Cattle Tracking Systems, RFID & Handheld PDAs

A very interesting company called Micro Beef, just announced an addition to their ACCU-TRAC® Systems Suite solution for tracking and managing cattle called ACCU-TRAC® Mobile. This solution includes RFID, Psion Teklogix handheld computers and MobileDataforce's PointSync software. The press release discusses the purpose of this solution:

• animal identification
• traceback
• compliance
• management
• simplifying data collection processes so that farmers and ranchers can unlock the value of animal identification and tracking
• designed to safeguard the health of the U.S. national herd, protect America’s producer interests, and meet the 48-hour traceback requirements of state and federal health officials in the currently voluntary National Animal Identification System.

My team is excited to be working with Micro Beef on this solution. This is one of those projects that can have a major impact on an entire industry.

Project Management & Mobile Solutions

Several years ago I took a week long course in software project management. I remember the instructor talking about the phases of a project.

1. Everyone is excited about the project
2. Hard work begins with a great deal of enthusiasm
3. People begin to tire - the work is hard and tedious
4. Frustration sets in - will we ever finish?
5. There is light at the end of the tunnel, they see progress.
6. A smile crosses everyone's face again - there are still some bugs and changes needed
7. The project is cleaned up and polished off - everyone is celebrating

The instructor taught us that this is a natural software development project cycle. You know what, the instructor was right! Software projects are difficult, hard and tedious. Changing business processes and the way things have always been done is uncomfortable.

Sales people (myself included) often stress the ease and simplicity of a software project, but in truth our software consultants and engineers must put in long and hard hours developing a solution that meets the customer's expectations and needs. Technical issues without easy answers arise, people get sick or go on vacation, hardware does not get delivered on time or is dead on arrival, project timelines get missed, and unexpected issues emerge.

How do you avoid these issues? You don't completely. Experienced Project Managers simply anticipate them, build time into the project for them, prepare their clients for these issues, communicate them as they happen, and keep the client updated on project progress, and when it is all done. Everyone is celebrating!

Medical Use of Handheld PDAs for Children

My team is working on a very satisfying project right now. The project involves providing about 500 children, that have a serious disease, Pocket PCs that include an integrated phone and digital camera with our software to help monitor their condition at home. These children will report when they take their medicine, how much and share how they feel with their remote care givers via the Pocket PC. Any minor injuries suffered during the course of the day can be photographed and shared remotely with their care giver.

The data gathered on the children's Pocket PCs is synchronized remotely to a central database for the care givers. This allows a care giver to remotely monitor their patients through a browser based interface.

We used our PointSync software to develop the graphically rich interface so the applications can be easy and appealing to the children. We also created the management website for the care givers. It will be very interesting as we roll this project out to hear from the children and gather their feedback on usability issues.

Handheld PDAs, Hurricane Katrina & Automotive

It was just before 8 AM and I received a very interesting call from a large engineering firm asking for our expertise. Seems they were bidding on an urgent project to locate and remove 150,000 abandoned cars in Louisiana following hurricane Katrina and they needed our help.

The requirements were for data collection software and handheld computers with integrated GPS and bar code scanners to enable the tow truck drivers to quickly identify abandoned cars by their VIN numbers, record the location of pick-up, and then document the location where the vehicles were towed. This information would be synchronized to a central web-based database.

Luckily, we were prepared for this opportunity since we had recently completed a vehicle inspection application using our PointSync solution. This enabled us to quickly respond to the emergency inquiry and commit to achieving their very short deliverable timeline.

The Sync Log

For the technically inclined reader who wants to learn the details of synchronizing mobile devices to enterprise databases check out this blog written by Dave Wasden The Sync Log.

Digital Thermometers, Restaurants & Handheld PDAs

One of the more unusual projects we were asked to bid on involved the integration of digital thermometers with Pocket PCs. The requirement was for restaurant inspectors to be able to make surprise inspections and insert the thermometers into meat that was being cooked in the kitchen to ensure it was cooked to the right temperatures. They wanted the digital thermometers to record the temperatures and for our inspection software to grab the thermometer readings and automatically add it to the inspection forms on PDAs. Once the inspection was completed, the inspectors wanted the information to be synchronized to a central database via wireless synchronization.

I wonder if the medical field would like this feature?

An additional requirement was for service technicians installing and maintaining equipment in these restaurants to be able to take "before and after" digital photographs to document their work. I know Plastic Surgeons would like this feature. This was important because the restaurant owners did not live in the same region as these restaurants and wanted to view the completed work before paying for it.

Military Use of PDAs & Monitoring Grass Clippings

A few months back one of my sales reps came into my office to brag about a new customer. Seems they had sold our Intercue Mobility Suite to the US Airforce. I get excited about sales to large organizations so wanted to learn the details. I could image all kinds of mission critical applications involving the war on global terrorism. I could see the press releases, articles, news interviews and a visit with Oprah on the horizon, but alas it was not to be.

Our application was mission critical only to the groundskeepers on the US Airforce base in Germany. Seems they needed to inspect hedges, lawns, sprinkler systems, third party landscape contractors, flower beds and the removal of grass clippings.

OK, not as exciting as I had hoped, but valuable none the less. Their current method of tracking the quality and work to be done on the landscape of this very large military base was to document everything on paper forms. This data would then be entered into a database application in the office to manage the work and dispatch landscape maintenance crews. By automating this process using electronic forms on PDAs that synchronized with their database application, they were able to make this process much more efficient.

Oprah will have to wait.

PDAs and Inspections

I have spent a lot of time with government agencies this month reviewing how they monitor and inspect an organizations' compliance to various laws and regulations. For example, today we delivered a solution to a government agency called the Board of Pharmacy. They will be monitoring and inspecting facilities to ensure they are handling and storing medical drugs in compliance with the laws and regulations of their state.

Last month we supplied PDA based inspection forms to the City of Amsterdam in Holland. They are inspecting and monitoring compliance with environmental laws and regulations.

We are now starting our 3rd mobility software project with the Idaho Transportation Department. They inspect their facilities and the work third party contractors do for them. This data is synchronized to a central database from all across the state. Our latest project involves enabling mobile printing from their Pocket PCs in the field.

When government agencies contact us about inspection solutions on PDAs the conversations usually go like this:

Agency: Is there a way we can fill out an inspection form on a PDA that can then be synchronized with our office databases without needing to re-type the data again once we return to the office?

Kevin: Yes

Agency: Can I look up, on my PDA, my past inspections at this location to see if they were non-compliant with any items on previous inspections?

Kevin: Yes

Agency: Can I reference the definitions of various terms on my inspection form to better understand how to grade or rate a particular item?

Kevin: Yes

Agency: Can I make a "smart inspection form" that will route me to a different sets of questions based upon the data I enter on my inspection form?

Kevin: Yes

Agency: Can I print the results of my inspection and leave a copy at the premises?

Kevin: Yes, if you have bluetooth enable PDAs and bluetooth enabled printers. You can print on 2", 3" 4" or regular A4 or 8 1/2" x 11" paper.

Agency: Once I have your software for quickly creating inspection forms that synchronize with my enterprise database, can I edit my own inspection forms?

Kevin: Yes, we provide you with the software development kit for creating and editing inspection forms.

Agency: Is a PDA based inspection solution expensive?

Kevin: No

Agency: Does your company know you are blogging and other people can read this?

Kevin: ...not yet

PDA Phones with Integrated GPS

This morning I read about a new PDA phone with integrated GPS and TMC (traffic management channel). This article tickled my imagination. When these kind of handheld devices are easily available, it will become natural for mobile workforces to have software on the PDA that will report their location to a central dispatch management system, where dispatchers can help route field service technicians to the closest next job. This will improve the response times, lower fuel costs, make customers happier and improve profits for the service company.

Once you have integrated GPS with your "work order management system" you can add GIS and geospatial data collection to your application. Basically what this means is you can associate your work, orders, deliveries, inspections, etc. to a GPS coordinant. Once again this will help management understand patterns, costs, best routing methodologies, locations to build new facilities, and much more.

PDAs in Angola, South Africa, New Mexico, Germany, Portuguese & Kwanza

Everyday we receive calls about new projects. We have a global VAR channel that seems to be able to uncover all kinds of interesting and unusual projects. Over the last couple of weeks we have been working with a reseller partner in South Africa that has a client and project with the following description:

• German citizen
• Living in South Africa
• Owns a bottled water business in Angola
• Has a home in New Mexico, USA
• The handheld computer applications must be written in Portuguese & English
• The currency must be in US Dollars & Angolan Kwanza
• Solution requires a bar code scanner and mobile printers
• A Ruggedized handheld computer
• Must be as graphical as possible (many of the users can not read)
• Synchronization using satellite internet connections

It has been our strategy since 2000 to develop “software development kits” for mobile environments. Because of the power and flexibility of the "software development kit" approach, we can easily develop and implement cost effective projects with the above described unusual requirements.