As an efficient and user-friendly research tool, the inventory helps stakeholders make informed management decisions in the catchment. The resource inventory is a searchable index of metadata (information about information) about reports, maps and investigations relevant to the catchment that the community, government and non-government organisations might otherwise find difficult to source.

The inventory is a planning and management tool used to formulate the Burnett Catchment Management Strategy and to help develop catchment management and business plans, ensuring work is not repeated.

Resources entered in the inventory were drawn from the DNR&M, DPI, EPA, QPWS, Widebay 2020, and local government. The database was produced using the ANZLIC metadata tool in order for it to be forwarded to DNR&W for inclusion in the Queensland Spatial Information Directory and therefore incorporated into a geographic information system.

Copies were distributed to project officers and various departmental extension staff, and to shire libraries and local government offices for the wider community to access. An evaluation of the usefulness of the inventory indicated that local government officers used the inventory regularly, but not to a great extent, while librarians used the inventory to respond to patron queries.

The inventory was also used to assist in a comprehensive stakeholder engagement process to identify issues that required management in the catchment and information gaps related to these issues.