Training Agenda

Module 1 - OPS-COM System Setup

There are a number of items on the New Client Orientation and Rollout tasks checklist that you should read through before proceeding. Please review sections 1 - 3.

It is important that you setup your final configurations on your production system. The preview system is for testing and the information created here is temporary.

System Config

Roles and Permissions

OPS-COM allows System Owners and Administrators the ability to setup roles that will restrict access to information and features in OPS-COM. Roles are a group of permissions that are bundled and assigned to a set of users. For example, you may wish to create a role for Patrol Officer. You will set the permissions for this role and assign users the role of Patrol Officer when you would like to grant them permissions that match that job. Users can be assigned multiple roles. 

For a quick overview video ,  CLICK HERE .  Refer to  this wiki article  for more information

Creating Administrator Accounts

When the system is setup for the first time there will only be one Administrator. The OPS-COM team will have set it up and provided the login details to you. To manage your Admin Accounts you must refer to this wiki article.

Setting Up UserTypes

Your Account Executive will help you determine what user types may be useful for you to setup and what the rules appropriate to those users may be. For example, you may want to allow Full-Time Students to park in different lots than Part-Time students. User Types will lay the groundwork for you to do this.  Once you have decided what types you will be using, you can use this wiki article to set them up.  

You will also need to decide what information you will require when a new user creates a profile on your system. Refer to this wiki article for setup information.

Setting up the Admin Options

Many of the Admin Options control your picklists for different options. Refer to this Wiki article for more information.

Setting up ViolationAdmin Options 

If you have purchased ViolationAdmin then you will need to setup your Ticket Types. Ticket Types are used to distinguish what type of Violation/ticket is being issued. Refer to this wiki article for more information.  You will also need to setup your Offence Types. Fine amounts are set and the discount for each offence is administered here.  Refer to this wiki article for more information. 

System Settings Customization

For more information about System Settings and what each one means, refer to this wiki article.

Email Template Setup

Email Templates that are created for communications with your clients are stored in this area in OPS-COM. Currently, you can edit the look and feel. In the future, you will be able to setup your own email templates. For more information about editing Email Templates, refer to this wiki article.

Invoicing Template Setup

OPS-COM will allow you to prepare/send invoices for permit purchases. The Invoicing feature is used to simplify the monthly billing/invoicing process for bulk payment of permit purchases.  For more information about setting up your Invoice Template refer to this wiki article.

Setting up the Communication/Landing Page for Admins

When initially logging onto OperationsCommander as an administrator, the first landing page you are presented with has a message window that can be edited to suit your specific needs. General information can be placed here. Many ops-com users place schedule information on this landing page as well. For more information refer to this wiki article.

Module 2 -  User Management

Users and their profile information form the backbone of the OPS-COM software. They link all modules together and allow you to have a complete history of everything about that user and associated vehicle.   You can Add, Edit and Search for Users. You can also buy Lockers and Permits and pay for Violations through the User Profile.  Merge tools and bulk email filters that allow you to reach out to your users are also available in this module.

Quick registration 

This is the area that you will need when adding a User to the system. Admins can manually add users or users can be asked to log into the User Portal to create and manage their account.  When using this registration form, you will be able to assign the appropriate user type and input all other relevant information. This wiki article covers the Admin registering new users.

User side Registration

For information about User Registration through the User Portal refer to  this wiki article.

Working with Existing Users

You must search for Users before you can work with them. Once you have found a user you want to work with you click on their username in the search results. This will bring you to the user profile landing page. This is a quick reference dashboard of the user's profile information and current user history.  For a complete article about this page and what you can expect, refer to this wiki article.

You will notice many tabs across the top of the screen. These are used to manage all aspects of the User Profile. From this page you can:

Merging Users and Vehicles

The Merge Users  option is used to combine two profiles for the same person into one user profile. You may require this function if:

Using Bulk Email to Communicate with Users

If you would like to target your email to a specific group, there are many options available in the More... menu. You can also export the 'Consented Report' to allow you to see all users that have given you consent to contact them by email.

Using the Forms Module

If you have purchased the Forms module you can use it to allow users to communicate with the organization about special requests. Some examples of forms used by organizations include;

• University move in/move out

• Special Parking Requests

Administrators have the ability to create custom forms to request the information they need. Refer to these wiki articles for more information.

Module 3 - LockerAdmin 

The LockerAdmin module allows the administrator to manage locker permits. From this section, the administrator can add buildings and building areas, allocate lockers, add costs for lockers, monitor, and manage locker usage.

Setting up your Lockers

To setup your lockers go to the Allocate menu item. This allows Administrator to input all locker related information, including location, quantity, allocation (i.e. yearly, monthly), and cost. At any time, the administrator can use this menu option to update locker information. For more information refer to this wiki article.  You can also single allocate lockers. The Single Allocate  option allows the administrator to input locker related information to one specific locker, including location, quantity, allocation (i.e. yearly, monthly), and cost. At any time, the administrator can use this menu option to update locker information.

Creating different User Types for Lockers

User Types for Lockers  makes the Locker system more advanced by adding a couple of features. These features add the ability to limit who can purchase a locker in a defined area and add the ability to add an alpha character to a locker number. This makes locker numbering more manageable. For example, you may have locker number 100 existing multiple times in a specific building.  

This feature must be enabled by the OPS-COM support team.

Use Prefixes with your Locker Numbers

Locker Prefix allows the Admin to assign locker numbers which may have an Alphanumeric display on the physical locker and simplify what the User sees.  As the system can only allow numeric numbering of the lockers and also does not allow numbers to be repeated, this functionality was added to facilitate the need to use numbers that might be the same from building to building.

This feature must be enabled by the OPS-COM support team.

Selling your Lockers

You must have an Active Sales window to allow users to purchase Lockers. For more information refer to this wiki article.  From time to time you will have Users that put a locker on order but do not complete the payment process. These lockers can go on the  Midnight List. This means that lockers on this list will automatically be released  These lockers will be available for purchase again the next day. Refer to this wiki article for information about using the Midnight List.   The Midnight List must be enabled by the OPS-COM support team.

Searching Lockers and Switching Lockers between Users

The  Locker Search  option allows administrators to search locker(s) to be able to view/edit details.  The  Locker Switch   option allows administrators to change the locker that is associated with a particular user.

Troubleshooting Locker Issues

If you can't figure out what has gone wrong with your locker setup you can refer to the flowchart in this wiki article to help troubleshoot the issue.

Module 4 - Permit Management using ParkAdmin

The ParkAdmin module allows administrators to perform all aspects of Permit Management. From this area you will setup your Lots and allocate permits, manage permit rollovers, print hang tags, manage access cards and use the Parking Validation tools.  

Developing a Parking Plan

A good master parking plan allows for future planning and revenue growth while maximizing existing potential in an effective way. When developing your master parking plan there are a number of things that you need to determine ahead of time in order to be effective and efficient, while at the same time giving you the opportunity for future planning and revenue growth. 

Optimal lot planning is achieved when you determine the physical locations of all the parking lots that you currently have, the current number of parking spaces available, the user types that you allow to park in each lot and how much each space costs. In addition, you must determine the type of permits that you issue (yearly, semestered, monthly, Other, etc.) and how many of each type of permit you issue per year. This will help you to determine the number of total permits you need to have available and the the range of permits needed for each lot.

In addition to physical lots, you may also have Virtual Lots. In the example below, you are allowing 3 user types to park in Lot 1 and each user type has a different cost associated.  44105729 Lots can link to 1 or more user type. Users can only purchase online parking in a lot if their user type matches the allowed user type in that lot. You have 4 allocation types to choose from; monthly, semester, annual and other.  These allocations cover specific time ranges for instance yearly may cover permits that are valid from Sept 1 to May 31. 

It is important to setup your ranges to ensure that you can cover lost/stolen permits and also to have the ability to oversell a lot.  Once you have determined your lot plan you can consider your Sales Window Planning. This requires defining timelines for when various types of permits will be available for sale and when other permits will rollover. 

Creating your Lots

Creating your lots is done using the Pricing and Lot Admin functionality. Use a permit worksheet similar to the one in the example above to ensure you are creating the lots you need to satisfy your Parking Plan. 

Planning your Lot Groups and Lot Zones

Groups and Zones are very valuable tools when using ViolationAdmin for enforcement.  Lot Groups allows you to group similar lots together to be seen as a single entity in OPS-COM. A lot may only belong to one group. A lot group is not required , it exists to allow similar lots.  

When we are doing enforcement, if we select Lot 1 Staff, we will get misses or "valid permit but wrong lot" type messages.  This will slow down enforcement and is unusable in a automatic chalking scenario.  We want to be able to group these lots so that anyone parked in this large area with a valid permit in the listed lots, is seen as valid. This allows an enforcement patrol to select the group of lots that they are patrolling.

Lot Groups are:

• a physical lot that is broken into many virtual lots to accommodate clients/staff/public and/or different time allocations
• each of these virtual lots would have the  same group designation

A Lot Zone is a grouping mechanism  allowing validation parameters  to be applied to a lot.

• Generally use is tied directly to enforcement and the handhelds
• A lot may belong to many zones
• Different zones can supply different time/date validation parameters (ie. after-4pm, day care, weekend, evenings,...)
• Zones are not required and are unnecessary if a permit is valid all day every day with no other validation requirement

Use your Parking Plan to further plan out your lots and zones before entering them into OPS-COM. Refer to this wiki article for more information.  Once you are ready, follow the steps in this wiki article to setup your lot groups. 

Using Pricing and Lot Admin

Follow the steps in this wiki article to setup your lots, both virtual and physical.  You will use this area to setup the lots to be visible to your clients, be available for temp parking or Text2ParkMe as well as all pricing and group or zone settings.

Permit Allocation

Permits can be added individually or in bulk. Use your Lot planning sheet to determine the ranges you will be using.  Refer to this wiki article for information about adding a range of permits to your lot.

Sales Window Management

The Sales Window feature allows the admin to configure when permits go on sale and what time frames the permits are valid. There are three important parameters that need to be set in this process.

1. When the permits will be available to purchase
2. What date the permit becomes valid
3. What date the permit expires

Refer to this wiki article for more information.

Working with Permits

There are 3 types of Permits issued through OPS-COM. Standard permits, Temporary permits and Text2ParkMe permits. Standard parking permits are the monthly, yearly or other regular permits that you sell. Temporary permits are issued for less than 30 days and can be issued even hourly. Text2ParkMe permits are issued on-demand to users through the text messaging functionality on their cell phone.  Not all options are available for each permit type.

Permit Search  

This allows you to search different lots to view information about the standard permits that have been registered to people. Refer to this wiki article for more information.

Permit Switch

Permit Switch allows you to change a person’s current standard permit for another standard permit. There are three scenarios possible with permit switch.

1. Switching a user from one permit number to another in the same lot
2. Switching permits between two users in the same lot
3. Switching a user from one permit number to another in a different lot

Refer to  this wiki article  for more information.

Permit Proration

Proration allows you to sell a standard permit to a user that is valid for a shorter portion of the active sales window and  have the system adjust the cost of the permit accordingly . A good example is a student parker starting to park a vehicle halfway through a year or semester. Refer to this wiki article for more information.

Selling Permits & Access Cards

The  Parking  tab of the User Profile allows administrators to sell parking permits (standard parking permits and temporary parking permits) to users. The parking tab also allows administrators to associate an access card to a user. Refer to this wiki article for more information.

Permit Printing

Hang Tag Printing allows administrators to either print individual hang tags or print batches of hang tags for standard parking permits.  Refer to this wiki article for more information.

Temporary Permits can also be printed by the Admin. Refer to  this wiki article  for more information.

Permits can also be printed by the users directly if this setting is enabled.

Using a Wait List

Wait Lists allows administrators to see who is waiting for a standard permit in a specific lot. Once permits become available, administrators can sell the available permit to a user waiting for a permit. Your lot must be configured to use a wait list. There are Non-Student and Student Wait lists. Refer to this wiki article for more information.

Permit Rollovers

Standard permits can be rolled over from one active period to the next. In other words the admin can renew a patron's ownership of their current permit by rolling them over into the next active period whether it's a monthly, yearly or semester type permit.  Patrons who pay by payroll deduction or through credit card purchases can also have their payments processed automatically as part of the rollover process.

Before Attempting rollovers, please follow the steps in these wiki articles to ensure you have activated the correct Sales Window and that you have your information correctly setup for automatic payments. Read Sales Window Management and Credit Card Management in OPS-COM

Refer to  this wiki article  for more information about Rollovers.

Refer to  this wiki article  for more information about Auto-Processing Payments with Rollovers.

Module 5 - Text2ParkMe

Text2ParkMe allows users to pay for temporary parking via SMS (text) messaging. Text2ParkMe will also send out reminders when their parking time is about to expire and allow users the option to extend their parking time. Text messaging fees  do apply based on individual phone plans.  For system security, Text2ParkMe only allows one active booking at a time. Users cannot book more than one transaction/vehicle parking booking until the previous booking has expired. Users will also want to refer to their organizations parking map for visitor parking lot locations.

Enforcement Officers that do virtual chalks or plate searches on vehicles that have valid Text2ParkMe temporary permits will show as valid with the expiry on the Android Handheld units.

Setting up OPS-COM to Use Text2ParkMe (T2P)

If you have purchased Text2ParkMe you must have a gateway provider setup to accept T2P payments. You must work with our project manager to ensure this gateway is configured and tested to work with your system. 

You will also require a T2P phone number that your users will text to obtain temporary parking. The OperationsCommander Support team will ensure this number is setup and tested for you.

You must also setup your lots to allow Text2ParkMe permits. Refer to this wiki article for more information.

Your Clients and Text2ParkMe

Operations Commander will handle the following English-language text messages in accordance with industry standards:

• STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, and QUIT –  will stop customers from receiving messages.
• START, YES and UNSTOP will opt customers back in to the messages coming from your Text2ParkMe phone number.
• HELP and INFO will return a message informing the customer that they can use the above commands to control the delivery of messages.

Refer to this wiki article for information about how your clients must setup to enable Text2ParkMe.  They must provide a cell phone number, add a vehicle and store a credit card on their user profile.

Text2ParkMe Reports

There are two reports that Admins will regularly use to manage T2P. These are the 'Usage' and the 'Active Permits' reports.

The Usage report allows administrators to view details about users who have used Text2ParkMe.  Refer to this wiki article for more information.

The Active Permits report allows administrators to view details about the users who are currently parked using Text2ParkMe. Refer to  this wiki article  for more information.

Module 6 - Violations

Enforcement is a critical part of your Parking Management strategy. There are 2 ways to get violations entered into OPS-COM you can enter them in the field using the Android handheld unit or you can have your patrol officers write manual tickets and an OPS-COM Admin can enter the violation manually into the OperationsCommander software.

Note: You must have your Violations options setup before continuing. If you have not completed the Module 1 training for setting up your Violation Options,  44105729 . 

OPS-COM for Android

Setting up your Android Handheld Unit

If you have purchased handheld licenses you will need to get your Android unit setup and ready to go with OPS-COM. The OperationsComander app is free.  You will be prompted to allow OPS-COM to access the camera, location services, etc., all of which are used in feeding data to the OPS-COM system. Please ensure you allow these items in order to have OPS-COM for Android to function properly.  For instructions about installing OPS-COM for Android for the first time, refer to this wiki article.

Patrol officers must be setup with the proper roles and permissions to use this application and log in.  Refer to 44105729 training for more information.

You must contact the OperationsCommander team with the ID of your handheld unit. You will need your Device Unique Identifier. You can find this in the settings area. To access your android handheld settings refer to this wiki article. Once you have your device UI email support@ops-com.com for more information.

Once you have setup your app and registered it with the OPS-COM team, you should ensure that your app auto-updates. We frequently update our software with fixes and functionality improvements. It is important to be running the latest software. For more information refer to this wiki article.

You will need to setup your Bluetooth printers so that you can print out your violations. Currently we support Star Micronics prints, specfically the SM-T300 series.  For more information about install your Star Micronics Bluetooth printer refer to this wiki article.

Best Practices for using OPS-COM for Android

The best tips and tricks for successfully using OPS-COM for Android are listed in the following article.

Virtual Chalking

What is virtual Chalking?

• Virtual chalking, or e-chalking is an electronic process that mirrors how an officer would manually chalk a vehicle's tire, in order to see how long they have been parked. 
• Virtual chalking creates a Time-Stamped image, of both the license plate & the entire car, in order to track how long they've been parked
• Virtual chalking provides an image that can be attached to the violation and is acceptable in a court-of-law, provided the date/time stamp is visible & clear.  The chalked image is part of the violation,  unless the patrol officer deletes the image . 
• When LPR software is capturing plates, officers can simply click "Virtual Chalk"  to create/save the image 

There are some situations where chalking is very useful, for example; If a vehicle is parked and the owner is going to purchase a permit, there can be a grace period to allow the client to obtain the permit and return to the vehicle to display the permit. Alternately, in areas where parking is provided on a timed basis where a vehicle can park free for 2 hours, the officer can virtually chalk the vehicle on a first pass earlier in the day and then be able to check the vehicle later in the day to determine if it has been parked longer than the permitted time frame.

Chalking vehicles manually is time consuming, so being able to virtually-chalk vehicles makes a time-efficient solution for a necessary aspect of parking management. Chalk records stored with a violation help when dealing with Appeals as a time-stamped image is available as "proof" of the infraction.

For information about chalking a vehicle using the Handheld units, refer to this wiki article.

Searching for Vehicles by Plate

The Vehicle Search option allows staff/enforcement officers to search vehicles by plate and view details about that vehicle. This is often an important first step in the Violation Issuance process.  

There are three methods to enter the plate information.

1. Text using the keypad
2. Voice command using the built in mic
3. LPR using OCR technology through the tablet's camera. 

Refer to this wiki article for more information

Search for Permits

The Permit Search option allows staff/enforcement officers to search permits and view details about that permit. This can also an important first step in the Violation Issuance process. There are two ways to search for permits using the OPS-COM for Android app. You can search for the permit by typing it in or use the barcode scanner if your permits have them and have been configured in OPS-COM Admin.  For more information about searching for permits, refer to this wiki article.

Issuing a Violation using OPS-COM for Android

Violation Entry allows your Patrol Officers to create a Violation that can be printed and synced to the OperationsCommander System. Once the Violation is synced, the offender can pay the violation or appeal it.  You have already learned how to Search by Plate and Permit to see if a vehicle has a valid permit to park. Follow the steps in this wiki article to learn about issuing a Violation using OPS-COM for Android.

From time to time you may need to reprint a violation because of computer malfunction, refer to this wiki article for more information.

Receive Alerts in the Field

Patrol officers now have the ability to see important news by viewing message alerts on the handheld device. Alert messages are pushed out to all or individual handhelds by the Administrators of the OPS-COM software. Refer to this wiki article for more information about receiving these messages. Refer to this wiki article for information about pushing these messages out to the handheld units in the field.

ViolationAdmin for OperationsCommander

The ViolationAdmin section of OPS-COM allows you to view the violations information and to sort through it easily. It also allows you to add new violations through the simple violations entry page. You can also view appeals in this section.

Manual Violation Entry 

This is most often used if field officers are issuing paper tickets that need to be manually entered into OPS-COM. There are also enforcement officers that have cars equipped with laptops logged into OperationsCommander web version. These officers would enter their tickets directly through this system. For more information about manually entering violations, refer to this wiki article.

Once issued or synced you may need to search for a violation and make changes. Refer to this wiki article for information about editing a violation. 

Processing Appeals as an Administrator

Your Clients/Users will submit Appeals for their Violations through the User Portal. OPS-COM administrators can review violation appeals to cancel tickets, grant appeals with reduced fines or uphold appealed violations. In the event that the appeal time has expired and no appeal has been applied for, then the Admin can still grant an appeal by editing the violation and using the Appeal area in the edit window. Refer to this wiki article for more information.

Paying a Violation as an Administrator

When an individual comes into the office to pay a ticket in person you can process the payment through the Admin side. Refer to this wiki article for more information.

ViolationAdmin Reports

There are many reports available in ViolationAdmin. Refer to  44105729  for more information.

Module 7 - Incidents

Incident management reports and tracking is integrated into  Operations Commander  through IncidentAdmin.  IncidentAdmin is an all-in-one incident management platform for security teams to track issues and manage all aspects of physical security, investigations, and caseloads.  It has been designed to suit the needs of a variety of operations including Colleges and Universities, private facility security, and niche security teams.  Due to the sensitive nature of the information your team is dealing with it is necessary to restrict information on a granular level. The IncidentAdmin module encourages you to plan your job descriptions so you can create roles and grant access to different roles based on need. For more information about permissions refer to the Incident Permissions section of this wiki article.

IncidentAdmin Setup

It is important to configure several items prior to using the incident module.  For information about Configuring IncidentAdmin, refer to this wiki article.

Working with IncidentAdmin

Incidents can be reported in several ways:

• Campus Security may observe violations as they occur
• Individuals may contact campus security to report incidents
• Staff may report incidents on behalf of fellow staff or students
• Requests to investigate may come from campus administration
• Incidents may be caught on surveillance cameras etc.

Initiating the entry of incidents into the system can be done in a couple of ways. 

• Dispatch Logs
• Incident Entry

These items can be generated in any order. 

Once an incident is recorded in the system Security Administrators can track the progress of any resulting investigation or follow-up events related to the incident.
Tasks can be created and assigned to officers, primary investigators, case workers and security administration through the incidents tool.

Investigators can track their progress from initial discovery through to resolution. 
Steps taken in the process as well as the outcome for individuals involved can be recorded, and in turn reported on through IncidentAdmin.

The following subjects are the main highlights in the workflow process in IncidentAdmin.

1. Searching ,  viewing   and  editing   incident records
2. Working with  related occurrences  and violations
3. Viewing " My Tasks " within IncidentAdmin
4. Generating  reports   from records stored in IncidentAdmin

A Word About Reports

There are a number of reports that can be generated in IncidentAdmin.

1. Recent Incidents Summary Report - Lists the last 30 days of incident records. For more information  click here .
   
2. Search Repeat Offenders - Report on individuals involved in multiple incidents
3. Weekly Stat Report - Reports on the number of all types of incidents that happened during a specified time span
4. Calls for Service
5. Summary Search - Allows administrators to get a summary of all incidents that have been recorded within a specified time frame. For more information  click here .
6. Summary Report - Allows administrators to produce a list in a spreadsheet format of incident summaries based on a date range.
7. Report by Category - Search for incidents under defined categories within a specific time frame. For more information  click here .
8. Sub Location Report - Search incidents filtered by sub location. For more information  click here .

Module 8 - Payments

1. Payments & Transaction Flow
2. Payment Processing Models
3. Highlight reports

4. Electronic Funds Transfer Setup

   OPS-COM can accept Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payments from your clients if you have done the necessary custom development to use this system. Currently, we only offer this service for the Royal Bank of Canada. Contact your Sales Representative if you are using another provider.

   EFT is used as a recurring payment method when paying for permits through the rollover process only. EFT cannot be used in any other way in OPS-COM. For more information, refer to this wiki article.

Setting up the Communication/Landing Page for Admins

When initially logging onto OperationsCommander as an administrator, the first landing page you are presented with has a message window that can be edited to suit your specific needs. General information can be placed here. Many ops-com users place schedule information on this landing page as well. For more information refer to this wiki article.