---
id: "coronavirus-smarter-crowdsourcing:strategies/Create-a-COVID-19-“war-room”,emergency-operati"
type: "GovLab policy strategy"
title: "Create a COVID-19 “war room”,emergency operation center,or nerve center that centralizes data and decision…"
url: "https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/create-a-covid-19-%E2%80%9Cwar-room%E2%80%9D,emergency-operati"
summary: "Create a COVID-19 “war room”,emergency operation center,or nerve center that centralizes data and decision making."
source: "The GovLab (coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Create a COVID-19 “war room”,emergency operation center,or nerve center that centralizes data and decision…

Create a COVID-19 “war room”,emergency operation center,or nerve center that centralizes data and decision making.

- Timeframe: 3-6 Months (medium)
- Audience: Government Workers
- Type: Policy/Legislative/Regulatory, Data, Technology/Innovation, Communications, Capacity Building, Procurement/Logistics
- Recommendation: [Increase Government Capacity](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/recommendations/increase-government-capacity)
- Part of: [Smarter Crowdsourcing in the Age of Coronavirus](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/)

## Actions governments should take

1. Ensure that the nerve center follows an established management system such as the National Incident Management System (NIMS) in the USA or the Incident Coordination System in Australia.
2. Develop a data linkage environment or platform that rapidly and confidentially supports data matching, de-identification, and use. This platform/environment should integrate data from different sources and allow officials to access it for decision making through a user-friendly interfaces.
3. Establish clear and written responsibilities and expectations for nerve center staff based on their experience and expertise. Functions should include leadership and management, operations, information management, logistics, media, security, administration, and technology.
4. Standardize an organizational structure based on clear top-down command and control with all the commanding positions arranged hierarchically.
5. Continually update and manage contact information for all officials and staff so that no gaps in service occur.
6. Conduct exercises to evaluate the nerve center ability to respond to specific and general public health emergencies.
7. Maintain situational awareness by integrating multiple data streams from government databases, healthcare surveillance systems, mass media, online social media, hotlines, and other data sources.
8. Strengthen information management by developing methods for risk detection and assessment.

## Examples from around the world

1. [Mckinsey & Company has developed resources for setting up a “minimum viable nerve center” that is designed to solve (1) inadeate discovery - or the “depths, extent and velocity of the crisis”; (2) poor decision making; (3) constrained solution design; and (4) delivery failure. Their model is applicable to individual organizations and also to governments.](https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/responding-to-coronavirus-the-minimum-viable-nerve-center)