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Forest Inventory as a Service (IAAS)

To help organizations meet growing information demands with limited staff we offer Inventory as a Service (IaaS). IaaS handles inventory from budgeting through to completion including the technology infrastructure and field operations.

Below are some of the challenges we hear from timberland owners and managers:
  • Lack of confidence in inventory estimates due to  cut outs variations. 
  • Legacy inventory software is like a black box where is hard to understand the methods behind the reported numbers.
  • Inventory updates are taking up too much staff resources.
  • It is not simple to update or grow the inventory to keep it current. 
  • Systems and methods are scattered across different computers and when changes need to be they must be done in multiple places.
  • Inventory data and systems are separate from our GIS and maps which makes it hard to adjust the inventory when information in the GIS changes.

Getting a recent aerial or satellite image for a tract can be painful and time consuming. Drones take too much time, tasking a fixed wing aircraft is cost prohibitive and searching the web often turns up short. To top it off, these traditional mechanisms for acquiring imagery involve handling huge files and even processing. There’s a new approach with Planet Labs and it’s truly revolutionary – read below to learn what we’re talking about.
  • As the primary source of forest information, a good inventory is vital. When your inventory numbers are on one employee’s machine or in spreadsheets, are you able to fully leverage this information asset you’ve invested heavily in?
  • Want an instant report of next year’s harvest candidates? This is doable today, but most organizations just aren’t there. Inventory is often an opaque, scattered mess of spreadsheets and Access databases.
  • Is the 2 month lag between data gets collected and when it shows up in an internal reports making you chew your nails off? Feel like your data should have quality control closer to when it collected instead of later during planning?
  • Is your inventory falling behind because it’s too difficult to keep up with?
  • Unsure if you’re inventory methods follow standards which will stand up to scrutiny?
  • Yesterday’s file and email based approaches for keeping field and office teams on the same page fall short of current business needs, causing excess costs and delays.

An inventory can provide more value with improved biometrics and Growth and Yield.   Its common for an operation to struggle with accurate inventory estimates and see wide variances when a cut out is compared to inventory estimates.  Frequently analysts manipulate inventory variables to achieve a result (e.g. tons per acre) they know is intuitively correct.  Inventory computations become a bit like black magic which erodes confidence in the numbers.   Here are some of the areas we help with: 

  • Migrate legacy data to a multi-user, GIS infrastructure which provides any device access and editing. 
  • Transition computations to taper functions which are species specific. 
  • Firm up and document field methods and get cruisers all on the same page with how to collect data.
  • Create “states” for the inventory such as a annual growth state and original “as collected” field data state as a master inventory archive.
  • Derive local taper after new data has been collected. 
  • Conduct a cut analysis and subsequent computational methods calibration if necessary.
  • Impalement annual growth to extend the life span of plots installed in the past and to provide a more accurate estimate of growth rates and  overall standing timber volume. 
  • Implement workflows to deactivate and trigger re-inventory based on harvests or inventory age rules.  

We can make inventory easier so that it delivers your operations dramatiocally more value.
  • Our team setups up large inventories so that field operations, a master raw (un-grown as collected) and grown to current inventories exist simultaneously to streamline analysis such as statistics and growth, ensure data quality from the field, and to immediately update the inventory as stands are updated in the GIS.
  • Would you rather be sent a spreadsheet of inventory, or have it feed daily and directly into your forest asset infrastructure?
  • As valuable and costly to obtain information, forest inventories need to be carefully managed and protected like an asset.
  • We help dozens of organizations operate inventory systems including the technology back end, management of the field staff and data quality process.
  • We modernize inventory systems using some of the following approaches:
  • Document methods.
  • Standardization of data collection and volume computation.
  • Automation of the inventory process to eliminate manual processes and file management common to legacy systems.
  • Automation of reporting so that data is available in real time.
  • Integrate inventory processes and updates so that they are driven by harvest and silviculture activities.
  • Management of field and desktop data quality auditing.
  • Implement change management processes.
  • Role appropriate access to real time inventory for other stakeholders through apps and dashboards.
  • Automated production tracking and accounting for contractor payment processing.
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Empowering forestry with smarter data, simpler tools, and real-world impact.

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