This page provides a technical overview of the steps required to implement the PulsePoint mobile application. Other aspects of a successful deployment including marketing efforts, community outreach and citizen engagement initiatives are not within the scope of this document. Note that we use the term agency throughout these steps to mean any vendor, city, county, department, bureau, municipality, or other agency considering a PulsePoint implementation.
Implementing PulsePoint involves the four main steps below. Since every agency is unique, you should view these steps as a general roadmap for building a successful implementation plan, not as a rigid or exhaustive strategy for your specific agency.
Step 1: Plan Your Implementation
Your PulsePoint implementation begins with developing an implementation plan and registering online. Therefore, you should kick off your implementation by taking these first two steps:
Ensure that Your Agency is Prepared to Deploy PulsePoint
Your implementation will not be successful unless you have high level support for it within your agency. Evaluate your agency’s technical ability and commitment to deploy PulsePoint. Some specific actions you can take to increase your chances for success are to develop a draft budget, explore sponsorship or philanthropic support, and draft an implementation plan that addresses your timeline, resources, test plans, and communications strategy.
Register Online
Once you’ve ensured that your agency is committed to a PulsePoint implementation, complete the online registration form. Completing the registration form marks the formal start of your implementation with PulsePoint and gives us the information we need to support you. After contacting you to confirm the information and to address any questions or concerns, we then provide you with a unique key for accessing PulsePoint’s “sandbox” server. This enables you to move to step 2.
Step 2: Establish Your CAD-PulsePoint Interface
The bulk of your PulsePoint implementation will involve configuration of your CAD system to interface with the PulsePoint server. This step can be broken into several smaller steps:
Connect Your CAD System to the PulsePoint Sandbox Server
This is the key step in which you connect your agency’s CAD system to PulsePoint’s sandbox server for testing. Some CAD vendors provide a ready-made interface to PulsePoint. If one is available, we recommend you use it. If not, you can use technical staff or third-party consultants to develop your own interface. Successful completion of this step occurs when you can flow CAD incident data from your production system to the PulsePoint sandbox server.
Enable Streaming Dispatch Radio
The PulsePoint app supports streaming dispatch radio, so mobile users can hear dispatch communications. This feature is optional but highly recommended to maximize your PulsePoint installation and end-user adoption. You enable streaming dispatch radio by selecting the Streaming Radio Functionality checkbox on your PulsePoint registration page and entering the URL of your radio stream. See the Streaming Radio Channels Page for complete details.
Upload Agency Photo Gallery
PulsePoint can display photos of incident, apparatus, events, etc., as provided by your agency. Detailed instructions on enabling the photo gallery are available on the In-App Agency Photos Page.
Integrate AED Location Information
Providing information about the location of nearby AED devices can help users be much more effective when responding to an cardiac arrest incident. You provide this information via an Excel spreadsheet available on the PulsePoint web site. We then integrate the AED location data so that it’s available to users. Third-party interfaces to commercial databases such as Atrus are also available. See the Public AED Locations Page for more details.
Once the CAD-PulsePoint interface is established, inform PulsePoint that you are ready to start testing.
Step 3: Test
Your implementation plan should include testing of the CAD-PulsePoint interface, streaming dispatch radio, photo gallery, and integration of your AED locations. Upon request, PulsePoint will provide a mobile test app for Android-based mobile devices. Using this app, you can verify that incidents flow end-to-end from your CAD system to mobile devices. PulsePoint does not provide the mobile device, itself.
Testing is complete when both PulsePoint and your agency are satisfied with the accuracy of the interface, as well as the delivery of other PulsePoint elements (splash screen, photos, streaming radio, AED location data, and so on). When both parties are satisfied, PulsePoint provides you with a production key, enabling you to proceed to the next step.
Step 4: Go Live
The go live process can be broken into three smaller steps:
Stage Your Production System
Staging provides a final technical validation before going live. Using your production key, you redirect your CAD interface from PulsePoint’s sandbox server to our production server. This enables you to verify the accuracy of your data in the production system, and to ensure timely delivery of incident data to mobile devices. At the same time, PulsePoint evaluates the quality and completeness of incident data.
Perform a “Soft” Launch
You should view the soft launch as your final end-to-end validation before your public go live. We “flip the switch” in PulsePoint’s production server, making your agency’s incident data accessible via the mobile app. So, from a technical perspective this is your go live. However, the idea with the soft launch is to limit the initial use to a small, internal group of users to ensure a smooth public rollout.
Go Live with PulsePoint in Your Community
This is where you announce that your community is now covered by PulsePoint. This may involve development of a communications plan that addresses a press release, a press conference, a public service announcement, and use of web and social media resources.
This implementation roadmap should give your agency a clear idea of how to proceed with a PulsePoint implementation.