[CANUFNET] Tree Inventory Software

[Peter Wynnyczuk via CANUFNET]

Hi Shane,
Although this is not specific to any software....from Ontario.
A key consideration is the existing municipal payroll/work tracking system used
by the municipality which is usually multi departmental. 
To find a program that can inventory and provide work proposed and completed
data, that can be folded/shared into the existing payroll/work tracking system
is key. If your engineering section is noting trees in their projects is another
source of data to build on.

In other words if you compile data on the trees, resident driven request of
student inventory based,  and later any work carried out, if it can be inputted
such that you update the tree inventory and tree management program at the same
time as you fulfill any staff time  associated/work order with this process to
payroll. 
It completes many tasks with integrated software that reduces the burden of
updating several programs, Inventory data, mapping, work completed, staged work,
(removal, stumping, planting), and payroll.
In my experience, IT Staff, with respect,  generally do not know the extent of
tree data/work/costing needed for a municipal operations as it is a complex
tracking system not much different the fleet operations where you have moving
parts around a vehicle maintenance process. With vehicles the life of the work
around it is usually up to ten years of tracking, with trees we go far beyond
that. 

If you are communicating any work to the homeowner on the work on trees is a
policy decision that can enable building relationships with the clients. If you
decide to carry out work without notification you can be open to
misunderstanding of what was requested and what was done. 
If you have a call centre, then their program would have to tie into the process
to allow for tracking of requests and work completions.

As each municipality generally has different inventory/work order systems based
on when they were implemented, it is a challenge to try to marry the various
management programs together.

I noticed you have a asset management strategy to be put in place which I sense
would be interdepartmental in scope so this may be a great vehicle to engage the
needs of other departments and yours in a cohesive approach.

One key aspect is your discussion timing on IT programs implementation, such
that they don't come to you in June and say we can talk about inventory, when
you have limited time and rushed process. 
A few thoughts hopefully that will help.
Sincerely,
Peter Wynnyczuk


  

> ---------- Original Message ----------
> From: Shane Tillapaugh via CANUFNET <canufnet at list.web.net>
> Date: January 19, 2018 at 6:51 PM
> 
> 
> Hello fellow CUFN listserv subscribers,
> 
> The City of Courtenay (on Vancouver Island, British Columbia) Parks
> Division has recently begun to devote more resources to the management of
> trees in our city.  This has included the creation of a City Arborist
> position a couple of years ago, and more recently we have undertaken a
> street tree inventory (+/- 2,000 specimens).  As you might observe, our
> urban forestry program is in its infancy.  The inventory of our street
> trees has constituted a giant leap forward for our program.  We can now
> view our trees and their attributes using ArcGis mapping software.
> However, tree attributes are not easily updated, we cannot easily produce
> reports reflecting the condition or composition of our trees, nor can we
> easily produce work orders from the inventory data.  Furthermore, we would
> also like a flexible suite of software options to assist in our management
> and care of the mature forest interface throughout our municipality.  We
> are currently researching options for map based tree inventory software
> that also has an integrated work management system.  So far I have looked
> into TreePlotter and ArborPro and both seem to meet most if not all of our
> needs.  Any information on your municipal experiences with these or other
> software would be much appreciated.
> 
> 
> Thanks kindly,
> 
> 
> Shane Tillapaugh
> 
> 
> City of Courtenay
> 
> Acting City Arborist – Parks Div.
> 
> ISA Certified Arborist PN-5981A
> 
> ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualified
> 
> *Stillapaugh at courtenay.ca* <Stillapaugh at courtenay.ca>
> 
> *Tel. 250.338.1525*
> 
> *Cel. 250.703.6670*