Purpose Statement

The Incident Response Times Dashboard in Advanced Data Insights provides a detailed, data-driven view of how long it takes your department to respond to incidents—from alarm receipt through unit arrival on scene.

This dashboard enables agencies to monitor performance, evaluate compliance with response time standards, and identify opportunities to improve efficiency across each stage of the response process.

Background Information

The Incident Response Times Dashboard is part of the Advanced Data Insights suite and is designed to transform operational response data into actionable insights through interactive visualizations.

It breaks response performance into key components—call processing, turnout, travel, and total response time—allowing agencies to pinpoint delays and evaluate trends over time. It also includes compliance tracking against configurable benchmarks, supporting both operational improvement and accreditation efforts.

Users can analyze:

• Total response time and individual response segments
• Compliance with agency-defined response time targets
• Trends over time and performance distribution
• Scene time metrics and operational workload

Important:
Advanced Data Insights dashboards are part of a paid upgrade package and may not be available to all agencies. If this dashboard is not visible, contact your Client Success Manager.

Prerequisites:

• Access to Advanced Data Insights
• Accurate and complete incident timestamp data (alarm, dispatch, enroute, arrival)
• Optional: Fire zone GIS layers for map-based analysis

Required Permissions

Users must have appropriate permissions to access dashboards and response time data.

Typical permissions include:

• Advanced Data Insights access
• Dashboard view permissions
• Incident reporting or response data access

Recommended roles:

• Administrators
• Chiefs
• Operations officers
• Training staff
• Analysts and accreditation personnel

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Go to the First Due logo.
2. Access the module stack.
3. Select the Dashboard module.
4. Select either Dashboards or Dashboard List.
5. Select the Incident Response Times Dashboard from the drop-down list.

Dashboard Features & Highlights

Filter Options

Users can refine dashboard data using:

• Alarm Date
• Unit Order (e.g., First Arriving Unit or All Units)
• Apparatus Name and Type
• Incident Group, Subgroup, and Type
• Response Mode (Emergency Status) and Aid Type
• Fire Zone, Response Zone, City, and ZIP Code

All visuals update dynamically based on selected filters.

Incident Response Times Tab

• Core dashboard view for analyzing response performance
• Includes:
  • Trend View: Analyze response time changes over time
  • Frequency View: Understand distribution of response times
  • Compliance View: Measure performance against defined targets
• Displays 90th percentile (P90) metrics to reflect typical performance while minimizing outliers

Response Time Segments

Breaks total response into key components:

• Call Processing Time (alarm to dispatch)
• Turnout Time (dispatch to enroute)
• Travel Time (enroute to arrival)
• Total Response Time (alarm to arrival)

Use the P90 Times by Segment chart to identify which portion of the response contributes most to delays.

Compliance Check Tab

• Displays compliance percentages against agency-defined benchmarks
• Includes:
  • Overall compliance by category
  • Maps showing geographic compliance patterns
  • Comparison of compliance by apparatus

Default compliance targets (configurable):

• Call Processing: 1 minute
• Turnout: 1 minute
• Travel: 4 minutes
• Response: 5 minutes
• Total Response: 6 minutes

Scene Times Tab

• Focuses on time spent on scene rather than response time
• Users can toggle between:
  • Average Scene Time per Incident
  • Average Scene Time per Unit Response
  • Total Scene Time
• Includes:
  • Trend analysis
  • Frequency distribution
  • Compliance comparisons
• Useful for understanding operational workload and resource commitment

Interactive Features

• Hover over charts and maps for detailed values
• Click map regions or chart elements to filter data
• Use date drill-down to view yearly, monthly, weekly, or daily trends

Best Practices

• Ensure timestamps are consistently and accurately documented
• Use P90 metrics to evaluate realistic performance expectations
• Regularly review compliance against agency benchmarks
• Compare performance across time periods to identify trends
• Use segment analysis to target specific areas for improvement

Avoid:

• Relying only on averages without reviewing percentile-based metrics
• Ignoring missing or incomplete timestamp data
• Comparing results across inconsistent filters or configurations

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Why are some response times missing?
Missing or incomplete timestamps (such as enroute or arrival) can result in null values. This may occur if units are cancelled or data is not fully documented.

What is P90 and why is it used?
The 90th percentile (P90) represents the time within which 90% of responses occur, providing a more realistic performance measure by reducing the impact of outliers.

Can compliance targets be customized?
Yes. Default values are provided, but agencies can adjust these targets to align with internal standards or accreditation requirements.

Why does compliance vary across views?
Differences may result from applied filters, unit order selection, or incident type criteria.

Who should use this dashboard?
Leadership, operations, training personnel, analysts, and accreditation teams responsible for monitoring and improving response performance.