Inventory Tracking Using Handhelds?

DJ Decepticon asks: "I've recently been given the task to determine the feasibility of tracking several hundred workstations spread out across North America using a handheld device. Requirements include having a barcode and GPS reading and inputing that information into a spreadsheet. Would a handheld device such as Palm or Handspring be able to take on such a task?" Aparently there are PalmPilot's with integrated barcode readers at Symbol.Com, however I don't know about ones that also include GPS. If anyone has used these units before, how difficult would it be to add GPS functionality? Are there other solutions?

Comments

did it w/o GPS

[bearbones]

I've worked and programmed the symbol ones, to do this very thing (w/o the GPS). They work great. You should be able to do it with a GPS that attaches to the serial port with no problem.

GPS and stuff is fine.

[Zurk]

get a standalone GPS unit (a magellan(sp?)) works great with the palmpilot. also try and get a standalone scanner. if your parts break in the field its easier to replace standalone components than a palmpilot.
they (scanner + GPS) work over the serial port and use fairly simple 7 bit data transfer over well documented protocols so you should be ok.

Why GPS?

[duffbeer703]

Generally, computers are not located in the middle of the woods.

The barcode functionality should be fine for actual identification of the asset. Use good old fashioned address/room no. to locate the computer. If you don't want your people to have to manually enter data, use pull down menus or 4 digit alphanumeric codes for sites.

Remember that GPS requires a line of sight to 3 or more satellites and is accurate to 30m. I don't know about your sites, but my computer room is in the windowless 2nd floor of a 20-story building, where gps won't work. Also, a 30m margin of error could place my desk somewhere in the middle of the street.

Re:Why GPS?

[man_ls]

C-in-C Navstar (Forgive me the murder of the title), a colonel in the Air Force at Chyanne Mountain (NORAD headquarters, fyi) told me himself that that *was* true, but after the gulf war, the civilian accuracy limitaions were removed, and it is somewhere around 5 meters now, as opposed to a football field's length.

No, you can't get a tour. Trust me.

Re:Why GPS?

[man_ls]

Also, you only need LoS to two GPS satellites to get a LAT-LON reading. The third satellite gives you the third dimension (altitude) In the gulf, soldiers didn't have enough satellites to do 3 dimensions, but they were fine with the two dimensions of accuracy they had I doubt knowing how high the computer is off the desk is that big of a deal, so even if a satellite is blocked by something, two more will still give you a (slightly less accurate) reading.

Re:Why GPS?

[duffbeer703]

Knowing how high the computer is would be a very big deal.

Say the first floor of your building houses the HR and accounting staff; third floor houses call center agents. What group does a particular desktop belong to without height information?

I'll restate my original point; GPS is a total waste of time, unless you are inventorying pipeline equipment or something that is fixed and in a remote location.

What good does knowing where a PC is within 5 meters do? Offices reshuffle all the time and pc's change hands as new computers are ordered. All you need to know for a physical inventory is that the machine is present and what group (IT, development, accounting, etc) it belongs to.

I work in the enterprise systems management group for several large state agencies. We use Tivoli Inventory and a couple of asset management tools to inventory and keep track of over 65,000 pc's scattered throughout the state. As our network maps have evolved and become more details, we have been able to locate pc's down to the exact switch/hub port that it is connected to. If the pc is hooked to an unmanaged hub, we have scripts that talk to active directory and figure out who normally logs into the computer.

The scripts needed to accomplish this took two people about two weeks to implement. The result is inventory info that can be updated nearly in real-time, down to whatever level of detail you need.

Compare the cost of that to outfitting IT people with barcode reader equipped handhelds running all over the place scanning stuff.

Re:Why GPS?

[ka9dgx]

Actually, that's wrong. Since a GPS reciever can only tell the DIFFERENCE between the timings of incoming signals, you need at least 3 (if they happen to be far enough apart) to do 2 dimensional placement, and 4 if you want altitude. My good old Garmin 12 seems to think it's accurate to about 30 feet, but only works outdoors, and takes a long time to start up.

I second the notion that a simple barcode based tracking system is best here. While it's possible to spoof it, usually this isn't a concern. I was the programming staff for Management Support Systems, which marketed such a system using NORAND handhelds back in the 1990s... and am considering bringing the code back out of the closet, and putting a nice GUI in front of it for Windows.

--Mike--

this is what i need!

[Beowulf_Boy]

I am the co-director of my school tech dept.
We have to log all of our computer fixes that we do throughout the day.
I need something in which I can type the problem, the fix, and the date. Anyone know of such a beast?

Re:this is what i need!

[Phoukka]

Try a spreadsheet. Or build a simple database.

Seriously, if you have to type in the problem and the fix, it isn't going to kill you to type in an asset code or something. As a hint, if you're not using Dells (with their nifty little ID tags), and you want to avoid the pain of having to type in the full serial number each time, put together a table in your database where you have all the serial numbers of your items (type once), then link it to a short asset number. Get a label maker, put label on item. When item comes through your door, type in the asset number, and be done with it.

The pain and hassle of acquiring (relatively) expensive barcode readers and coding up the necessary software more than likely outweighs the pain and hassle of having to type in a serial number once and an asset number multiple times -- ESPECIALLY if you have to type anyway. The only time that barcoding is really worth it is if it can save you LARGE amounts of typing time. Normally, it can't. You will have to think long and hard about the ability of barcoding to automate work processes.

An example of the above is inventory: you can scan in the barcode of the item you are checking in, scan in the code of the shelf, scan in the bin/box/whatever, and your app will track where you put something. Great, right? Another real world example: a nurse scans the barcode of the patient's wristband, scans the barcode of the drug she has, and the app checks to see that the drug is indeed the one prescribed for this patient, and throws a warning if it isn't or if the dosage is incorrect. If it *is* the correct prescription and patient, the nurse dispenses the drug, then scans her *own* barcode, and the hospital information system records that the drug was dispensed by the nurse to the patient. The first application might be relatively easy to code; the second one is not.

The real question you should be asking yourself is whether you can automate your process so that you can achieve the same level of functionality without typing. When it comes to describing problems and resolutions, I don't think you can. Maybe you can create a list of barcodes for your common problems, and a list of codes for your normal resolutions, and automate that way -- but remember to make sure that the exceptions (when they inevitably happen) are not so hard to use that it's not more work than it is worth.

barcode reader

[agdv]

Just get one with integrated GPS (if you REALLY need it, which as other users point out you may not) and get yourself a free CueCat from RadioShack (or order it free, and free s/h, from IBM). It's too slow to practically scan barcodes very often, but for a computer here and one there, it shouldn't matter too much if it takes a couple of seconds to scan it. I suppose most handhelds with GPS would have a USB port for it. You can either decode the *ahem* encryption *chuckle* or cut out a pin in one of its chips to have it output the unencrypted barcode. Not too much trouble if it's meant to be a one-device-only setup.

Why GPS for asset tracking?

[pads-mh]

You're going to do the asset tracking in the middle of a field, with a clear view of the horizon, right? Most users have a pretty good idea where they are currently located on the planet, and can manage to key the details in. Are you really sure you need GPS? PS. You may want to look at Psion's ruggedised handhelds which include integral bar code readers and are readily programmable using a VB style clone. See http://www.psionteklogix.com/main/workaboutmx_wand .htm P.

I've been looking at these for ages...

[goodEvans]

We bought 5 Symbol SPT 1500's about 2 years ago at UKP350 each. They were the fragilest little things you ever saw. All 5 are now sitting on my desk, with absolutely no hope of getting them running. Moral? You at least need the more sturdy SPT1700 (UKP600+) There is even the CDPD enabled 1733 and GSM based 1734 for wireless WAN applications

As for getting GPS working with them, they are fully functional palm pilots, so any GPS software available for them will work. Palms aren't big on expansion slots, so they will have to plug into the cradle port.

Symbol do have a PocketPC based unit, the SPT2700 (UKP1200+). These have the same options (802.11(& .11b), CDPD, GSM) however they unfortunately run PocketPC ;-)

Recently I have found This, the Psion Teklogix 7510. It is a full PC with a 586 133MHz chip and a hard drive. It has built in scanner and RF options, and 2 internal / 1 external PCMCIA slots. With a 6" screen, it is a perfect little box. You can run whatever operating system you like, and write whatever code you like for them. They are ruggedised and waterproof, and are built for use on forklifts etc, so they should take a bashing and keep working.

The only problem? At $4300 a piece with barcode and 802.11b, they ain't cheap...

Am I missing something?

[ScuzzMonkey]

Or just making a bad assumption that these workstations that you are tracking are probably all networked?

And if that's the case, why don't you just have them all track themselves? They can run the same sort of tracking programs as the handheld, right? The only thing you miss on is the GPS requirement, and I question the utility of that anyway. I've always had workstations I've been responsible for inventory themselves; saves a lot of trouble. :)

drop the palm pilot and get a data collector

[DRACO-]

What the hell do you need a palm pilot? Just get a data collector with keyboard interface and small screen. Enter your location, then enter floor, enter wing, enter room, (enter part of room if needed) Scan computer, scan pre printed list of usual jobs, or punch in. Continue work thru day..

Return to CENTRAL and download data from data collector.

You could speed things up if the location has a barcode, the floor listings on the elevators have a barcode and the rooms have barcodes... but we dont live in that kind of world :P

DRACO-

Handheld and Inventory

[lazyw]

I was at a conference last week where the example given was a hand held helping in the inventory of the refrigerator, from the car telephone...it was an interesting concept...so I see yours as totally "doable".