...
Interview w/ Courtney Chin (May 17, 2022)
What do you do and how do you work?
-as Ops Officer since April 2021
-started in 2018 in an administrative role
-uses TCOMS every day that she is working
-primary tool
-main objective is to log all actions, phone calls, email received and sent
-to be able to see and search incidents from the past, add entries to old and newer events
-typically, new events are received by phone or email, no other means of communications
Scenarios
-phone call
Refer to SOPs to see what action is required and if notification needs to be sent
Looks under TCOMS Procedures…
Will take urgent actions before logging in TCOMS
If less urgent and no other pressing matters, then will log into TCOMS immediately
SOP downloads Word doc to local drive, inc. links to notification template which also needs to be downloaded locally. (A shortcut path also exists on the desktop)
This is done every single time there is a new event
V: If multiple events, how do you prioritize?
Working with a partner to share workload
She never has more than 2 procedures open at a time
It's difficult to explain how to prioritize; it is mostly experienced to determine what is more urgent. Reports from a few days ago are less important. Critical incidents are more urgent. (KM question: so how do they determine criticality?)
V: Do you record the incidents anywhere else? Paper, notes, etc.?
Types in Word while taking the call because it's faster than writer and deletes after entering TCOMS
Uses shorthand notes - real-life scenario = possible IEDat YYZ
Ask probing questions of caller
CATSA calls from an Ops Centre in Ottawa, not at YYZ, even if incident happens at YYZ (Toronto Pearson Int'l Airport)
*CATSA can send emails too.
Sends a case number by email after the phone call.
They call by phone because it's urgent, critical
Courtney will call the Transportation Inspector (TC) and make a note in Word
Courtney will call AVSEC Duty Manager and make a note in Word
If she receives a call, she does not get an email address
*Sidenote: time/date copy/paste button doesn't always consistently appear on New Event screen
Finished copy/paste into New Event screen, including Follow-Ups "Phone/Fax Sent" "Phone/Fax Received" etc. (these follow-ups result in child interactions to the Event
Will attach the CATSA email, once it's received (typically later), resulting in another interaction
Email received in evening
Canadian Coast Guard Marine Occurrence Report
Goes to Marine Safety SOPs section in Procedures to review actions
Drag drops email into TCOMS and enters the New Event details
Location entry doesn't always work when entering coordinates in the 'Where' section
She does not use Google Map and does not verify if the coordinates are accurate.
Sometimes I will use Vessel Tracker.com to get real-time vessel coordinates
Are there any other actions she takes after logging information in TCOMS? (Aside from follow-ups)
If the incident is complete, then they will not inform the incoming shift. Closes Word document with raw notes.
If incident is ongoing…?
Would there be value in being able to do everything in TCOMS
She does NOT save the Word document and has never lost data (yet!).
Pain Points
It has 4 tabs that open Ops, Incidents etc. to save time going back and forth because it's SLOW.
Escalating events are slow to load titles