When establishing situational awareness in a control room environment, knowing how your video wall works is half the battle. The OODA Loop method is one way to apply workflow over the common operating picture. Initially developed by the USAF for combat operations, this approach explains how analytical agility can overcome raw data overload and its relevance to cyber security is on the rise. It not only applies to military operations but public safety and enterprise as well!
Observe
Information gathering is step one. It’s also what your video wall is designed to do in the first place. During unfolding events, control rooms collect good info, bad info, and incomplete info. A variety of analytics & visual sources are waiting to alert your team to a situation. The video wall gives us a proactive view of our digital landscape. Automating visual layout changes within the control interface allows for a rapid assessment of visual data.
Orient
Once a visual pattern begins to emerge, how do you make sense of the information? During an event, the landscape of visual info shifts, and teams need to orient content quickly. It’s paramount to establish a flow of good intel to replace bad intel on the video wall. This is when the power of an established common operating picture in the control room becomes central in decision-making. A simplified content management interface ensures faster content changes so you can focus on solving problems.
Decide
When combined, the OODA Loop within a common operating picture is an effective way to reduce reaction times. Once the good intel has been oriented onto the video wall and patterns are identified, your team is better poised to make effective decisions. Responding to a public safety incident requires info from multiple sources, such as shot detection systems, cameras, or computer-aided dispatch, instead one singular visual source.
Act
The act of deploying resources is a strategic one. In enterprise environments, operators balance both time and money. In public safety and defense operations, lives depend on actions inside the control room. As events unfold, activity leads to observations and a cycling back through the OODA Loop process. New, often better, intel becomes available, and old intel is removed from the video wall.
The OODA Loop is a simple and effective data processing method for control rooms. Whether your organization in in the infancy of developing a video wall or needs to refresh existing operations, this is a great way to organize how your team makes decisions.