Idaho Board of Pharmacy, Inspections & Handheld PDAs

We, at MobileDataforce, are announcing this week that the Idaho Board of Pharmacy (BOP) has selected our PointSync platform to mobilize and automate 5 different inspections processes including; Pharmacy Inspection Report, Inspection for Institutional Facility, Inspection for Manufacturers & Wholesalers, Non-Pharmacy Drug Outlet Survey, and Inspection for Parenteral Admixture Pharmacy.

The BOP will be using off-the-shelf consumer grade Dell Axim Pocket PCs, HP 460 mobile printers that are bluetooth enabled, and MobileDataforce's PointSync Suite for their mobile software application.

They will wirelessly synchronize data betweent the handheld PDAs and their internal database system. Some of the inspectors will cradle sync when they return to their offices, but others will synchronize via WiFi from field offices using VPNs.

The cost savings are very well defined. Here are some areas where they expect to save time and money:

1. Pre-inspection data look-ups (the handheld PDAs will have all data on them)
2. Data on the PDAs will save 4-5 phone calls per day per field inspector to the office, and save the office staff needing to respond to the field inspectors.
3. Paper inspection forms will be replaced with intelligent electronic inspection forms on their PDAs that ensure completion, validity and proper processes are followed.
4. Instead of filing the paper forms there will be wireless synchronization of data directly from the PDA to the BOP's database system.
5. All data can be analyzed immediately via database reporting software (currently the data is trapped on paper in a file cabinet)

The BOP is anticipating saving a minium of 10-12 hours per day, plus greatly improving the quality of their work.

HP iPAQ hw6940 Mobile Messenger

HP iPAQ hw6940 Mobile Messenger

This handheld PDA from HP is designed for moving data between the enterprise and the mobile field worker. It is due out in the summer and combines many of the features that previously were only available in a Blackberry unit from RIM.

The advantage of the HW6940 over a Blackberry is the ability to hold large amounts of enterprise data, and full functional relational database applications on them. MobileDataforce is excited to begin delivering solutions on this device.

HP Sees the Future and the Future is PDA Phones

HP: Pen-based PDA market on death bed

HP sees the future - and the future in convergent PDA Phones.

Japan Comes Up With Intelligent Manhole System

I never thought of a manhole cover in terms of their intelligence?

RFID Times: Japan Comes Up With Intelligent Manhole System

Another cool application for RFIDs and handheld PDAs.

Enterprise Instant Messaging for Windows Mobile 5.0 PDAs

I read this article and can think of many uses for enterprise quality encrypted instant messaging on Pocket PC phones.

Mobility Site: WebMessenger Launches Enterprise Instant Messaging for Windows Mobile 5.0 PDAs

The ability to IM a field worker to inform them to synchronize their mobile application is a very good example - "Charlie - you have a new work order!" Charlie pushes the synchronize button on his PDA and downloads the new work order.

Another example - "Charlie, click here for a map to your next job"

MobileDataforce, Home Healthcare & XV6700

My consulting team received this new XV6700 Pocket PC Phone this week from a customer. Our customer (in home healthcare) selected it to run our PointSync software on. They are using our PointSync software and a customized application we developed to monitor, remotely, the health condition and medicine that their 500 patients are using.

The bottom-line, my team loves this Pocket PC phone. It slides shut into a very comfortable phone, and the keyboard is very usable. The landscape screen gives you very readable emails and other data.

This particular phone is sold by both Sprint and Verizon.

MobileDataforce is being engaged on more and more of these home healthcare related projects.

Automated Business Processes on Handheld PDAs

A long time friend of mine, Bryan Larkin, was fond of saying that electronic data collection forms on handheld PDAs are much more powerful than simply digital versions of paper forms. When an end user creates a PDA data collection form using our Intercue Mobility Suite, they can control the quality of the data and the business process that the form represents. Let me provide some examples:

• Form 1 has a question with 3 possible answers (a,b,c). If you answer the question with "a", the electronic form on the PDA jumps you to another page to answer additional questions related to answer "a". The form is now customized to ask only questions related to your previous answers.
• If a question asked for a unit of measurement in meters, and you answer with a "yes", it can pop-up a message saying - "Invalid answer please use numeric answers"
• If you select a data collection form called "Phase 1 Site Assessment" the form can be configured to walk the user through each data collection process in the order desired. For example - first enter data from a "Nuclear Density Compaction Test", second collect soil samples, package and document them in a zip lock bag with a printed client label, third collect a water sample, place in a bottle with the client's label attached.......

The opportunities to creatively build work flows and business processes into electronic data collection forms on handheld PDAs are powerful and endless. The immediate values are improved quality assurance, process standardization, better data, controlled processes and normalized procedures.

Heavy Construction & Handheld PDAs

We have recently provided a mobile software solution to a large highway/roadway construction company in Ireland to address their need to document safety inspections on scaffolds and cranes. Ireland has safety regulations that require each work shift to inspect the scaffolds and cranes before using them. The purpose of these regulations are to avoid accidents like this recent one on Boston.

For those not geographically challenged - yes I took this photo in Spain, not Ireland, but it looks good and matches this topic so no complaints.

This customer has the requirement to document and store all safety inspections in case they are audited or there is an accident. Since many of their construction projects have 2 work shifts per day, this can mean up to 10 safety inspections per job site per week.

In order to keep all of these inspection forms organized and stored, they required the use of handheld computers on each job site that would synchronize the data from each safety inspection with a centrally managed database at their headquarters. The handheld PDAs were low cost iPAQ Pocket PCs from HP connected to a SQL database. The PDA version of the safety inspection forms were created using MobileDataforce's Intercue Mobility Suite.

Underground Cable Layers, Utilities & Handheld PDAs

A few months back we created a mobile work order management system for an "underground cable laying" business. I did not even realize this was an "industry" category, but soon learned it even has its own annual conference in Las Vegas.

Our customer works on behalf of utilities and phone companies to lay cable primarily along roadways. Our solution was delivered using Pocket PC handhelds, MobileDataforce's Intercue Mobility Suite software, and uploading to an MS-Access database application.

Recently this same customer has been pondering an upgrade to our PointSync solution which would allow for bi-directional database synchronization and a full RDBMS on his handhelds.

Bluetooth Adopts New Radio Technology: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Here is an interesting article that describes how Bluetooth is evolving:

Bluetooth Adopts New Radio Technology: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Currently, Bluetooth works only for low-speed uses like headsets and wireless keyboards. UWB, which has yet to appear in consumer devices, enables wireless transmissions at speeds equivalent to USB or FireWire cables at distances up to 10 feet.