The “Reports” link provides a detailed look at the assessments for a single account. The “Rollup
Reports’ link provides the user the ability to view reports based on aggregating multiple accounts that will be
represented by sub- accounts.
Managing Assessment Versions
Managing versions allows the user to save up to six versions each of the FYs 2005-2006 and FY 2007
assessments, including a baseline version for each. The versions list for each module will be listed independently
of each other. When you first complete the entire assessment, you will be prompted to name the version. You
can replace old versions with new ones and delete existing versions. However, this initial baseline and rollup
versions cannot be deleted.
Once you select Manage Versions from the Navigation menu, the screen will display all versions of the
assessment in your account as illustrated in Figure 30 on the next page:
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F i g u r e 3 0 : C r e a t i n g N ew S n a p s h o t s
In order to create a baseline version, all questions must be answered for the appropriate assessment to create a
new version, and a baseline (initial) assessment must be completed. After completing a baseline version, you
may wish to create a new version. You may do so by selecting Create New Version, located above the titles of
any current versions. Please note that in order to submit an assessment for rollup, it must be completed in its
entirety. The Current Assessment Data Set will maintain any changes made since the last version saved and will
always list the current date.
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Reports
The reports feature allows a user to manage and view various reports for FY2005/ 2006 and FY 2007. The
following page lists the reports that are available based on the data captured by the current account.
F i g u r e 3 1 : F Y 2 0 0 7 C o m p l i a n c e As s e s s m e n t s
FY 2007 NIMS Compliance Metrics Reports
Comprehensive Scores: displays the scores assigned to each statement in the account's data set, with
or without notes written by a user.
Comprehensive Scores by Section: overview of scores in an account's data set by section, with or
without notes written by a user.
Account Statistics: A listing of this account and all sub-accounts below it, also contains an overall
assessment of Tier 1 metrics (x compliant/ Number of total Tier 1 questions), and the date the account
has last rolled up.
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FYs 2005 - 2006 NIMS Assessment Reports
Table Reports
o
o
Summary of Assessment Scores: displays the score totals for each subsection in the account's
data set.
Comprehensive Scores: displays the scores assigned to each statement in the account's data
set, with or without notes written by a user.
o
Comprehensive Scores by Section: overview of scores in a account's data set by section, with
or without notes written by a user.
o
Account Statistics: A listing of this account and all sub-accounts below it, also contains an
overall assessment ratio (x yes /75), and the date the account has last rolled up.
Chart Reports
o
Overall Score Chart (Stacked Bar): displays all scores across the five sections in a stacked bar
chart.
o
Section Summary Charts (Pie): creates three pie charts that show YES, NO, and unrated
scores by section.
o
Overall Score Chart (Pie): displays a pie chart showing YES, NO, and unrated scores for all of
the sections.
o
Section Score Chart (Pie): displays a pie chart showing YES, NO, and unrated scores for one
section.
Change Reports
&
Percent Increase in Compliance: compares two versions of data sets and indicates the percent
increase in compliance from one data set to another
&
Track Changes: shows an account which entries in a versions of their data have been updated
and when
Submitting Account Responses to Parent Account
An administrative user can submit a completed version of the NIMSCAST by using the “Submit for Rollup” link
located in the Navigation menu. When submitting for rollup, a user is submitting their assessment to the next
highest account level indicating that their assessment is complete. For instance, counties and independent cities
roll up to States or intrastate region and States then roll up to the FEMA region. Submitted versions can be
overwritten by performing another “Submit for Rollup”.
After selecting “Submit for Rollup” from the Navigation menu, a status screen detailing the items that need to be
completed in order to complete the rollup process. Before an account can be completed, the following conditions
are required to be met:
The user must have Administrator access to the current account;
The Account must have completed the assessment; and
The represented disciplines must be marked.
If a user has not met the criteria items, then an error message screen will appear.
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Since the NIMSCAST tracks multiple assessments, either or both the FY2005-2006 and/or the FY2007 metrics
can be submitted for rollup. If a local jurisdiction represents many agencies, towns, disciplines, etc., there may be
parties refusing to participate in NIMS implementation. These parties can be documented on the rollup report by
in the “Caveat” text area. The caveat text area is seen when a user clicks on “Submit for Rollup” and has met the
three requirements listed above.
F i g u r e 3 2 : S u b m i t t i n g a n As s e s s m e n t f o r R o l l u p
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Rollup Reports
Rollup reports allow administrators to view one or multiple sub-account reports as one comprehensive report.
The following screen describes the rollup reports that are available to administrators of accounts that have a
single or multiple levels of sub-accounts.
Figure 33: Rollup Reports
The following FY 2007 NIMS Compliance Metrics Rollup Reports are available:
Table Reports
Rollup Comprehensive Scores: displays the totals assigned to each statement for the selected subaccount's most recent rollup submittals.
Rollup Comprehensive Scores by Disciplines: displays the totals assigned to each statement for
the selected sub-account's (matched by selected disciplines) most recent rollup submittals.
Rollup Compliance Scores: displays the compliance metric for the selected sub-account's most
recent rollup submittals.
Rollup Compliance Scores by Disciplines: displays the compliance metric for the selected subaccount's (matched by selected disciplines) most recent rollup submittals.
The following FYs 2005-2006 NIMS Baseline (NIMCAST) Rollup Reports are available:
Table Reports
Rollup Summary of Scores: displays the score totals within the subsections totaled amongst the
selected sub-account's most recent rollup submittals
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Rollup Comprehensive Scores: displays the scores totals assigned to each statement for the
selected sub-account's most recent rollup submittals
Rollup Comprehensive Scores by Section: overview of the scores totals assigned to each
statement within a given section for the selected sub-account's most recent rollup submittals
Rollup Summary by Accounts: displays the compliance percentage for each chapter grouped by
each selected sub-account in alphabetical order.
Rollup Trending by Fiscal Year: displays the compliance percentage for each chapter grouped by
the available fiscal years for the selected sub-accounts.
Chart Reports
Rollup Overall Score Chart (Stacked Bar): displays all scores across the five sections in a stacked
bar chart
Rollup Overall Score Chart (Pie): displays a pie chart showing YES, NO, and unrated scores for all
of the sections
Rollup Section Score Chart (Pie): displays a pie chart showing YES, NO, and unrated scores for
one section
Rollup Trending by Fiscal Year (Bar): displays compliance trending information across fiscal years
for the selected sub-accounts.
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IX. ACCOUNT MIGRATION
In this section you will learn to:
¾
Migrate an Account
What is Account Migration?
Once a user has been granted access into the Official system, they will have two active NIMCAST accounts, one
Public and one Official. Data from Public access accounts can be migrated into the Official, permission-based
accounts for users who meet the following criteria:
Invited to use the Official system as an Administrative user,
Public account already created, and
Public account assessment questions answered. Not all questions must be answered.
Instructions to Migrate a Public Account to an Official Account:
1.
Click on the account to be moved under Public.
2.
Click on “Migrate My Account” located in the Navigation menu.
3.
Click on the Official account where assessment information will be moved to. This feature is only available
to users who meet the above criteria.
4.
Once users select their target account for data migration, a pop-up box will appear to verify the action.
Clicking “OK” will migrate data into the selected target account.
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X. SUBMITTING FEEDBACK
After completing the NIMSCAST, users are encouraged to fill out the feedback form accessible from the
“Feedback” link in Navigation menu. Please note the form includes space for additional comment. Users are
encouraged to share any relevant feedback not covered in the existing form.
Figure 34: Submitting Feedback
Once submitted, the form is sent to the NIMS Integration Center. Providing feedback gives users the opportunity
to participate in the continual improvement of the NIMSCAST. Feedback will be reviewed frequently and
incorporated into the regularly scheduled revisions of the NIMSCAST.
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XI. LOGGING OUT
It is important to log out after each session to ensure the security of your account. To log out, click the Log Out
button in the Navigation menu. You will be automatically transferred to the NIMSCAST introduction screen. A
yellow box at the top of the page will indicate that your log out was successful.
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APPENDIX A: SAMPLE ACCOUNT STRUCTURES
FEMA
Region
Tribal
Nations
State/
Territory
(NIMS Coordinator)
State
Agency
Intra-State
Region
(optional)
Tribal
Nation (if tribe choses
to be under State)
Independent
City
County
Fire
EMS
Police, etc.
Fire
EMS
Police, Etc.
City
Fire
EMS
Police, etc.
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APPENDIX B: USER PERMISSION PRIVILEGES
Administrative
Establish
SubAccounts
Create/
Change
User
Permissions
Search
for
Accounts
or Users
Email
Users
Answer
Assessment
Questions
View
Account
Report
Submit for
Roll-Up
View Rollup
Reports
Migrate
Accounts
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Standard
Read-Only
None
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| File Type | application/pdf |
| File Title | Microsoft Word - NIMSCAST Technical Users Guide 041007 _2_.doc |
| Author | Owner |
| File Modified | 2007-04-11 |
| File Created | 2007-04-11 |