Understanding Work Groups and Work Assignments in PRATUS
Work groups allow work assignments to be assigned to the appropriate part of the incident organization.
Overview
Work groups allow work assignments to be assigned to the appropriate part of the incident organization.
Before creating work assignments, it is important to understand which work groups are already available and whether an additional work group needs to be created.
What is a work group?
A work group identifies an organizational group that can receive a work assignment in PRATUS.
During incident planning, a work assignment can be associated with an eligible work group so planners can identify who is responsible for carrying out the assignment.
Work groups and Incident Seats
In the workflow demonstrated during training, a custom work group was created through the Incident Roster when adding a new Incident Seat.
When creating the seat:
- Add a new Incident Seat.
- Enter the seat information.
- Select who the seat reports to.
- Designate the seat as a Work Group.
- Save the seat.
Once created as a work group, the group can become available when assigning operational work.
Existing work groups
Some organizational positions or sections may already appear as options when creating work assignments.
You may therefore not need to create a new work group for every assignment.
When should I create a work group?
Create a new work group when the team responsible for the work does not already exist as an available assignment option.
For example, if an incident requires a specialized field team that is not represented in the existing incident organization, that team may need to be added as an Incident Seat and designated as a work group.
Work groups vs. work assignments
These terms represent two different things:
Work Group = Who performs the work
Work Assignment = What work they are being assigned
For example:
Work Group: Wildlife Recovery Team
Work Assignment: Recover impacted wildlife from Sector A
A work group can then be associated with the appropriate work assignment during operational planning.
Check your work groups before the Tactics Meeting.
Before developing work assignments, review the incident organization and ask:
Do the groups that will perform the planned work already exist?
If yes, continue into operational planning.
If no, create the required Incident Seat/work group before assigning the work.
This prevents reaching the work-assignment stage and discovering that the appropriate group is unavailable.