Telephone configuration with the current ECC layout is complex and requires extensive taping

Telephone reconfiguration is necessary if the current ECC layout is maintained.  Wires crisscrossed the floor and required extensive taping to prevent tripping hazards.  Some phone lines were just barely long enough to reach their designated outlets. Two telephones were not working during the exercise. One was known to be non-functional prior to the exercise, and one was discovered during the exercise.   The personnel assigned to that phone simply used an adjacent phone instead.

Computer resources were not adequate to cover every section or every representative that felt they could have benefited from a computer. There are not presently enough computer hookups to allow all staff to connect their laptops.  Not all agency representatives would have had access to a laptop even if a port were provided.   Hydrology staff brought their own computer hard drive with their technical software, but it was cumbersome to move and set up.

The Operations section could have benefited greatly from a live view of CAD to allow them to better track resources.  The finance/purchasing personnel who staffed the logistics system did not have access to their vendor records because they did not have a laptop.

The PIO section found themselves limited by some computer and printer sharing problems. Sharing the printer with the dispatch liaison created some problems, with PIO data accidentally coming out on the pre-printed CAD summary forms. The Xpedite broadcast fax system, although an excellent resource when available, has occasionally been found to have internet accessibility problems.  This was detected in recent testing prior to the exercise, and in one instance was not functional for one of the news releases.  The news release was sent by the manual back up fax system instead.