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County health workers in Indiana had a problem with how they were performing inspections on food vendors across the state, often lacking the ability to transmit updates and data from out in the field to its outdated database.
As part of an effort to overcome some of the logistical challenges, it has implemented new cloud software and took to mobile devices to boost its reporting capabilities, in the process scrapping all of its old data and starting completely from scratch.
Jeremy Snowden, director of technology for Vigo County in western Indiana, said the old process of using laptops was simply too antiquated given the mobile nature of the job.
“The problem with this was that it required a local copy to be stored on their machines – they used convertible laptops – and then when they returned to the office they would run a batch script that pushed the daily inspections over to the database that was stored on a server. Issues from locked files, overwrite of data, loss of data, etc…, warranted a need for another solution.”
Accordingly, iPads were incorporated into practice, but rather than opt for a scaled implementation, Snowden said the IT department completely wiped the slate and started with new, real-time data from the field.
“I chose to throw the book out the window and start from scratch,” he said. “No data was converted from previous inspections. We favored a cloud approach as well and wanted the inspectors to be able to do their inspections in a ‘live environment’ while in the field.”
