Greater Manchester FRS Get Connected

Microsoft Dynamics solution from Active

Active announces Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service as their latest customer to Connect, the software solution to “Change Everything”

Quickly following on from the  recent purchase of Connect by West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Active is pleased to announce its  partnership  with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) to implement the largest ever installation of Connect and Microsoft Dynamics 2011 in the UK fire service.  The solution will be available to around 2,000 staff and used on a daily basis by 200 plus staff.

Connect changes everything.  No longer do individual departments, with separate workflow processes, running separate information systems need to remain independent from each other. Connect increases public safety by removing the risk of missing vital pieces of information held in systems that are costly to run, inflexible, insecure and unable to integrate with each other.  Dynamic information management is the future for a modern fire service if it wants to prepare for the full impact of budget cuts and stay ahead of the constantly changing demands within communities and local government.

Paul Sharples, Head of Business Intelligence & Knowledge at GMFRS states “As a service we need to reduce our costs and using technology is one of the ways we can do this. Our ICT Strategy is based around Microsoft products. We believe that it is possible to reduce our overall operating costs by consolidating technology around these industry standard products and platforms and  provide an improved more efficient service. However, to do this requires a change of approach and the Connect solution from Active not only provides an excellent solution to meet these demands now, it also delivers world class technology which will remain flexible in the future.”

Once implemented Connect will replace several out dated legacy systems and integrate with GMFRS’s remaining IT infrastructure to provide a more centralised data management platform that increases the accessibility and security of all information relating to Community Fire Safety, Technical Fire Safety, and Fire Investigation.  As the solution evolves areas for potential further development include  Risk Information to the Fire Ground, Asset Tracking, Resource Utilisation and Scheduling.

A unique feature to Connect is that it provides a complete mobile solution by working fully through Microsoft Outlook, allowing users to work on or offline without interruption.  Steve Ainsworth, Active CEO says “All Fire Services in the UK are having to change. We responded to this need by developing Connect, based on Microsoft Dynamics 2011, to provide a strategic approach to information management and performance reporting. Having information that is always up to date and a solution that replaces multiple databases and systems from across key departments enables a fire service to modernise, save money and improve services for the public”

Invited by Microsoft to be one of their twelve high potential ISV’s, Active has developed Connect as an on premise or cloud based solution dedicated to dynamically managing information within the UK Fire and Rescue Service.  “Fire Services provide crucial and valuable services to protect communities around the world,” said Andrew Hawkins, director of Public Sector Solutions at Microsoft. “Connect offers an innovative way to help ensure these organisations have the tools they need to complete all the functions of a modern day fire service.”