ImageTrend Fire RMS

What do you like best?

ImageTrend has given us the ability to customize what data we collect, fill out reports outside of the station environment, collect information onscene for calls, and given us a higher level of data than we had previously.

The ability to fully customize the product comes with its pros and cons.

On the pro side: we have been able to track what we need, can make changes and adjustments on the fly, and can add as many fields as we need to without destroying our NFIRS submittals.

On the con side: there is always the danger of going to far with what you add, and the more custom you want the software the longer your implementation will take. We are very aware and careful to only add fields that we actually need and utilize the data collected from, and don't ask for information that is just cool to have.

The ReportWriter is also a wonderful tool to have, and makes pulling information back out of the report easy and quick.

The fact that all reports within ImageTrend look the same to the end user, and function the same, make teaching the program easier.

What do you dislike?

If you go into implementation thinking it is going to be quick and easy think again. Plan for longer than you think you need, and stick with it through the frustrations of things not working. It will be worth it, but the development/implementation can be painful.

The ticket system to report errors can also be frustrating, so when you do submit a ticket be sure to include lots of details, lots of screenshots, and if you can a video of the error happening.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

Be patient during implementation. Don't give up when it hurts and stick through the growing pains. My biggest suggestion would be to give the trial period longer than you think you need, and make sure you have people filling out test reports, and reporting back to you what isn't working, on a daily basis in the field. The program is well worth it in the end, but you have to stick with it through the challenging points.

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

We use ImageTrend as our sole RMS for both our fire and medical reporting. The ability to use ReportWriter for both basic mapping of incident locations, and for pulling information back out of the system, makes it easier to track trends and watch our responses.