Training for the worst : A qualitative study for the potential use of a digital tool so support contingency exercises for public bodies and companies in Akershus County

Abstract: Preparing for crisis is a challenge. To be prepared to handle a crisis, organizationshave to practice. Crisis management exercises are never performed as often theyshould, as it is expensive and takes long time to plan.The purpose of this thesis is to examine how public bodies and other organizations inAkershus plan and execute crisis management exercises. The thesis aims to evaluateinterest and survey pre-conditions and useful features for a digital tool to complementtraditional contingency exercises.A qualitative approach has been applied in form of interviews and literature review asthe objective is to achieve comprehension of the interviewed organizations routinesand practices, and the circumstances which may affect their need for a digital trainingtool.Six key factors in crisis management are identified in the literature review. Thefactors are: flexibility, communication, cooperation and coordination as well asinformation and improvisation. In addition, methods to understand how users interactwith technology as well as how to design responsive web pages were explored.The analysis is based on empirical results from five interviews from fiveorganizations. The empirical results were compared to the key factors from theliterature review.The study shows that the most of the interviewed organizations use CIM®, and thatall of them implement tabletop or scenario exercises in their training. The interviewedorganizations believe that a digital tool for contingency exercises can be acontribution to traditional exercises, but there are issues concerning how cooperationand communication can be maintained in any digital tool to be used in an area wherefunctional communication and cooperation is necessary.