Introduction and readers guide: Operations

Owned by IMPETUS Consortium
Mar 02, 2023
3 min read

This Practitioners Guide to Operations provides understanding and advice related to the nature, benefits, potentials and constraints of advanced IT tools used for public safety in the context of Security Operations Centers (SOC).

The IMPETUS solution is used as an example of measures applied to improve Operations in Smart City contexts, in order to illustrate how advanced IT tools can contribute to ensure a safe and reliable environment for the citizens and for the public administration. The PG presents the reader with a story that starts with an understanding of the tools in the IMPETUS solution, advances into a description of what impact they have for the SOC Operator and for the SOC operation as a whole for the benefit of public safety. It also makes the user aware of the key operational constraints and challenges of taking them into use, before it delineates the potential for long-term enhancement of SOC operation in terms of increased robustness and resilience capabilities.

For simplicity and recognition, the descriptions are focused on the SOC as a generic concept. Please have in mind that

  • SOCs may be centralised or distributed. In the latter case, the individual SOCs may have specific purposes and profiles.

  • Some useful IT tools may not have their primary use in the operational context of a SOC. E.g., for intelligence, social media analysis, workload monitoring of SOC operators, contingency planning (for instance for evacuation), or for gathering of training data for algorithms.

However, by use of modern network technology (here exemplified by the IMPETUS solution), these types of tools and their use may be seen as an extension of the SOC concept. E.g., various users will have the potential to participate in general awareness of operations in the SOC, maybe through a supervisor.

For a flexible reading experience, the root page and the various parts of the PG on OPERATIONS can be accessed and explored as desired.

The reading pattern illustrated below offers suggestions for specific audiences with presumed interests, to ease their orientation within the set of materials related to Operations and in correspondence with other subjects approached by the Practitioners Guides.

The recommended reading order is from top to bottom. This applies for each presumed readership (column)

As additional guidance, each suggested combination of content and audience is labelled either

E - Essential

I - Informative

 

IMPETUS Operations PG

Users of security solutions (current and prospective)

General Users

IT personnel

SOC Operator

Intelligence Operator

SOC Supervisor

SOC Security Manager

Innovation/OD manager, policy makers

Regulator/ Official

General public/Citizen

Assumed interest of readership

Install, maintain and integrate tools in the IMPETUS solution  

Utilize the tools in daily SOC tasks  

Utilize the tools in background intelligence gathering for the SOC 

Ensure that tools and solution are used coherently and effectively in daily SOC operations & 

collaboration 

Assure that IMPETUS solution provides added value for public safety   

Immediate impact and long-term, strategic advantage of the potentials in the IMPETUS solution and concept 

Main benefits and operational challenges associated with the IMPETUS solution

Knowledge on what SOCs are doing for public safety 

Main part of PG

Sub-sections

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Description of Tools (and Platform)

Main Functions of (IMPETUS) Tools

E

E

E

E

I

I

I

I

Technical Information on (IMPETUS) Tools

E

I

I

I

 

 

 

 

Impact on Operational SOC Processes

Direct Benefit from IMPETUS Tools

I

E

E

E

E

I

I

 

Impact on Basic Security Operations Center (SOC) Processes

I

E

E

E

E

E

 

I

Transformative Effects on Basic SOC Processes

I

E

E

E

E

E

I

 

Strategic Leverage for Improved Performance of the SOC as a Whole

I

I

I

E

E

E

I

I

Operational Challenges and Constraints

Potential Operator Overloads

 

E

E

E

I

 

 

 

Gains and Brittleness in joint attention, awareness and Sensemaking

 

I

I

E

E

I

 

 

Degraded Modes

 

E

I

E

I

 

 

 

Potentials for Enhanced Operation

Ensuring Robustness of SOC Operations

I

I

I

E

E

I

E

 

Building Resilience from Robustness

 

 

 

I

E

E

E

 

Experiences

Tools and Their Impact

 

I

 

E

I

 

 

I

Challenges and constraints

 

I

 

E

I

I

I

 

Utilisation of potentials

 

 

 

I

I

I

I

I