Scalability
Does your PSAP need to handle 500,000 calls for service per year? Forge CAD can do that (in fact, we implemented a county-wide CAD system that does precisely that).
Does your PSAP handle 40,000 calls a year? We can do that too (and again, we have).
Do you need geographically separated centers to operate as a single unit?
Forge CAD was built to be scalable for smaller or larger needs. So whether you’re a small localized center or a larger regional or state-wide multi-center operation, Forge CAD is the perfect fit for your PSAP.
Availability
You need assurance that your CAD will be there when things get tough. When that big storm hits, you need to know your CAD can handle the load and remain responsive so responders stay informed, are kept safe, and remain effective.
Forge CAD was designed and is built using current best practices. Unlike many other CAD systems, Forge CAD isn’t based on legacy technology and approaches. Instead, it’s free from the design constraints commonly found in systems that have their roots in the 80s and 90s.
Also unlike many CAD systems, Forge CAD doesn't depend on polling an incident database periodically to pull down the latest information. With Forge CAD, all workstations send small amounts of information whenever an event happens, and the application server redistributes this event to other interested workstations and servers. This architectural approach provides superior flexibility and availability. Forge CAD servers can also work in load-balanced clusters to provide added dependability.
The bottom line? Everyone gets near real-time updates of the information they need — without clobbering the database to pull incident information and without indiscriminate broadcasting of data.
Possible Deployment Scenarios
Forge CAD architecture allows for many interesting deployment scenarios:
Multiple Hot Sites: A site can have workstations publishing and subscribing to incident information from a local server cluster. This can occur for each site, even for your mobile response truck. Each of the server clusters can publish and subscribe to one another, keeping incident information in synch across the enterprise. Local servers provide incident information to workstations, allowing quick system response.
Hot Sites with Warm Backup: This scenario is similar to the multiple hot sites scenario, except that it allows you to designate one or more sites as a warm backup.
Single System: Forge CAD can scale down to a single laptop if needed taking mobile CAD to the extreme.
What makes this possible? A service-based approach using event publisher/subscriber-distributed architecture.
Flexibility
Do your dispatchers and responders need access to local sources of information? Are they currently required to switch from application to application to access this information? Is your current vendor slow to respond to data-integration requests?
We don’t expect you to work the way Forge CAD does. Instead, we built Forge CAD to work the way you need it to — using the data you need it to use and the processes you need it to employ. We can integrate your data sources to provide dispatchers more easily accessible information to help them make more informed decisions.
For example, do you have any of the following sources of information that might be of interest?
- Gun Permits
- Dog Permits
- Local Warrants
- Alarm Companies
The possibilities are virtually endless. We have a long history of building highly successful custom applications, and can create the perfect CAD solution for your needs.
Usability
Does your current CAD look like it’s stuck in a time warp and belongs on Windows 3.1? Is it even less modern-looking than that? Call takers and dispatchers spend a lot of time looking at and interacting with their CAD system.
User interfaces have come a long way. Today, we understand that information needs to be displayed to reduce eye and hand fatigue. Forge CAD provides a very flexible user interface, designed to reduce scrolling and present information in an appealing, efficient manner.
In fact, Forge CAD is the only CAD system to use Microsoft’s new Fluent user interface, the menu approach found in Office 2007. It replaces traditional menus and sets a new standard for easy access to system functions. Menus are context sensitive and use graphical hints to convey intention and expose functionality. But not all users like using a mouse all the time, so we provide choices. Most Forge CAD functionality is accessible using hot keys and a command line.
Also, Forge CAD can be used on a single monitor or stretched over many monitors. The screen layout can be set by position type or personalized to create an optimal custom configuration.
User profiles allow preset and personalized layouts to be quickly selected. And work queues for units and incidents can be sorted and filtered to meet the needs of the operator and position type.
Technology
Forge CAD is built on Microsoft’s technology stack: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (2008 under testing), Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (2008 under testing), and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. Windows Communication Foundation provides the backbone of our architecture. This give us (and you) lots of flexibility and efficiency. Plus we are a Microsoft Partner. As such, we keep fluent with current trends and technologies in the Microsoft stack.
A Microsoft solution can reduce your operations costs by allowing your technicians to focus on and become proficient in a single technology stack — plus it’s easy to find these technicians.
Sound like a different kind of CAD?
Forge CAD is breaking the mold.
