Please click on a choice in the left window to view a function of the County Highway Software System.

Over the past twenty years, many different functions have been added to the system as requested by our users.

As in the past, the functionality of our software will continue to evolve and grow to meet the needs of our users.

FEMA Reporting

D-Ware, Inc. has been working for years with counties to provide reports needed by FEMA. FEMA plays an important role in County and City agencies economic future when disaster strikes. Most of the disasters that D-Ware has dealt with are flooding of culverts, roads, bridges, streets, etc. Also, we find agencies assisting in fire fighting and being able to recover their expenses due to proper record keeping as required by FEMA.

You may ask, "What if we lose our computers?" If you have backed up your data to our secure remote servers, we have your "data infrastructure" and can get you up and running within one hour. Additionally, we can provide remote entry for you and we have experienced personnel that will step up and provide assistance during a disaster.

Workers Compensation

County highway departments can save money on Workman's Compensation. Insurance companies rates are based on the category of work that an individual does. For example, the rates are higher for a heavy equipment operator than for a secretary (and they should be.)

However, if a heavy equipment operator became ill and was assigned to light shop duty for three months, why should his rate continue to be the same? Why should he be charged any rate what so ever if he is on vacation for three weeks, or his rate not lowered if he has jury duty for an extended period of time?

With the D-Ware software, the Workman's Compensation premium is calculated on hours actually worked within each Workman's Compensation Code.

Equipment Preventative Maintenance

The County Highway System includes a comprehensive preventative maintenance module. A preventative maintenance program can increase the life of your equipment and reduce repair costs while saving your department and your tax payers money.

The system can track up to five different task sheets on an hourly basis for each piece of equipment. This module has proven to be very effective for those highway departments that use it.

Preventative Maintenance for Bridges and Culverts

Preventative Maintenance for Bridges and Culverts is the latest addition to the County Highway System. Our users requested a method to record the condition of bridges and culverts as well as a means to document the maintenance that was being being done on them.

Equipment Fuel Costs

Fuel costs are becoming a major cost in any county highway department's budget. The highway system tracks fuel consumption on each piece of equipment. An analysis of the fuel consumption may indicate equipment that needs repair OR the reported fuel did not really make it to that piece of equipment !!! "Yes," our software has ratted out the criminal... and that individual is now facing Federal Charges.

Some of our users have automated gas pumps such as "Gas Boy" that we interface with the County Highway System. Additionally, for those of you that have vertical or horizontal fuel tanks, we provide a calculation method to determine the amount of fuel in your tanks by using a "stick."

One Highway Department began "sticking" the tank after fuel was delivered by a Vendor. The calculations showed that the amount of fuel delivered was not the amount indicated on the invoice. That Vendor's employee now has lot's of time to figure out how he was caught.

Equipment Repair History

The equipment repair history can be used to show the repair done on a piece of equipment. With repair history and documented hours of work, concrete evidence can be provided for warranty information. Equipment repair history can be very useful in the case of selling a piece of equipment.

With the increase in the cost of equipment and tires, the availability of documented information is becoming vital for warranty issues. Not only will the hours of operation be documented; but, also the type of work that was being done.

Equipment Inventory

The Equipment Inventory significantly reduces the amount of fire extinguishers, log chains, shovels, etc., that may disappear from equipment.

If employees are aware that the inventory in their equipment is recorded in a computer database, the inventory is much less likely to disappear.

Disposable Inventory

Maintaining a disposable inventory for a county highway department is an essential and massive effort for any shop. The County Highway Software System breaks the inventory down into categories such as asphalt, belts, filters, fuel, fencing, signs, etc.

Important information such as Quantity Last Update, Quantity on Hand, Quantity used to date, Price Last Update, Average Price and Quantity Used Last Year are maintained for each inventory item.

On every data entry screen, the remaining balance of the inventory item used is displayed to indicate the possibility of re-ordering.

Fixed Assets

Accountability for Fixed Assets is another responsibility for county highway departments. Admittedly, a pain, the software provides an easy to use fixed asset system that provides a calculated depreciation price to date from the date of acquisition.

Accounts Receivable

Accounts Receivable in the County Highway System provides a means for county highway departments to recover costs from private citizens and public entities such as townships, street departments, sheriff departments, etc.

Documentation of the work accomplished is readily available, including the cost per hour of equipment used and indirect labor.

INVOICING

Litigation Issues

County highway departments are frequently challenged with litigation issues. This is very demanding on the limited personnel resources of the Departments. The detailed reports provided by the D-Ware software have been used in litigation issues.

One of our Montana highway departments used the documentation from Signage to prove when a sign was last inspected to win a litigation issue.

Budget Preparation

Budgets can be one of the most important tools of management. They can be used as an advanced estimate of the cost of an operation as well as provide information regarding progress made on an operation.

Because the cost of a project includes indirect labor and administrative costs, along with all the other costs, the sum of the costs of each individual project should provide the cost of the entire operation.

The D-Ware software produces a worksheet of each project including the previous year's cost, with provisions for an estimate of increased costs. This computer generated worksheet greatly eases the pain of budget preparation and produces a very reliable cost estimate of a project for the following year.

Worksheets are also produced by type of project, such as: BRG, GVL, HWY, CUL for use in the preparation of a worksheet for a construction project. The sum of your project worksheets and construction worksheets will represent your yearly budget; again, computer generated for your ease of use.

Graphs and reports will be generated throughout the year for each project and, as a whole, will show if the operation is within budget.

CHARTS & GRAPHS

Outsourcing Data Entry

With the economic times being as they are, the "outsourcing of data entry" may be your solution to utilizing a computerized program to improve the efficiency of your department.

One problem is consistent: "the cost of entering data into a computerized program." And, with indirect labor costs of most counties running in the range of 55 to 70 percent, employing an individual for data entry certainly is an issue to contend with when considering the use of a computerized program.

Some shops are one man-shops, so to speak: the superintendent runs the crews and does the books and everything else that needs attention. He/she would like to utilize a computerized program; but does not have time to enter the data and cannot cost-justify an additional employee to do so.

The outsourcing of data entry may be a cost justifiable solution for your department.

Off Site Backup

D-Ware, Inc. provides off site backup of all data for their users. The loss of data is very expensive for an agency to re-enter. Most of the time, it involves a considerable amount of an administrator's time and hiring additional personnel for data entry. D-Ware has been witness to the loss of data several times for the following reasons:

- A disgruntled employee burned down the Courthouse.

- An IT Administrator for the county was doing a backup to a device for all the computers in the network. When it came time to restore, the device where the data was being backed up to failed miserably.

- Again, an IT Administrator was backing up on the network, but failed to back up the directory where the data files were stored for The County Highway System.

- A user was backing up to a "Flash Drive" using Windows Explorer and pasted the shortcuts onto the "Flash Drive", instead of pasting the files. When she lost her hard drive, the shortcuts had no data to point to. She now very faithfully uses the D-Ware software to backup to the internet.

- Of course, the most common response is, "I have not done a backup for the last six weeks."

Signage

Signage in the County Highway Software System offers the users the ability to track all installation, maintenance and repairs to signs on county roads. This is a good tool to prove the work done to signs, as well as the condition of the sign (i.e. reflectivity).

Documented inspection dates and condition of signs can be very useful in litigation issues.

Commissioners Reports

In this time of information technology it is essential that data collected by the D-Ware software is provided to the decision makers of County Highway Departments: Superintendents, Engineers, Council Members, Commissioners, etc. That is, to make data readily available so that decision makers can immediately get the reports without the delay of requesting them and waiting for delivery.

Commissioners Reports contain summary data for upper management. Most of the time, management is not concerned with the detailed data, they are interested in the overall data picture that will assist them in making difficult decisions.

To our knowledge, no other software vendor has taken data reporting to this level.

Internet Reporting

Documented inspection dates and condition of signs can be very useful in litigation issues.