There’s a paradox in snow removal: the better you do your job, the less anyone notices. A parking lot cleared before the morning rush looks like it was never snowy at all. The plow passes, the salt applications, the 4 AM start times — they’re invisible by design. And invisible work doesn’t get valued, budgeted for, or defended when someone asks why it took so long.
SORS — the Snow Operations Reporting System — exists to fix that.
The Problem
Snow operations at a commercial property involve dozens of judgment calls per storm. When to start plowing. How much salt to apply given the temperature and precipitation type. Which zones to prioritize based on traffic patterns and safety risk. Whether drifting conditions require a second or third pass through the same area.
None of that context makes it into a typical report. What corporate sees is a timestamp for when the lot was “done.” They don’t see that two inches of dry powder and two inches of freezing rain are completely different operations — one might take an hour, the other might take four, with fundamentally different equipment and resource needs.
Without structured data, every conversation about snow operations becomes anecdotal. “It took longer because it was bad out there” doesn’t carry the same weight as documented metrics showing snow intensity, ambient temperature, wind speed, and the number of plow passes required per zone.
What SORS Tracks
SORS logs objective, physical metrics — the kind of data that anyone could verify by standing in the parking lot:
Environmental conditions — snowfall accumulation, snow intensity (inches per hour), ambient temperature, wind speed, and visibility rating. These aren’t estimates pulled from a weather app; they’re ground-truth observations recorded on site.
Operational actions — plow passes by zone, salt applications in pounds, hand shoveling time, equipment deployed, and any delays from blocked paths or mechanical issues.
Risk and safety observations — slip hazards, refreeze risk areas, drifting zones, and blind corners. These protect both the operator and the property.
Result metrics — lot clearance percentage at specific timestamps, walkway passability, and entrance status. The timestamps that actually answer “why wasn’t this done yet?” with data instead of excuses.
The system deliberately excludes business-sensitive information — no tenant data, no financial metrics, no corporate intelligence. It tracks labor, conditions, and outcomes. Nothing more.
Why It’s Built as a Mobile PWA
Snow removal doesn’t happen at a desk. SORS is a progressive web app designed for gloved hands and a phone screen at 5 AM in a blizzard. Slider-based inputs for quick metric entry. Tap-to-log event types. Offline-capable so it works when cell service drops during heavy storms.
The data stays local by default. It’s your device, your performance data, your operational record. The reports it generates are structured enough to share with supervisors when needed, but the raw logs belong to the person doing the work.
The Bigger Principle
SORS started as a personal tool for one operator at one property. But the problem it solves — invisible labor that gets undervalued because it’s not quantified — isn’t unique to snow removal. It’s a pattern that shows up in maintenance work, caregiving, community organizing, and dozens of other fields where the people doing the hardest work have the least data to show for it.
At RIT, we think measurement is a civic skill. Not surveillance-style measurement imposed from above, but structured self-reporting that gives workers the language and evidence to advocate for themselves. SORS is a proof of concept for that idea: small data, captured at the source, structured for insight.
When the lot is clear and the walkways are safe and the tenants can open their doors on time — someone did that work. SORS makes sure there’s a record.
SORS is one of several RIT projects exploring how structured data can serve the people closest to the work. Visit our Projects page to see what else we’re building, or get in touch if this resonates with something you’re working on.