Digitalization of Table-Top Exercises: An Emergency Response Training Showcase

Anna Sumereder and Bernhard Bürger and Robert Woitsch

Table-top exercises are widely used to train complex scenarios while representing real world events. However, structured data collection and evaluation are usually limited in such exercises. To foster decision support based on the findings, this paper describes the relevant components advancing conventional towards digitalized table-top exercises by introducing a hybrid model-based approach. The underlying conceptualizations and the physical components to digitalize such exercises are presented in conjunction with a proof-of-concept – the Scenario Scanner. Project MEASURE is introduced to reflect on the model-based digitalization of table-top exercises. It transfers the approach to the emergency management domain, where table-top exercises are a commonly used tool to simulate the response to potential hazards. The Scenario Scanner is configured for an emergency scenario and selected application samples are presented. The discussion presents how results derived from table-top exercises could be linked to functional or full-scale emergency exercises and covers further potential use cases.

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    Cite as

    Anna Sumereder, Bernhard Bürger, Robert Woitsch: Digitalization of Table-Top Exercises: An Emergency Response Training Showcase. In: Seböck, Walter; Lampoltshammer, Thomas J.; Dugdale, Julie; Zeller, Ingeborg (Ed.): Information Technology in Disaster Risk Reduction, pp. 49–65, Springer Nature Switzerland, Cham, 2026, ISBN: 978-3-031-97115-0.

    BibTeX (Download)

    @inproceedings{10.1007/978-3-031-97115-0_4,
title = {Digitalization of Table-Top Exercises: An Emergency Response Training Showcase},
author = {Anna Sumereder and Bernhard Bürger and Robert Woitsch},
editor = {Walter Seböck and Thomas J. Lampoltshammer and Julie Dugdale and Ingeborg Zeller},
isbn = {978-3-031-97115-0},
year  = {2026},
date = {2026-01-01},
booktitle = {Information Technology in Disaster Risk Reduction},
pages = {49–65},
publisher = {Springer Nature Switzerland},
address = {Cham},
abstract = {Table-top exercises are widely used to train complex scenarios while representing real world events. However, structured data collection and evaluation are usually limited in such exercises. To foster decision support based on the findings, this paper describes the relevant components advancing conventional towards digitalized table-top exercises by introducing a hybrid model-based approach. The underlying conceptualizations and the physical components to digitalize such exercises are presented in conjunction with a proof-of-concept – the Scenario Scanner. Project MEASURE is introduced to reflect on the model-based digitalization of table-top exercises. It transfers the approach to the emergency management domain, where table-top exercises are a commonly used tool to simulate the response to potential hazards. The Scenario Scanner is configured for an emergency scenario and selected application samples are presented. The discussion presents how results derived from table-top exercises could be linked to functional or full-scale emergency exercises and covers further potential use cases.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}