For the last installment of Fulcrum for Field Data Collection, we explore the stories of some of our government clients – enjoy!
Fresno County, California
After the Creek Fire in September 2020 burned almost 400,000 acres in California, Fresno County sprang into action to quickly assess the damage to share with FEMA and speed the recovery process. Within 24 hours of learning of Fulcrum, Fresno County had already deployed dozens of volunteers to complete damage assessments – a feat that would not have been possible with its existing GIS platform. With a Fulcrum app that mirrored the FEMA worksheet, Fresno County was able to share the needed information without re-entering or reconfiguring the data. In addition, the data collected in the field was also used to bolster Fresno’s existing GIS platform with new, geotagged records.
Client quote: Fulcrum allowed us to create easy-to-use apps — complex as well, not just simple apps that you fill out. It’s truly very easy to create and manage. With Fulcrum, it’s ready to go out of the box.
City of Wyoming, Michigan
In response to new requirements by the State of Michigan, Wyoming, the 16th largest community in the state, needed to perform a massive inventory of its water distribution system. This was followed by an upgrade of its metering and billing systems for more than 20,000 water service lines. To address this, Wyoming sought a solution that would enable it to collect, report, and map the water line inventory. Additionally, they needed it to integrate seamlessly with existing billing and work order systems. Fulcrum emerged as the ideal choice for this task. Field deployment proved simple and manageable, with field staff easily adapting to Fulcrum with minimal training. The data obtained was not only complete but also accurate, enriched with valuable geolocation information.
Client quote: We were impressed by Fulcrum’s GPS functionality, the ability to quickly and easily attach photos, the speed of the system in the field and the reasonable cost of the software. We also anticipate a time savings as we replace work order entry with Fulcrum entry only and will develop imports that will insert data into our billing system without a need for manual entry.
Santa Barbara County Fire Department, California
The Santa Barbara County Fire Department serves more than 420,000 residents and 2,700 square miles on the Central California coast. In addition to fighting fires and responding to other emergencies, the department conducts more than 16,000 inspections annually of structure defensible space – a brush-free area around a building maintained to reduce fire risk. Before Fulcrum, the SBCFD used paper forms to perform these important inspections, with unsatisfactory results. The pen-and-paper inspection system was inefficient, difficult to track, and provided no visibility into each individual fire department’s inspection workload.
Using Fulcrum increased the number of inspections able to be performed and enabled a smarter, more productive positioning of resources. The end result? Before adopting Fulcrum, the department could only get to less than half of the county’s properties each year. But in 2019, the rate of completion was up to 90%. SBCFD also uses Fulcrum for search and rescue operations during emergencies to streamline evacuations – shown below in a local newscast!
Client quote: Fulcrum makes it easy for the stations to collect the data and for us to receive and use the data in GIS. It made it so maybe you were able to do three inspections a day, and now you can do twenty.
Interested in learning more about Fulcrum for field data collection and field operations for state and local government? Read more about Fulcrum for field ops, or give it a try for yourself with our free trial!