Route Delivery - PDAs & Handheld Computers

My team is just wrapping up the implementation of an interesting project that involves route sales and delivery. This project involves the usual features on their PDA software such as:

1. Delivery person login/password, time/date stamp
2. Store look-up query
3. Review of store inventory data
4. Product delivery update
5. Inventory update
6. Sign-off

The unique part of this software application developed in PointSync is the "planogram". This PointSync micro-application predicts how much product the specific store usually requires between deliveries. For example - store 104 averages 6 boxes of widgets number 97 between deliveries. The delivery driver/sales person does not have to determine the appropriate number, the application predicts it based upon historic data in the database on the handheld computer.

This kind of application is interesting because rather than simply displaying data, it uses this data to "think" on behalf of the user and to provide instructions to the user. This is true business process automation at work on a PDA.

New PDA Website

Conrad, a software developer and web guy on our team, has created our first PDA formatted website. This website will allow PDA and handheld computer users with WiFi or mobile phone connections to view information on our software solutions, download applications, view screen shots of applications in our library and much more - all formatted for PDA screens. This new website is small now, but we have ambitious plans that will keep it growing into an import resource for companies researching our mobile software solutions.

PDAs, Elk, RFID & Geospatial Data Collection

This last week I had the opportunity to meet with 2 different state government agencies here in the USA. We discussed many different business processes that lended themselves to mobilization, but one stood out for its uniqueness.

In Idaho people farm elk, not all people, some farm potatoes. These elk farmers need to protect their herds against disease, and document the fact that their herds are disease free. These farmers must register the locations of their herds using GPS coordinates, and then collect geospatial data concerning the details of the herd, their immunizations, history, etc. This is becoming increasingly important, since if one herd has a disease, it could impact the sales of all meat in that region. Farmers must not only protect their animals, but effectively market and promote the health status of their herd in order to continue selling during times of disease.

It is not enough to document the location and health of your herd, one must document the location and health of each individual animal. RFID ear tags are often a good solution to this. In my discussions last week concerning the elk farmers, these farmers created collection zones where all animals walk through a specific location, whether a water trough, feedlot, or salt lick. These locations funnel the animals through narrow paths where RFID readers can collect and inventory the details of the herds and individual animals. This information allows these large animals to be effectively managed and documented without trauma and risk of injuring the animals through large round-ups and corral lock-ups. Elk are strong, wild and flighty and it is dangerous to handle them. Therefore, the less you need to confine and handle them, the better.

PDAs are used through-out this process to document information on herds, pastures, health, births, injuries, deaths, GPS coordinates and much more. MobileDataforce's PointSync solution can effectively be used to develop and customize these mobile applications.

PDAs in the Automotive Industry

Recently our team has been working on numerous projects and proposals in the automotive industry sector. I am impressed by the broad range of applications that are being brought to our attention.

1. Marketing and consumer input - PDAs are being used to gather consumer feedback and information after a person test drives a new car
2. Automobile Inspections - PDAs are being used to automate the process of inspecting automobiles at auctions
3. Work Orders, Part 1 - detailers at automobile dealerships are tracking work completed on PDAs
4. Work Orders, Part 2 - third party mobile auto body shops are using PDAs to track windshield repair, dent removal, spot painting, and headlight repair on used cars. The PDA based work orders are used to document work and to invoice for the work.
5. Banking in the Automotive Industry - PDAs are being used by banks to verify automobile inventory at a dealership
6. Location based applications - PDAs with RFID readers are being used to identify the location of a specific car in a large lot. Some of these are using a triangulation of long range RFID signals.
7. Industrial trucks - RFID applications are being used to track all portable equipment in the back of service trucks. Items such as ladders, generators, tools, etc. are each given an RFID tag. If the service truck drives away from the tools, the RFID signals will be lost and a warning is sent to the driver's PDA that identifies the tools left behind. This requires an RFID reader in the service truck, and tags on all appropriate tools.

These are all very interesting projects that have come across our desks recently. It is amazing how many business processes can benefit from the use of appropriate mobile technology in the field.

Fleet Management - Handhelds and Satellites

Yesterday Wireless Matrix and Psion Teklogix published press releases concerning a project they both did using MobileDataforce's PointSync that involved some interesting technology in the transportation of rail crews. Here is an excerpt:

The new rugged system enables RailCrewXpress to record the location and transportation activity of the company's vehicle fleet in real-time. RailCrewXpress handles the majority of the U.S. Class 1 railway crew transportation needs, including crew pick ups, transport to trains, shuttling crew to hotels for overnight stays and in-yard crew transport. With its new mobile computing solution, RailCrewXpress has complete visibility into the cargo and location of its fleet at all times.

This was a fun project that my team delivered. It involved a combination of GPRS and Satellite uplink technologies and our PointSync software solution on Psion Teklogix handheld computers mounted to the dashboard of the vehicles. When a vehicle in the fleet could not communicate using GPRS(mobile phone communication) then it would roll over to a satellite uplink. When using the satellite uplink, a different kind of synchronization is initiated that sends a smaller data set. Lot's of fun and pushing the envelope.

PointSync 3.0 Released

My engineering team has put over 12 man years into PointSync 3.0, and they are both thrilled and relieved to have it finished. I think we should give them the afternoon off before we start on version 4.0. In all seriousness, our engineers deserve a big congratulations! MobileDataforce's successes are the result of their amazing skills.

I am going to advertise a bit. PointSync is the culmination of all that we have learned about mobile software development tools since 2000. We wanted a comprehensive rapid application development environment that gives both novices and coders the ability to develop powerful end-to-end turnkey mobile solutions and PointSync accomplishes that.

You can download the PointSync Developer, and sample PointSync applications to view on your handheld computer. Let me know your thoughts!

Business PDA users a 'dream segment' for mobile operators

This article is interesting and reinforces what I learned in several discussions with wireless carriers in 2005-

Business PDA users a 'dream segment' for mobile operators

The latest Wireless Enterprise Strategies service report from Strategy Analytics, "Profiling the PDA User: Strategies for Generating Network Traffic," affirms that business PDA users represent a prime segment which mobile operators and OEMs should actively identify and target for wireless solution sales. Device set-up, email synchronization and content creation must be dramatically reengineered.Cliff Raskind, Director of the Wireless Enterprise Strategies service commented, "When mobile operators survey their base of business customers, PDA users potentially represent a `dream segment' of users that is tailor-made for upselling many wireless data solutions enabled by next generation networks. While over half of the PDA users remain unconnected beyond simple text messaging, operators, device OEMs and solutions providers have failed to bridge a number of critical performance deficits relating to set-up and ease of use." David Kerr, Vice President of the Global Wireless Practice, noted, "PDA users spend more on mobility, experience much greater frustration when disconnected. They report strong interest in a basket of value added services. So far, however, a combination of device-centric and network-resident barriers have conspired to suppress attachment rates beyond the initial corner office inbox junkies. While improved data economics coupled with expanding device portfolios from Microsoft Mobile partners, Symbian camp evangelists and aspiring Asian vendors all augur well for the future, no dominant paradigm has yet emerged to transition these PDA users into true converged device solutions customers." This report provides a snapshot of the potentially lucrative PDA segment, revealing why they should be in the crosshairs of all mobile operators and device OEMs wishing to succeed in the business market.Other key findings from the report include: · At 105 Euros per month, PDA users spend 53 percent more than non-PDA users on mobile services; · PDA users average 34 percent more minutes of use than non-PDA users; · PDA users are better educated and more likely to buy premium products; · PDA users require more frequent access to email, CRM and other network-based applications.

PDAs and Engineers

Engineers need PDAs more than most. Especially those engineers walking the job site collecting data on paper forms and clipboards for their clients. Common tasks are:

• Phase 1 Site Assessments
• Nuclear Density Tests
• Soil samples
• Ground Water
• Concrete testing
• Many more

In addition to these field tests, often samples need to be documented and sent to a lab for analysis. This involves a "chain of custody". A chain of custody is when a sample is collected by a field technician, labeled and sent to a lab. The lab needs to document their receipt of the sample, analyze it, and report the results back to the engineering firm which passes this information back to their client. This process involves a chain of participants that all need to document their relationship to the test sample and test results from beginning to end.

This brief explanation of a simple process, identifies the necessity for documentation. Since the process starts in the field, it is appropriate to begin thinking about how data collection in the field could be automated. This is where handheld PDAs come in.

PDAs with customized engineering software can do the following:

• Capture GPS readings of the job site and the test site
• Digital signature of the person collecting the test data and samples
• Date, Time of test
• Identification of the client and project this test is billed to
• Weather conditions at the time of the test
• Physical description of the job and test site
• Documentation of the test performed

This information can all be documented on the PDA and wirelessly synchronized to the office database from the field. This saves both the engineer and the administration staff the work of re-typing the data again in the office.

Enterprise Mobility Framework

A large utility in the NW of the USA contacted us a few months back with an interesting problem. They had 7 enteprise applications that their field services teams needed to access from the field with handheld computers. Each of these enterprise applications had their own mobile client (software that runs on a handheld computer). The problem is the utility company did not want to support the following:

• 7 different synchronization methodologies
• 7 different mobile data security architectures
• 7 different ways of customizing mobile applications
• 7 different integration methodologies
• 7 different applications with different handheld computer support
• 7 different technical support centers
• 7 dfferent mobile software application vendors

The request they brought to my sales team was, "Can MobileDataforce help us develop a standardized mobility framework that can integrate 7 different enterprise applications with 1 mobile enterprise framework?" They wanted to purchase 1 solution that could provide all their requirements, which would save them a great deal of time, money and headaches.

That is exactly what my engineering team has been developing since 2000. The result is the new PointSync 3.0.

Handheld Inspections at Government Agencies

I had the privilege of meeting with a state agency yesterday to discuss field data collection and inspections. This team of government employed IT professionals was tasked with automating many different kinds of inspections. I was amazed at the large number of inspections one team must manage. Today it is nearly all done on paper. The more we discussed the various projects and inspection responsibilities, the greater the ROI was for automating them.

Here are some of the inspections identified:

• Boxed and shipped fresh produce
• Sugar content of produce
• Ground water quality
• Registered cattle pastures
• Certified immunization of cattle
• RFID cattle tracking
• Inspecting and certifying fertilizers
• Dairy farm inspections
• Dairy processing plant inspections
• Nitrogen levels on fields
• Insect and pest control
• much more....

The list was enormous and I was impressed with how mobilizing these inspections could save this government agency a considerable amount of money. I've got some work to do!