Date of Award

Spring 4-15-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS)

Department

Business and Information Systems

First Advisor

Ronghua Shan

Second Advisor

Christopher Olson

Third Advisor

Stephen Krebsbach

Abstract

The Olmsted Non-Hazardous Industrial Solid Waste Tracking System allows waste generators of certain materials to electronically have their waste assessments evaluated, approved, and tracked through a simple online process. The current process of manually requesting evaluations, prepopulating tracking forms, and filling them out on triplicate carbonless forms is out of sync with other processes in the department. Complying with audit requirements requires pulling physical copies and providing them physically to fulfill information requests.

Waste generators in Minnesota are required to track their waste disposals for certain types of industrial waste streams. This ensures waste is accounted for at the point it is produced and is disposed of properly at a licensed facility for that waste type. Olmsted researched what other counties in Minnesota are doing to comply with the tracking and reporting requirements. In our research we found similar processes and no other county leveraging an information system to drive this process. The closest alternative we uncovered in conversation was a metro county using their document management system to capture and store images after the process was complete.

The system design started with a review of the current process and data requirements gathered and defined from the existing forms. The process was deemed to be efficient, the data structure well understood, and in compliance with the Olmsted County Industrial Solid Waste Management Plan. The project followed the Olmsted County Software Development process. The entire process utilizes an on-premise database, web server outside the Olmsted County Firewall, and Olmsted County multi-function devices on our network to capture and import physical load detail documents.

The project was successful in executing its initial goal of digitizing the process but suffered difficulties due to major shifts in key personnel as the project progressed. It is currently in production with key partners who represent waste generators and waste haulers.

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