Alachua County Government

ABOUT ALACHUA COUNTY GOVERNMENT

Alachua County is a local government agency in northern Florida with a mission to provide responsive service to citizens and responsible stewardship of county resources for current and future generations.

LIFE IS GOOD

As a local county, home to a state university and service to more than 280,000 people, county operations were complicated but progressing well. Everything from animal services, to fire and rescue, to building code enforcement rolled up under county management. Spending taxpayer dollars wasn’t taken lightly, which kept resource allocation and spending in the forefront.

BIG CHALLENGE

Amongst many complexities, one particular problem pulled at the heartstrings of the community: animal safety and wellness. The local animal shelter was overcrowded due to a recent boom in the homeless pet population. Better data could lead to a solution, but all the information across the county existed in separate databases. It could take 11+ clicks just to enter one data point, and there was no easy way to visualize it all.

HELP ARRIVES

So, you turn to AchieveIt. With one source of truth and an intuitive, user-friendly, public facing dashboard, data collection was simplified and visualization improved, enabling the team to quickly spot a trend: animal intakes increased every year from June to August. Armed with this new data, and not just a hunch, adoption fees were waived during the summer months.

LIFE IS EVEN BETTER

Now, fewer animals are in the shelter and more pets in happy homes. By removing the strain on resources, this led to a downstream impact on taxpayer dollars through reduced costs. And when the inevitable spike happens again next summer, the team will be ahead of the curve. Regardless of the problem, the team now has the process and data in place to better the community and accomplish their mission.