APPENDIX D

Budget and Scope for TERA Migration

Background

TERA is a scenario-based training system that is compliant with federal standards including those of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Homeland Security Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP). It provides training and exercise scenarios and materials for command-level and operational roles in public transportation agencies, state DOTs, and airport emergency operations centers (EOCs). The scenarios and materials train for responding to and mitigating specific emergencies while supporting state and local emergency management authorities in natural or manmade disaster incidents.

TERA was delivered through an automated, functional exercise simulation system, Emergency Management Staff Trainer (EMST), that had been adopted by the National Guard Bureau. TERA, as developed by ECS, had unique capabilities, including supporting and simulating multiple roles in the IOC, customization features for roles and scenario building, multitier scenarios, and simulations supporting from 1 to 200 users.

The TERA scenarios were developed in Adobe Flash, a technology that is no longer supported and will not run on most computer operating systems and Internet browsers. The simulation structure was deeply integrated with Flash’s proprietary systems and authoring tools; therefore, migrating from Flash would require a complete rewrite of the application, not just a language conversion.

TERA scenarios and frameworks have already been developed and tested with transportation agencies and found to be valuable. A new TERA platform with widespread and low-cost or free dissemination would greatly decrease the costs and effort for individual agencies to improve and carry out effective training, and would increase readiness for and speeding recovery from disasters. Due to an anticipated decrease in agency exercise creation costs and the increased training values to agencies across all transportation modes, the investment appears warranted, assuming a reasonable range of platform development costs. An existing exercise simulation platform such as the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service Emergency Management * Exercise System (EM*ES) could use the TERA assets as the basis for creating exercise scenarios and training sessions for transportation agencies and communities.

The National Transit Institute confirmed in an interview that the TERA assets could be used to create a new emergency management training course with learning objectives similar to those of TERA.

Most agencies indicated that they want and need more training. Representatives from DOTs have indicated that their agencies would use TERA now if it were still available. Many transportation agencies are already using multiple platforms for training and exercises, as discussed previously, so there would be few barriers to utilizing a new TERA platform. The individual agency cost of developing customized training exercises is high, although it is rarely explicitly tracked. Many agencies are developing complex exercises using existing sharing platforms.

Objective

The objective of this project is to migrate TERA and its assets to a new platform or training course for use by transportation agencies. The research should identify the TERA learning objectives, scripts, injects, and artifacts created under ACRP, TCRP, and NCHRP that have the most value as resources for the migration and provide guidance on how to use a new platform or present the new training course.

Research Implementation Plan Scope

The scope of the project is to migrate the TERA content and assets to a new or existing training or web application and to create a new training course using the TERA content and assets for use by transportation agencies.

As part of the migration or creation of new training, existing TERA scenarios may need to be updated or developed. For example, in recent years, transportation agencies have experienced types of emergencies that they had not encountered before—global pandemic, extreme heat, and extensive civil unrest. The TERA contagious disease scenarios need to be reviewed and updated in light of the actual experience of transportation agencies responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Extreme heat affects all modes and many communities and may warrant consideration for a new scenario. A new scenario that addresses the impacts of civil unrest on transportation agencies, such as disruptions to roadways and transportation facilities, and the expectations of transportation agencies to support the responses to the unrest, such as closing roadways and facilities, would be beneficial. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, derechos, flooding, and wildfires in areas and at scales and times of year that are unprecedented have become more common. The existing scenarios addressing these hazards can be updated to include recent experience and the additional knowledge of what is crucial to do, when to effectively respond, and how to quickly recover. The active shooter scenarios can be updated to reflect more recent events and changes to approaches that address the situation. A new flash-flooding scenario in addition to the existing riverine flood scenario should be developed.

Developing a new TERA application would require the most effort and cost. At least three determinants of the cost of the migration were identified by ECS based on the scope of the requirements: the number/type of devices (e.g., multi-platform application), the extent of the content and customization capabilities, and the number of simultaneous users for the tool.

Developing a new training course based on the TERA scenarios and materials would be straightforward. For example, the NTI indicated that creating an exercise course using the TERA materials is doable without requiring additional resources from NTI, but there would be a need for SMEs to work with NTI as part of the course development.

Developing a new website as the platform for TERA migration, similar to the CDC Tabletop Exercise Simulation Tool (TEST), a role-based collaborative game using narrative-based

problems for radiation-related emergencies, would not require more effort than would be required for any commonly produced informational website. The TEST website contains the simulation files with components, rulebooks, and instructions for use, PDF and other file downloads for commercial or self-printing, and other information.

In addition, the level of effort required to migrate TERA functionality beyond scenario content (e.g., authoring/editing scenarios, automated feedback, and simulated roles) to the most feasible available platforms varies depending on the platform selected for migration. As an example, incorporating TERA into the Texas A&M EM*ES would involve developing a custom scenario and course for users, which according to an interview with a representative, typically takes about one week for the exercise SMEs and training staff. Even though the platform is capable of conducting EOC training, since it is typically used for incident command training, different types of information than what is currently in the EM*ES system scenarios and roles based on TERA would need to be obtained and input.

The types of resources required to migrate TERA to a new platform also depend on the type of platform. In general, the migration would require SMEs and personnel familiar with emergency management to update or create new scenarios and other required information related to emergency management and TERA, as well as project management, and testing resources. Some platforms may require platform-specific technical resources, such as Texas A&M exercise simulation or training development personnel, to create a course and manage the migration process. Web developers, designers, and testers would be required to create the TERA website.

Depending on the platform to be used, there are changes to TERA materials that would be required to migrate TERA to a new platform. The tasks that would be required include:

• Modifying scenarios/injects to fit platform templates (e.g., Texas A&M uses a specific template for customizing its tool and creating scenarios);
• Creating instructor materials, especially if TERA were converted into a course offering of an industry training center;
• Developing additional input information for the platform (e.g., the WebEOC event creation tool requires more information than that available in the TERA scenarios); and
• Designing and developing the website, such as coding and modifying TERA materials for distribution via the website, if they are not already web-compatible.

In particular, the tasks for incorporating TERA into an existing training application or for creating a TERA website would include, at a minimum:

• Documenting platform architecture based on user requirements,
• Determining input requirements for TERA assets (e.g., format, structure),
• Developing the beta version of architecture and TERA platform application,
• Finalizing the site/platform, and
• Migration testing and launch.

Tasks for creating a new training course using TERA scenarios and assets would include, at a minimum:

• Training assessment to identify who will be trained, what training is needed, and what TERA scenarios and assets should be included in the training;
• Creation of a course design document that lays out the course modules and their content, enabling learning objectives and terminal learning objectives; and
• Development of course modules with instructor and participant guides.

The final deliverables may include the following:

• TERA application,
• TERA training course,

• TERA website, and
• A technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products” (if applicable).

Migration Platform Evaluation Criteria

TERA accommodated individual training, team training, and multiagency training within one framework. A key feature of TERA was its ability to allow a mix of on-site, socially distanced, and quarantined staff to participate collaboratively in tabletop exercises and training in real time. TERA allowed the user to customize training and exercises reflecting particular staffing and geographic characteristics. TERA also addressed novice, intermediate, and expert levels of learning and provided foundational concepts in a knowledge-level system for prerequisite study prior to team exercises, thus moving the learner from novice to expert.

TERA was cost-free to the end-user, scalable, easy to setup and use, had readily available support, provided a measured assessment, and allowed participants to exercise the resources and policies they used currently in response to emergencies.

The recommended characteristics and evaluation criteria to assess the TERA migration platform are:

• User access – authorization and user restrictions.
• Compatibility – operating system, browser, hardware, phone.
• Interactive features – chat, polling.
• Recording capabilities.
• Access/functional needs – captioning.
• Assessment/measurement.
• Administrative controls.
• Flexibility/customization.
• Scalability. (It is anticipated that the upper level of simultaneous participants would be substantially less than 200.)
• Required technology infrastructure.
• Cybersecurity.

Resources

The following resources will be useful for the research implementation project:

• TCRP Web-Only Document 75/NCHRP Web-Only Document 321/ACRP Web-Only Document 52: Command-Level Decision Making for Transportation Emergency Managers (Madrid, 2022).
• TCRP Web-Only Document 60/NCHRP Web-Only Document 200: Command-Level Decision Making for Transit Emergency Managers (Pigora, 2013).
• ACRP Research Report 187: Transportation Emergency Response Application (TERA) Support Materials for Airport EOC Exercises (Voetterl-Riecker and Riecker, 2018).
• Supplemental artifacts and 24 scenario outlines and narratives.

Facilitator and user guides that could be developed for TERA are:

• TERA orientation,
• TERA quick reference guide,
• TERA trainer guide, and
• TERA user guide.