Tallahasee Information Technology Firm Revolutionizing the Debris Removal Industry

    /24-7PressRelease/ - TALLAHASSEE, FL, August 23, 2005 - Paul Consulting Inc. has been highlighted in the September national issue of Entrepreneur Magazine for the revolutionary Debris Information Management System (DIMS) that they created over the course of the last four years. DIMS was heavily utilized during the unprecedented 2004 hurricane season when four hurricanes impacted the State of Florida. The system is also being utilized for Hurricane Dennis which affected the Pensacola area on July 10, 2005.

During the 2004 hurricane season alone, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved over 1.9 billion in State of Florida disaster recovery projects. Approx. 60-70% of those reimbursable costs were related to debris removal. From an auditing perspective, keeping track of load tickets, trucks, truck measurements and debris classifications is a Herculean task and, up until last year, was typically performed by counties and municipalities with pen and pencil - usually resulting in high error margins. With the creation and utilization of DIMS, debris removal management and auditing for those counties has never been easier - resulting in potentially millions of dollars in savings for the Florida taxpayers.

For the 2005 hurricane season, which includes Hurricane Dennis, all debris load tickets for the City of Pensacola, Escambia County, City of New Orleans, and Jefferson Parrish, Louisiana are being entered into DIMS from the Paul Consulting Tallahassee office. To expedite debris hauling processes, Paul Consulting has incorporated state-of-the-art technologies into DIMS. These new technologies include: High speed scanning; automated uploads and downloads of data; and real-time debris hauling data available from mobile, hand-held devices. Data are scanned remotely and then sent electronically to the Paul Consulting offices in Tallahassee. Data inputters, located in the Tallahassee office, are then responsible for entering that electronic data into the system. Detailed management and auditing reports are then instantaneously available from the field either through the user's web browser or through handheld Blackberry telephones.

During the 2004 hurricane season, DIMS was utilized in the following locations:
Brevard County; Charlotte County; City of Fort Pierce; City of Orlando; City of Parkland; City of Pensacola; City of Port St. Lucie; City of Sebastion; Escambia County; Oakland Park; Orange County; St. Lucie County; Town of Davie; Villages of North Palm Beach.

According to one of the Paul Consulting programmers, Wes Holden, who is the system's chief architect, "We have worked hard to streamline the operations and make the entire process paperless. Even management reports are now available instantaneously from the field via Blackberry telephones. We are excited about incorporating the newest technologies."

Marc Paul, CEO of Paul Consulting Inc, when asked about these new web-based and mobile technologies replied, "Last hurricane season, FEMA approved 1.9 billion of projects. 60-70% of those projects were related to debris removal. It is imperative that the State of Florida have a system that is accurate and trustworthy. Working together with our Pompano Beach partner, AshBritt Environmental, we continue to revolutionize the debris removal industry by incorporating efficient and accurate technologies into DIMS. Having the ability to display real-time reports and graphs via hand-held devices is unparalleled in the debris industry. It is our goal to make the entire debris removal process as efficient and accurate as possible so that the citizens of Florida can quickly get back to their lives. We are honored that a national magazine has highlighted our vision and efforts in their Technology section. Even though Tallahassee is our home, we have worked almost everywhere in the State of Florida that was affected by a hurricane in the last two years. We are proud to have made a difference."

A November, 2004 email from Governor Bush said, "Thank you Marc. I appreciate the service you are providing [to the State of Florida]." - Jeb

Terry Jackson, Vice President of AshBritt Environmental had the following to say about DIMS. "As luck would have it, our field test of DIMS coincided with the most active storm season in history. The initial test of a single project went well, however as landfall of successive major hurricanes created multiple projects, our management team remained skeptical that new and untested technology could accurately capture data and provide the management tools we needed. But as quickly as the need for new analysis was realized Paul Consulting was writing code and implementing features to stay ahead of the curve. In hindsight, it would be difficult to imagine the 2004 hurricane season without DIMS. The real time data, management analysis and client reports made a very chaotic situation both manageable and productive."

Terry Jackson
Vice President
AshBritt, Inc.


Paul Consulting Inc. is a software design firm located in Tallahassee, Florida. The company specializes in the integration of websites with relational databases. To learn more about the company, visit www.paulconsulting.com. For DIMS relevant photography, please visit: www.paulconsulting.com/hurricanes.htm. Paul Consulting Inc is located at 1342 Timberlane Road, Suite 201. Tallahassee, Florida 32312 Telephone #: (850) 523-9626.

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