1st Quarter, 2007
FireVISION is a quarterly publication from ACS Government Systems with fire-industry news, FIREHOUSE Software tips, and other helpful information. We hope you find this and future issues to be both informative and useful.

To receive future issues, you do not need to do anything. If you would like to be removed from our mailing list, see the instructions at the bottom of this page.

2007 Customer Survey is Complete
The 2007 edition of the FH Customer Satisfaction survey is complete. Staff members of ACS Government Systems performed an independent survey of 1,000 randomly chosen FIREHOUSE Software clients. A wide range of questions were presented to discuss the current software design, sales & support services, and future product development. The survey provided structured answers for the participants to choose from, but allowed for comments to their answers as well. These added comments and requests are being reviewed by the FH management teams with the purpose of increasing the abilities of FIREHOUSE Software, and increasing the satisfaction our clients have with FH products and services.

The complete details of the survey will be published on firehousesoftware.com later this summer. But until then, we wanted to share these initial numbers from respondents:

FHETS 2007 
ACS Government Systems is pleased to announce the 2007 FIREHOUSE Software Education and Training Seminar will be held October 1st through 4th at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center in San Diego, California. 

Check-in for FHETS will begin on the 1st, with classes starting the 2nd. The 2007 FHETS will not include the ACS Client Forum. For the 3 day event, the seminar will be $595, with hotel rooms available at $129/night. This special hotel room rate extends 3 days before and 3 days after the seminar as well. Breakfast, lunch, and between class snacks will be provided for the attendees during the 3 days. For travel planning, the seminar begins with a welcome reception on the 1st from 6pm to 7pm. Breakfast will be served on the 2nd at 7:30am, including our keynote speaker. The last class will end at 5pm on the 4th. We anticipate 400 attendees for this year's event. A complete class agenda, and registration for the event and hotel, will be available on the firehousesoftware.com website by May 1st.

Visit the San Diego Visitors Bureau for information about some of the sites and activities available in the San Diego area before or after our event.

ACS FIREHOUSE Software Notes
Partnership with CPSE:  The Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE) and ACS Government Systems have formed a strategic partnership aimed at improving the technology available for the fire industry to benchmark and measure it's service delivery to their respective communities. CPSE and ACS will work together to develop data elements and logic in FIREHOUSE Software so customers can collect and report data required for risk assessment and the accreditation process. Look for more information in the coming months.

FIREHOUSE Software version 7 update:  
FIREHOUSE Software clients with active support contracts are receiving the update packet at this time. The distribution of the update will be completed by June 29th. The distribution process is based on the first licensing date of the software. Departments who purchased FH in early 2006 will receive their updates near the end of the distribution.

Purple times/dates in FIREHOUSE Software version 7: Many departments have noticed the change in FIREHOUSE Software 7 with time fields turning a shade of purple when the incident/EMS record rolls over past midnight. On save, the validation window appears, with Informational prompts about the specific time fields. The informational prompts are to make the user aware the date associated to the time differs from the alarm date. The validation window will allow users to select ‘Ignore All’ and save the record as a Completed incident. This new functionality has caused some confusion for users.

One of the changes introduced in FH version 7 was the ‘merging’ of many date fields with time fields. This merge was done for several reasons. It reduced the number of visible fields on the tabs. Checkboxes for ‘same as alarm date’ were removed. It reduced the number of fields the report author needed to populate, by automatically entering in the date. When an incident record would roll beyond Midnight, the next day’s date was automatically assumed. We hope these changes will benefit users in the long run as they experience the difference.

FIREHOUSE Software version 5 Product Support: Product support for all versions of FIREHOUSE Software 5 will be discontinued after June 30, 2007. Clients with active support contracts have been provided software updates to at least FH version 6. If your department has an active support contract but has not received an update to FH 6, please contact FH Technical Support to have an update distributed to you. When you contact Technical Support, please have your existing version of FH 5 available so we can ensure all necessary items are included in your update packet. If your department does not have an active support contract, or you are unsure of its status, please contact your department's sales representative about support contract renewal.

Mailing Payments for FIREHOUSE Solutions: Because of partnerships with other services provided by ACS Government Systems, some cities and municipalities have recently mailed payments for FIREHOUSE Solutions products to other ACS Accounts Receivable locations inadvertantly. To ensure proper and timely application of payments for FIREHOUSE Solutions products, please mail payments to:
ACS FIREHOUSE Solutions
3345 106th Circle
Urbandale, Iowa 50322

We apologize for any confusion experienced. If your municipality has a partnership with ACS Government Systems for other services, please contact your Accounts Payable department to inform them of the FH home office address to use in future payments of FH invoices.

New FH items available!
We're pleased to announce the upcoming release of FH Mobile Inspections & Occupancies! This new addition to the FH Mobile suite of software applications is developed for fire inspectors and staff to perform occupancy/property inspections and collect/update premise, contact, and preplan information in the field. Inspections can be created on location, or from a scheduled inspection synchronized from the FIREHOUSE Software database. Upon completion of the inspection activity, the signature of the responsible party(s) can be captured electronically on any chosen FIREHOUSE Software report form, then printed on scene. Go to http://www.firehousesoftware.com/Tour/fhmobins.htm for all the latest information on FH Mobile Inspections & Occupancies, available for purchase in late May 2007.

FH Ortivus Interface is available now. The interface provides an export of EMS incident information to a special file format. The department can submit the file to Sweet-Billing for processing. Contact your sales representative for more information.

FireVISION Distribution
I f you know of any colleagues who did not receive this edition, please forward the newsletter to them and suggest registering for future newsletters. If you are already registered for FireVISION and wish to register for other available publication options, proceed to the bottom of this newsletter to select the option to modify your email profile. The link will take you to the ExactTarget.com Profile Center. Single click on the Subscription Center in the left navigation pane to view the the FH publication options. Checkmark any option you have an interest in, and press Update at the bottom of the page. While you are in the Profile Center, feel free to edit any information as necessary.

If people with registered emails are not receiving the newsletter, spam and junk email filters could be prohibiting the delivery. Review the Newsletter Blocked details provided by ExactTarget.com to ensure FireVISION and other emails are delivered.

Archived copies of all previous FireVISION newsletters (printed and e-newsletters) are available at: http://www.firehousesoftware.com/dwnld/newsletter.htm

If you have any questions or concerns related to the newsletter distribution, please email: FHdocumentation@acs-inc.com.

Stop By and See Us
Look for us at these upcoming events in the coming months!
04/11/07 to 04/13/07: LA Fire Chiefs Conference, Gonzales, LA.
04/16/07 to 04/21/07: FDIC 2007, Indianapolis, IN.
04/25/07 to 04/27/07: KS State Firefighters' Conference, Hutchinson, KS.
04/26/07 to 04/27/07: OK Fire Chiefs Assoc., Tulsa, OK.
05/04/07 to 05/10/07: Metro Fire Chiefs Conference, Los Angeles, CA.
05/18/07 to 05/20/07: FireExpo 2007, Harrisburg, PA.
06/06/07 to 06/09/07: MS Fire Chiefs & Firefighters Conference, Natchez, MS.
06/08/07 to 06/08/07: University of Missouri Summer Fire School, Jefferson City, MO.
06/08/07 to 06/09/07: State Firemans and Fire Marshal's Assoc, Amarillo, TX.
06/14/07 to 06/16/07: AR Fire Chiefs & Firefighters Conference, Forrest City, AR.
06/14/07 to 06/16/07: IA Summer Fire School, Ames IA.
06/14/07 to 06/16/07: NY Assoc of Fire Chiefs Expo 2007, Lake George NY.
06/21/07 to 06/21/07: Emergency Care Update Conference, Arlington, TX.
06/21/07 to 06/23/07: WI State Fire Chiefs Conference, Wisconsin Dells, WI.
06/21/07 to 06/24/07: IL Assoc of Fire Protection Districts Meeting, Springfield, IL.
06/21/07 to 06/24/07: SEAFC Annual Leadership Conference, Daytona Beach, FL.
06/22/07 to 06/24/07: New Eng. Assoc. of Fire Chiefs Fire/Rescue/EMS 2007, West Springfield, MA.
07/13/07 to 07/15/07: Pittburgh FireRescue & EMS, Pittsburgh PA.
07/14/07 to 07/17/07: TN Fire Chiefs Conference, Nashville, TN.
07/21/07 to 07/22/07: Ohio Fire Chiefs Assoc Annual Conference, Columbus, OH.
07/26/07 to 07/28/07: FirehouseExpo, Baltimore MD.

Department Profile(s)
Each quarter, we profile a different department using FIREHOUSE Software. Many departments have been excited to be profiled recently, so we're profiling another two departments this quarter. If you would like your department profiled, please send information about your department to: FHdocumentation@acs-inc.com.

Profile # 1
Fire Department: Springfield Fire Department
Location: Springfield, Illinois
Fire Chief:  John Kulek
Personnel: 215
Stations: 12
Pop. Served: 130,000
Calls: approx 17,000 in 2006
Apparatus: 12 Engines, 3 Aerial Ladders,1 Tanker, 2 Brush trucks, 1 Technical Rescue Truck, 1 HazMat Truck with Trailer, 2 Decon Trucks, and a Water Rescue Vehicle with boats.
Software:  FIREHOUSE Software version 7
Comments: Home of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, the city of Springfield is the capital of Illinois. Centrally located in the state, Springfield is approximately 100 miles from St. Louis, MO. and 200 miles from downtown Chicago. The Springfield Fire Department serves the city and several surrounding villages to bring the coverage area to approximately 200 square miles and a population of 130,000 residents. The department was started in 1939. Today, the department has 3 divisions: Operations, Fire Safety, and Education. Operations is over the day to day operations of the department (i.e. fire suppression, EMS, pre-plans, etc). Fire Safety handles building fire code inspections, hazmat compliance, fire investigations, and public fire education. The Education division trains the department staff in fire suppression, EMS, hazmat, extrication, and all state and federal mandated training. The city of Springfield recently opened the, Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, which draws approx. 600,000 tourist a year. You can find more interesting information for the fire department on their website: http://www.springfield.il.us/Safety/Public/fire.htm.