The Design and Implementation of ZIFA: A Central Information System for Civil Protection Vehicles and Equipment

Abstract

Civil protection authorities in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, have long relied on a fragmented landscape of databases and spreadsheets to manage their vehicle and equipment inventories. This heterogeneous data environment prevents cross-organizational analysis, impedes situational awareness during crises, and makes compliance reporting against the state's administrative regulation on disaster control services a labor-intensive manual process. Despite the operational significance of this challenge, no German state currently operates a centralized, IT-supported system for civil protection vehicle management. We present ZIFA (Zentrales Informationssystem für Fahrzeuge und Ausstattungen des Katastrophenschutzes), a GIS-enabled web application developed as a new module within the established Elektronische Lagedarstellung für den Bevölkerungsschutz (ELD-BS) ecosystem. ZIFA provides unified inventory management, map-based visualization, lifecycle management, cost tracking, and automated target/actual comparison across all administrative levels. The system was developed through a participatory co-design process involving the Ministry of the Interior, Digitalisation and Local Government, all four Regional Councils, and selected district authorities and relief organizations. We describe ZIFA's architecture using the five viewpoints of the Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (RM-ODP) framework and contextualize its functionality through two analytical lenses: the crisis management cycle (prevention, preparedness, response, recovery) and the administrative hierarchy (state, regional, district, local). Implementation is complete and the system is currently undergoing its second testing phase, fully integrated within the ELD-BS environment. We discuss lessons learned from the participatory design process, current limitations, and the transferability of key design elements to other German states and international contexts.