PSERN Bulletin | May 2019

New PSERN Logo

Thank You

PSERN has successfully completed the Radio Inventory outreach effort. We would like to thank everyone who helped us with this endeavor and we now have an inventory of over 17,000 radios. The project could not have done it without you, and your support of PSERN is greatly appreciated. We look forward to continued partnership with you as we implement the new PSERN system.

  • Please keep track of any changes in your radio counts in the future so that you can be ready to provide a final radio inventory no later than 120 days before new PSERN radio deployment begins. Currently, radio deployment is scheduled to begin by February 2021,* making the final inventory due date October 20, 2020.
  • The project will be sending a confirmation email of final radio counts from the project’s March 2019 inventory for those agencies where we found duplicates or other errors.

Radio End User Service Level Agreements

PSERN will begin the next big outreach effort starting this summer to ensure that the project has the correct list of all agencies that will ultimately be responsible for radios. Different from the entire end user customer list, organizations or jurisdictions responsible for PSERN radios will be the ones signing a Radio End User Agency Service Level Agreement (SLA).

The SLA is an agreement between the responsible or “parent” end user agency and King County. The SLA will eventually be assigned from the County to the future PSERN Operator. Its purpose is to clarify roles and responsibilities of the Operator and the end user, including maintenance and PSERN system performance. In summary, the thematic functions addressed in the SLA are:

  • Radio features, capabilities and maintenance requirements
  • Network performance and maintenance
  • Responsibilities of the end user agency and the operator
  • Liabilities

The Radio End User Agency SLA must be signed by December 2019 and is designed to be signed through an administrative process – by department directors or agency executives.

As a reminder, the new PSERN Operator will be formed 18 months before the project is complete which is currently scheduled for May 2022. Once the project is complete, PSERN will become an independent non-profit governmental agency that is separate from King County or any other jurisdiction.


Is Your Agency Contact Information Up to Date?

PSERN needs to gather additional contact information and data from your organization in order to streamline radio deployment, training, and transition to the new PSERN Operator. PSERN needs to know who the point of contact is for these specific categories within your organization:

  • Training
  • Operations
  • Billing
  • Logistics including scheduling of agency staff (especially for mobile installations)
  • Technical
  • Authority within agency who can sign the SLA (for “parent” agencies)

Only 12% of PSERN customers have completed their points of contact form. In particular, the project needs to know SLA signatories’ contact information by June 24, 2019.  If you haven’t updated your agency’s personnel contact information this year, please contact the PSERN-INFO@kingcounty.gov  account to request the agency contact information form.


New PSERN Website

PSERN staff have been working tirelessly with KCIT staff to develop a new website, content, and logo to make finding information about the project easier to navigate. PSERN asked end users for feedback on ways the project could improve responsiveness and communication. One of the top areas of feedback was our website, specifically to ensure that it addresses all different types of customers and to make it more interactive.

We heard those comments and believe that our new website will help to make project and staff contact information more accessible, keeping our end users better informed. We are still fine tuning some of the content but please check out our new website.

Coming soon will be a secure access page designed to provide access to agency data and specialty information such as training content for PSERN radios – information that would be better to access on a private web page. We’d love to hear your feedback!


Project Schedule*

  • Countywide SLA process to be completed – January 2020
  • End-User Radio Training for Master Trainers from October 2020 – November 2020 with all end users needing to be trained prior to February 2021
  • Dispatch Console Training for Master Trainers in September 2019 with all end users needing to be trained by the beginning December 2019
  • System Optimization and Coverage Testing to be completed by October 2020
  • Deployment of radios to end users from February 2021 – December 2021

 

*Dates are subject to change


Contact Us

If you would like to request more information about this project, or would like an in-person presentation for your organization, please contact the PSERN team via the information below. Please include your name, title, organization, and the best way to contact you. Someone will return your inquiry within one business day.

 

For general information about the PSERN Project: 

Visit: https://psern.org/

 

For any questions about the project or its staff:

Call: 206-47-PSERN / 206-477-7376

Email: PSERN-INFO@kingcounty.gov  

 

For questions about how your distributed antenna systems (DAS) and/or Bi-directional amplifiers (BDAs) will be affected by PSERN contact:

Email: DAS-PSERN@kingcounty.gov