The current system is made up of numerous manual processes which together support:

•  The application and approval associated with new members.
•  The production of the membership reports.
•  The maintenance of training subject listings/schedules.
•  The inventory checking and ordering of consumables.

Fire department administrators use this information extensively for planning. This information is also used by the City Council or Board of Directors and timeliness of published information is important. The accuracy of the subject information is critical to other processing done at budget time and year end.

The current system lacks flexibility for growth, its data is difficult to synchronize, only one year’s records can be effectively maintained at a time, and many procedures must be done manually or in duplicate. These shortcomings have led to a decision to replace the current set of functionality with a new, integrated system that will also provide a solid infrastructure for future growth.

The proposed new management system will provide for the development, publishing, and sharing of information about department information in an integrated environment using modern technologies. It will provide the infrastructure to support state-of-the-art initiatives. The new system will resolve these problems in the current information systems:

• The lack of secure, access-controlled support for sharing information among members, admin staff, and the City Council office during the development of new and changed proposals,
• The use of many manual procedures such as logging the receipt of members approvals,
• The use of hardcopy for training subject approvals,
• Inability to effectively maintain data for more than one year at a time
• Delays between approvals of new/changed purchase requests and purchase order release,
• The dependence upon out-dated manual record keeping,
• Inadequate technological support for record keeping activities.

The new system will:

• Replace the current out-dated set of processes and data stores with a new, integrated management system,
• Employ modern technologies (an environment using a database, a PC system, and a graphical user interface)
• Streamline the creation/maintenance of new and changed member, equipment and departmental records,
• Provide for up-to-date reports and enriched availability of related subject information.

The volunteer fire community in general needs:

• Accurate and accessible membership information, starting with up-to-date member listings,
• Accurate and accessible inventory information, starting with up-to-date inventory listings,
• Accurate and accessible call/run information, starting with up-to-date call/run listings,
• Easy access to information about training courses such as course subjects and schedules.
• Automated printing of member training status.
• Fewer paper processes.