Case Studies

Brownfields Inventory Management Tool for the Environment: BIT

Problem
In 2004, the EPA developed BIT (Brownfields Inventory Tool), a software to support tribes in the inventorying of brownfields properties. As part of meeting the tribal response grants criteria, the program capabilities included assistance in site inventory, public record and reporting requirements, as well as other functions such as tracking complaints, enforcement actions and inspections. In early 2005, the software, an MS Access application, became obsolete due to compatibility issues with MS windows operating system updates. The EPA selected Kansas State University’s Center for Hazardous Substance Research to manage a BIT software upgrade. Tasked to create a more effective inventory software application, KSU’s criteria required BIT to be built as both a web-based application, and a desktop application, compatible with current MS operating systems, and accessible for users with little experience. Important to KSU was finding an experienced custom software company that could work with nonprogrammers on all facets of the project as well as support the project with strong GUI and visual design. CABEM was awarded the BIT and TABEZ contract.

Solution
CABEM designed the visual identity for the BIT web portal to complement TAB EZ (Technical Assistance to Brownfields), a sister online application providing tools to prepare EPA Brownfields grant proposals. The user base for BIT represents a wide range of individuals throughout the U.S., many with limited exposure to web and user applications. CABEM worked closely with KSU to fully understand the application’s objectives, and end user needs, to ensure the information architecture and user interface resulted in a productive user experience. CABEM’s intuitive GUI employed colorful, instructive icons to guide the users through the inventory management process with a focus on minimizing user learning curves. In addition to creating an extensive site inventory section, CABEM incorporated collaborative tools and functionality to search, import and export data; access resources; share site data; and generate EPA reports. Our Content Management System, CABEM Livia_CMS provides admin capabilities for updating forms, populating content and managing users. As requested, CABEM is porting the web-based tool to a standalone Windows application. Using Qt, Web Kit, and PHP compiler technology to reuse much of the existing BIT web application code, CABEM is reducing development and maintenance costs compared with writing a desktop application from scratch and maintaining two independent code bases. CABEM hosts and maintains BIT, continually improving the application with usability enhancements and new features.