Groups
Overview
Groups form an important part of the BART system, where they allow for different but targeted communication between various brigades, units and flotillas. Each group can have any number of associated broadcast tags, which can provide a range of different data feeds. Data feeds may be from a paging network (capcodes), CAD system, SMS, API or email.
Groups can also be associated with different regions, districts, zones, areas, agencies and states. This provides an easy way to oversee all activities and movements, across multiple groups.
Key Settings
Broadcast Tags
A ‘Broadcast Tag’ is a way of having a predefined set of members assigned to a message feed. When sending a message to a broadcast tag, the message will go to anyone who has it assigned to them (unless certain filtering has been setup). Broadcast Tags also allow you to configure how members receive broadcast messages, which can be through any combination of SMS, email, push notification.
Broadcast tags must be setup for each group within the BART system; without them, you won't receive a data feed with ongoing broadcast messages.
For more information on creating and administering broadcast tags, please follow this link.
Local Headquarters Location
You'll also need to ensure that the location of your local headquarters has been setup correctly. If the location is incorrect, it may affect the estimated time of arrival for your members, as well as other logged details.
For more information on setting the location of your headquarters, please follow this link.
Top Qualifications
The BART system allows you to set 3 key qualifications for your group. These qualifications should be setup to help ensure the right skills and qualifications are met for an adequate response.
After setting up the top 3 qualifications, these will be displayed as a quick reference in areas that show member attendance so that you can very quickly see if you have the right people for a response or not.
Permission Levels
Within each group, members can be assigned different permission levels. This is a necessary setting, as when there are members that belong to multiple groups or agencies a member may have higher or lower permissions depending on the group. It is up to the group administrator to determine the relevant permissions for each of the groups members.