Ascenttra provides expertise in both discussion-based and operation-based exercises. Discussions-based Exercises familiarize participants with current plans, policies, agreements and procedures, or may be used to develop new plans, policies, agreements, and procedures. Operations-based Exercises validate plans, policies, agreements and procedures, clarify roles and responsibilities, and identify resource gaps in an operational environment.
Discussion-based Exercises include:
- Seminar – an informal discussion, designed to orient participants to new or updated plans, policies, or procedures (e.g., a seminar to review a new Evacuation Standard Operating Procedure).
- 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).
- Tabletop Exercise – involves key personnel discussing simulated scenarios in an informal setting. Tabletop exercises can be used to assess plans, policies, and procedures.
- Games – a simulation of operations that often involves two or more teams, usually in a competitive environment, using rules, data, and procedure designed to depict an actual or assumed real-life situation.
Operations-based Exercises include:
- Drill – a coordinated, supervised activity usually employed to test a single, specific operation or function within a single entity (e.g., a fire department conducts a decontamination drill).
- Functional Exercise – examines and/or validates the coordination, command, and control between various multi-agency coordination centers (e.g., joint field office, etc.). A functional exercise does not involve any personnel responding to an incident in real time).
- Full-Scale Exercises – a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional, multi-discipline exercise involving functional (e.g., emergency operation centers, etc.) and "boots on the ground" response (e.g., firefighters decontaminating actors).
