Triage and assignment

Triage turns a report into work. The coordinator checks the case against its service area and incident identity, confirms the affected units, and assigns the authorised responder. Triage moves the case from reported to triaged, and assignment moves it to assigned. Before either change is saved, the system checks that the coordinator belongs to the right organization, is allowed to act on that service area, and is working on the current revision of the case.

Every triage writes an operation receipt with a stable key. If the coordinator’s triage is sent twice, because the connection dropped or the button was pressed again, the second attempt returns the first result instead of assigning a second crew.

The outage coordinator triages and assigns; the field crew lead receives the assignment.

• Checked before saved. Organization, incident identity, revision and the coordinator’s scope are verified first.
• One responder per assignment. The authorised responder is named on the case.
• Repeat-safe. A repeated triage returns the original result.

Agree who can triage cases in each service area and who counts as an authorised responder. Agree the order in which cases are triaged when many arrive at once, for example by affected units or by critical customers. Prepare examples of a straightforward triage, a triage sent twice, a triage by someone outside the service area and a reassignment when the first crew is diverted.

During the storm the coordinator triages twelve cases in an hour. One triage is sent twice when the network stutters; the second attempt returns the first assignment and no second crew is dispatched. A coordinator from another district tries to triage a case outside their area and is refused, so the area’s own coordinator keeps control of their crews.

• Open service cases — Cases waiting for triage or assignment.
• Case status board — Reported, triaged and assigned cases side by side.

• Report to restoration: Where triage fits.

Check permissions for coordinators by area.