EOP ASSIST: An Overview for States
Attached is a copy the recent presentation on EOP Assist. These slides provide an overview of
recent updates and enhancements to the EOP ASSIST, an online EOP/safety plan development
tool. There is also information on how states may use this tool to cultivate emergency
management capacity across the state.
The updated EOP ASSIST Webpage is available on the REMS Website. There is the recently
enhanced software, EOP ASSIST 2.0, as well as the following new EOP ASSIST video tutorials:



Video Tutorial: "An Overview of the Features and Functions of EOP ASSIST”
Video Tutorial: "Creating a School EOP With EOP ASSIST: A Focus on the Planning Process”
Video Tutorial: "Using EOP ASSIST as an Administrator”
These video tutorials may be viewed by both current and potential users of EOP ASSIST, and
provide a comprehensive understanding of how the application works. We invite you to share
these tutorials with colleagues, LEAs, and schools throughout your state, as you discuss EOP
ASSIST.
On the REMS page, there will also be updates regarding the EOP ASSIST Interactive Workbook,
to be posted to the REMS Website in the coming days.
Related Resources




EOP ASSIST Product Description
EOP ASSIST 2.0 User Manual
EOP ASSIST 2.0 Installation Manual
Overview of EOP ASSIST Presentation
QUESTIONS:
1. Our grant efforts are focused on district level plans / planning. The EOP Assist is school
level focused, not on district level planning. Has anyone had any questions or feedback for
your districts and/or schools on that?
The Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans (School Guide) is the
foundation to EOP Assist. That said, we designed this tool to support districts and schools alike.
Districts can use this tool to support and manage the creation of high-quality school EOPs by
schools throughout their district. For example, it includes a dashboard feature which shows all
of the EOPs created on the server.
Additionally, districts can use EOP ASSIST to create sample school plans as TA and training tools
for use throughout the district or to provide required language for inclusion in all school plans.
Finally, districts can also use this tool to create the portion of their EOPs that address school
emergencies.
At the same time, the six-step planning process recommended in the School Guide for
developing a high-quality EOP can be applied to the process of developing district plans as much
as it is school plans. So, yes, you are correct, it supports school and district-level planning.
2. Although the EOP Assist is a free download, there are already questions about costs:
bandwidth, impact and work load. There is a lot of backend work:
a. Backend bandwidth and work load….
EOP ASSIST was designed to minimize backend work and bandwidth. For example, EOP ASSIST
installation requires only minimal time and intermediate-level familiarity with server
configuration. The installation does not require intensive configuration. EOP ASSIST is intended
to run on most major platforms, including Windows and Linux operating systems and Apache
and IIS server software. Furthermore, we designed EOP Assist to work with multiple types of
database systems. In non-IT terms, we wanted to ensure it is compatible with the most
commonly used servers and it is user-friendly for IT professionals.
Once EOP ASSIST is installed on a server, maintenance is minimal, especially when compared to
the level of maintenance that would be required were EOP ASSIST installed separately on each
computer. IT personnel are only required to maintain the security of the server, instead of the
security of each computer hosting the application, for example.
Additionally, whenever there are updates to EOP ASSIST, the updates are made on the server,
rather than on each computer. Finally, the bandwidth required to run this application is minimal
compared to other web-based applications that districts and schools would use.
Ultimately, the backend bandwidth required to run this application will vary from state to state,
depending on how many EOP ASSIST users will be using the state’s application. We would be
happy to set up a call with you--or anyone else--to help determine a state's particular situation.
b. Installation and implementation of EOP Assist software (I am thinking of one of our
largest districts with 90+ school buildings and the need to create schools, assign and
update administrators.)
EOP ASSIST was designed to have multiple tiers of administrators to help alleviate the burden
for any one person administering the tool. For example:



State Administrators create districts and add District Administrators;
District Administrators create schools and add School Administrators; and
School Administrators add School Users.
There would only be a heavier burden at the start of using this application for a large state or a
large district, as all school districts and schools will be added into the system. Once they are
added in, however, little work is required. Additionally, it is recommended that administrative
responsibilities are spread out across different administrators, namely, that there are at least:



three State Administrators for each state agency hosting the application;
three District Administrators for each district using the application; and
three School Administrators for each school using the application.
If the state of Washington, for example, needs to add in 295 school districts into EOP ASSIST,
that responsibility could be spread out over multiple State Administrators. Another strategy to
alleviate the time required to add these districts into the application is to enter this information
in phases. For example, Region 1 districts could be added in September-October, Region 2
districts could be added in November-December, etc.
c. Ongoing support requirements
Parallel question: the tech support folks will have little or nothing to do with the
development of plans. (Just sayin’.) They are not going to know what’s happening with plan
development and implementation – but they will be the go-to’s when there are questions.
You are correct that IT personnel, the Super Administrators, are only responsible for installing
EOP ASSIST onto a state’s server; creating the first account; and for creating the first State
Administrator (or district server and District Administrator, should this be installed at the local
level). They will be the ‘go-to’ person for IT issues, including resetting State Administrators’
passwords, not for assistance with EOP development and implementation.
State Administrators, however, are not IT personnel but individuals with emergency
management knowledge and provide support on EOP development and implementation. It is
recommended that the first State Administrator creates additional State Administrators (so that
there are a minimum of three State Administrators for each state-level agency hosting the
application). State Administrators are then responsible for managing the state’s account of the
application: adding new districts and District Administrators, helping to answer questions, etc.
The only time IT personnel will be needed after installation is if an update to the tool is required
(in which case they will install the update), or if all three State Administrators forget their
passwords at the same time. In that case, IT personnel could go into the application and reset
the passwords for just those State Administrators. Otherwise, State Administrators have the
option of resetting other State Administrator’s password. All work within the tool is thus the
responsibility of the non-IT administrators.
And then there are questions of space. Plans for districts with many school buildings will take
a lot of space on a server.
This is an important consideration, you are right. We worked to ensure that EOP ASSIST is not
going to be the main thing that takes up space on a server, however; the space required for a
server hard drive to host EOPs using EOP ASSIST is not extensive. A sample plan that we created
to test the EOP ASSIST 2.0 software is a 56-page plan and is 64 KB. At the extreme, let’s imagine
that each school EOP in the state of Washington is about 10 MB per file, which would be
extremely large. If there are 2,200 schools and each EOP is 10 MB, 22 GB of space would be
required. The good news is that in our experience, it is very difficult to find a server that has less
than 250 GB of space, and much more common that server hard drives have 1 to 2 TB of space.
If you are considering hosting at any sites—state or district—that might in fact experience these
kinds of space limitations, we would love to brainstorm solutions with you, too. We are always
looking for ways the reality of use in the field tests the boundaries of what we imagined during
our development phase, and how to continue to problem solve in real-world settings.
3. The info and tutorials are for district and school implementation. There may be states
which will want to “own” this. All the above would apply at the state level. I know that with
295 districts and over 2,200 schools, the challenge for our state agency would be daunting.
Although we do have video tutorials and materials supporting use of EOP ASSIST at the school
district and school-levels, we do have a comprehensive, recently updated EOP ASSIST 2.0 User
Manual, which provides detailed information about how to host this application at the statelevel, among other topics. In addition, we will continue to have virtual trainings and other
events to help train any interested stakeholders on how to use EOP ASSIST, as well as archived
presentations, as applicable (such as the webinar on EOP ASSIST we delivered on Tuesday).
If the state of Washington decides to host EOP ASSIST, we strongly recommend encouraging
your stakeholders to utilize any or all of these resources, as well as to contact us for any
questions about how to use the application. We are adding to our repository of EOP ASSIST
resources all the time, including materials to help you train your stakeholders. Please stay in
touch with us about your needs and we will be happy to help.
a. Access to every district’s and school’s plan would be great – but that access implies
that each would / might be reviewed and OK-ed. That’d be really labor-intensive, and
really isn’t going to happen.
You are right, the review of EOPs can be a labor-intensive process, and many states (or even
some districts) do not have the capacity to review all the plans in their jurisdiction. Some states
require districts to submit EOPs even if they do not necessarily review them, while other states
can and do review plans. We wanted to make this access feature of EOP ASSIST flexible to allow
for the many possible functions that might be desired at the various levels of administration. For
example, to balance the diverse needs of different states, we implemented a “two-door sharing
feature,” which only allows EOPs to be shared with the state if both the state enables the
feature and the district (or independent school) enables the feature. If you administer the tool at
the state level for Washington, you may want to make it clear that a review of plans is not a
component of the state's role.
b. We’re trying to work regionally through our state Educational Service District
structure – 9 ESDs across the state. Each of their capabilities to host, manage and
support this will vary.
We are happy to provide additional information and technical support to each ESD, as needed.
Please do not hesitate to let us know how we may support your work with your ESDs.
Thank you again for posing questions regarding your state’s potential for hosting EOP ASSIST.