NFIRS 5.0 Tops USFA/Fire Service Software Vendors Meeting Agenda
Representatives of the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA); the National Fire Information Council, Inc. (NFIC); and the Fire Service Software Vendors Association (FSSVA) met on September 9, 1999, on the National Fire Academy campus in Emmitsburg, Maryland, to discuss the USFA`s policy of releasing specification corrections of the NFIRS 5.0 system and other issues.
To facilitate a smoother implementation and maintenance of the NFIRS system in the future, the USFA will implement the following procedures, according to Steven Worley, NFIC president.
The USFA will freeze the NFIRS 5.0 Specification in its current state until January 2000. Beginning at that time, a planned cycle of specification maintenance updates will be released in January and July of every year as needed. Between these planned releases, the specification will remain frozen between the January and July release periods unless a “critical correction is required.”
The January 2000 release will be designated as “2000.1.NFIRS 5.0” (from left to right: the year of the release, the month of the release, and the NFIRS version).
The Design Documentation manual will be revised to incorporate changes documented in the current specification revision log from the period of January 1999 to January 2000 and will be republished with a January 2000 date. At that point, the revisions log will be cleared, and the log will then document any pending corrections to be applied at the end of that cycle.
Members of the FSSVA will work cooperatively with the USFA to assist in testing the specifications and implementing the system. Vendors will independently test the specifications between September and November 1999 to ensure that any remaining issues are addressed in the January release.
The FSSVA will also have a representative on the National Fire Information Council, Inc. The FSSVA representative to the NFIC will be selected after members of the vendors association have approved its by-laws and elected a slate of officers, according to Michael Fay of Fire Point, a coordinator of these FSSVA activities, which were underway at press time. “There is now a mechanism in place for us [the USFA and FSSVA] to work together,” Fay notes.
The USFA`s recent actions are, in part, a response to the FSSVA`s initiative to establish better communication between the USFA and the software vendors. The group met last August during Fire Rescue International 1999. At the meeting, led by Joe Zeigler, of Fire Programs, and Fay, the FSSVA voiced concern that fire departments would blame the software vendors for the delay in getting software to the departments so they could report directly to the USFA. In fact, the software vendors have been awaiting revised regulations/specifications from the USFA so their software could be updated accordingly and be made available to the departments more expeditiously.
