BORELLI CONSULTING: Tactical Equipment Reviews

On Target Software Solutions
By: Frank Borelli, 30 May 2005

It's Memorial Day. Let's take a few moments to honor those men and women who have served our country so selflessly; those who made the ultimate sacrifice; those who died in the name of freedom.

This week's review is different from any I've ever done before. A few months back I was contacted by a gentleman who is a computer programmer - a software writer. We had a discussion about a product that he had developed that he felt would be beneficial to virtually every police agency (or military command) that had to track assets and qualifications. Do police agencies have to perform such functions? Yes. Do police agencies have to keep such records? Yes. Is doing so on paper forever a pain in the backside? YES. But do we have a choice? Yes.

On Target Systems Inc., of Canada, has developed a package software solution that will track assets in a wide variety of categories, as well as documenting your agency's firearms qualifications courses and each officer's scores. This software solution is already in use by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). Let's take a look at it to understand the value those federal organizations found and what it might be able to do for your agency.

I should start out by saying that this software solution was created using a program called FileMakerPro. Yeah, it's actually written like that all bunched together. FireMakerPro is a very handy database management tool, but you have to know how to program it to get anything useful out of it. Some of the strengths of FileMaker (reasons why it was chosen for this application by the folks at On Target) are:
1) it is one of the best relational databases available today.
2) it permits up to 250 concurrent users (250 users at the same time if networked)
3) there is a web application built into one version of FileMaker that increases that number of concurrent users even more.

The biggest benefit of that last item, web application, is that it allows all users to see up-to-the-minute data. As any user updates the database, all other users can immediately have access to that information. While that may not matter on an agency that has ten to fifty officers, think about what the implications are for an agency like New York City PD or a military unit.

On Target customizes the application specifically for the agency purchasing it. In fact, even the cost is determined by agency size and the number of assets the agency has to track.

The strength of the application is obvious from this opening screen. To get even this far you have to have correctly entered your user name and password. Now before I go on, I should explain something:

I've used FileMakerPro in the past. If I'm the one required to program anything at all into it, I don't care for it. I am no good at making my own user interfaces or creating my own display types. However, if I can get someone else to do those things for me, then it's a simple matter of data input and requesting views / reports. That is the FileMakerPro use that I enjoy. It's very efficient and user friendly - as long as I'm not the guy who has to do the programming. Thankfully, On Target has done it all in this case. Moving on...

As you can see from the main Property Asset Tracker screen, the software enables users to track Firearms, Vehicles, Investigations Equipment (IR, NVGs, etc), Computer equipment and "RCOM" - radios and communications equipment. Along the right side you see access to other functions that are all a part of asset procurement, tracking or liquidation. As a quick note: one of those items is "Seized Assets". Preliminary conversation with On Target show that they are in the midst of building a seperate software module specifically for tracking evidence via bar codes and RF ID tags. While all agencies need to track seized assets, the security and efficiency of tracking evidence is much more important in the grand scheme of things.

As an example, and because most of us have a larger interest in weapons than cars or computers (yeah, I said that even as I review a software program), let's take a look at the firearms module. As you can see, the main firearms screen shows you all of the specific information you'd want about a given agency weapon to include identifying information, purchase date, maintenance information, work orders, inspections, when it was used for qualifications and what officer(s) it's been issued to. That is paraphrasing the information that is available on the screen and it still sounds like a lot. It is indeed. What more could you want to know about a duty weapon?

While that may be plenty of information about a duty weapon, what about all of the stuff that goes with it? Magazines and holsters? How about other "fixed assets"? I asked On Target about these - specifically about uniforms - and found out that the Firearms Accessories section had specifically been set up to track such items as uniforms, body armor, holsters, magazines, etc. In fact, if the property isn't something that fits into one of the other six main categories, it's supposed to go under the Firearms Accessories. For the purposes of the On Target Software Solution, "fixed assets" are things like desks, chairs, and other office equipment.

Note that the software is even specific enough to show you information about each accessory or other asset. Shown in this sample screen is information about pistol magazines to fit the duty weapons. Above and beyond such information as supplier and dates of purchase are the number ordered and how many are backordered. Shooters may not have much need for such detail, but trust me when I tell you that the department armorer would enjoy having it at his (or her) fingertips.

At the very beginning of this review I mentioned qualifications. This sample screen shows how much information is captured about an officer's qualification(s). Some of the items that I particularly liked were that the software lets you set "Requalification Frequency" (100 days shown) and gives you that Requalification Date as well as telling you whether or not it's been completed. My agency is lucky to get all officers to the range more than twice each year (though I have one guy who goes at least once a month and he's the guy who needs it the least. Isn't that always the way?) but larger agencies that have regular "tri-annual" shooters, or challenged shooters who need to go every sixty days or so would benefit from the simplicity of this qualification tracking system.

Of course, databases are only any good if they assist you in organizing the information so that you can get out of it what you need when you need it. Typically referred to as "Reports", a great many databases are limited in what they'll Report. Not so with the On Target Solution. As you can see, still using the Firearms example, the Reports Menu gives you fourteen report options each of which has a value to the armorer or administrator responsible for tracking agency weapons. The coolest thing is that the Reports Menu screen tells you exactly what information you have to put in to get the report you want out. That is user friendliness.

Now, I'd like to thank those of you who have read this far. Writing a software review for the Blackwater Tactical Weekly is a risky venture in my eyes. There are so many shooters, that readers interested in software may be few and far between. If I didn't think that this solution had any true value, I wouldn't have spent the time bringing your attention to it.

As a final note I should mention that On Target also has a module in development to track K9 assets and training. After that maybe we should suggest an aviation module? To find out more about the On Target Tracking Systems software, visit them online at http://www.ontargettracking.com. Be sure to let them know that you read about their software solutions in the Blackwater Tactical Weekly or online here at the Borelli Consulting website. If software interests you in the performance of your duties, this is a solution you should check out. Be safe.

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