West Parry Sound Geography Network: How a GIS Data Management Specialist Saved 20% Working Time
Learn how Kanbanchi fits into the everyday work of a specialist geomatic services provider. It’s the perfect example of the wise adoption of a tool; from searching and evaluating solutions to making work processes easier with a complete package on a paid subscription.
West Parry Sound Geography Network
The WPSGN is a formed committee comprised of Municipal and Planning Board representatives from the west side of Parry Sound District, Ontario, Canada. They provide shared geomatic services among multiple organisations in their district.
Currently there are two specialists working in a team.
The need to track multiple projects
“We work for 7 municipalities and many community organizations that have different departments within their structures. This results in dealing with up to 20 projects at the same time. So I needed something to replace my endless Google docs and sheets and paper to do lists” – says Chris Mahon, GIS Data Management Specialist.
Some projects are short-term and may even last just for a few hours. On the other hand, some of them may last for years, which is why it was quite hard for Chris not to get lost and to be able to control every one of them. Some projects depend on other projects, so keeping track of them was difficult. There is also a need to record what is done and how it is done, which leads to a greater need; that of not forgetting where those records are. Also, the ability to rearrange and quickly prioritize the projects at a moments notice was also a necessity.
A solution for a big Google user
Chris says he is a big Google user, with docs and sheets helping a lot with doing his job. So, right off Google Drive integration was something necessary for the tool. Also, it needed to be free so he would be able to test it for a month, because of the duration of some projects. Before choosing Kanbanchi, Chris compared some alternative tools and even attempted to build his own. That was a long time ago, though.
Kanbanchi was a perfect fit for WPSGN, because of its Google Drive integration and free core functionality. Beside that, its simplicity and intuitive interface were what helped Chris to make his choice.
Save time to do your favourite part of the job
Chris used Kanbanchi for 6 months and quickly realised it was a great fit for The Geography Network. Colour tags help to define the various municipalities that each project belongs to, while priorities make it easier to organize everyday work. Purchasing the subscription has made it into the complete package and even more useful than it already had been.
“Kanbanchi lives and breathes with my job” - Chris Mahon
Creating cards from email really helps, because during meetings with clients it’s just so easy to email tasks to the Kanbanchi board. Then, when in the office, he can review them and prioritise with ease.
Another key feature for WPSGN is the Gantt chart. It helps to make yearly reports in a brilliant, simple way. Before using Kanbanchi, every year Chris needed to go through all of the documents and sheets devoted to different projects and find out their start and due dates. This information needs to go to the yearly report but it took quite a long time and was a hassle. Now, it’s just a matter of 15 minutes with Kanbanchi – he just needs to open the Gantt chart with all the yearly progress on it and print it. Chris is happy, his supervisor is happy, everyone is happy.
“60% of my job is developing tools and maintaining databases, 20% is mapping and 20% is troubleshooting. Probably organizing my tasks with Kanbanchi saves me up to 20% of my time for my favourite part – development” – Chris Mahon
Kanbanchi allows you to stay focused and get things accomplished. If you’d like to save some time for your favourite tasks, give Kanbanchi a try.