In February this year, the Barcelona Pet Rescue Centre (CAACB) launched a tool for the comprehensive management of the animals, the first of its kind in the sector.
The application, developed using the Agile app development methodology, helps to improve comprehensive management at the CAACB and the welfare of the more than two thousand animals cared for at the centre each year, with the following benefits:
- It reduces the time spent on veterinary care: giving the animals their medication, carrying out check-ups, completing documentation associated with check-ups, etc.
- It streamlines administrative tasks: producing adoption documentation, searching for files, etc.
- It improves adoption processes, thanks to an adjustment in the search engine that enables the most suitable families for each animal to be found and enables follow-up of the placement. The application is integrated into Barcelona City Council’s Animal Welfare search engine for animals available for adoption, through which members of the public can look at up-to-date files on animals that are lost or available for adoption.
- It optimises animal care, thanks to improved diet control.
- It evaluates perception of service provision at the Centre to identify areas for improvement, receiving feedback from families where animals have been placed, adoptive families.
This new programme has been developed by the Municipal Institute of Information Technology (IMI) in direct and ongoing consultation with the centre’s administrative and veterinary teams. The CAACB employs around 20 professionals who include carers, vets, experts in behavioural medicine, volunteer recruits and office staff, and works with more than 150 volunteers who collaborate with the centre. Now, thanks to the potential of this new tool, there will be big improvements in the quality of CAACB management, and it is set to become a model for other centres to follow.
The programme has been named Suri, as a tribute to a dog who spent many years at the centre and who was greatly loved by the whole CAACB team.