“…..it felt like a ‘get together’ to solve a family problem.”

Joey at the Ferntree Gully - Quarry Road fire Strike Team
on Black Saturday (Feb 2009)


Australian Capital Territory Emergency Services Authority (ACT ESA) has been very busy in its final leg in implementing the FMMS/CIPS application for phase 1. In the midst of the preparation and implementation, there has been enhancements to the current application to meet the ACT ESA requirements.

Joey has been tasked to discuss, analyze and to come up with the proposals for the ACT ESA enhancements. By coincidence, Joey task is made somewhat easier as he is an active volunteer fireman with the Country Fire Authority (CFA) Victoria in the suburb of Rowville. “Yes, being a member of CFA, I understood most of the ‘slang and lango’ used during the discussion. Whenever we got together to discuss an issue, it felt like a ‘get together’ to solve a family problem. Their issues and practical requirements are much easier to understand and can be translated more effectively to the software design and development requirement “, said Joey Tan.

In Phase 1 implementation, apart from using the application to manage the maintenance activities of the ACT ESA assets and equipments, it is also to use the application to control all requisitions, purchases, invoices, vehicle inventory, warehouse inventory, special project, and issuing of emergency personnel safety clothing and equipment. The emergency personnel safety clothing and equipments is a big ‘budget ticket item’ within all emergency services around Australia and hence, a control on them is very important.

PDAs and scanners will be utilized to provide easy management of works, including warehouse stock taking, vehicle inventory control, and stock picking for issuing within a warehouse.