Organization: Beaufort County Environmental Health, Washington, North Carolina
Contact: Stacey Harris, R.S., Environmental Health Supervisor
Phone: 252.946.6048 www.bchd.net
Business Challenge: The Beaufort County Environmental Health office handles a considerable volume of sanitation inspections of food and lodging facilities as well as numerous evaluations of properties for suitability for an on-site wastewater system. Although workload was being handled as quickly and efficiently as possible, they were searching for new ways to streamline their inspection and permitting processes, organize existing paper files that were taking up large amounts of space within the office, and the ability to search these files more efficiently. Along with this was a desire to reduce the amount of paper files kept in the office and make a more conscious effort to 'go green.'
Solution Implemented: CDPims (inspection management) * CDPmobile * CDPdms (document management)
Summary
Beaufort County Environmental Health is responsible for evaluating, permitting, and inspection of approximately 1,200 properties each year for suitability for an on-site wastewater system. This either involves permitting new systems to be installed, repairs of existing wastewater systems, as well as expansions and inspections of existing wastewater systems. To enhance a comprehensive collection of field data, permits, and recordkeeping the department implemented all three of CDP's systems for these areas. Since implemented, all processes within the department have been streamlined with elimination of several steps of data input within the office as well as a drastic reduction in paper usage. Greater reliability of the data collected has been realized through set business rules within the system as well as quicker access to existing records within the department.
Organization Review
Beaufort County Environmental Health is a division of the Beaufort County Health Department. This agency is employed by the County but acts as authorized agents for the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources. As mandated by State laws and rules this group is responsible for the carrying out and enforcement of on-site wastewater rules. This includes many facets, such as the evaluation of soils on a site for suitability, the issuance of permits or denials for a proposed site, inspection of septic system installations and issuance of operation permits, investigations of complaints, and inspection of some septic systems on a continual basis.
Previous Process
Clients of the department would come to the office and complete a paper application. This application would then go to the appropriate staff for scheduling. Field staff would then complete a soil evaluation form on paper in the field and use this information in the office to issue the appropriate permit. Permits were handwritten on NCR paper with a copy going to the client, a copy to the building inspections office, and a copy for the office files. Operation permits for installations were generated on paper in the field while inspecting installations of systems. Files within the office were organized by state road and then alphabetically within that file. The average file kept in the office contained 10 pages for each property once all steps of the process had been completed. Existing files within the office dated as far back as 1950 and must be kept until the septic system is no longer in use. Different filing systems over that span of time made it a long and cumbersome process to retrieve records requested by the public. File areas had grown so large that available space for staff within the office was becoming an issue.
Business Challenge
With a steady flow of applications for evaluations of sites for septic systems and a rapidly growing file storage problem, the office looked for ways to electronically file all existing records as well as make the rest of the application and permitting process as efficient and 'paperless' as possible.
The New Process: CDPims (inspection management) * CDPmobile * CDPdms (document management)
The Environmental Health office had several different objectives they wanted to achieve during this process. Obviously it would have been a huge task to try to implement all three systems at once, so the first objectives to be addressed were:
* Creation of property files for all existing records in an electronic system.
* Image scanning of all current files in order to be allowed to dispose of existing paper records.
The department evaluated how to best approach the massive amount of existing files with minimal disturbance of daily operations. Contracting out the scanning of existing records was cost prohibitive so a multiyear approach in-house with temporary staff was implemented. CDPims was chosen to be implemented as the key component to a comprehensive data collection, retrieval, and storage system to best handle the existing data and future data entries as well. Existing properties were entered into the CDPims system to create a searchable database. The existing paper data had to be preserved electronically in a manner that would satisfy the requirements of State Archives. This step was achieved by the use of CDPdms within the CDPims System. CDP's Document Management System allowed the department to create high quality image files of the existing records and associate them with properties within the database being created. Accomplishing this task with all records was a huge undertaking and is still in progress.
Once the handling of all past records had been addressed, the department had to decide what the best method would be to:
* Perform evaluations, permit issuances, and inspections and document them in an electronic format
* Have consistency in the format of permits and the content of each permit.
* Audit data entered by staff.
* Capture soil evaluation data in the field.
* Easily retrieve entered data.
* Minimize paper usage.
The environmental health supervisor began by working with CDP to create forms that would be acceptable for use by staff. This process took some time in order to refine the process before actual implementation of the program. The final production of these newly revised forms was compiled in CDPmobile. CDPmobile has allowed staff to carry tabletPCs in the field and capture soil evaluation data on a form and then save it to upload to the CDPims System once returning to the office. Prior to going in the field with the tabletPCs, staff would download properties from the CDPims system to mobile. This allowed the pre-filling of information in forms with the tap of a stylus versus manual entry of standard fields on the form.
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Once back in the office, staff would produce permits in CDPmobile and upload them to CDPims. Paper copies were printed out for the client and all office copies were already saved electronically in the system once uploaded. Staff did have the option of producing permits in CDPims as well, but chose to continue using CDPmobile for this task for consistency. Once these were completed, clerical staff could easily retrieve requested data from their computer instead of sifting through paper files for the information. The supervisor could audit all files produced by staff by searching for each specialist individually for whatever time frame he selected.
Challenges
* Increased data entry from applications by clerical staff because previously none was required. Overall time is saved by the ease of access to information once it is entered.
* Some soil evaluation data had to be entered back at the office because of the inability to view the tabletPCs screen in bright sunlight.
* The redesign of forms was challenging because one form was trying to be developed that would satisfy several other counties in NC. Eventually a consensus was reached and a final product produced.
* Some modifications had to be made to some areas of the CDP System to satisfy the requirements of the department, but CDP's staff was quick to act and provide impeccable customer support.
* As staff becomes more familiar with the system each day, there are processes that require changes, as with any new system. The process has now been refined and continually monitored to discover new ways the system could be improved.
Benefits
The Beaufort County Environmental Health office realized the following primary benefits:
* Consistency and accuracy of data with required form fields and set business rules built into the program.
* Eventual 100% elimination of property files once scanning of old records has been completed, which will free up a considerable portion of office space.
* Based on previous paper usage of the on-site wastewater section, there was approximately a 56% reduction in paper usage.
* Improved efficiency with rapid access to files by clerical staff.
* Less data input by field staff when creating permits.
* Improved quality assurance of work with the ability to easily audit files.
* Improved data protection with our data being managed (including disaster recovery) at CDP's two datacenters.
* Beaufort County Environmental Health is exploring other functions of CDPims which they have not used frequently, such as complaint and service request entry and tracking of daily activities for State reporting.
CDP, Inc. is a provider of Enterprise Health Systems to public health organizations. Since 1981, CDP has been a leader in the design, development and implementation of public health software solutions, including environmental health, clinic management, EMR, home health, WIC, online EBT, and integrated electronic document management systems.
