MobileDataforce, PDAs and Automotive Services

We completed a mobility project for a Canadian company last week that adds hybrid electrical components to delivery trucks. I found this very interesting. We used standard consumer grade PDAs, MobileDataforce's Intercue Mobility Suite and RS232 adapters to plug into an automobile's computers and read OBD-II Trouble Codes. These codes could be uploaded to a database and printed in a report. Reading your vehicle's vitals with a PDA just seems so futuristic to me.

There is an OBD-II Trouble codes plug-in under the dashboard of most vehicles. With this application a mechanic can quickly identify any errors or problems being reported by the automobile's sensors. The results can be displayed on a handheld PDA screen and printed to a report.

In past blog articles I have written about our ability to decode VIN numbers and build powerful automobile inspection applications, for dealers, buyers, and automotive services companies all on handheld computers. Now we have added the ability to inspect the condition of the engine.

In another article I wrote some time back I discussed connecting GPS capture to automotive applications. This was needed to identify the location of abandon cars following hurricane Katrina.

In summary you can do a whole lot with a PDA in the automotive sector. Here are a few application features we have delivered:

1. VIN Decoding on a PDA to identify the details of a specific car
2. Engine inspection and error decoding with a PDA
3. Attaching work orders and service orders to specific VIN numbers using a PDA
4. Combining GPS coordinates with a VIN number on a PDA
5. Using a bar code scanner on a handheld computer to capture VIN numbers
6. Printing invoices on a mobile printer that combine VIN numbers with work orders
7. Automotive inspections and valuations of automobiles using a handheld computer

More Mad Cow & More Work for MobileDataforce

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060416/wl_nm/madcow_canada_dc_3

I have documented the work MobileDataforce is doing to help manage animal tracking and animal health tracking using our mobile software solutions and handheld computers in a previous blog article, and the need for this solution just keeps growing. In the linked article above, this Canadian cow was found to have Mad Cow this week and it was able to be tracked back to the 2 farms it had lived on. These farms are now going to review their records of the food this cow was fed to determine if there is a link. This effort shows planning and good record keeping. The recent case of Mad Cow in Alabama could not be tracked back beyond the cattle auction. It had no unique ID that could be associated with records detailing where it came from and what other cows and farms it was associated with.

We have 2 experienced dairy farmers on our staff, myself and Conrad Kennington. Both of us are now involved in developing mobility software, but grew up milking cows, feeding cows, and caring for cows. It is fun to be able to combine our farming knowledge, and our technology knowledge to improve the way the industry works.

GIS & MobileDataforce's PointSync

My engineering team has just completed an integration between our PointSync Suite (development tool kit for mobile solutions) and DeLorme's XMap (a GIS solution). This integrated solution combines the power of PointSync to customize work order solutions, inspections forms, vehicle tracking and fleet management applications with the power of DeLorme's mapping and GIS software. A press release will describe this in more detail later this week.

Here is how it works - You can open a service or work order on a handheld computer, PDA or Tablet PC (the picture above is from one of our Tablet PC applications), then click a map button in the application to see a view of the location of all work orders, those completed, pending and incomplete. You can also open the map, and click on a flag that designates a work order location and it will launch the PDA based work order details.

This same solution can be used with inspections. If you must conduct 3 inspections today, the inspection form can have a button which launches the mapping software, and the mapping software can launch the specific inspection forms that need to be used at each jobsite.

These are just a few of the applications we will be launching using this combination.

MobileDataforce's Vehicle Tracking Systems

We are in the final testing stages of a large vehicle tracking project. I wrote about it in an earlier blog article. One of the very cool features is the ability to view the GPS logs of specific vehicles. These GPS data logs, can be set to capture and store the GPS coordinates at specific time intervals. For example, every 30 seconds the vehicle's GPS system can capture the coordinates, give these to the handheld computer, mounted in the van, which synchronizes this data to a Canadian database over GPRS (mobile phone connections). A person can then open these GPS data logs and see on a map (pictured above) the exact path of the vehilce and progress over time.

This functionality allows a dispatch manager to view the location, on a map, of all of their fleet vehicles at any given time. My team is having a lot of fun building applications that enable simple Windows Mobile handheld PDAs to provide huge business value to our customers.

We developed this system using MobileDataforce's PointSync software platform for handheld computers.

Service Orders Using Handheld PDAs

We published a press release today about a recent project we completed -Kane's Furniture Selects MobileDataforce. This project involved converting their paper service order processes to mobile service orders on handheld computers. They are very happy and the CFO confirmed they are saving 32 man hours per day over their 17 locations.

Service orders and work orders are quite similar across many industries. At least similar from an IT perspective. Technicians need:

1. Job assignment
2. Job location
3. Job schedule
4. Job task
5. Document result

The traditional manner of dispatching and completing a service/work order is by phoning the technician with a job assignment, and the technician writes the information onto carbon paper. When the work is complete the customer signs it and the technician leaves a copy with the customer and attaches his copy to a clip board on the seat of the truck. At the end of the day these service/work orders are delivered to the office where an administration person re-types this information into an invoice system.

There are a great deal of inefficiencies in the manual process. Incomplete forms, lost work orders, bad handwriting, wrong information, duplicate efforts required to re-type the information in the office, etc.

When you have a mobile service/work order system - the technician gets a message on their handheld computer that a new service/order assignment is available. The handheld computer synchronizes with headquarters and provides the work assignments, driving directions, instructions, etc. Once the work is complete, a digital signature is captured on the screen of the handheld, and the completed work order is synchronized immediately with the office service/work order dispatch and invoicing system. Very clean, accurate, fast and efficient.