Managing Mobile Software Deployments


The screen shot above is from MobileDataforce's PointSync Manager. It is the administration screen for managing mobile users, mobile devices, mobile applications, integrated databases, database tables, mobile sycnhronizations and mobile software licenses.

Why am I discussing this today? Because an application like this can save huge amounts of money for a company. Think about it - if you develop your own custom mobile application using .NET it can be powerful, colorful and useful but how are you going to do the following:
  1. Manage deployments
  2. Manage mobile application versions
  3. Manage synchronizations and synchronization errors
  4. Manage different device requirements (i.e. screen sizes, Tablet PC, Laptop, PDA, Palm Treo, etc.)
  5. Manage different user groups (i.e. managers, supervisors, field work crews, etc)
  6. Manage multiple mobile applications on each device
  7. Manage all the database integrations between mobile devices and enterprise databases
  8. Review all successful and unsuccessful synchronizations based upon user group, applications etc, for rapid debugging

These are not the usual issues a .NET programmer thinks about when they raise their hand and volunteer to develop a mobile application. The common thought is that the development of the mobile device application is only about 30% of a mobile project. 70% is the synchronizaton, business logic, connectivity configurations, enterprise database application integration, deployment and testing. Often your .NET programmers will not volunteer for these tasks :-)

The value of using a mobile software platform like MobileDataforce's PointSync, is that these processes and tasks are already developed and available for configuration.

Inspections & Asset Management for Government Agencies


In the September/October edition of Public Roads magazine, a magazine published by the Federal Highway Administration, there is an article called High-Tech in the Far West. The article subtitle is - The Idaho Transportation Department taps into wireless technology for collecting and reporting data on maintenance at rest stops. This article describes in-depth the benefits the Idaho Transportation Department received from mobilizing their daily rest area inspection processes with MobileDataforce's mobile software platforms.

This article focuses mostly on the benefits of replacing a paper based inspection process with electronic inspection forms on handheld PDAs. I would invite you to read the quotes and comments from the ITD personnel involved in this project.

The Idaho Transportation Department mobilization project emphasizes a common theme. The majority of mobile software projects we do fall into one of the following areas:
  • Inspections
  • Asset Management
  • Service Orders/Work Orders

Most often a project touches on all three of these areas. These processes have a few things in common - they often take place out-of-doors and a way from their desktop computer, involve data collecting and reporting in rugged environments.

The utility industry also involves the three processes listed above. In this article, I discuss a Power Pole Inspection project delivered to Sho-Me Power. In this article I discuss over 20 inspection applications we do for the electrical industry.

Windows Mobile 5.0 Phones Don't Work in the Ocean

I lost my T-Mobile MDA PDA phone last week in the Ocean. I was running along the shoreline with my daughter during lowtide and did not notice my phone was missing. After breakfast, I reached for my phone to feed my addiction to email and it was gone. The tide was now up and our shoreline path was under 4 feet of water. I miss that PDA phone and the gigabyte of files on the mini-SD card.

I was at the doorstep of the local T-Mobile store when they opened on Monday morning. My addiction is now fed. A few notes on the MDA. It has a slide out keyboard that is wide enough to comfortably type using your thumbs on the keyboard. When you slide the keyboard out the screen changes to a landscape view that makes it easy to read lengthy emails. It doesn't float, but serves its purpose well in normal conditions. I have used it throughout Europe and Australia when traveling and my email works seamlessly.

Maryland State Mobile Technology Seminar

I am sitting in the airport in Minneapolis as I write this blog. I am returning home from the Maryland State Mobile Technology Seminar where I was the MC for this event. It was great fun.

I had the opportunity to meet electrical utility companies interested in mobilizing many of their field service activities, systems integrators looking for a RADs-ME solution to simply and speed up the development of mobile applications, and government agencies looking to mobilize a wide variety of field operations. Specifically -
  • Sewer system asset management and inspections
  • Snow plow vehicle tracking systems
  • Maintenance and operations processes
  • Asset Management

We met with a company that repairs and installs ATMs. They want all of these processes to be mobilized on ruggedized handheld computers.

We learned from the ruggedized handheld computer manufacturer - Psion Teklogix, that there are many new and very useful develops coming out this quarter and next.

We heard from Verizon Wireless about their CDMA networks and the performance of their data networks.

iAnywhere/Sybase presented a great overview of mobile middleware and synchronization processes.

We met with a company that develops Asset Management software to monitor and care for trees on government property. They inventory all of these trees and shrubbery and then place them on maintenance and care schedules. VERY COOL! They use GPS, inspection, asset management, inventory and service order processes to accomplish this.

These educational conferences take place across the country, so if you would like to be notified of when they are coming to your region please email us.

Orcas Island - Association of City and County IS Professionals

I had the great pleasure of being the keynote speaker at the semi-annual conference for the Washington State Association of City and County IS professionals last week. The venue was amazing out on Orcas Island, and the audience was a lot of fun.

I spoke on the subject of Government Data Collection and Mobilization. We are working with many local government agencies to mobilize their inspections, compliance auditing, service order, maintenance systems and asset management operations.

I will be back in Washington State on December 1st speaking at the Washington State Mobile Technology Conference. This conference is an educational event designed to update government agencies, utilities and companies on the latest trends and technologies for mobilizing processes in the field.

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