New Mexico State Fire Marshal Success Story

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nmsfm logo

New Mexico State Fire Marshal Success Story

Category:Success Story
The New Mexico State Fire Marshal’s office is building an accurate data record tracking database with historical value.

The New Mexico State Fire Marshal’s office knew their antiquated system for tracking and reporting on inspections needed an overhaul. There was no consistency in their reporting and it offered too much free reign to be adequate for the court cases.

They began their search for a software that would fit their needs and like many organizations, needed three competing bids. “Codepal came in to round out the three as a suggestion to fill the required number. We had another software in mind. However, once we saw Codepal’s abilities, we were sold. It is the software for us. It was important that whatever software company we went with, our data would not be held hostage.

quote from the State Fire Marshal

Codepal president, Bob Lee explained that our data is ours and is always available to us, regardless of the situation. It was that assurance that sold us on the product. We worked with the staff to design a setup that fit our needs. They gave recommendations for hardware and worked with us to assure we had everything we needed.

Confidence in ability to document for court proceedings

We now feel confident in our ability to hold up in a court
of law with a seamless system that offers consistency and accurate data reporting. It has taken some time, about 3 months to get adapted and build out all of our special requests. We have many older code books we reference and have access to the years we needed within the software as well as the newest editions that we are working on adopting.’

Their main goal was to get all staff on the same page and in the right format, obtaining a solid structure that’s secure. Codepal is flexible and adaptable to their needs, keeping the form consistent and uniform for all users. ‘Tracking is so much easier and provides a history that we can reflect back to for years to come. Record tracking is complete with pictures and gives a real view of property at the time. We’ve never had this ability.
We have the access on tablets in the field to build our reports while on site or we can still use paper and return to the office to complete the reports. We’re not forced into one format or the other.’

Codepal isn’t just a software company, we work side by side with our clients to assure they have a positive customer experience.
‘The ongoing support has exceeded our expectations, the staff is available and responsive. We didn’t just purchase a packaged software, we feel like we’ve partnered with a company that is helpful and has our best interests in mind.’

New Mexico State Fire Marshal website

Be sure to check out other stories like this on our main page


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Inspection of Plans

3 Reasons to Switch to Electronic Plan Review

Category:Trends Tags : 

Changing from paper plan reviews to an online electronic process is a quickly growing area of interest in the industries we serve. Emerging technologies have made this easier and more efficient. With the advances in technology providing large screen monitors, graphic design programs and the internet, we no longer need to rely on rolls of paper.

To make the decision easier, we’ve compiled the top 3 reasons to switch to an electronic environment. And not just for plan reviews.

1. Centralized Plan Management

Reduce Storage Space

Large plans require storage space until reviews are completed. With electronic processing, the space need is eliminated. For example, documents can be stored on a network, in a database, or in the cloud. No more storage room needed.

Document Security

Plans can be lost or misplaced when passing plans between departments. This adds time and frustration to your project. With digital storage, you will always know where the plans are. And everyone has access to them.

Access plans quickly

Accessing physical plans and documents can be a hassle. This is a hassle. Access your plans anywhere, anytime. This adds to the time saved. For instance, you will no longer need to swing by the office to pick up forgotten plans on your wait to an inspection.

Avoid loss, damage or delay after a natural disaster

Planning for a natural disaster is not a popular subject, however, it is one that should take place. Damage to a facility results in damage to stored assets. This adds time to an already lengthy process. With electronic storage, these items are safe from disaster. Immediately pick up where you left off.

Building Plans
Digital Building Plans are efficient

2. Review Management

Reduce processing time up to 50%

Time is money. Time to print multiple copies, deliver and distribute plans, share with other departments and request corrections. Rinse and repeat. And this can continue for up to 18 months. Instantly receive plans in numerous locations. Approve plans quickly with improved communications. As a result, faster review processes, lead to earlier development and tax collection for your city.

Skip the economic costs and wasted time. CAD programs can save digital plans. With plans submitted electronically, communications are instant for correction requests. Re-submit plans and finalize approvals faster.

Additionally, Codepal can reference your purchased codebooks instantly. No more digging for the code to refrence or misquoting code. Set up a list of frequent reference for a faster result.

Parallel reviews

Conducting plan reviews shouldn’t be like herding cattle. Digital files are easily shared and reviewed. Therefore, all departments are working simultaneously.

Coordinated Review Notes

During a plan review, multiple people in your city are handling the plans and making notations. This can be counter-productive to your communication efforts. For this reason, coordinating your notes in one accessible location breaks through the communication barrier.

3. Improved Service

Open 24 hours a day

For your community, having open hours to submit applications and plans are a huge success. For contractors, taking time from their heavy workload to stop by an office when it is open is inconvenient. Equally important, your staff will not spend their time working with customers, if they are collecting electronic documents online.

Communication abilities increased

As stated above, communication is challenging. With Codepal, your staff has access to a complete history. Also, you gain the ability to send communications with anyone detailing the entered notations. As a result, you will save time typing out communication for details you’ve already entered.

Reduced management and archiving costs

Storing and archiving plans can be labor intensive and expensive. Moving to an electronic environment eliminates this problem. Because filing and document tracking are automatic it eliminates the need for physical document management.

Economic Value

The economic value saved by gas cost for travel, printing costs for plans and documents, and storage space no longer needed adds up to substantial savings all around. Of course, this could fluctuate based on fuel costs, travel distance and copies. But the value adds up quickly.

The time and money saved using electronic plan reviews are obvious. The frustration saved is priceless.

Interested in more information about our Plan Review process? Click here for more information or call us at 217-787-1133


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Programming Code

Codepal Toolkit Tech Corner

Category:Support Tags : 

The future of Codepal Toolkit

Hello! For those of you who don’t usually deal with the technical side of Codepal, I am Will, Sybatech’s Development Manager and lead developer of the Codepal applications.

We have a lot of interesting news to share from the tech side. I am hoping that I can share that information with you through this blog. In this post, I would like to share with you the general picture of our current effort to re-write Codepal into the modern era.

Paul (report guru extraordinaire) and I are embarking on this odyssey to give our users the best experience possible using Codepal. We are designing multiple user interfaces for the different types of devices Codepal will be used on. Desktops will have an interface that is easier to navigate, easier to read, and most importantly, easier to get a complete picture of each user’s workload. We are working on a dashboard that will be customizable for each staff member so that they can get an overview of the day’s activity at a glance.

New Tablet Interface

The new tablet interface will allow inspectors and technicians to get through their days’ work faster and with more accuracy. Our goal is to incorporate a design like our current MyTasks form with access to maps and other features to maximize efficiency. The tablet interface will only be used to perform on-location work, responding to requests, and issuing permits. Removing the clutter of the administrative portions of Codepal.

Codepal on the web

We are also going to be working on a Codepal web presence. We are planning on two separate parts for our web presence: 1) An interface to allow our clients to perform the same tasks as our tablet interface but connected directly to the database and with the ability to further customize the display, and 2) A client portal for requesting Activities and Permitting, viewing past Activities, and other features to be determined. As we usually do when designing improvements to Codepal, we are listening to the needs of our current and potential clients to inform our design process. I’ll give more detail as we find it.

The future of Codepal is exciting. We are opening ourselves up to try new ways of doing things, new ways of looking at your work and how we can make it easier for you. As always, our main goal is help save lives. We are finding new and exciting ways to help you make that happen. I hope you will join us on this adventure!

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