Operations Management Seminar
November 3-4, 2003

Hyatt Regency Albuquerque, 
Albuquerque, NM

Sponsored by CSAA
Hosted by Protection Service Industries (PSI)

Registration Deadline: October 20, 2003

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

Sunday, November 2, 2003

          5:30 - 7:30 PM Informal Social Hour

Monday, November 3, 2003

          7:30  - 8:00      Continental Breakfast, on your own

          8:00  -  8:30    Opening Comments and Introductions, Craig Leiser

8:30 - 9:30  False Alarm Reduction Initiatives and Alarm Traffic Management  - How can you reduce the false dispatches in your central station?  Find some proven programs that you can implement to address this problem.  Learn about enhanced verification techniques, customer training programs and SOPs that reduce dispatches and reduce central station traffic.  Presented by Kim Schellenberg, AAA Alarm Systems LTD.

9:30 - 10:00        Protection Services, Host Central Station - Meet Lydia Torres from our host central station who will provide an overview of their central station prior to our site tour.  She will share interesting and helpful information that makes their central station unique.  Travel arrangements will be made at the end of the overview.

10:15 - 10:30      Travel to Protection Services

10:30 - 12:00      Tour of Protection Services - Q&A

12:00 - 12:15      Travel back to the hotel

12:15 - 1:30        Lunch (at the hotel) - This will be a working lunch as each table will select from a list of topics to discuss.  Learn what your peers are doing to address issues such as operator evaluations, protocols for notifying customers of changes to SOPs, wage/incentive programs, receiver reporting formats, and several others.  (Too many topics you would like to explore?  All topics will be repeated on day 2, to allow you to participate in multiple discussions during the lunch breaks.)

1:30 - 3:30         Central Station Performance Measurement - What statistics should you be gathering in your central station?  How do you compare to other central stations?  Are your operators productive?  Can your automation system provide performance measurements?   What forms do you use in your central station?  We will explore all these questions and provide some benchmark numbers for you to use in your facility.  We encourage you to bring any information/forms you may be using to share with the group.  Members from the Charlotte work group tasked with this project will present the material.

3:30 - 3:45         Break

3:45 - 5:15         Digital telephone lines, PRI, BRI, T1's, E1's, DSL. -  What are they?  What are the performance limits and benefits? When is the time right for me to take advantage of these services? Presented by:  Morgan Hertel, Command Center

5:30 - 6:30         Informal Social Hour

6:30                   Dinner on your own

Tuesday, November 4, 2003

7:30 - 8:00         Breakfast on your own

8:00 - 9:00         Disaster Recovery: Creating a Program Shell - At the September CSAA Disaster Summary a tremendous amount of material was shared.  Participants asked that we take a step back and provide an easy framework that they can use into which they can insert the information specific to their site.    Presenter:  Pam Petrow, Vector Security

9:00 - 10:00        Digital Voice Recording - Are you currently recording your telephone lines or want to begin?  Is it time to look at replacing your current hardware?  Our speaker will look at all aspects of this topic including technical consideration, optional performance expectations and some practical experience. Presented by: Morgan Hertel, Command Center

10:00 - 10:15      Break

10:15 - 11:30      Panel Discussion: Central Station Receivers - Everything you could ever want to know about receivers!  Learn about formats, problems, dropped signals, managing signal traffic, recognizing false alarms or excessive traffic, interfacing receivers with the rest of the central station, planning and implementing redundancy and line transfers.  Panel Participants: Carey McNeme, Morgan Hertel, Sasha Kylau and Ty Davis.

11:30 - 12:00      Multiple Station/Site Redundant Operations - Think a redundant facility is not possible do to your size or complexity.  Our speaker has firsthand knowledge of that it takes to address this issue.  You may be surprised at how what appears to be can actually be achieved.  Presenter: Carey McNeme, Network Multifamily.

12:00 - 1:00        Lunch - Join a different discussion on one of the roundtable topics introduced on Day 1.

1:00 - 2:15         Video Monitoring and Verification - Video monitoring/verification are hot topics in most alarm companies.  Is your Central Station ready?  Learn how others made the decisions to expand their services to include video, how they trained personnel, what went well and what were the problems.  Presenters to be announced.

2:15 - 2:45         CSAA Online Operator Level 1 Training - If you are not currently using the online training product maybe this presentation will change your mind.  Learn how to cost justify training and get a first-hand look at what the operators will experience when they train using this program.  Presenter:  Pam Petrow, CSAA Distance Learning Committee Chair

2:45 - 3:00         Closing Comments, Surveys and Next Meeting Information