A practical guide for scoping, evaluating and piloting technology that can reduce manual work, improve evidence quality and make illegal firewood collection decisions easier to review.
Prepared by AeroRanger. The criteria and questions are supplier-agnostic and can be used with any vendor.
For illegal firewood collection, the technology decision should start with the work council staff actually need to complete: public report, ranger observation, trail-camera reference or patrol sighting, evidence capture, rule context, human review, action and reporting.
A good procurement brief makes the hard parts visible before suppliers demonstrate anything.
The best result is not simply more data. It is a repeatable operating model where staff can see what happened, which rule applies, who reviewed it and what outcome followed.
What counts as a valid illegal firewood collection record, and what evidence must be present before action?
Who can approve, hold, override or close a case before inspect, preserve evidence, identify a vehicle, refer for investigation, schedule a recheck or close?
What management question should the pilot answer after four to six weeks?
Use this page to move from a broad technology idea to a testable procurement scope.
| Scope element | Write this before market engagement | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | Public report, ranger observation, trail-camera reference or patrol sighting | Prevents the project becoming a vague platform purchase. |
| Evidence | Photos of the felled tree, stump, cut timber, caged trailer, vehicle details, gps point and timestamp | Sets the standard for review, dispute handling and reporting. |
| Rules | Reserve boundaries, collection restrictions, permit conditions, evidence requirements and referral pathways | Shows what must be configurable by authorised staff. |
| Decision | Inspect, preserve evidence, identify a vehicle, refer for investigation, schedule a recheck or close | Clarifies human review and the point where risk increases. |
| Operating areas | State forests, national parks, conservation reserves, access tracks and recreation areas | Keeps pilot scope practical and measurable. |
Most illegal firewood collection improvements need a combination of capture, workflow, rules, reporting and integration. The correct mix depends on the risk, data sources and field environment.
Capture photos of the felled tree, stump, cut timber, caged trailer, vehicle details, GPS point and timestamp from the first useful contact point.
Make reports usable with category, location, images, notes and triage status.
Move from public report, ranger observation, trail-camera reference or patrol sighting to inspect, preserve evidence, identify a vehicle, refer for investigation, schedule a recheck or close with visible ownership.
Configure reserve boundaries, collection restrictions, permit conditions, evidence requirements and referral pathways without custom code for every policy change.
Show workload, exceptions, evidence quality and outcomes across state forests, national parks, conservation reserves, access tracks and recreation areas.
Connect maps, permits, registers, payments, document templates or ERP records where needed.
Use the third column as live demonstration tasks. If a supplier cannot show the workflow with sample data, treat the answer as unproven.
| Requirement | What good looks like | Demonstration test |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence model | Record photos of the felled tree, stump, cut timber, caged trailer, vehicle details, GPS point and timestamp in one reviewable case. | Ask supplier to show an end-to-end sample case. |
| Local rules | Support reserve boundaries, collection restrictions, permit conditions, evidence requirements and referral pathways as configurable settings. | Change a timeline/rule in the demo without developer work. |
| Review control | Before inspect, preserve evidence, identify a vehicle, refer for investigation, schedule a recheck or close, show who reviews, holds, approves or closes. | Test supervisor hold, override and note history. |
| Field usability | Make capture practical in state forests, national parks, conservation reserves, access tracks and recreation areas. | Run a mobile/offline/low-connectivity field scenario. |
| Reporting | Show evidence completeness, time to decision, repeat locations and exception volume. | Export a manager-ready pilot report. |
| Integrations | Connect related workflows such as illegal dumping, reserve access, vehicle-of-interest checks and field inspections. | Map systems, fields, owners and failure queues. |
| Audit trail | Preserve timestamped changes, evidence, decisions, notices, documents and outcomes. | Inspect history after edits and status changes. |
| Retention and access | Apply role access, retention windows and deletion/export rules. | Prove a user can only see what their role allows. |
Technology that captures images, locations, plates, people, workers or complaint details should be assessed before procurement is locked. Governance is part of the operating design, not a late legal review.
Prepare a one-page purpose statement, data-flow map, role-access model, retention proposal, audit requirement, complaint pathway and transparency approach before the pilot begins.
Explain why the technology is needed for this operational problem and why lower-impact options are insufficient.
Define where people check evidence before notices, referrals, enforcement action or public reporting.
Set retention, access, export and deletion rules before data is collected at scale.
The wrong people in the room leads to impressive demonstrations and painful implementation. Use these roles to build the buying group and the pilot governance group.
| Role | What they should test or approve |
|---|---|
| Operations lead | Owns the current process, workload pain points and pilot success measures. |
| Field officers | Test whether capture works in the real environment and does not add avoidable admin. |
| IT and security | Assess hosting, integrations, devices, identity, support and incident response. |
| Privacy or governance | Reviews PIA needs, surveillance impact, retention, access and transparency. |
| Procurement | Checks market approach, value-for-money evidence, evaluation method and contract terms. |
| Finance/reporting | Confirms total cost, avoided work, reporting outputs and budget treatment. |
Adjust the weights to council policy, but agree them before the demonstration stage. The point is to stop the loudest feature from becoming the buying decision.
The solution matches how the team receives, reviews and resolves work.
The record is complete enough to support review and follow-up.
Local settings, approvals and audit trail are visible.
Staff can use it in the real operating environment.
Managers see quality, workload and outcomes.
The tool connects to essential systems and handoffs.
Costs, implementation support and exit terms are clear.
These questions can be copied into a market sounding, RFQ, RFP or demonstration script.
Show how your solution captures public report, ranger observation, trail-camera reference or patrol sighting and turns it into a structured case.
Demonstrate how photos of the felled tree, stump, cut timber, caged trailer, vehicle details, GPS point and timestamp are stored, reviewed, corrected and exported.
Show how administrators configure reserve boundaries, collection restrictions, permit conditions, evidence requirements and referral pathways without vendor development.
Explain what happens before staff proceed to inspect, preserve evidence, identify a vehicle, refer for investigation, schedule a recheck or close.
Describe role-based access, retention, audit logs, evidence export and deletion controls.
List all integrations required for registers, maps, permits, payments, document templates or reporting.
Show how exceptions are handled when a data lookup, device, import or field capture fails.
Provide a pilot plan, named responsibilities, training approach and acceptance criteria.
Provide the full price model: licences, devices, implementation, training, support, storage and exit.
Describe data ownership, hosting location, backup, incident response and contract exit process.
A good pilot is small enough to manage and real enough to expose the messy parts: missing data, uncertain rules, poor handoffs, staff workload and reporting gaps.
Percentage of illegal firewood collection cases with required fields, images, rule context and review notes.
Days or hours from public report, ranger observation, trail-camera reference or patrol sighting to approved next action.
Number of spreadsheets, emails or duplicate systems needed to complete the case.
Supervisor rating of whether the case record explains the decision.
Records held because of missing evidence, failed lookup, unclear rule or integration issue.
Cases resolved, referred, closed, rechecked or escalated across state forests, national parks, conservation reserves, access tracks and recreation areas.
Operational technology often looks inexpensive until storage, devices, integrations, training, reporting and contract growth are added. Make the commercial model as testable as the workflow.
| Guardrail | What to include in the procurement |
|---|---|
| Total cost | Separate software, hardware, mobile data, implementation, training, support, storage and integration costs. |
| Exit rights | Require data export, deletion assistance, transition support and no proprietary lock-in to evidence records. |
| Service levels | Define uptime, support hours, incident response, device replacement and critical issue escalation. |
| Change control | Confirm who can change rules, templates, workflows, fees, statuses and retention settings. |
| Data ownership | Council should retain ownership and control of operational records, evidence and exports. |
| Contract growth | Avoid pricing surprises as cameras, officers, vehicles, cases, storage or integrations increase. |
The decision pack should make it clear what problem was tested, what evidence was collected, what risks were accepted, what costs remain and what would happen next.
This material is a procurement planning aid, not legal advice. Confirm local laws, procurement rules, privacy obligations and delegations before market engagement.
For help adapting this guide into a council procurement brief, contact hello@aeroranger.com or visit aeroranger.com/contact.