RAY BAUM'S Act
Telling the dispatcher which room
RAY BAUM'S Act requires that a dispatchable location travel with a 911 call: not just a street address, but enough detail to find the caller inside the building. On a campus, that is the difference between arriving and arriving in time.
01
What it requires
| Requirement | What that means in practice |
|---|---|
| A dispatchable location with the call | The validated street address, plus additional information such as building, floor and room where needed to locate the caller. |
| Accuracy maintained over time | A location record is only useful if it is right. Moves, adds and changes have to be reflected, which makes this an ongoing obligation rather than a one-off configuration task. |
| Applies across fixed and non-fixed devices | Different categories of device came into scope on different dates, so what applies depends on what you are installing. |
02
Why it matters to your lines
This is the requirement that most often stalls an order. Every line needs a room and floor recorded, and nobody has that list. Collecting it during the audit rather than at provisioning is the difference between a project that ships and one that sits waiting. What counts as an adequate location for your building is settled with your telecoms provider and the local 911 authority having jurisdiction over the answering point, not by us.
03
Questions worth asking
- What location detail do you need for each line, and in what format?
- How is that information kept current when rooms change use?
- How do we test that the right location reaches the dispatcher?
- Has the local 911 authority confirmed the format they expect?