Call Import

Call Import creates calls in Resgrid from dispatch emails. Your county or regional dispatch center, CAD system, paging service or alerting platform sends its dispatch email to your department's dispatch import email address. Resgrid reads each email with the format you choose, creates a call and dispatches it, the same as a call entered by hand. Calls can also come in by text message, set up separately under Text messaging.

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Why Call Import Matters

Many departments receive dispatch alerts from a county or regional dispatch center via email or pager. Without Call Import, someone would need to enter each call into Resgrid by hand. With it, dispatches flow into Resgrid on their own and trigger notifications, mapping and every other call feature with no manual step.

Scope

Call Import settings are department-wide. Every email sent to the department's dispatch import email becomes a call for the whole department. Groups and stations can also have their own dispatch addresses; see Group dispatch addresses.

How It Works

1. Your department has a dispatch import email address, shown at the top of Call Settings.
2. Your CAD, paging system or a mail rule sends or forwards dispatch emails to that address. Resgrid does not sign in to or check any other mailbox, so the email has to be sent to this address.
3. Resgrid reads the email with the Email Type selected on Call Settings (Generic until you choose one).
4. A new call is created from the parsed details (name, nature, address and so on). An address without coordinates is looked up on the map. An .mp3 or .amr attachment is kept as the call's dispatch audio.
5. The call is dispatched to everyone in the department, and members with call notifications on are alerted.
6. A few email types recognise a follow-up email about a call that is still open and update that call instead of creating another. See Email types.

An email the selected type cannot read is ignored: no call is created and the sender is not told. If a call has no nature or name after parsing, Resgrid uses the email's subject or body so the dispatch is not lost.

Configuring Call Import

Navigate to Department → Call Settings (/User/Department/CallSettings). Only department administrators can open it.

Setting	What it does
Dispatch Import Email	Your department's all-call address. Give it to your dispatch center or set your CAD or mail server to send dispatch emails to it. It cannot be changed on this page.
Prune (Auto Close) Calls	Closes imported calls automatically after the time below. See Auto-close imported calls.
Minutes to keep call open	How long an imported call stays open before it is closed, 0 to 10080 minutes (7 days). Only used when Prune is ticked.
Email Type	The format of the emails you receive. Pick the one matching your dispatch center's email. See Email types.
Call Numbering	How every new call is numbered, imported or not. See Call numbering.

Press Update to save. Saving keeps any other call settings you are not changing.

Email types

Each type reads a specific email layout. Choose the one that matches what your dispatch center sends; if none does, try Generic first.

Email type	What it expects	Fills in	Updates an open call
Generic	Any email.	Name from the subject, nature from the body, both in the notes. Attached dispatch audio.	No
Generic with AI enrichment	Any email (only offered when your department has Enhanced AI).	The same call as Generic, then queued for AI enrichment. See below.	No
Resgrid	A body of seven fields separated by \|. See Resgrid format.	Incident number, type, priority, address, map page, nature, notes.	No
Generic Page	A subject containing page.	Name from the subject, nature from the subject and body.	No
Connect	The body's first two lines.	Name from the subject, nature from the first lines.	No
Four Part Pipe	A body of \|-separated parts, with [LONGLAT:..] coordinates in the third.	Name, coordinates, nature.	No
Active911	A subject containing active and a plain-text body of KEY: value lines (CALL, ADDR1, ID, MAP, NARR …; any case).	Name, address, incident number, coordinates, nature.	Yes, by incident number (ID); an email without an ID line always creates a new call
R&R	A plain-text body with Address:, Call Type: and Incident Numbers: lines.	Name, address, type, priority (matched by name), incident number.	Yes, by incident number
OttawaCounty	A subject containing active and a plain-text body with CFS#, Address, CallType and Details lines.	CFS number, address, type (when it matches one of your call types), nature.	No
OttawaKingstonToronto	A plain-text, one-line-space-separated page with an ALPHA 512 marker.	Incident number, name, nature.	Yes, by incident number
Parkland Cty	A subject containing Parkland County Incident or Incident Message, with Type: and Location: lines.	Name, address, coordinates.	No
Parkland Cty2	As Parkland Cty, plus a Date: line and a priority letter (E, D, C, B, O or A).	Name, address, coordinates, logged time, priority. Also dispatches every unit.	Yes, a call with the same name and time; raises the priority and dispatches again on a second page
CAL FIRE ECC	A ;-separated body starting with Inc#.	Incident number, type, address, coordinates, name, nature.	No
CAL FIRE SCU	A ;-separated body with Inc#, ?q= coordinates and Map: lines. Close notices are ignored.	Type, address, incident number, coordinates, map page, nature.	No
Brockport	B:, L:, T: and X: sections.	Incident number, address, type, name, nature.	No
Hancock Cty	A ,-separated body: (code), type, address or coordinates, // nature.	Incident number, type, address, coordinates, nature.	No
Carencro	A subject containing 300 and ALERT.	Name from the subject, nature from the subject and body.	No
Grand Blanc	A subject containing Page Received.	Name from the subject, nature from the subject and body.	No
Union Fire	A subject containing Perform Page, with the address on the body's second and third lines.	Name, address, nature.	No
Lowestoft	A ,-separated body: priority, nature, place, then any instructions, such as 3, Persons in water, Southwold, Muster at CRE.	Priority (one of your priorities by name or number, else your default), nature, address (, United Kingdom is added when missing).	No
Spotted Dog	Any email with a subject.	Address from the subject, nature from the body.	No
PortJervis	Any email. A La = … Lo = … line becomes the call's coordinates.	Nature, coordinates.	No
Yellowhead	A /-separated body: name in the third part, address in the fourth.	Name, address.	No

"Updates an open call" means a later email about the same incident changes the call that is already open (among the department's ten most recent open calls) instead of creating another. Every other type creates a new call for each email.

Priority when the email names none. A call gets your department's default call priority. With custom call priorities and none marked as the default, it gets your priority whose Meaning is High (see Types); with neither, it gets the built-in High priority. Text message and voice imports use the same rule.

Choosing a Format

If your dispatch provider is not listed, try Generic first: it accepts any email. If you control the email your system sends, use the Resgrid format for the most complete calls. If neither produces usable calls, contact Resgrid support to request a format for your dispatch system.

Resgrid format

Use this format when you can control the email your CAD or alerting system sends. The body is seven values separated by the pipe (|) character:

ID | TYPE | PRIORITY | ADDRESS | MAPPAGE | NATURE | NOTES

Value	Meaning
ID	The incident number from your CAD. Can be empty or 0000.
TYPE	The incident type, such as MEDICAL or FIRE. When it matches one of your call types, case aside, the call is tagged with that type; other text is kept as sent. Can be empty.
PRIORITY	With custom call priorities, the priority's name, such as Structure Fire (case does not matter). With the built-in priorities, the name or number: Low = 0, Medium = 1, High = 2, Emergency = 3. Anything else uses your department's default priority. Can be empty.
ADDRESS	The full address (street, city, state, zip). Required.
MAPPAGE	Your map book page. Can be empty.
NATURE	Why the call exists, such as Fully involved 2 story residential structure. Required.
NOTES	Anything else. Can be empty.

Leave a value empty with a space between the pipes:

| MEDICAL | 3 | 155 Main St. Carson City, NV 89701 |  | 55 Y/O Male, Chest Pain, Diaphoretic, Conscious and abnormal breathing |

If fewer than six values arrive, the call is still created from the whole body, with a warning in its notes. Every Resgrid-format email creates a new call.

Generic with AI enrichment

Departments with the Enhanced AI add-on see this extra type and an AI Dispatch settings link under the list. The call is created exactly as with Generic, so dispatch is never delayed. The new call is then queued for AI enrichment, which can fill in details from the email according to your AI Dispatch settings. Follow-up emails are not enriched. A department that loses Enhanced AI keeps importing, because the call is built the same way as Generic.

Auto-close imported calls

With Prune (Auto Close) Calls ticked, an open call that came in by email, text message or audio import is closed once it has been open longer than Minutes to keep call open. Calls entered by hand are never closed this way.

• The check runs every hour, so a call can stay open up to an hour past its time.
• The closed call gets the note Call automatically closed by the system. and is recorded as closed by the department's managing user.
• Leave Prune unticked if your members close imported calls themselves.

Group dispatch addresses

Each group or station can have its own dispatch email and message email, set on the group (see Groups & stations):

• Email to a group's dispatch email creates a call dispatched only to that group and its sub-groups. It is read with the department's Email Type, the same way as the department address, and a follow-up email updates an open call for the types that do so.
• Email to a group's message email sends a message, not a call, to that group and its sub-groups.

Mailbox (POP3) monitoring

Resgrid does not sign in to an outside mailbox to collect dispatch emails. If your dispatch emails arrive in a mailbox you own, set a forwarding rule in that mailbox to send them to your dispatch import email. A mailbox your department configured with Resgrid in the past is kept on record but is not checked.

How Imported Calls Are Used

Once a call is imported, it behaves like a call entered by hand:

• It appears on the dispatch dashboard and maps.
• Notifications are sent to dispatched personnel.
• It gets the next call number from your department's call numbering.
• It can be updated, closed or deleted like any other call, and closes on its own if auto-close is on.
• It shows up in reports and logs.

Common Errors and Resolutions

Problem	Resolution
No calls are created	Check that the email is sent (or forwarded) to the exact dispatch import email shown on Call Settings, not to another mailbox. Then check the Email Type: an email the selected type cannot read is ignored. Switch to Generic to confirm emails are arriving.
Calls are created with missing or wrong details	Select the email type that matches your dispatch emails. For an address without coordinates, check that the address is complete enough to find on the map.
Every page creates a new call (duplicates)	Most email types create a call for each email. If your CAD sends updates, use a type that updates an open call (Active911, R&R, OttawaKingstonToronto, Parkland Cty2), or have your CAD send only the first page. Prune (Auto Close) Calls closes the extra calls after the set time.
Imported calls stay open	Tick Prune (Auto Close) Calls and set Minutes to keep call open. Calls close within an hour after that time.
The priority or type is not set	For the Resgrid format, send the name of one of your call priorities and call types. A priority number (0 to 3) only works with the built-in priorities.