High Fives

The Department of Environmental Services in Hamilton, Ontario, uses CityReporter to inspect 271 playground sites.

Seven inspectors, who run CityReporter on Apple Ipad Air tablet computers, have been using the system since 2017.

“We made the switch from paper because we needed to standardize the inspection process,” said senior project manager Caleb Gibbons. “We also wanted to ensure our inspection process was consistent, for accountability.”

Environmental Services had found its former paper-based reporting system to be unwieldy and inefficient.

“Reporting on completions for key performance indicators was nearly impossible,” said Gibbons. “And bringing up past inspections for potential litigation purposes was very difficult.”

Today Hamilton has improved accountability and customer service, and can show when a site was last inspected and what the inspector had found.

“We can track all of the inspections we’ve made and what faults were found, report on repairs that have been made and the replacements are being planned,” Gibbons said.

“Everything is working great since the last update. I find the system very user friendly. Changing forms to make them fit my needs was very simple you don’t have to be a computer geek to use City Reporter. All our foremen use the system and took less than 15 minutes to train and since most of them still have trouble with cell phones that was very impressive.”

Mike Becker
Regional Manager
Capilano Highways, BC

Solid reporting app and great service

“We use the Cityreporter app to do our playground inspections and have found it to be a valuable tool. It is very easy to use and has quickly been mastered by those staff who have limited experience when it comes to technology. The customer service we have received right from training to ongoing support has also been fantastic.”

Blaise Laveay
Park Warden
Regional District of Central Okanagan, BC

Great Park Inspection Software

“If your tired of filling out papers while performing park inspections, then this is the program for you. It’s much easier (and a time saver) to complete your inspections with the phone app. The questions can be customized to fit your particular need and you can attach photos if needed. The learning curve is very easy with A! customer support. Make sure you upload data only when connected to a WIFI . The program works well on my small smart phone screen but a larger screen or tablet would cut down on scrolling. I’ve used the program for over a year and love it.”

Albert Eurs
Facilities Foreman
City of Garden Grove, CA

“Everything is going good with the program. I find it very easy to use and it is working for me. I posted on social media that we have a new inspection program and there are a couple of fire departments on the island who contacted me. I gave them the info so maybe you will hear from them soon. Again thank you for all your help and I really enjoy using the program.”

Addison Quilty, CFI – 1
Fire Inspector / Emergency Planning Co-ordinator / Assistant Deputy Fire Chief
Town of Gander, NL

More than Inspection Software

“City Reporter has been a huge asset to our small Facilities department. It has forced us to do inspections on sites that have been over looked in the past. The ease of use by the inspector and ability to track deficiencies is great. The customer service has been great always there when we have had any issues. Being able to customize the inspections is one of the best features. It took us a while to be able to dedicate the time to set up initially but after that its been great.”

Shaun Lesowski
Parks & Facilities Superintendent
District of Lake Country, BC

“Very easy to use and excellent support!”

Monte Shipmaker
Quality Control Manager
Yellowhead Road & Bridge, Prince George, BC

“My department has been using CityReporter for several months now. Customer service has always been prompt and helpful, and when we did the free trial they made sure that we got the most out of it. The program has totally streamlined how we do our parks inspections, and has made it much easier for the parks coordinator to communicate any issues to me so we can respond quickly and efficiently.”

Natalie Wilson
Superintendent of Parks & Recreation
City of Seaford, DE

Parks and sports fields

“This is a very fast an easy way to keep track of your day to day tasks as well as any problems u have along the way! Great for monthly checks and reports for any type of job. From large scale to small towns it’s a handy tool for supervisors and directors in any municipality.”

Dave Phillips
Parks & Recreation
Town of Tillsonburg, ON

Time Saver For Park Inspections

“Before City Reporter, staff was doing paper inspections that sometime got lost, or not done on a timely basis. Staff is able to use a tablet or their smart phone to do the inspections. With City Reporter, Management has been able to track the inspections, create punch list and verify completion of repairs and schedule maintenance as needed.

The Operations Manager receives a weekly fault report to generate work orders.

Be sure to take the time during set up on the back side to make sure you have included all the different assets that you wanting to track.”

Patrick White
Park Use & Sports Field Manager
Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape & Recreation Corp (SAMLARC)
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA

Very Useful Application

“This application has allowed our city to compose checklists and maintain records for the safety inspections of playground equipment in our parks. The checklists are easy to use and include pre-prepared general documents, which are customizable to suit our needs. The documents are easy to read and manipulate as needed, and the application works easily from both the office, as well as in the field with handheld devices. The product is reasonably priced and the customer support is excellent. We have been using the product for several years now, and we are very satisfied!”

Bill Smith
Director of Community Services
City of Colton, CA

“I thank you for asking for my input and keep up the great work in the continuing development in your product. I would never want to go back to paper reporting after using CityReporter.”

Jacques Benoit
Chief Building Official
City of Arnprior, ON

“ParkReporter has increased efficiency by eliminating multiple inspection binders with often illegible documentation and replacing them with easy to use software. The cloud storage provides peace of mind that our records are securely stored and available to us at any time.”

Bob Johnson
Superintendent of Buildings & Grounds
Frankfort Park District, IL

“We like going digital because it is extreme nice to have all of our reports at the click of a button!  They don’t get lost.  They don’t get misplaced.  And they are available when you need them, where you need them.”

Greg Williams
Event & Program Supervisor
Anderson Mill Limited District, TX

“We have used the Noratek, Facility and park reporter inspection program for two years now and have found it increased our ability to manage a wide range of assets in an efficient and timely manner. It has also eliminated the ever growing amount of paper that requires storing and cataloguing. The support team has been extremely patient and valuable.”

Kim Tybring
Department of Recreation & Community Services
Town of Hay River, NWT

“We reduced our inspection time by 50%. Thank god we don’t have to touch any more paper!”

Bill Novicki
Park Foreman
Sandwich Park District, IL

Park Inspection Software

“City Reporter park inspection software has streamlined our playground inspections. Staff no longer use paper inspections, and because it’s so easy to use it has made it a lot easier for staff to stay organized and keep up with the inspections. Thank you City Reporter for a great product!”

Ben Curcio
Director of Parks & Planning
Elk Grove Park District, IL

“The City has an extensive and well-used park system,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons why people enjoy living in Gainesville. Because they love their parks, they want them to be well looked after and that repairs are made as soon as they are needed.”

Although Gainesville has been using CityReporter for only one year, the parks operation division has already benefited from it.

“The results have been positive and instantaneous,” said Weber. “We are better organized and more accurate in our record-keeping than ever before. And we’re more efficient because everything we need is right at our fingertips.”

Weber says the park operations administration team learned quickly how to use CityReporter on their Android tablets.

“It wasn’t difficult at all, even for those staff who had no previous experience with computers, cell phones or other digital technology,” he said.

Weber says another benefit of using CityReporter, in addition to ease of use,  is that the inspections team is more in tune with the conditions of the playgrounds and the other facilities, and they know right away which ones require attention.

In the old days of paper-based inspections, the park operations team took photos only when they encountered equipment problems that had to be discussed with manufacturers. 

But now, taking photos of equipment and playground and facility problems with their tablets is easy and uncomplicated.

“CityReporter enables our inspectors to put their photos in order of priority that needs attention,” said Weber.

“We had been looking for a program to log our Park Ranger security activities and everything we found was heavily law enforcement oriented and very expensive. After several conversations with the staff at Noratek we tried a 90 day demo which worked out extremely well (we actually bought the system after 45 days). It was easy to use in the field which made staff training a snap. Because of the excel formatting we can create reports and trend data quickly and easily. The support that we receive from Noratek is top notch and second to none.”

Doug Kettel
Superintendent of Facility Services
Schaumburg Park District, IL

“The City of Colville Building and Planning Department has had the pleasure of working with the CityReporter software for about a year and it has been a wonderful experience. In the past our permitting proccess was slow and ineffective. Working with CityReporter has made permitting a breeze and keeps our department organized and effective.

The value of this software is displayed not only in the price , but also in the time and resources saved due to its efficiency. We admire the level of customer service offered by Noratek and we are impressed with the open communication regarding software updates. We look forward to continuing work with Noratek and benefiting from the always-improving CityReporter software.”

Dave Harper
Building Official