Managing Unit IDs & Aliases - Any Better Options Than Excel?

[treyboothe]

Hey all,

I’m trying to get a handle on how others keep their unit IDs and aliases (medic/EMT names) organized across their fleet. Right now, I’m using an Excel sheet to track everything portable and mobile radio IDs, associated names, and unit assignments. It works, but it feels clunky, especially when personnel rotate or we add new units.

We’re using Kenwood Viking radios programmed through Armada. Is there any kind of built-in alias database or synchronization feature that I’m missing? I currently don’t have admin access to our PSAP console, but I know they’re using Telex C-Soft, so I’m curious if there’s any integration between that and Armada for alias management. Although my Unit ID layout is organized, manually managing it can be quite challenging. Is there any central database, fleet alias export/import process, or feature that others use to keep this in sync between software and consoles? Do most of you maintain a master spreadsheet as I am currently doing?

I would greatly appreciate any input or workflow tips from those who manage larger Viking fleets or those who integrate with their PSAP radio console.

Thanks,

 

[KE4ZNR]

In our municipal radio shop we use MCM Technologies "CommShop" program.
It is worth its price tag as we can track radio serials, radio IDs, vehicle fleet #s, and infrastructure serials and link them all together as well as handle our work orders.
It also allows you to define Radio ID ranges for agencies/departments which also makes keeping up with radios easy.
We do have an excel file that we use as a "backup to a backup" but MCM handles 99.99% of what we do on a daily basis.

 

[MTS2000des]

MCM/MotionDeck is the bomb. Worth, every penny. Their support is TOP TIER and you get what you pay for. Could not run our shop without it, aside from ID management (and because, well, we're Georgia with 15 different trunking systems all overlayed, having to manage IDs for partner systems is a PITA without it), work orders, tech tracking...and reports all allow us to justify our staff with easy on demand reporting of all we do.

We also have an interface with Genesis which allows us to push provisioning jobs to the core without having to create them in PM, though we do have to "push" the pending changes in PM. We are in process of moving our MCM/CommShop 360 to the cloud. Our wonderful IT department is the holdup as usual.

 

[PACNWDude]

Provisioning Manager and Genesis GenWatch for me and my employer. Problem is, we have had a growing network for years now, and have to deconflict with many counties for interop.

As mentioned above, IT can be a bottleneck, and it is for us as well......and why we attempt to keep IT and Radio separated, enough to keep things running smoothly. The mention of Telex C-Soft brought back memories though, I sent the last IP-223 interface devices to the surplus dumpster a year ago.

Simple solution is anything that works, Excel, other software tools for radio management, but the main thing is to make sure it is kept up to date and not neglected (I have some sites that do not know what they have radio asset wise, and it seems like Provisioning Manager and Genesis reports are generated each time a new point of contact takes over, just so they know what they are "responsible" for.

Radio ID management is on-going and a constant process, for many radio networks. Good luck.

 

[LJF]

I use an old desktop running WinXP and a late 90's MS Office for all my record keeping.
It never sees the Internet so it can't catch any of those computer diseases.
When I was in business all invoice templates and bookkeeping was done here.
Best part is not having to upgrade and learn where they moved things.
Sometimes older can be better.

 

[KE4ZNR]

We are in process of moving our MCM/CommShop 360 to the cloud.

Y'all will love it. We have ours on a virtual server on the cities intranet and I can access it 24/7 via VPN. So I can file work orders & update radio/system info anytime, anywhere. We also have CirrusCentral So I can keep up with important system info there as well. Took us a little while to get everything perfected but MCM was great working with us to make it happen.

 

[MTS2000des]

Y'all will love it. We have ours on a virtual server on the cities intranet and I can access it 24/7 via VPN. So I can file work orders & update radio/system info anytime, anywhere. We also have CirrusCentral So I can keep up with important system info there as well. Took us a little while to get everything perfected but MCM was great working with us to make it happen.

When I got here 10 years ago, the previous radio manager had a collection of Excel spreadsheets, all of which had various data errors and inconsistencies, duplicate IDs all over the place, and ID ranges seemingly randomly assigned based on some secret squirrel formula that only he knew and took with him. When we purchased MCM, we started from scratch with new ID blocks for everyone, gradually retouching the fleet, and getting dupes eliminated to the point now where if there is a duple detected by GenWatch, it's 99.9 percent a rogue/whacker and we reprogram known good, leave whacker on so I can zap it in RCM then wait for the "my radio turns on then off" thread to appear on this forum.

I'd never even think of going back to anything spread sheet for a system of our scope and size. We were able to get universal mutual aid IDs consistent at least across are adjoining agency partner systems so there are the same ID on those systems. Makes for easy tracking and easy inhibiting if there is a lost/stolen/clone.

MCM is worth the money for any medium to large size network operator.