Games Readiness Exercises
The XVII Commonwealth Games Final Report - June 28, 2002

Overview

The aim of the GRE was to rehearse Games wide command relationships, coordination and communications within and between command centres and senior/executive decision makers.

The GRE achieved the following objectives:

• Employed Games wide command, coordination and communication arrangements and policies.
• Rehearsed information flows and decision-making processes.
• Rehearsed reporting protocols and meeting schedules.
• Rehearsed escalation and resolution of complex (multi-body) issues/incidents.
• Developed/rehearsed contingency plans and arrangements.
• Confirmed clear role identification and differentiation.
• Identified operational shortfalls which were addressed prior to the Games commencing.

The GRE was a critical step in the final planning stages of the Games resulting in the following:

• Integration of the participating organisations/bodies with optimum inter-agency cooperation, communication, and alignment.
• Rehearsed and validated procedures, reporting protocols and plans in a `safe and cooperative' environment.
• Games wide transition from a `planning mindset' to `operations', which built staff morale and confidence in meeting the task ahead.
• A team that identified, escalated and/or resolved issues in an efficient and effective manner, thereby reducing misunderstandings between areas that have natural overlaps and dependencies.

The INOCON Group LLC (Inocon) was contracted by M2002 to provide Games Readiness activities as part of M2002's Games Readiness Project. Inocon focused on activities designed to develop and rehearse integrated operations within and between the Operational (Bronze), Tactical (Silver) and Strategic (Gold) levels of the Games command, coordination and communication structures.

The following Games Readiness activities were designed, developed
and delivered by Inocon:

• Identify, map and validate `Top 10' Integrated Operations Contingencies (IOC).
• Venue level Desktop and Venue Operations Exercises (VOE).
• Games wide Readiness Exercise (GRE).

Games Readiness Excercise
The M2002 GRE was undertaken on 28—29 June segmented into two days. The first day was used to exercise M2002 operations and the second included external agencies. The GRE was designed to simulate two days of the Games (29 and 30 July) including competition schedules, daily run sheets, programmed meetings and other scheduled activities.

The GRE exercised five geographically dispersed command centres, the majority of M2002 FA Heads, Directors and Senior Executives and key executives responsible for emergency services and Government within the Greater Manchester region. Approximately 12 major, 50 minor and numerous `noise' scenarios were used to exercise participants.

Objectives
The aim of the GRE was to rehearse Games wide command relationships, coordination and communications (C3) within and between command centres and senior/executive decision makers.

The key objectives of the GRE were to:
• Employ Games wide C3 arrangements and policies.
• Rehearse information flows and decision-making processes.
• Rehearse reporting protocols and meeting schedules.
• Rehearse escalation and resolution of complex (multi-agency) issues/incidents.
• Develop/rehearse contingency plans and arrangements.
• Confirm clear role identification and differentiation.
• Identify operational shortfalls to be addressed.

The GRE Management team focused on the tracking of how scenarios were handled and to identify or observe where a lack of integrated operations impacted upon successful resolution of an issue involving more than one function or agency.

Observations were usually first noticed within the Exercise Management Cell when monitoring resolution of scenarios; then confirmed by witnessing interactions between exercise participants and/or during informal and formal debriefs held during and after the GRE.

In the main, the GRE Management team found M2002 external agency structures and concepts of operation to be generally sound. FA Commands (FAC), external agencies and the GCC demonstrated a strong understanding of their internal operating procedures and processes despite the GRE being the first opportunity for many to substantially practice their Games time
operations.

Key Lessons and Recommendations
• Future Games should undertake similar readiness exercises prior to entering into Games operations. M2002 identified some key areas for improvement and this exercise set a foundation for Games decision-making functions at the GCC.