Use Civil Support

The Civil Support solution delivers a set of capabilities that help National Guards identify an emergency incident, manage missions, allocate personnel and resources, and communicate status to internal stakeholders.

In this topic, you will learn how to use the solution by assuming the role of a user and performing the following workflows.

Understand troop readiness

When local and state resources are overwhelmed, a governor can request assistance from the National Guard. The majority of National Guard members serve part-time and maintain civilian careers, however they are often tasked with multiple responsibilities when activated. They must quickly adapt to manage diverse operational, logistical, and administrative tasks. Having the ability to create events, manage missions, task personnel and resources, and view progress in one system provides the flexibility for one or more individuals to efficiently perform these duties as needed.

Complete an individual readiness report

You will start by assuming the role of a guardsman. You have been instructed by administration staff to use the Personnel Readiness Report survey to share your availability status each morning.

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Personnel Readiness Report in your content.
  2. Select Open in Survey123 > Open in browser
  3. In the Personnel Readiness Report survey, fill in the following details:

    ParameterValue
    Battalion

    Select 1st Battalion.

    Company

    Select A Company.

    Select which Guard you are a member of

    Select ARNG.

    ARNG Rank

    Select E-4/CPL.

    MOS

    Type 12W.

    Select Duty TypeState Active Duty
    First Name

    Type your first name.

    Last Name

    Type your last name.

    Commander

    Type your commander's name.

    Provide Location

    Select your location on the map or provide your address.

    Can you report for duty

    Select Yes.

    Check Completed By

    Select Self.

  4. Click Submit.

Complete a unit readiness report

Alternatively, you will start by assuming an administration role. You are asked to use the Personnel Readiness Batch Report survey to submit availability of your unit.

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Manage drop-down arrow and choose Personnel Tasking Center.

    The Personnel Tasker app can be used to submit readiness reports on behalf of an individual and/or an entire unit . Once entries are submitted, units and/or individuals can be tasked to events and missions.

  3. Select the Add Unit tab in the right corner of the Personnel Tasking Center app. Enter the following information into the form:

    ParameterValue
    Enter Location

    Select your location on the map or provide your address.

    Battalion

    Select 1st Battalion.

    Company

    Select A Company.

    Select which Guard(s) you would like to submit entries for

    Select ARNG (Army National Guard).

    ARNG Available Troops

    Type 25.

    ARNG Unavailable Troops

    Type 0.

    Would you like to input details for each ARNG duty type? Yes
    ARNG Duty Type Details

    Enter the number of troops under each duty type, the number of troops entered must equal the number of troops available to report for duty.

    Total Available Troops

    Updated automatically.

    Total Unavailable Troops

    Updated automatically.

  4. Click Submit.
  5. Return to the Personnel Tasker app and verify that the submission for A Company is in the Personnel List.
    Note:
    The side panel can be used to filter by Unit or Individual to view the desired subset of report submissions.

Review unit strength

You will now assume a leadership role. You will review the readiness of your unit and its inventory of resources. You will use the Readiness Dashboard and Resource Management Dashboardto view the overall availability of personnel and resources in your workforce.

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Overview drop-down arrow and choose Readiness Overview.
  3. The overview displays key metrics. This information gives operations and leadership a quick overview of the number of unit members available. Statistics related to the overall availability of your unit are also shown. The dashboard is configured to show the most recent submissions by each individual or unit. The side panel can be used to further filter subsets of submissions.
  4. The dashboard is configured to show the most recent submissions by each individual or unit. The side panel can be used to further filter subsets of submissions. Expand the side panel and notice that All Submission Dates is selected by default from the Select Submission Time Frame category selector. This is intended to show all submissions regardless of time period submitted. Using the Select Submission Time Frame filter select Last 24 Hrs. Notice that you can also select Last 48 Hrs and Last 72 Hrs to define a preset time frame of submissions.
  5. Activate the Date Range filter by first selecting Date Range in the Select Submission Time Frame category selector and then providing a Start and End date. Review the list of personnel and their locations in the map.
  6. Continue defining a subset of submissions by choosing from the Select Individual or Unit, Select Available or Unavailable, Select Brigade, Select Battalion, Select Company, and Select MOS or AFSC category selectors in the side panel to view corresponding results in the dashboard.
Note:

The steps above are the same if you are are leadership and will be using the Admin Dashboard to monitor the readiness of your team. The Admin Dashboard will contain personal information about the individual unit members. The Admin Dashboard can be found in your content.

Review resource inventory

You will now assume a logistic role that has been ordered to provide asset inventory details to operations and leadership who are coordinating a plan for an approaching natural disaster. To monitor a specific unit, complete the following steps:

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Overview drop-down arrow and choose Resource Overview.
  3. Use the side panel to filter to desired submission date, brigade, battalion, company, resource category and resource type until you see your desired options in the display.

    The dashboard will begin to filter data based on your selection.

  4. Clear your selections by selecting All in any of the filters drop-down list.
  5. Filter your data based on a specific date, time frame, command, or resource/category type.

    Inventory is displayed by total count and total entries. Three resource statuses are tracked: , Available, Non Mission Capable, and Tasked. An image will be shown for all assets where one has been uploaded.

Respond to Request for Assistance

When local and state resources are overwhelmed, a governor can request assistance from the National Guard. The majority of National Guard members serve part-time and maintain civilian careers, however they are often tasked with multiple responsibilities when activated. They must quickly adapt to manage diverse operational, logistical, and administrative tasks. Having the ability to create events, manage missions, task personnel and resources, and view progress in one system provides the flexibility for one or more individuals to efficiently perform these duties as needed.

Create new event

In this workflow, you will take on an operations role in the National Guard. The governor has issued a request for assistance to the National Guard, in response to a hurricane that is due to touch down in Miami-Dade County. National Guard leadership have asked you to manage the entry of the event and related missions so that leadership can gain quick understanding as the situation progresses. You will start by using the Event Entry survey in the Civil Support Management Center.

To capture a new event using the Civil Support Management Center, complete the following steps:

  1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center app.
  2. Open the item page and click View to view the app.
  3. In the app header, click the Create drop-down arrow and choose Create Event.

    This map and survey are configured to dynamically interact with the Living Atlas Severe Events Weather layer. When a live weather alert is selected in the map, notice that the geometry of the layer is automatically imported into the Location field of the Event Entry survey. Dynamic layers can be added or removed by editing the Civil Support Map and then configuring in the Civil Support Management Center using the Survey123 widget and the Send data to this survey option. More information related on this topic can be found in a blog on highlighting how to work with dynamic layers.

  4. To enter a new event without using the dynamic weather layer, proceed by inputting the following into the Event Entry survey.

    ParameterValue
    Event ID

    Type EVENT001.

    Include RFA Information

    Select No.

    Begin Date

    Select the date 07/15/2022.

    End Date

    Select the date 07/22/2022.

    Location

    Draw a polygon along the Miami-Dade County area.

    Event Type

    Select Weather.

    Event Sub Category

    Select Hurricane.

    Event Description

    Type Hurricane Olga is moving at 15 mph with high winds of 175 mph. Hurricane Olga is approaching the Miami-Dade County geographical area and is located approximately 300 miles from the Florida coastline.

  5. Click Submit.

Create new mission

Maintaining the same operations role, you have now been asked to start entering the missions related to Hurricane Olga. You will use the Operations Dashboard app to enter mission information.

To enter information related to a new mission, complete the following steps:

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Create drop-down arrow and choose Operations Dashboard.
  3. Select EVENT001 from the Event List.
  4. Select the Add Mission tab in the lower right. Notice that the EVENT001 Event ID is automatically showing as part of the new Mission Entry.
  5. In the Mission Entry survey, fill in the following details:

    ParameterValue
    Mission ID

    Type MISSION001.

    Location

    Type Lat: 25.79496 Lon: -80.12594.

    Start Date

    Select the date 07/15/2022.

    End Date

    Select the date 07/22/2022.

    Mission Type

    Select Personnel Support.

    Mission Description

    Type 50 personnel are needed to fill sandbags and place them in designated areas.

    Mission Stage

    Select Pending Approval.

    Mission Priority

    Select Medium.

    Battalion

    Select 1st Battalion.

    Company

    Select B Company.

    Personnel Information

    Select Yes.

    Personnel Details

    Select Other.

    Enter # of Other Personnel

    Type 50. Total Personnel will automatically fill.

    Vehicle Information

    Select Yes.

    Vehicle and Aircraft Details

    Select Land Vehicles.

    Land Vehicle Type

    Select Utility Truck and type 5 for the Quantity.

    Estimate Cost

    Select Yes.

    Estimate Mission Cost/Day

    Type 5000.

    Submitter POC Details

    Enter your name and contact information.

    Ground Commander POC Details

    Enter commander point of contact details.

  6. Click Submit.

Create additional missions

It is likely that there will be several similar missions taking place in a response to an event. In this exercise, you will use the Operations Dashboard to enter several additional sandbagging missions.

To quickly create additional sandbagging missions, complete the following steps:

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Create drop-down arrow and choose Operations Dashboard.
  3. Select MISSION001 from the Mission List.
  4. From the pop-up, select Copy Mission. Once the survey loads, notice that it is an exact copy of MISSION001.
  5. In the Mission Entry survey, modify the following details:

    ParameterValue
    Mission ID

    Change MISSION001 to MISSION002 .

    Location

    Change Lat: 25.79496 Lon: -80.12594 to Lat: 25.80076 Lon: -80.12482.

    Mission Description

    Change 50 personnel are needed to fill sandbags and place them in designated areas. to 25 personnel are needed to fill sandbags and place them in designated areas.

    Battalion

    Change 1st Battalion to 2nd Battalion.

    Company

    Change B Company to E Company.

    Enter # of Other Personnel

    Change 50 to 25 . Total Personnel will automatically fill.

    Land Vehicle Type

    Change 5 to 3 for the Quantity.

    Estimate Mission Cost/Day

    Change 5000 to 2500.

  6. Click Submit.
  7. Return to Operations Dashboard and verify MISSION002 shows in the Mission List and map.

Manage mission stages

You will go back to assuming a role as a member of the operations staff. After leadership used the Operations Management Dashboard to review ongoing missions, they determined that there were not enough resources to conduct MISSION002. You will use the Operations Dashboard to change the status of MISSION001 and MISSION002.

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Create drop-down arrow and choose Operations Dashboard.
  3. Select MISSION002 from the Mission List.
  4. Select Edit Mission from the pop-up. The Mission Editor survey loads for MISSION002 .
  5. In the Mission Editor survey, modify the following details:

    ParameterValue
    Provide Additional Details

    Select Yes.

    Enter Additional Details

    Type Mission declined by unit commander. Not enough resources available to conduct mission.

    Mission Stage

    Change Pending Approval to Declined

  6. Click Submit.
  7. Return to Operations Dashboard and verify the stage label reflects as Declined for MISSION002 in the Mission List and the symbology is updated in the map.

Create field report

As a member of the operations staff, you will submit a field report on behalf of a guardsman who conducted an unplanned civilian rescue while responding to a mission. Although the guardsman does have the ability to download to their phone to directly submit the report, they have opted to phone it in for you to enter.

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Create drop-down arrow and choose Operations Dashboard.
  3. Select MISSION001 from the Mission List.
  4. Select the Add Field Report tab in the lower right. Notice that the EVENT001 Event ID is and MISSION001 Mission ID are automatically showing as part of the new Field Report.
  5. In the Field Report survey, fill in the following details:

    ParameterValue
    Date and Time:

    Select the date 07/18/2022.

    Name:

    Enter your name.

    Email:

    Enter your email.

    Phone Number:

    Enter your phone number.

    Location:

    Type Lat: 25.79679 Lon: -80.12552.

    Battalion:

    Leave autopopulated value of 1st Battalion unchanged .

    Company:

    Leave autopopulated value of B Company unchanged .

    What Happened:

    Type While driving back to resupply encountered 4 civilians with flooded car. Assisted in tow and water rescue..

    Enter Names of Others Involved:

    Enter other names.

    Photo(s):

    Add 2 photos.

  6. Click Submit.
  7. In a browser, go to your Operations Management Dashboard .
  8. Use the filters in the left panel to narrow down to MISSION001.
  9. Notice that there is information and photos related to the Field Report now present in the dashboard.

Report mission status

During the life cycle of a mission, it is common for leadership to request a status report for ongoing missions. Remaining in an operations role, you will assume that leadership has requested a 72 hour outlook for MISSION001.

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Create drop-down arrow and choose Operations Dashboard.
  3. Select MISSION001 from the Mission List.
  4. Select the Add Status Report tab in the lower right. Notice that the EVENT001 Event ID is and MISSION001 Mission ID are automatically showing as part of the new Status Report.
  5. In theStatus Report survey, fill in the following details:

    ParameterValue
    Date and Time:

    Select the date 07/16/2022.

    Name:

    Enter your name.

    Email:

    Enter your email.

    Phone:

    Enter your phone number.

    Battalion:

    Leave autopopulated value of 1st Battalion unchanged .

    Company:

    Leave autopopulated value of B Company unchanged .

    Personnel Deployed

    Leave autopopulated value of 50 unchanged .

    Vehicles Deployed

    Leave autopopulated value of 5 unchanged .

    Equipment Status

    Select Amber.

    Add Notes

    Type 2 Utility trucks will need to be refueled prior to departure.

    Logistics Status

    Select Green.

    Logistics Status

    Type On Track.

    24 Hour Projection

    Type Refuel trucks and load sandbags/shovels.

    48 Hour Projection

    Type Arrive on site and fill/place 1000 sandbags.

    72 Hour Projection

    Type Return to armory for more sandbags and refuel.

  6. Click Submit.
  7. In a browser, go to your Operations Management Dashboard .
  8. Use the filters in the left panel to narrow down to MISSION001.
  9. Notice that there is information related to the Status Report now present in the dashboard.

Task personnel and resources

After events and their associated missions have been proposed, the next challenge for a military unit is understanding their capacity to respond. Once this is understood, personnel and resources can be tasked appropriately. The Civil Support solution can be used to review personnel and resource inventories and then task them to events and missions.

Note:

Before proceeding with this workflow, ensure that you have at least one open event and one open mission available for tasking. If you do not, you can reference previous steps in this topic outlining how to enter an event and enter a mission. You will also need resources loaded into the Resource Tasking Center. This workflow can be accomplished by referencing the Configure Civil Support topic.

Task unit to event and mission

Assuming an operations role, you will now task a unit to an event and mission.

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Manage drop-down arrow and choose Personnel Tasking Center.
  3. Select A Company from the Personnel List.
  4. Note:
    If you have not yet submitted a readiness report and event/mission, refer to previous workflows before proceeding further.
  5. Use the Personnel Tasker survey to input the following:

    ParameterValue
    Task or Untask to an Event and Mission

    Select Task

    Event

    Type EVENT001.

    Mission

    Type MISSION001.

  6. Click Submit.
    Note:
    The side panel can be used to filter by unit or individual to view the desired subset of report submissions.

    To prevent mistakes and ensure data quality, the event and mission entries can be setup to use lookup lists generated from the unique values contained in a field from a separate layer. To implement this option, refer to the Modify survey section of the configuring Civil Support topic.

Task resources to event and mission

Remaining in an operations role you will assign resources to an event and mission.

Note:

You will need to first ensure that resources have been loaded into the Resource Management layer prior to this step. Refer to the configuring Civil Support topic for instructions.

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Manage drop-down arrow and choose Resource Tasking Center.
  3. Use the side panel to filter to desired battalion, company, resource category, and resource type until you see your desired options in the Resource List.
  4. Select the individual record from the Resource List and use the Resource Tasker survey to enter the following:

    ParameterValue
    Task or Untask to an Event and Mission

    Select Task

    Event

    Type EVENT001.

    Mission

    Type MISSION001.

    To prevent mistakes and ensure data quality, the event and mission entries can be setup to use lookup lists generated from the unique values contained in a field from a separate layer. To implement this option, refer to the Modify surveys section of the Configure topic for Civil Support.

Review response efforts

As the response to the event and associated missions progress, it is crucial for unit commanders and other leadership to monitor mission activities as close to real time as possible. This is typically viewed on a big screen for all leadership to see or reviewed on a personal computer if needed.

Review and close missions and events

Now, you will assume a leadership role in the National Guard. Your job is to monitor your unit's open events and missions to determine if there are any that require your attention. You will view the stages of all missions and then look more closely at specific missions, including trends like estimated cost and which unit the mission has been tasked to.

To evaluate information related to events and missions, complete the following steps:

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Review drop-down arrow and choose Operations Overview.
  3. On the left side of the dashboard, click the arrow to open the left panel.
  4. Use the filters in the left panel to narrow down the missions.

    You can filter by status of event, event name, stage of mission, and mission name.

  5. Start by reviewing MISSION001. After selecting it from the Select Mission filter, notice that the dashboard updates to reflect information related to that mission.

    Information related to the mission stage, allocated personnel, allocated vehicles, cost, and location are updated once an event and/or mission is selected. Notice that there is no information currently visible for the status report and field report section. These can be populated by returning to the Operations Dashboard and using the specific tabs to submit the reports.

  6. Change the selection to a different mission. As the dashboard updates to show details for the next mission, make note of the mission assignment/stage, number of personnel and vehicles requested, location, and estimated cost. This information can be relayed to additional leadership for event status, or a decision made and passed back to the operations staff to approve or deny a proposed mission.

Close missions and event

In order to maintain a clear operational picture for leadership, it is necessary to close missions and events which are no longer ongoing. You will assume the role of a operations staff member who was just informed that all missions and events are now over. You will use the Operations Dashboard with the Mission Closer and Event Closer surveys to close the missions and events.

  1. Verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Civil Support Management Center if you don't already have it open.
  2. In the app header, click the Create drop-down arrow and choose Operations Dashboard.
  3. Select MISSION001 from the Mission List.
  4. Select Close Mission from the pop-up. TheMission Closer survey loads for MISSION001 .
  5. In the Mission Closer survey, fill in the following details:

    ParameterValue
    Mission Stage:

    Select Complete.

    Closing Comments:

    Type Mission has been completed. Over 10,000 sandbags filled and placed.

  6. Click Submit.

    Notice that MISSION001 has now been removed from the Mission List and map in the Operations Dashboard. Closed missions can still be viewed by using the Mission Status filter in the header of the dashboard to select Closed or All.

  7. Select MISSION002 from the Mission List.
  8. Select Close Mission from the pop-up. TheMission Closer survey loads for MISSION002 .
  9. In the Mission Closer survey, fill in the following details:

    ParameterValue
    Closing Comments:

    Type Mission was declined and hurricane response is complete.

  10. Click Submit
  11. Select EVENT001 from the Event List.
  12. Select Close Event from the pop-up. The Event Closer survey loads for EVENT001 .
  13. In the Event Closer survey, fill in the following details:

    ParameterValue
    Event Closing Comments:

    Type Hurricane Olga and all mission responses are complete. Closing event.