Solution Tool: SerialMagic Professional Power Upgrade + Serialio.com Barcode Readers
Business Situation: Monitoring daily patrol of remote sites
Problem: A team of employees of our customer, Manutec s.r.l., performs daily patrol for critical rooms to check temperatures are ok. The problem was to remotely collect this log, assure that the employees did the patrol, and make a daily report to the customer. An important constraint is the patrol team goes into areas that have no GPRS cellular signal or any other wireless internet connection. The solution also needed to be as simple and robust as possible.
Solution: Considering the employees already have mobile phones we based the solution around the SerialMagic software combined with the Serialio.com Bluetooth barcode reader. Since the solution does not require complete cell signal coverage, it makes no difference the mobile data signal is not always present. The employee uses the Bluetooth barcode reader, scans barcodes printed on sheets in the rooms and then comes back to the base. Then a special barcode is scanned to enables the Bluetooth transmission and the employee simply waits for data to post to the mobile phone. Then another control barcode is scanned to disable the Bluetooth radio, then the scanner is ready for another patrol.
The process is very simple thanks to the SerialMagic software installed into the mobile phone. Data is collected with time-stamps is sent to the iScanList.com server which prepares an email with attachment in standard “CSV” format and sends it to the email address set in the iScanList.com account for the scanners.
Totem customized the ERP at Manutec to constantly check the email address (defined on iScanList.com account), and downloads the attachment, combines it with the data of the ERP and generates a report that is sent to another email address.
Benefits: From the employees’ point of view the process is very simple. There was no need for extensive training. There’s only one button to press on the LaserChamp for reading the barcodes, and single special barcodes to turn on and off the Bluetooth scanner radio – nothing else. This permitted to virtually instant production roll-out for the error-free solution.
Initial concerns regarding the lack of a PC with an Internet connection or a constant GPRS wireless data connection coverage on the site were quickly eliminated, and due to the simple and robust nature of the solution, it can be used at more sites.
GPRS traffic was already included in cellular contracts so no additional costs were needed for data transfer.
There’s one more aspect to take into account, these products are modular. The Bluetooth wireless barcode scanner can be changed for another model without having to change the SerialMagic software on the mobile phone. The blackberry can also be changed without having to change the barcode scanner. We especially appreciated this “future-proof” solution concept.
The process has been so simple to implement we’re considering expanding to use with employees badge and other similar solutions.Totem Consulting
www.totemc.com
via Venezia, 18
36051 Creazzo (VI), Italy
Tel: +39 045 4851717
Fax:+39 045 4851882
info@totemc.com