AN EMPLOYEE-OWNED FIRM

DeForest Fire Department

The DeForest Fire Department serves more than 75 square miles in two counties. Additionally, a majority of the firefighters have lived in the area less than 10 years. Due to these conditions, it is hard to keep current with every new address and the location of every fire hydrant.

This information has been tracked for many years on large paper maps and map books. However, on the way to a fire, it is not convenient to look through the five huge binders which contain this information. The fire department knew there had to be a better way and contacted Ramaker & Associates.

Ramaker & Associates developed a complete GIS for the fire department. Data was gathered from the various municipalities they serve, and where information was not available, it was created from scratch. This data was all combined into a customized ArcGIS 9.0 application with buttons that can be used with a touch screen monitor.

Now, within seconds of entering the truck, firefighters know exactly where a fire is, have a floor plan of the buildings on the site, know what hazardous chemicals might be stored there, and know the location of the exits. They also know where the nearest hydrants are and can view an aerial photo of the site to know how much hose they will need in case the hydrant is not nearby. The new system has greatly improved the department’s ability to prepare for an emergency and respond more knowledgeably.

Madison Metropolitan School District

A custom GIS tool was developed for the Madison Metropolitan School District that helps administrators determine, "What school district is this child in?" or "Where is the nearest bus stop to this address?" with a few mouse clicks. Users can simply enter a student name or address and view all the available information about that location. They can also select two points within the district and instantly determine the best route between those points and an accurate distance.

In addition to saving a significant amount of time for the Transportation Director, the district now has a more accurate idea on where students live and quicker access to critical information for these students.

Krek & Associates

Krek & Associates is a small independently owned law firm providing a wide range of professional legal services to both business and individual clients. After several years of relying on a variety of local computer system vendors, which resulted in a conglomerate of mismatched equipment that functioned poorly, Ramaker & Associates implemented a new fully-networked computer system.

How long did the data transfer take? Two days.

Was office staff time interrupted? No. We went in on a Friday afternoon and installation was complete by Saturday morning.

The scope of the project included new hardware and software component selection, computer and network configuration, system installation, new system training and technical support. Ramaker & Associates installed all office applications software, transferred stored data to the new system and established backup procedures for the firm’s data.

United States Naval Academy Cemetery

The US Naval Academy Cemetery had been using a combination of paper maps, AutoCAD files, and an Access Database to track burials within their cemetery. This process had become cumbersome and it was difficult to keep this information up to date with their limited staff.

Ramaker & Associates assisted in the implementation of CIMS Cemetery software at the cemetery. Although this cemetery is quite different from "traditional" cemeteries, CIMS is flexible enough to work for their operations.

Archdiocese of Milwaukee

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, manages more than 1,000 acres in eight cemeteries. Two years ago, this organization implemented CIMS for all of its operating cemeteries and mausoleums. The initial project was to migrate all historic data from the Legacy database, and develop a user-friendly system to manage this data. All eight cemeteries have access to CIMS through a dial-up connection with a centralized server. CIMS has had a substantial impact on sales and management operations for the Diocese.

The Archdiocese is currently in Phase II of CIMS development. This involves mapping all cemetery and mausoleum spaces and linking them to the database. So far, nearly 200 acres of cemetery and more than 25,000 mausoleum spaces have been mapped.

Lake Geneva Water Commission

Ramaker & Associates assisted the Lake Geneva Water Commission (LGWC) in modernizing its water distribution records. We located all fire hydrants, water valves, and water mains using GPS, capturing more than 1,200 points. Now Water Commission staff is able to click on a particular parcel and view the corresponding water service record card.

Roselawn Cemetery

Roselawn Cemetery has 110 acres and their records consisted of a variety of paper documents and maps. Ramaker & Associates converted all their maps to a GIS data format and matched the data from their lot cards to the map. The scanned records were entered into a database and linked to the image files through CIMS. This created a completely usable system with all cemetery information beginning on the day it was installed. Ramaker & Associates provided implementation and training services as well. The data is accessed from a server within the cemetery.

Bellefontaine Cemetery

Bellefontaine Cemetery was established in 1849 and has more than 314 acres with 14 miles of roads. Its rich history, along with its beautifully crafted art pieces and breathtaking natural setting, make this a cemetery you won't soon forget.

Recently, Bellefontaine Cemetery choose CIMS cemetery software to manage their records, including more than 85,000 interments. They had been using another cemetery management program, but chose to move to CIMS for its ease of use and its ability to track all of their data in one place. CIMS will integrate all their cemetery data, including pictures of all the headstones and GPS locations of over 5000 trees. They are expecting to go live with CIMS in early Summer 2010.