Web
Case Study: The Daily
Challenge
The Santa Clara County Agriculture and Environmental Management Department needed to replace two tracking applications with a single, web-based application using current technology. County staff used separate applications for tracking agricultural and weights & measures inspections, often at the same locations.
Client
County of Santa Clara (CA)
Users
50+
Solution
Santa Clara County Agriculture and Environmental Management – The Daily
CaliCo Solutions staff worked with the County to design and implement a new tool that:
- tracks all types of inspection activities
- serves as a timesheet program to electronically manage professional, management, and administrative activities
- provides a State-audited accounting system for automated invoice generation, payment tracking, and financial reporting
- records complaints, illnesses, appointments, and other County business requiring followup and calendar management
- prepares automated State and County reports
The new tool, named “The Daily” has been successfully streamlining business at Santa Clara County for almost a decade and is being adopted by other California counties to manage their Agriculture and Weights and Measures programs with the same level of efficiency.
The Daily keeps track of employees by their Division and by their specific responsibilities, whether it be geographical or for a particular type of Business or Inspection. When entering the application, the user sees a set of Action Items that are due within a specified, user-adjustable outlook (days, weeks, etc.). Action Items are created automatically by recurring Inspections coming due at pre-set time intervals, by required responses to Complaints entered into The Daily, or from ad hoc assignments that are issued to a staff member, always with a due date.
Each inspection type has a unique data entry screen, custom-designed for the specific requirements of the inspection form and report. The forms auto-validate as data is entered, ensuring complete and correct capture of required information. All of the required forms are automated and can be generated in any combination, date range, and format (pdf, xls).
As inspections are entered, users enter inspection hours which roll-up into each staff member’s time card. Items like training, sick time, etc. can be added directly into the time card. Clues are apparent as staff work their way through their week: cells on the “Total” row are initially red, indicating time still needs to be entered for that day. When the standard 8-hr day is reached, the cell shading will turn to green. If more than eight hours are entered, the hours appear black and bold. The total hours for the week has the same pattern.
The Transaction Ledger in The Daily provides full double-entry bookkeeping for annual registration invoices as well as ad-hoc inspection invoices. Late notices can be automatically generated and delivered, and payments are tracked with complete accounts aging details. The process of generating thousands of annual device registration invoices has been completely automated, including all of the complex details and fee caps applied within the County. Once payments are made in full, the system generates the printed Santa Clara County Weights and Measures Certificates for display by the business. The accounting system has been reviewed by the State auditor and found acceptable for tracking payments made in cash, by check, or by credit card – detailed translation approval and reporting functions ensure complete confidence in the financial data supplied by The Daily.