Customer Case Studies

Enhance Reporting Accuracy, Reduce Labor Costs With Mobile PDAs

Although the average life span of a mosquito won’t surpass the 100-day mark, the devastating effects of mosquito-borne diseases such as encephalitis or West Nile virus most certainly will. The control of mosquito-borne diseases in Essex County, MA is the responsibility of the Northeast Mosquito Control District & Wetlands Management District. This agency had to ensure it collected accurate information regarding treatment locations, types of chemicals used, and the dates in which they were administered.

Use of Handheld Computers with Global Positioning Systems to Aid Malaria Control Efforts in Africa

We introduce an innovative method that uses personal digital assistants (PDAs) equipped with global positioning system (GPS) units in household surveys to select a probability-based sample and perform PDA-based interviews. Our approach uses PDAs with GPS to rapidly map all households in selected areas, choose a random sample, and navigate back to the sampled households to conduct an interview. We present recent field experience in two large-scale nationally representative household surveys to assess insecticide-treated bed net coverage as part of malaria control efforts in Africa. The successful application of this method resulted in statistically valid samples; quality- controlled data entry; and rapid aggregation, analyses, and availability of preliminary results within days of completing the field work. We propose this method as an alternative to the Expanded Program on Immunization cluster sample method when a fast, statistically valid survey is required in an environment with little census information at the enumeration area level.
Reprinted with permission of The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene August 2007.

Visual CE's Mobile Forms Capability Chosen for Fleet Automation System

har*GIS, LLC, a developer of mobile GIS solutions for automating field operations, has partnered with SYWARE, Inc. to add fast, flexible forms development to the har*GIS TruckMapT suite of fleet automation software. The newest TruckMap component, GeoFormsT, provides mobile crews and dispatchers with a quick and efficient way to create forms for gathering data in the field. Data is entered into a form on a handheld device, loaded into a local database for quick analysis in the field, then integrated with centralized databases and mapping software for system-wide queries and reports. GeoForms is based on Visual CE, SYWARE´s award-winning mobile forms development toolset for Windows Mobile devices, including Pocket PC and Windows CE. The new GeoForms software combines har*GIS´ expertise in geospatial systems and GIS for utilities, public works, and small fleets with SYWARE´s expertise in mobile database development tools.

PDA Application Development Helps Hospitalist Groups Improve Billing and Quality of Care

Effective management of a medical practice begins with a complete and accurate record of services performed. Too often, though, physicians record the details of patient encounters in the time honored tradition of scribbled notes. Ambiguous or incomplete information at the point of care means problems downstream -- processing delays, rejected claims, and services provided but never accounted for. To address this issue, Biologix-IT, a firm specializing in healthcare application development, turned to Windows Mobile Pocket PCs and SYWARE's Visual CE database and forms development software to create AIMS Mobility, a new mobile healthcare information system. Find out how PDA application development is benefiting ICU and hospitalist medical groups across the US.

Handheld Database Keeps Springfield, IL Fire Department from Being Buried in Paper

The Springfield, Illinois Fire Department is moving from paper to Pocket PCs for its fire safety inspections. The City of Springfield has about 6,000 commercial buildings and 2000 multi-family dwellings (3 units or more) which are inspected annually for violations of fire safety codes or city ordinances. If violations are found, the building or residential unit must be re-inspected within 30 days.

Handheld Database Applications Solve Large Construction Problems

Construction companies are discovering that they can save time and headaches in their field operations by trading in traditional clipboards for handheld PCs equipped with bar code scanners. Paper-driven record keeping simply cannot measure up to the capabilities of these pocket-sized devices for collecting and accessing information.

Windows Mobile Synchronization Software Recruited By Law Enforcement

Law enforcement officials can now write traffic citations more efficiently - and safely - using a new handheld application that replaces the traditional pad of tickets. Called Crossroads Handheld Citation, the application was created by Crossroads Software using SYWARE's Visual CE® forms and database development software. The solution minimizes manual data entry by reading bar code or magnetic stripe data on drivers licenses, as well as through extensive use of drop-down lists on handheld forms. The handheld units help protect the officer during a traffic stop by eliminating the risk of being pinned in the cruiser.

Handheld Database Application to Keep Turbines Running Smoothly at Chugach Electric

The core of an electric plant is its turbines, which must be closely monitored and thoroughly maintained in order to safely provide reliable and efficient energy. Chugach Electric, the largest electricity provider in Alaska, is now using HP Jornada 450s and Visual CE, SYWARE's forms and database development software, to provide technicians with full, mobile access to turbine data. Steven Epperheimer, an instrument & controls technician at Chugach, developed the mobile application to provide access to calibration specifications, drawings, part assemblies, alarm points, and more.

PDA Synchronization Tools Help Texas Agency Monitor Air Quality

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality needed a system to automate data collection activities associated with analyzing and tracking air quality. To create the system, they called on SyntegraTech, a company that develops specialized data collection solutions. They created a custom application using SYWARE's Visual CE running on a ruggedized Windows CE handheld, working in conjunction with Microsoft Access 2000 on the desktop. SYWARE's mEnable software provided wireless synchronization between the handhelds and the desktop server.

Hollywood Video Uses Pocket PC Applications to Audit Store Operations

Hollywood Video is one of the country's largest video chains, with over 1800 stores in nearly every state. The company conducts periodic audits of its stores to ensure that correct polices and procedures are being followed, holding losses as close to zero as possible. Until recently, the audit was performed using a 12-page paper form that was then faxed to corporate headquarters and keyed into a database for analysis and reporting. Find out how Hollywood Video made the transition to a new Visual CE-based application that puts the entire audit on a Pocket PC

Database Application Helps Physicians Eliminate Billing Delays

Physicians are always looking for ways to reduce paperwork. One area that has long been considered a burden is the billing process, where timeliness and legibility are major issues for many physicians. An anesthesiologist in Phoenix, Arizona, has developed a technique for creating billing records using handheld PCs that provides physicians with significant time savings compared to paper forms.

PDA Database Developed to Synchronize Field Sales & Marketing Teams

One of the largest mobile phone companies in the UK needed to coordinate the flow of information between field sales and marketing. To differentiate itself in a fiercely competitive marketplace, One to One Mobile turned to Zync Solutions to create a special Visual CE application that automates the two-way flow of information between sales force PDAs and the internal Intranet-based marketing database.

Pocket PC Applications Help Hospitals Enforce Strict Cleanliness Standards

A Pocket PC application called CheckMate is helping cleaning supervisors and maintenance staff check the quality of cleaning activities in hospitals and other large facilities. Developed by Business Performance PLC, CheckMate allows an objective assessment of cleanliness standards and is being used in over one hundred locations.

Database Application Improves Service Delivery in Hospital Pharmacy

Software productivity tools eliminate complexity and expense of application development
Geoff Lawton, Director of Pharmacy Services at the Medical Center of Aurora, Colorado, saw the potential for handhelds to reduce the paper burden in the Pharmacy department of the 350-bed acute care hospital. He is emphatically not a programmer - his background is in pharmacy, along with an MBA. However, despite his lack of development experience, he was able to use a software productivity tool called Visual CE to create valuable applications that are in constant use by the 45-person Pharmacy department.

Handheld Database Application Provides Industrial Strength Inventory Control for DuPont

As a data collection tool, handheld PCs are proving to be far more practical than laptop units, especially when you have to bend down into nooks and crannies to gather information. In addition to their obvious convenience, handhelds can also support complex database applications, allowing the units to be deployed on a wide variety of strategic projects. Find out how Fluor is helping chemical giant DuPont convert a massive maintenance database (over 37,000 records) to handhelds.

Integrating Windows CE Applications with Legacy Applications: Haagen-Dazs and San Francisco Airport

IT managers in legacy environments often have mixed feelings about their venerable systems, perhaps even wishing they could trade them in. Since legacy platforms can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace, the powers that be usually decree that IT departments will have to live with them. However, just because you’re running an AS400 or other legacy system doesn’t mean that you can’t augment it with the latest technology available.

Handheld Database Application Provides Options for Mobile Sales Forces

The ability to quickly integrate sales orders with central distribution and accounting systems is a fundamental ingredient of a successful business. This allows orders to be filled promptly and invoices to be issued in a timely fashion. Achieving this goal holds special challenges for companies with a mobile sales force that frequently do not share the same information infrastructure as the rest of the organization. When there are isolated "islands of information," the result can range from shipping delays to lost orders and cancelled sales. Find out how Bravo Software puts Visual CE, the Go Anywhere Database, to work providing new options for mobile sales forces.

Handheld Database Application Provides Mobile Clipboard for Service Technicians

Potential entrepreneurs are frequently not professional programmers, but specialists in a particular field who recognize an opportunity and would like to take advantage of it. Fortunately software tools are available that enable even non-programmers to develop extremely useful handheld applications - and make a good income as a result. A good example can be seen in InterPlant's Technician Assistant, a call tracking application that captures and organizes information related to service calls.

Handheld Database Application Helps Housing Agencies Go Paperless

Until now, public housing agencies have relied on clipboards and paper for public housing inspections. Handhelds hold great promise though, as the ability to capture inspection data electronically eliminates the delays and potential errors associated with duplicate entry work and diminishes the need for inspectors to carry around armloads of paper. Such a tool even has the potential to improve relations with tenants. Find out how the Miami Dade County Housing Agency puts Visual CE, the Go Anywhere Database, to work.

Handhelds Improve Warehouse Management with Integrated Bar Code Scanning

Many companies pay for much more storage space than they really need. However, determining how much warehouse space is actually needed and how to use it most efficiently, can be very complex. Morgan Integrated Technologies has developed a rapid, accurate technique to optimize inventory space as well as the storage devices being used. Handheld PCs equipped with build-in scanners are used to quickly build an inventory database. The warehouse management software then goes to work on the database to calculate how much space is needed for each part and where to put it, based on storage rules and formulas designed to store inventory with maximum efficiency.

Pocket PC Development Provides Sales Force Tool for Coca Cola

Coca Cola has embarked on an initiative to find the most effective portable selling tool to support its field sales force - the people who go out and prospect for new locations and customers. Sales personnel have access to a sophisticated customer management system running on their desktop PCs, but rather than equip each sales person with an expensive laptop PC, the company decided to investigate whether a more affordable Pocket PC handheld device could provide the necessary functionality. How best to tackle the Pocket PC development project? Enter Visual CE.

Building a Windows CE Application for Sales Management - within Hours

"Information is power," observes Michael Melo, "but only when you can get your hands on it quickly - otherwise it's useless." His solution was to use Visual CE, the database and forms builder tool from SYWARE, to create his own applications for his handheld PC. Visual CE provides intuitive design capabilities that allow non-programmers like Melo to quickly define their own data capture screens. In addition, extensive database functionality allows him to manage and manipulate data to fit his specific needs.

Mobile database application helps Joslyn Manufacturing capture critical tracking and inventory data

The desktop PC has transformed the way people live and work, but you can't carry it around on your back. Many mobile database users are looking for ways to increase productivity by extending their desktop business applications to their handheld units. The challenge is to provide customized business specific solutions on the handheld without spending a fortune in development costs.

Database Application Helps Crop Spraying Go Mobile
By Burkhart Ledeboer, Owner/Operator, Precision Spray Service

Mobile small business operators often need to record very specific types of information not supported by off-the-shelf applications. One option is to pay a substantial amount for a professional developer to create a customized solution. The other way is to build it yourself. Fortunately, tools are available that make this approach well within reach.