Case Studies

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Resource Management Strategies Inc.

How Resource Management Strategies Inc. migrated from a backlog of paper data sheets to real-time in-the-field collection and transmission of householder data.

Resource Management Strategies Inc. contracted to respond to householder’s requests for advice on water management. Field visits were already under way. A team was out there recording observations on 4-sheet paper forms. At head office the stack of paper was two feet high and growing daily. Reports were not being produced or issued to householders, let alone “in a timely manner”.

I was asked to design, develop and deliver an application that used the existing data format – field staff were not to be re-trained – and produced customized readable reports for issue by electronic means (emailed as PDF documents) or in hard-copy form (printed with accompanying envelopes).

Time was running out.

I apportioned the work between the data gathering (Microsoft Excel) and report generation and emission (Microsoft Word). The application used the existing Microsoft Excel skills of staff members for data entry, sorting and selection, and the premier qualities of Microsoft Word for document generation and transmission or mail-merge.

A subsequent version saw field staff equipped with notebook computers. Data is now entered directly into computerized forms completely eliminating the step of paper transcription.

Data captured during the day is transmitted to head office overnight. Reports are issued within 24 hours of a household visit. Staff no longer spend 75% of their time transcribing data from paper to computer. Twice as many households can be covered in a given period.

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