Under IT Director Chris Watts, MITS’ Departments support all locations relating to MEMA IT operations, including not only the Central Office location in Pearl, but the State Emergency Logistical Operations Center (SELOC) location in Byram, and Coastal operations located at the Bolton Building as well.
IT Services
Information Technology as a whole is housed inside of MITS and under the direction of IT Director Chris Watts. The mission of IT here at MEMA is to create processes, support users, and enhance network infrastructure and operations as a whole for the entire agency of MEMA.
MIS
MIS, or Management Information Systems, is the policy, procedure, and systems processes department of MEMA IT. MIS helps facilitate not only in-house projects, but cross-agency relations and process refinement as well when needed. From Web Development to system administrations and implementations such as CrisisTrack and MB3, MIS helps administer many of the business systems and processes within MEMA.
GIS
The GIS (Geospatial Information Systems) department of MEMA is housed in MITS. We are a small team of highly technical people that just so happen to love maps and data. We create web maps, web apps, dashboards, paper maps, navigation aids, and maintain the information systems at MEMA that touch the geospatial. We live by the motto “When You Do Things Right, People Won’t Be Sure You’ve Done Anything at All”. We do our best to produce maps and situational awareness aids that look good and work well.
On occasion, the GIS team works to produce physical aids as well. Paper maps, posters, signage, and make use of the agency’s fabrication tools to make sure the agency is supplied with displays and other functional prints. We are the heart of the in-house design team striving to provide everyone under the MEMA banner with the tools for success.
Development
The MITS Coding team is located in the MITS Department. We’re pushing the limits of what we develop here in-house for the betterment of MEMA and the state of Mississippi. We are handling and also creating Mississippi Emergency Management Agency’s Web applications. WebEOC is one of the websites we handle. We have developed forms/Boards for them and fix any issues employees are having with it. We are also creating websites and iPhone apps. Echodesk and MEMA App is just the start of our applications as we look to continue to expand as the years go on.
Communications
The agency Communications department helps support AtHoc – Add/Edit users, Wireless Devices – Programming Two Way radios, Cell Devices, MiFi’s MSWIN – Works with WCC for Special Event talk-groups, and creates ICS205 for events.