Wisconsin’s Dane County Looking for a “Dial Mover” with ASAP

On July 6, Dane County, Wisconsin became the 26th agency in the U.S. –and the first in the Badger State–to go live with the ASAP program. Dane County 9-1-1 Center Operations Manager Paul Logan took some time to review the ASAP implementation, which included being the first PSAP to use TriTech’s Inform CAD with an ASAP interface solution and also working with the state Justice Department which manages the state switch.

Asked why Dane County implemented ASAP, Paul said, “We’d been interested in ASAP for a long time, thinking it could have a significant positive impact on our operations. Every PSAP is looking for ways to improve answer times, and decrease the likelihood of errors, and ASAP seems to fit into both of those areas. We decided at budget time a few years ago to ask for the money to buy an interface and get the project rolling.

“Overall, the process has been painless,” he continued. “We worked with our CAD vendor (Tri-Tech) on the interface. It was a learning experience for everyone since we were the first customer to make the request. We’re excited to help make it right for those Tri-Tech customers who will follow. Having [ASAP Subject Matter Expert] Bill Hobgood involved was key to making it happen. Bill obviously has the answers to the tough questions.

“We also worked closely with our state Department of Justice who manages the message switch. Internally, our technical staff worked with all our ASAP partners to make sure it would work, and we’re happy that we finally are live.”

While Logan says that it’s a bit early to say how ASAP is impacting operations, he adds that with ADT, Tyco and other companies coming online soon, he expects to see an impact. “I’m really looking forward to being able to says it’s been a huge dial mover for us,” he concluded.

We’ll check back with Paul Logan in a few months to report on Dane County developments.