Who needs which situational information during an operation?

A digital operational picture only supports an event if relevant information reaches the people responsible for it. That is why the planning stage should already establish who needs which information for their task and how they can use it under operational conditions.

Assign information needs to tasks

Event management, security service, medical service and technical management handle different tasks. This results in different information needs. Event management, for example, needs an overview for decisions that affect the whole event. A responder on site may primarily need a clearly identified location and a concrete description of the situation.

BaSiGo recommends defining target groups, content, means of communication and responsibilities in the communication concept [1]. For a digital operational picture, a practical assignment can be derived from this:

Assignment	Key question
Task	Which task does the person or unit perform during the operation?
Information required	Which information do they need for this task?
Authorised recipient	Who is allowed to receive this information?
Transmission route	By which route does the information reach them?

Plan access and usability together

A fictitious example: camera images are available at the project management workstation. The operational security manager, however, has neither a suitable view nor an agreed reporting route. Although the transmission works, the information is not reliably available for their task.

The following therefore have to be clarified:

• Workstation: Where is the information used?
• Device: On which device is it displayed?
• Connection: Over which connection does it reach that device?
• Operation: Can the intended users operate the view under operational conditions?
• Deputies and shift changes: Is the information also available to deputies and after a shift change?

Not every participant needs their own full system access. A targeted message may be sufficient for one task; another requires direct access.

Where personal data are involved, access and disclosure must be lawful, limited to the purpose and restricted to what is necessary. A shared security task alone does not create a blanket authorisation to access all data [2].

Test the distribution of information before the start

Before the event starts, it should be checked with the intended users whether information arrives, is presented clearly and can be placed correctly in space and time. A user account that has been set up does not in itself prove this usability.

The result is a clear distribution of information: who receives what, where, by which route and with which permissions? This turns technical availability into a usable basis for working together.

Read more: Situational awareness at events: more than a video wall on the building blocks of an operational picture.

Context: research as of 2 November 2026. The task examples and the recommended assignment are editorial conclusions. The operational example is fictitious and does not describe any particular event or specialist company. No automatic authorisation of public authorities or private services and no general entitlement to live images is claimed. No product functions are promised. General guidance, not legal advice.