FOCUS

FLOW-ORCHESTRATED CONVENTION-USABLE SECURITY ABSTRACT

A system of management and operation for a security group of 10 - 100 people, leveraging a physical database of color-coded cards, large display boards, and processes designed to make real-time decision-making and task-assignment quick and ecient.

Alexander Williams thantos@gmail.com

 2011, Alexander Williams, Atlanta

Table of Contents
1 .................................Theory.................................. 1 1.1 ................................ Goals.................................. 1 1.2 ................................. Parts.................................. 1 1.2.1 ......... Physical Database.................................. 1 1.2.2 ..................Battle Board..................................2 1.2.3 .......................... Control.................................. 3 1.2.4 ........................... People.................................. 3 1.3 ..........................Processes..................................4 1.3.1 .............................Setup..................................4 1.3.1.1.........The Battle Board..................................4 1.3.1.2 .................. Char Cards..................................4 1.3.2 ................... Assignment.................................. 5 2............................... Practice.................................. 7

FLOW-ORCHESTRATED CONVENTION-USABLE SECURITY

1
1.1

Theory
Goals

1.2

Parts

Focus exists to one end: to simplify the actual operation of Security groups at conventions by way of streamlining personnel accounting processes, providing an immediate, visual feedback mechanism to the security ocers on duty which will allow them to know the current status and location of all agents on the oor and what equipment they have with them, to have quick and ready access to personnel who are on call for a given time, and to aid in the aftershow review of agent performance and operational eectiveness. Near real-time situational awareness can and will allow security personnel to provide a far better experience to both those attending and running the convention and to increase the one thing the organization was created to create: not only the sense of but the very presence of real security.

All management systems are made up of components, physical and social. Eective ones make use of those systems such that the goal of the organization for which it is constructed is not only enabled but made inevitable.

1.2.1

Physical Database

The physical database is composed of a series of 3x5 index cards with tabs axed to the top. Each represents one person (AGENT) who is a member of the Security team. The card contains personal information for contact and notation purposes, a colored tag to denote whether that person carries special equipment, an area for accounting for times checked in and out of service, and an area on the back for a color-coded table of available on-call times. The design of the char cards is intended to make visibility and quick searching fast, easy, and simple. Rather than a digital database that only a few people can touch, the physical database makes it easy for anyone in Control 1 to know what the current assignment situation is. Anyone can (and everyone will be expected to) create their own char card on checking in with Security for the rst time, distributing the eort of populating the database. Color-marking makes looking for a specic combination of resources easy (ie. I need someone on call for Saturday at 8pm just means looking for all the Tuesday tags and then skim down that column for the 8pm slot color, no reading time necessary). Char card coding is extensible and extremely exible. Tracking a new attribute (such as years on sta ) is as simple as deciding what your signier should be (color-coded text, sticker, highlight?) and putting it in place.

CONTROL is the area from which Security is managed and where Focus is centralized. At most conventions it is a single boardroom or conference room. 1

Focus

FLOW-ORCHESTRATED CONVENTION-USABLE SECURITY

1.2.2

Battle Board

Also known as the zone board the board provides the base upon which the char cards can be presented for immediate recognition of the situation as it stands. The battle board may be (and probably will) broken into several panels, each of which will be divided into logical zones. Note that the zones are logical rather than physical; physical areas can certainly be battle board sections but so can things During the prototype phase and even through like the dance or on patrol/sweep which are task- the rst several years of implementation, cardboard focused assignments. If something represents a non- panels may not be the most showy of methods but local task that one or more people might be assigned they are the most ecient. to, it probably merits a battle board zone.2 The board is the eective centerpiece of Control. With it, its immediately obvious who is on duty in any zone, visible even from across the room. Colored indicators mean its clear who has gear and positioning within a zone can even suggest whos paired up with whom and how long theyve been there. Because its easily accessed, updating it as new information comes in or assignments go out is simple. In a physical sense, there are two obvious approaches to constructing the battle board: CARDBOARD PANELS: Perhaps the cheapest and lightest solution, white cardboard panels go for roughly $6 each for a 3ft x 4ft section and they take marker ink very readily. Char cards can be pinned to the surface with simple push-pins and moving them around is really easy. Durability is relatively low, making reuse a nogo, but for the cost its very easy to replace them after every convention.
Dealers Room Art Room

dry-erase markers. The panels themselves are extremely durable and, properly maintained/cleaned, can easily be used for years on the convention circuit. Strong surface magnets are more expensive than push-pins and are more likely to go wandering without supervision, but they certainly look more professional.

Exhibit Hallway

Exhibit Back

Hotel Lobby

Registration

MAGNETIC WHITE-BOARDS: The upscale solution. Expensive panels allow char cards to be attached with magnets and can be sectioned with
2 In the case of Anime Weekend Atlanta, the board denitely must include both patrol/sweep as a pool to draw oor assignments from during the convention as well as with Medical to cover agents who are tied up and nonassignable due to responding to and maintaining a medical emergency.

Patrol/Sweep

Focus

FLOW-ORCHESTRATED CONVENTION-USABLE SECURITY

1.2.3

Control

As mentioned previously, Security needs a place from which to organize itself and direct its agents, a place with access to the battle board and char cards in order to have an up-to-date assessment of the moment-to-moment needs of the team, a place where agents transitioning in duties can check in, get, replace, or change equipment, then be reassigned or released. Control is the place those things happen. Physically, the main requirement for Control is that it be large enough and have enough wall space to accommodate the battle board as well as a person or two moving around in front of it to update it. Additionally, there needs to be good connectivity either digital or cellular or, preferably, both to make the on call process possible. Lastly, Control needs to be fairly centrally located as agents will be moving into and out of the room, receiving assignments, and dispatched to zones on a frequent basis. A room deep in the bowels of a sprawling hotel that can only be accessed through steam tunnels and back-hallways is not appropriate to put Control in. A centrally located boardroom or conference room that can hold 6 to 8 people comfortably, is well lit, and has a central table and clear air to both cell towers and WiFi would be ideal.

DIRECTOR:3 The head-honcho and creature-in-charge whose role is ultimate arbitor, liason with the higherups in the convention architecture, and escalation manager for the Security department as a whole. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Orthagonal to Dispatch (see below), the ADs are the task-specic managers of sub-functions of the Security team and, as importantly, act as channels of escalation both within the department and outside it. DISPATCH: The core of Control. Dispatch is responsible for coordinating the eorts of agents out in the zones, recalling them to Control for reassignment, overseeing the updating and managemt of the battle board and char cards, and generally maintaining the ow of the Security apparatus. AGENTS: The people who end up doing the heavy lifting, the patroling, the bulk of dealing directly with the convention-goers, and the backbone of any Security structure. In the customer-service department of Security, they provide the actual service.

1.2.4

People

It may seem strange to see people listed as a physical component of a security apparatus but they are the most critical component of all and the one often overlooked in the planning of a Security operations. Everyone knows you need people to do security but they dont often consider who and what kind are both desirable and likely. The roles those people will take will be described in more detail in the social components section.

Note: No sane person wishes to be Director.

Focus

FLOW-ORCHESTRATED CONVENTION-USABLE SECURITY

1.3

Processes

1.3.1

Setup

Once the parts are in play, the next step is to At the beginning of a convention, certain parts understand what to do with them. Ultimately, the have to be initialized before anything else. idea is to have all the information you might want to execute on a decision to be in one place, immediately 1.3.1.1 The Battle Board and intuitively visible so that decisions get made quickly about personel allocation, zone control, or All zone board panels need to be pre-lined, setup where the largest concern is. and ready to go rst thing. Typical assignments need to be done not long after Security gets settled in, so its imperitive that they be able to start assigning people as soon as their char cards are ready.

1.3.1.2

Char Cards

Back

The meat of the physical database. The char cards4 track and update information about a specic individual and are the primary moving part of the FOCUS system. Whenever someone becomes a Security Agent, they need to create a char card.
12p - 4p 4p - 8p 12a - 4a

8a - 12a 12p - 4p 4p - 8p 12a - 4a

12p - 4p 4p - 8p

Front

PERSONAL CONTACT DATA: Security needs this so that the Agent can be called into duty if not in Control itself or on patrol. Put all forms of quick contact on the card and email if available for long-term tracking. Check the number on the card at the time of creation to make sure it receives texts, calls, and is generally correct.5 This is also the time to put any specic notes on the card such as medical conditions, violent tendencies, criminal records, or anything that might be important to know while a person is on the Board. AVAILABILITY TABS: Along the top of the cards are several colored tabs which correspond to days the Agent is available to work Security. Make sure that the color is consistent across days and clearly dierentiated, one from the other.
4 Short for character cards. 5 Friday night at 9pm when all hands are needed on deck to quel a riot at the Not-A-Rave is not the time to discover that the contact numbers are wrong.

Name: Sally Name Contact Info: 770 000 0000 s.name@gmail.com

Check In Fri 4p
Fri 10p

Head Set

Check out 8p

H 12p

Notes:

Diabetic

Focus

FLOW-ORCHESTRATED CONVENTION-USABLE SECURITY AVAILABILITY SCHEDULE: On the back of the card, divide the space into columns that correspond to the positions of the tabs. For each day as designated by the tab, write in the time slot that the Agent is available to work; each slot should be a dierent, unique colour that remains consistent across days and slots.6 A board or card with the slots and their colours should be provided for reference.
6 As an example, 3p - 6p might be bright orange. It will always be bright orange, on every day.

some other non-Control-local source of Agents who have checked-in on their card but can be freely reassigned.7 If there are no Agents available in source pools, Dispatch may then proceed to pull char cards based on their availability tab and, aided by the color-coding, nd Agents who have marked their availability during the current (or next) duty slot. Dispatch will then contact them via the information on the front of the card and request the pleasure of their company. Repeat until all zone requirements have been lled. If gear has been assigned, Agents sign it out with serial numbers or other identication on that gears sign-out sheet. Agents proceed to their zone to execute their assignments. Dispatch may reassign Agents by comm, but if that change involves a change of equipment, the Agent should return to Control long enough to manage the sign-out sheets for the gear involved and make sure their cards are moved to the new zone. If Dispatch reassigns an Agent by comm and does not require their return to Control for reassignment, Dispatch is responsible for updating the Board with Agents cards.8

1.3.2

Assignment

Once the char cards are set up for the Agents and Dispatch is ready to start, assignment begins. Everyone in Control not working directly with Dispatch pulls their cards, marks their check-in time on the front, and either puts them in a pile or tacks them to a designated zone marking them as present and ready for assignment. Dispatch begins assigning Agents to zones. Assigned Agents cards get tacked up to their designated zone. If Dispatch issues that Agent a piece of gear (headset, etc), that needs to be marked on the check-in area and highlighted if an important piece (such as any comm equipment). Agents may be assigned in buddy pairs; if so, be certain they get tacked up together in their assigned zone. If there are insucient Agents in Control to ll all zone requirements, Dispatch will rst consider any Agents in zones considered pools on the Board. A zone is often considered a pool if it has no xed Agent stang requirements, involves free-roaming patrol, or is

7 Control is considered the rst pool of resort in FOCUS as written. 8 It is suggested that reassignments to new zones be done by recall to Control and then reassignment to a new zone so that Dispatch can ascertain the condition and focus of the Agent, especially on long assignments to zones.

Focus

FLOW-ORCHESTRATED CONVENTION-USABLE SECURITY Repeat until all zones are staed with enough Agents for current needs and any Agents that need to be relocated have done so. Agents on assignment will have duties appropriate to the zone that they have been assigned to. By necessity, there is quite a bit of exibility in local assignment duties, generally organized by the senior Agent in the zone with comm equipment.

Focus

FLOW-ORCHESTRATED CONVENTION-USABLE SECURITY

Practice

Insert here strict documentation for the AWA Battle Boards (zones), assignment slots, and design a radio sign-out sheet.

Focus

FLOW-ORCHESTRATED CONVENTION-USABLE SECURITY

Focus

FLOW-ORCHESTRATED CONVENTION-USABLE SECURITY

Focus