Topic:

How to configure Visual Command Center (VCC) to alert contacts in the area for a tornado warning or other impactful event.

Description:

It depends on how your organization operates. If you have a centralized Global Security Operations Center (GSOC) that analyzes and accesses risk events before notifying employees, you will want to configure your templates differently than organizations that do not have a GSOC team. Here are some general best practices based on these two use cases.

• For organizations that do have a GSOC team
  • On your VCC templates, add the variable VCC!: Add EB Contacts in Area. This will pull in any contacts within the alert radius of an alert and send them a notification through whatever modalities (e.g., phone, SMS, or email) you have selected.
  • Check permissions on your template to make sure the role that will be sending notifications through VCC has Edit access. Otherwise, contacts will not be pulled in when sending a manual Incident Communication (IC) from VCC.

• For organizations that do not have a GSOC team
  • You can leverage the Send to Contacts in Area option in VCC. You do not need to add VCC!: Add EB Contacts in Area to your IC templates for automated alerts from VCC.
  • Here are the steps to configure Send to Contacts in Area in VCC:

1. Logon to VCC as an Org Admin
2. Select the hamburger menu on the top far right and select Admin Console
3. From the Admin Console select Alert Settings, then select the category (e.g., Weather Events U.S.)
4. Set what you want to be alerted on (e.g., Tornado warnings and watches)
5. Select the template you want use under Auto Incident, then select Send to Contacts in Area
6. You will receive a message from the platform alerting you that you are selecting to alert all contacts in the area for an alert
7. Click Save once your changes have been completed