EPR FireWorks Inventory & Maintenance Module: Elevating Equipment Readiness and Operational Efficiency
For fire chiefs and department leaders, ensuring that all equipment, apparatus, and supplies are in optimal condition is critical for operational readiness, compliance, and firefighter safety. Traditionally, managing inventory, scheduling maintenance, and tracking repairs could involve disjointed systems, manual spreadsheets, and a heavy administrative burden. The EPR FireWorks Inventory & Maintenance Module transforms this by providing an integrated, automated, and data-driven platform to streamline these vital tasks.
Why Choose Our Inventory & Maintenance Module?
Managing your department’s physical assets with outdated methods can lead to inefficiencies, increased downtime, and compliance risks. Our module is specifically engineered to address these challenges, offering a unified Records Management System (RMS) that consolidates all aspects of equipment and supply management. It is highly customizable, designed to adapt to your department’s unique needs and operations, ensuring precision, compliance, and efficiency.
How It Works: A Smarter Approach to Equipment Management
The EPR FireWorks Inventory & Maintenance Module simplifies complex processes, organizes equipment data, and provides real-time insights for preparedness. It offers a comprehensive approach through several key functions:
- Centralized Equipment and Supply Tracking:
The module provides a single platform to manage all your apparatus and warehouses, whether they are specific vehicles (e.g., engines, rescues, brush units) or storage locations such as a “Med closet,” “turnout gear room,” or general supply areas. You can organize these locations down to specific compartments or shelves within an apparatus or warehouse. - Comprehensive Checks:
The system supports various types of checks, including:- Inventory Checks: For verifying quantities of items, such as ensuring “4 air packs” are on an engine.
- Maintenance Checks: For functional tests and inspections of apparatus and equipment.
- Item Checks: Specifically for high-value items like ladders, hoses, SCBAs, thermal imaging cameras, or PPE, allowing for specialized annual checks or other periodic tests.
**All types of Comprehensive Checks listed above can be set to a specific schedule, requiring that the checks be completed within an assigned time period.
- Work Order Management:
The system provides a streamlined process for tracking repairs, maintenance tasks, and associated costs for apparatus, stations, and equipment. Work orders can be generated automatically from maintenance checks when an item is marked “not okay”. You can track the type of work, internal status, vendor, mileage, hours during work order, start/end dates, down time hours, and detailed costs including labor and parts. - Customizable Configuration:
Departments can create custom categories for training, maintenance, and items. This includes defining item types and sub-types (e.g., Item type as “appliances”, with “nozzles” as a sub-type). You can also build custom fields to track department-specific information, such as cleaning status for turnout gear. - Robust Analytics & Reporting:
Access to over 300 pre-built reports and customizable data analytics dashboards. You can build custom reports for expiring turnout gear, inventory, work orders, and payrolls. Reports can be automatically scheduled and delivered to key personnel.
What You Get: Innovative Features for Enhanced Readiness
The EPR FireWorks Inventory & Maintenance Module includes several innovations designed
to make your operations more efficient:
- Seamless Combined Checks:
A significant new capability is the ability to include a maintenance check directly within an inventory check, allowing users to perform both on a single page by toggling a switch. This eliminates the need to jump between modules, streamlining daily truck checks.
- Direct Work Order Access:
You can now access all open work orders for a specific apparatus directly from the “Open Work Orders” button within the Apparatus Details section, which automatically filters to show only relevant work orders.
- Granular Item Tracking:
The system allows for flexible item tracking. You can simply account for quantities of general items (e.g., “4 air packs”) without assigning serial numbers for daily checks. For larger asset items or items requiring ongoing maintenance records (e.g., SCBAs, radios, bunker gear, chainsaws, or hose), you can define them as “department items” and track them by unique serial numbers, providing a complete record of their location and status.
- Flexible Maintenance Scheduling:
You can set various frequencies for maintenance checks beyond just daily, including weekly, monthly, annual, or “after use”. “After use” checks allow crews to verify equipment and fuel levels after a significant incident, ensuring everything is in place for the next call.
- Automated Work Order Creation:
The system can be configured to automatically prompt the creation of a work order if an item or check is marked “not okay” during an inspection, ensuring that issues are immediately logged for repair.
- Streamlined Inventory Management for Warehouses/Stations:
You can build out inventories for multiple stations and general supply warehouses, managing items by location (e.g., “supply closet,” “top shelf”). While inventory transfers between locations currently occur in the admin portal, the system supports comprehensive tracking.
- Customizable Remarks and Data Fields:
Users can add notes or select from customizable dropdown lists for remarks during checks, providing detailed information about issues or observations.
- Simplified Data Entry & Updates:
For departments with similar apparatus inventories, you can copy existing inventory layouts from one vehicle to another and then make minor adjustments, significantly reducing setup time. Changes to the inventory list will automatically update in the system overnight, or can be force-pushed immediately.
- Granular Permissions for Security:
The system offers granular control over user permissions, allowing administrators to define who can access and modify inventory and maintenance data, ensuring data integrity and preventing unauthorized changes. For example, work order visibility can be restricted to mechanics only.
See the Impact: Transform Your Department
The EPR FireWorks Inventory & Maintenance Module empowers fire departments to move beyond manual processes and embrace a data-driven approach to equipment management. By streamlining daily checks, automating work order creation, and providing comprehensive reporting, the module reduces administrative burden, enhances compliance, and ensures that your team’s critical equipment is always ready for action. This ultimately frees your personnel to focus on their primary mission: protecting lives and keeping communities safe.
Ready to Revolutionize Your Equipment Management?
Equip your department with the ultimate fire department software for inventory and maintenance. Streamline data collection, enhance readiness, and lead with confidence. Contact us today for more information and a personalized demo.
Inventory & Maintenance: Frequently Asked Questions (Q&A)
What is the core purpose of the EPR FireWorks Inventory & Maintenance module?
The core purpose is to provide a comprehensive system for managing and tracking all department-wide equipment, apparatus, and supplies. This includes daily checks, preventive maintenance scheduling, work order management, and detailed inventory tracking, ensuring operational readiness and compliance.
How does this module streamline inventory and maintenance processes compared to older methods?
A key innovation is the ability to combine inventory and maintenance checks into a single workflow on one screen, eliminating the need to navigate between different sections for daily apparatus inspections. It also automates the creation of work orders directly from failed checks, and provides centralized, customizable digital records, moving away from manual spreadsheets and disjointed systems.
Can I track individual serialized items, or just quantities?
You can do both. For general daily checks, you can simply verify quantities of items (e.g., 4 air packs). However, for high-value or critical equipment like SCBAs, radios, PPE, or hose, you can classify them as “department items” and track them individually by their unique serial numbers, allowing for detailed history and maintenance records for each specific piece of equipment.
How does work order management function within the module?
The system provides a comprehensive work order management system to track repairs, replacements, and associated costs for any equipment, apparatus, or even stations. When an item fails an inspection or is marked “not okay,” a work order can be automatically generated. You can record detailed information, including type of work, internal status, vendor, mileage, hours, costs (labor and parts), and downtime. Access to work orders is permission-based, allowing only authorized personnel, such as mechanics, to view and manage them.
Is the module customizable to my department's unique needs?
Yes, extensively. You can define your own inventory items, item types, and subtypes. You can also create custom maintenance categories (e.g., “daily apparatus check,” “monthly inventory check”) and set specific frequencies (daily, weekly, monthly, annual, after use) for these checks. Custom fields can be added to track any department-specific data.
What kind of reporting and analytics are available for inventory and maintenance data?
The module offers a robust Business Intelligence (BI) module with over 300+ pre-built reports, a report generator for department specific reports, and the ability to create customizable data analytics dashboards. You can generate reports for various needs, such as expiring turnout gear, inventory levels, or open work orders, and these reports can be scheduled for automatic delivery to key personnel.
What training and support does EPR FireWorks offer for this module?
EPR FireWorks provides comprehensive support and training. This includes access to user manuals and release notes, an online Knowledge Base and Training Center with helpful resources, and professional training and implementation services to ensure a smooth transition. You can also test the system and familiarize personnel with the interface by creating simulated incidents in a sandbox environment.
Can I manage inventory across multiple stations or warehouses?
Absolutely, you have the capability to create and manage these warehouses across multiple stations within your department. Each station can house multiple warehouses, such as a medical supply closet or a turnout gear room. All warehouses assigned to any of your stations can be managed within your department’s EPR Fireworks database.
The EPR FireWorks Inventory & Maintenance Module acts like a central nervous system for your department’s physical assets. Instead of individual limbs (equipment) operating independently and requiring separate checks, this system integrates them all into a unified body, where a quick pulse check (daily inspection) can instantly alert you to any strain or injury (maintenance issue) across the entire system, allowing for immediate and coordinated recovery (work orders). This ensures the whole department remains healthy and ready for any incident or challenge.