Exercises
UIC’s Multi-Year Training & Exercise Plan (MYTEP) utilizes multiple types of exercises divided into two categories: Discussion-Based and Operations-Based.
Discussions-based exercises Heading link
Discussions-based exercises familiarize participants with current plans, policies, agreements and procedures, or may be used to develop new plans, policies, agreements, and procedures.
Seminar
A seminar is an informal discussion, designed to orient participants to new or updated plans, policies, or procedures (e.g., a seminar to review updates to the Emergency Operations Policy Group Playbook).
Tabletop Exercise (TTX)
A tabletop exercise involves key campus and unit personnel discussing simulated scenarios in an informal setting. TTXs can be used to assess plans, policies, and procedures.
Workshop
A workshop resembles a seminar, but is employed to build specific products, such as a draft plan or policy (e.g., a Training and Exercise Plan Workshop is used to develop a Multi-Year Training and Exercise Plan).
Operations-based exercises Heading link
Operations-based exercises include drills, functional exercises (FEs), and full-scale exercises (FSEs). These exercises can be used to validate plans, policies, agreements, and procedures; clarify roles and responsibilities; and identify resource gaps. Operations-based exercises are characterized by actual reaction to an exercise scenario, such as initiating communications or mobilizing personnel and resources.
Drill
A drill is a coordinated, supervised activity usually employed to test a single, specific operation or function within a single entity (e.g., the UIC police department conducts a decontamination drill).
Full-Scale Exercises (FSE)
A full-scale exercise is a full campus and multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional, multi-discipline exercise involving functional (e.g., joint field office, emergency operation centers, etc.) and “boots on the ground” response (e.g., firefighters decontaminating mock victims).
Functional Exercise (FE)
A functional exercise examines and/or validates the coordination, command, and control between senior management from UIC’s major units and colleges (e.g., emergency operation center). A functional exercise does not involve any “boots on the ground” (i.e., first responders or emergency officials responding to an incident in real time).