Informant's CAD Interface integration allows one or more agencies using the Informant records management system within a county or regional 911 system to import CAD calls from the county or regional 911 system's CAD software. This article is intended to provide county and regional CAD officials and IT staff with an overview of how the CAD Interface is implemented and what is involved.

 Informant's CAD Interface does not require installing or configuring any Informant software at the 911 center. Our CAD Interface software is installed locally at each agency that wants to receive call files from the 911 center. We coordinate with the 911 center, the county's CAD vendor, or IT to ensure the interface between the 911 center and participating agencies is working properly.


Note: There is a one-time integration fee to implement the CAD Interface for agencies in a county or regional 911 system where the CAD Interface has not already been implemented, plus a per-agency license fee to install the CAD Interface software at each participating agency. The one-time fee covers the necessary software setup ateach agency, testing the of interface, and troubleshooting and addressing any issues that may arise.


Summary



Prerequisites


  • The county/regional CAD software must be able to export CAD calls in a text-based file format, such as XML, JSON, or plain text.
  • The county/regional CAD software must export calls in the same format for all agencies.
  • CAD calls for an agency must be exported to a designated folder on that agency's Informant server via a periodic or real-time file transfer implemented by the CAD vendor or the county (see Step 2: You configure a file transfer mechanism for each agency).
  • The county/regional CAD software must be able to differentiate CAD calls by agency, such as by including the agency ORI in the filename or in the body of the CAD file.
  • Each county must provide the list of CFS/call type codes used by the county/regional CAD software to each Informant agency so that they can create the necessary mappings between the codes used in the county/regional CAD software and their own Informant system. To import assigned officer information correctly in calls, a list of standard unit numbers or officer identifiers (such as badge numbers) used to identify officers in the county/regional CAD software should also be provided to each agency so that they can map officers in calls to officers in their Informant system.


Step 1: We collect sample CAD files from your CAD system


Our interface is designed to handle multiple CAD file formats from various vendors. We'll request sample CAD files from your CAD system to ensure it's compatible with our CAD Interface. If necessary, we'll make changes to our interface to accommodate your CAD vendor's format.


Step 2: You configure a file transfer mechanism for each agency


Informant's CAD Interface runs as a Windows service on each agency's server. The service regularly scans a designated folder on the agency's server or network for new CAD files at a configurable frequency (i.e., once every N minutes, N hours, or N days), archives processed files, and notifies agencies of any import errors via email notifications.


Your county or regional group, or your CAD vendor, will be responsible for configuring the automatic transfer of relevant CAD files from your county/regional CAD system to the designated folder at each agency. This is typically done with either a "push" or a "pull" model:


  • Push: In this model, the CAD vendor's system or a script on the CAD system pushes exported CAD call files to the relevant agency's server, usually via FTP or SFTP. This means the agency will be running an FTP or SFTP server and will typically need a public static IP address.
  • Pull: In this model, the CAD vendor or county may set up an FTP,  SFTP,  or other file transfer client on each agency's server, along with a scheduled task or script to pull files down periodically from the central CAD server.


Other file transfer methods are possible, but these are the most common.


From the perspective of the Informant CAD Interface software, as long as files are placed in the designated folder on the agency's server, it will be able to process and import incoming CAD files.


Step 3: We test the CAD Interface with one agency


Next, you'll designate one agency in the group to perform CAD Interface testing to verify that CAD files are importing correctly.


We will work with this agency to implement the CAD Interface on their Informant server, help them configure any code mappings, and have them confirm that calls are importing correctly. If any issues are discovered with the import process, we will address them during this stage. This process may involve updating the agency to a new version of Informant or installing patches for the CAD Interface as needed. Any Informant software updates that are needed to get the interface working are provided free of charge.


Once the import process is determined to be working as expected, we will proceed to the next step.


Step 4: We implement the CAD Interface at the remaining agencies


After testing is complete, the CAD Interface will be set up at the remaining agencies. For individual agencies, see Implementing CAD Interface at the agency level for the steps that will be completed at each agency, including configuring any necessary mappings between codes used by the CAD system and the corresponding values used in their Informant system, such as mapping complaint types between the CAD system and their Informant system.


Agencies may also need to update Informant to a newer version during this phase. Note that any software updates are free of charge.


Step 5: We monitor and ensure the interface is working as expected


After all agencies are live with the CAD Interface, we'll remain responsive to any feedback from agencies regarding the interface and will address any issues that may arise. We will provide patches to our CAD Interface software as needed and will provide support for issues related to the CAD Interface software and its configuration.