[CANUFNET] Asset management software

[BGeerts at brantford.ca]

Ivan,

The City of Brantford uses Avantis (from Invensys of Burlington, ON) for 
infrastructure (linear assets - water, sewer, etc) , fleet, and urban 
forestry.  Urban Forestry was the first department put on board 5 years 
ago.  We have our tree inventory complete in Avantis and it is linked to 
our GIS system.  There are many positive and negative sides to our current 
state; we had great help from our IT department getting the basics started 
up, but since 2004  there's been very little improvement.  Avantis is a 
general asset management program; the entire forestry part had to be 
custom made.

Our current state:

Positives: 
Good customer service tracking
Good work order tracking
Work requests system not possible
GIS information is connected to Avantis through MapSource software, 
(Avantis has no GIS capability)
Has the ability to tie financial costs to work order system & assets via 
parent-child relationships (we don't do this - too cumbersome)

Negatives:
Computer interface is not user friendly
System is quite cumbersome; much time is spent with data entry
Our planting and stumping is still kept track of on paper
Not too useful for planning; only a work order system
Block pruning still recorded on paper - too cumbersome for W/O system


It's nice to have a custom made program. You can make it exactly how you 
like it, but only if you have enough IT support to get it done.  (Our IT 
dept is great, they're just swamped).  Our operation currently feels like 
it has one foot in the last century and one in the current century.


________________________
Brian Geerts 
Urban Forestry Technician
City of Brantford 
Parks & Recreation Department
1 Sherwood Drive
Brantford, ON     N3T 1N3
519.756.1500 x5511
Fax 519.756.4893 
bgeerts at brantford.ca



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CANUFNET Digest, Vol 55, Issue 3






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Today's Topics:

   1. Tree Information/Management Programs Used By Municipalities
      (Listar, Ivan)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:23:34 -0400
From: "Listar, Ivan" <ilistar at london.ca>
Subject: [CANUFNET] Tree Information/Management Programs Used By
                 Municipalities
To: <canufnet at list.web.net>
Message-ID: <D43B606D2A27134C884AAB947CAF91F10F4D1C30 at clmail01.col>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Hello everyone, the City of London is currently reviewing our Forestry
tree information/management program with the objective of making it more
applicable for other activities/operations than just inventory and tree
work order management purposes.

We would like to revise the current computer capability to allow for
planning and budgeting for future maintenance, planting, and tracking of
forest health infestations.

What programs do other municipalities use for this type of management?
Do you use custom, in-house programs or "canned" programs? 

If you use canned programs, which ones do you use and are they meeting
your needs? 
*                Did you have to modify them to meet your needs? 
*                Are there any programs you would recommend for this type 
of
information and program management?

What main functions do the programs you use fulfill and what functions
do think are important to add?

Thanks 

 

Ivan Listar, R.P.F.
Urban Forester, City of London
A.J. Tyler Operations Centre
663 Bathurst St.
London, Ont.  N5Z 1P8
Phone: 519-661-2500 ext. 4977 
mailto:ilistar at london.ca 
fax: 519-661-2352

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