What LiveSOP^™ is, and what it is not.

What is LiveSOP?

LiveSOP is a live operations platform that turns procedures into executable operational systems by connecting procedures, operational state, events, people, assets, data, communications, decisions, tasks, and the record of what happened.

The procedure you already have becomes a running mission: every step has an owner, a time and its dependencies, and the whole team works from one operating picture instead of a document and a group chat.

How is LiveSOP different from a task manager?

A task manager holds tasks. LiveSOP holds the procedure, the facts the procedure depends on, and the relationships between the steps. Change one fact — an arrival time, a location, an owner — and every step that depended on it updates, with the timing consequences attached. A task list cannot do that, because it does not know what depends on what.

How is a live operations platform different from workflow automation?

Workflow automation moves a work item through fixed stages when a rule fires: if this, then that. It works well for processes that repeat the same way every time. A live operation does not. Conditions change during execution, and the right next step depends on where everyone is, what has already happened and what is still pending. LiveSOP holds that full picture as operational state. Automation acts on it where a rule is clear, but the operator sees the consequences of every change and makes the call. The difference is a system that runs a process versus a system that runs an operation.

What does it mean for an operation to have state?

State is everything that is true about the operation right now: where each person and asset is, which steps are done, which are due, what has changed since the plan was written and what those changes affect. In most organizations this lives in the heads of a few experienced people, a group chat and a spreadsheet. LiveSOP holds it in one place and keeps it current from the data it is connected to. Because the state is explicit, the platform can tell you what a change means before you have to work it out, and it can write the record of the operation as it happens rather than reconstructing it afterward.

Is LiveSOP incident management software?

No. Incident tools open a record when something happens and track it to closure. LiveSOP runs the procedure that the incident triggers: who does what, by when, in what order, and what changes when the conditions do.

Is LiveSOP designed to utilize ICS/NIMS?

Yes, by design — and no, it is not required. For organizations that operate under ICS or NIMS, LiveSOP operationalizes the framework: the command structure, roles and reporting you already use become the mission’s owners, tasks and notification rules, and the mission becomes a structured point for collecting and distributing operational data. It does not replace ICS or NIMS; it folds into them and becomes a key part of the operational layer. If you do not use ICS, nothing in LiveSOP assumes you do.

What can LiveSOP integrate with?

This is where a procedure stops being a document. LiveSOP brings in your organization’s own data and terminology — your sites, assets, people and the names you actually use — and joins it to the external sources an operation depends on: live tracking and telematics, weather and severe-weather alerts, travel itineraries, mapping, access control and physical security systems, inventory and equipment records, and open-source feeds. The value is not a dashboard of everything. It is that a step in your procedure can depend on a real-world condition and know the moment that condition moves.

Could we build this with our existing workflow, incident management, GIS and communications tools?

Individually, those systems can handle many of the same pieces. The difference is what connects them.

LiveSOP gives the operation a shared model of its people, places, assets, timing, tasks, dependencies, procedures and communications. Connected systems become inputs to that model rather than separate screens an operator has to reconcile.

When something changes, LiveSOP can identify what parts of the operation depend on it, show the downstream impact, propose the actions the procedure calls for, and route those actions to the right people and systems — while keeping the operator in control.

Recreating that with separate tools typically means building and maintaining the integration, dependency logic and operational orchestration between them.

LiveSOP provides that layer without requiring you to replace the systems you already rely on.

Does LiveSOP use AI?

LiveSOP is AI-ready, but AI is not required.

The platform can operate completely independently of AI, or incorporate AI models to varying degrees based on an organization’s requirements. Where appropriate, LiveSOP can also employ guard rails and locked-down, isolated models designed for controlled operational environments.

Our preferred approach keeps a human in the loop for decision-making. AI is most valuable when used to rapidly evaluate information, identify exceptions, surface anomalies, and bring the items that require attention to the right user — rather than making critical operational decisions on its own.

This allows organizations to gain the speed and scale of AI without making their operations dependent on it.

Does it replace our mass notification or comms protocol?

Only if you want it to. By default LiveSOP decides who needs to be told what and pushes to the channels people already use, with notification rules set when the procedure is written rather than improvised while the operation is running. If you would rather not keep a separate system, we also have a mass communications module that can be implemented as a full mass notification suite inside LiveSOP.

What is a mission?

A mission is the structure that turns a static procedure into something that runs. The template holds what your organization knows: the steps, their order, who owns each one, what has to finish before what, and the rules for who gets told. Activating it binds that knowledge to a single real operation — these people, this site, this vehicle, this arrival time. From that moment the mission is live: it carries its own state, holds the dependencies between its steps, watches the conditions it relies on, and recalculates when any of them move. The procedure is the knowledge. The mission is that knowledge running, with everything it needs to react.

What are mission variables?

People, places and things — the elements a mission actually touches. A protectee and a driver. A hotel, a hospital, an office, a site. A vehicle, a generator, a medical kit, a piece of equipment. Each is entered once and referenced by name wherever the procedure needs it, so it is the same thing in every step rather than a phrase retyped in eleven places. That is what makes change tractable: when the hotel changes, the vehicle is swapped or the arrival slips an hour, every step that touched it knows.

What happens when data from a connected system changes?

It becomes operational context, not just another alert.

If a flight is delayed, a route closes, a vehicle changes, weather affects a location or a participant becomes unavailable, LiveSOP relates that change to the active mission.

It can show which tasks, people, timings, dependencies and decisions are affected; identify what is now at risk; and present the response called for by the procedure.

The operator decides what to apply.

That distinction matters: connected data does not simply appear beside the procedure. It can change what the procedure requires next.

Can LiveSOP use real-time data?

Yes. LiveSOP connects to the systems your operation already depends on: flight and vehicle tracking, weather, GIS, access control, sensors, scheduling and communications. Incoming data is bound to the mission variables it affects, so a change in the source becomes a change in the operation. A delayed flight moves the arrival time; every step that depended on that time updates, and the people responsible for those steps are told. The data is not shown in a separate feed for someone to interpret. It acts on the mission directly.

Can LiveSOP track people, vehicles, locations and other assets?

Yes. People, vehicles, locations, aircraft, equipment and any other asset a mission touches are modeled as mission variables. Each carries its own live state, such as position, status, assignment or availability, and appears on the map and in the mission timeline. LiveSOP is vendor agnostic about where that data comes from. Bring your own tracking hardware or telematics, use the LiveSOP mobile app for people and teams in the field, or connect third-party sources such as flight trackers, AIS, fleet systems and weather services. Because each asset is tied to the steps that depend on it, tracking is not just a dot moving on a map. When a vehicle is reassigned or a team arrives on site, the steps that were waiting on that fact advance, and the ones that now conflict are flagged.

Does LiveSOP make decisions on its own?

No. The operator decides. When conditions change, LiveSOP does the work that has to happen before a decision is possible: what is affected, what the options are, what each one costs in time, and who needs to know either way. Then it puts that in front of the person whose call it is. Approvals stay with named people. What changes is not who decides — it is how much they know when they decide, and how quickly they can act.

What is the Activity Rail?

The operation’s own record, written as it runs: every change, decision, approval and completion, with its timestamp and its owner. It is readable mid-operation, so whoever joins late can get current without a catch-up call, and it is finished the moment the mission closes.

What is Mission Confidence?

A running read on whether the operation is still likely to succeed — not only what has happened, but whether the remaining steps, their timing and their dependencies still add up. It is the question an operations lead is already asking silently. LiveSOP answers it in the open.

Do we have to rewrite our procedures?

No. You load the procedure you already run. It becomes a versioned template that stays editable, so what you learn while running it folds back into the procedure rather than staying in one person’s memory.

Who uses it during an operation?

The operations center or duty desk runs the mission and sees the whole picture. Step owners see only their own work, on a phone, with what is due and what it blocks. Executives and stakeholders get status without asking for it.

How long does it take to start?

One procedure. Load it, activate it, run it. Most teams start with the procedure that hurts most — the one that always takes the same three phone calls to get moving.

Can we pilot a procedure before a broader deployment?

Yes, and most teams start that way. Pick one procedure, load it as a template, and run it live with the team that owns it.

How do integrations work?

An integration binds an outside source to mission variables. Once a flight, a vehicle, a weather zone or an access-control point is connected, the variables carry the live value and every step that depends on them responds when the value changes. LiveSOP connects through a REST API and webhooks, with prebuilt connectors for common sources such as flight tracking, weather services, mapping and telematics. Your own systems can push data in or pull mission state out. Setup is done once per source and reused across every procedure that references it.

How is access controlled?

Access is role-based and scoped to the mission. Each participant sees only what they are assigned to or cleared for. For larger organizations, LiveSOP can be deployed as multiple tenants, separating missions, users and data by customer, sub-organization or area of responsibility. Administrators manage roles and membership centrally.

Does LiveSOP support SSO?

Yes. LiveSOP supports SSO and basic authentication.

What is logged and audited?

Everything that changes the operation. Every step completion, approval, reassignment, variable change, notification sent and decision recorded is written to the mission’s Activity Stream with a timestamp and the person or system responsible. Data arriving from connected systems is logged with its source and the time it was received. Administrative actions such as role changes, template edits and login events are recorded separately. The record is immutable and is complete the moment the mission closes, so the after-action report is a read of what happened rather than a reconstruction of it.