Operation or Incident?
RAM has two ways to run a response. An operation is a map with people, tasks and a log. An incident is an operation plus an incident number, the ICS forms and a command console.
Every incident has an operation inside it. So the question is not which one, but how much you need.
The short answer
- Use an operation for a training exercise, a K9 training day, a standby or a team deployment. Use it for a search that doesn't need formal paperwork.
- Use an incident when you are called out and need an incident number, ICS forms, an org chart, or a complete record afterwards.
- Not sure? Start an operation. You can promote it to an incident later, and nothing is lost.
What each one gives you
| Operation | Incident | |
|---|---|---|
| A live map everyone works on | ✓ | ✓ |
| Check people in and out | ✓ | ✓ |
| Team tasks, PAR checks and task sheets | ✓ | ✓ |
| Operational periods | ✓ | ✓ |
| A log of what happened | ✓ | ✓ |
| Clues and tracks | ✓ | ✓ |
| An incident number | ✓ | |
| A command console with a dashboard | ✓ | |
| ICS forms: 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 211, 214 and more | ✓ | |
| Check-in locations with QR codes and ICS-211 sheets | ✓ | |
| An org chart (ICS-203) | ✓ | |
| A radio plan (ICS-205) | ✓ | |
| Lost Person Questionnaire for each subject | ✓ | |
| Files and a photo gallery | ✓ | |
| One PDF of the whole incident record | ✓ | |
| Suspend, resolve, seal and archive | ✓ | |
| Extra task fields: division, terrain, sweep width, POD | ✓ | |
| Share the map with people outside your agency | ✓ | ✓ |
How they connect
- An incident always has exactly one operation. Its people, tasks, map, tracks and log all belong to that operation. You don't manage the operation separately. You work it from the incident's console.
- Declaring an incident makes its operation for you. It's named "Response:" and the incident name. See Starting an incident.
- An operation can become an incident. Choose Promote to incident… on the operation's map. Its people, tasks, log, map, tracks and periods all become the incident's. The incident gets its number and its ICS forms, and the map's markers are drawn onto the ICS-201. Promoting can't be undone.
Where you work
| Operation | Incident | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it starts | Map Library, the Operations page, or Create map | Operations page, New, Declare an incident |
| Where you work it | The map, with Check-In, Tasks and Log tabs beside it | The command console, with the map on its Ops-Map tab |
| How it ends | End operation… in the map menu. The map becomes read-only | End incident, then Suspend or Resolve |
| Access it takes | Map access levels | Incident permissions, plus map access for tasks and the map |