Dubai Civil Defense (DCD), an integral part of the United Arab Emirates’ emergency management services, was established in 1976.

Headquartered in Dubai, DCD is responsible for the safety and security of this bustling metropolis and its population of over 3 million people. Its main responsibilities cover firefighting, rescue, and building safety certification amongst many other functions. They depend on well over 2000 employees working out of more than 50 stations to carry out their responsibilities.

With a vision of making Dubai one of the safest cities in the world, DCD is led by Major General Rashid Thani Rashid Al Matroushi. The organization comprises several verticals focused on internal monitoring, strategy, public relations, IT, safety, protection, training, and various fire and rescue services. Dubai Civil Defence is equipped with a large and diverse fleet of vehicles equipped to tackle any one of the situations that they are designed to tackle. This includes world-leading solutions like Martin Jetpacks specifically designed for high-rise rescues and firefighting. This willingness to embrace new technology and innovative solutions demonstrates the DCD’s commitment to handling emergencies efficiently and protecting human life above all other considerations.

Notably, The Dubai Civil Defense leadership team has embraced data analysis to identify fire-risk hot spots, predict fire-prone areas, and deliver targeted safety messages, demonstrating its proactive and wide-ranging approach to public safety​​​​.

The incumbent solution used in Dubai Civil Defense was developed in early 2000. Throughout the intervening years, the organization’s requirements have developed and technology’s capabilities have dramatically advanced. This meant that the organization was missing out on some significant efficiencies and functionalities that were available in more recent products. It was clear that meeting the requirements of a modern, responsive service required a comprehensive upgrade of the technology and infrastructure.

The specific challenges that the DCD were facing that needed to be resolved were:

  • A lack of proper documentation on the current system architecture.
  • A need for enhanced security.
  • A document management system that had low-quality support from the vendor.
  • A requirement for reliable Arabic language search in the document management system.
  • A need for regular updates, upgrades, and fixes.
  • A requirement to keep the system running without interruption during the upgrade.

A replacement of the legacy Document Management System (OmniDocs) by installing ArcMate Enterprise eDMS including full Arabic language support.

NVSSoft performed a full upgrade of the existing Correspondence Management System by installing Tarasol eCMS including full Arabic language support.

The upgrade was carried out without any disruption to the day-to-day operations of DCD’s vital emergency services.

Integration of the new solutions with several of DCD’s other systems to allow for seamless flow of user information across the organization.

The latest version of the Tarasol product was provided to automate and manage all internal communications, meetings, and cases.

The complete replacement and upgrade of DCD’s existing Correspondence and Document Management Systems yielded some significant improvements for the organization.

  • Support for a wider base of users with varied roles and permissions.
  • Access to the latest technology.
  • Continued support of the existing Oracle DB.
  • Smooth integration with other DCD systems to facilitate cross-functional teams.
  • Tarasol has allowed the organization to transition to a fully paperless environment.
  • With Tarasol installed, the entire meeting lifecycle within DCD can be digitized.
  • Tarasol has also empowered the DCD to gain better control over permissions, access, and edit rights of all correspondence.
  • Arabic search function within ArcMate Enterprise Document Management System.
  • DCD benefitted from NVSSofts reliable and multi-lingual support channels.
  • Regular updates to all products to ensure performance.

The partnership with NVSSoft has also served to future-proof the DCD so that as and when their operational requirements evolve, NVSSoft’s solutions can expand and develop to fit. NVSSoft’s solutions scale in lockstep with DCD’s continuously growing data, security, and correspondence demands to match their vision to make Dubai one of the safest cities in the world.