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Posts Tagged ‘pda inspections’

New Feature: Field ID Knowledge Base

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

As our customer base grows so has the demand for well written and detailed documentation. We are happy to launch our new site help.fieldid.com

The Old

The old Field ID Documentation

Our old documentation had a lot of information but wasn’t organized for what users wanted to accomplish. As well, the look and feel of the site wasn’t up to the standards of our clean and sharp main website or the Field ID application. These were two of the main drivers behind moving to a wiki based system.

The New

The new and improved Field ID Documentation

Over the last two months our team has worked hard to completely re-write our documentation from the ground up. With this we have taken a new approach to our writing style and have organized topics into actions that users will want to complete. The documentation is broken into three main sections – Using Field ID, Administration and Field ID Mobile.

The Knowledge Base is detailed with pictures and step-by-step instructions to help you complete everything from setting up Email Notifications to creating a new Audit checklist. Each page in the documentation has a well laid out table of contents that will allow you to quickly jump to a point in the article.

Article Contents

On the left side there is a site search that will allow you to quickly find the topics that you need. The search is very simple and easy to use.

Search all articles

This new system has been in the works for a long time but we wanted to ensure that we launched with a lot of content and a great design. So, how did we do? Drop us an email and let us know.

Tags: Features, Field ID, pda inspections, Support, Team
Posted in Inspection Software | No Comments »

New Feature: Inspector / Customer Sign Off

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

Today I’m excited for two reasons. The first, this is Easter weekend which means a long weekend for us in Canada. The second is a new feature that we have been planning for some time and has been requested by many customers. With our next Field ID release coming out on May 1st, the ability to capture signatures when completing inspections on the web, mobile (and iPad…more on that later) will be available.

When creating the signature capture feature we wanted to make it as flexible as possible. To accomplish this we treat signatures as criteria and a signature is a new data type (similar to drop downs, or text fields). What this means for you is if you have a requirement to capture one signature it will work, if you need to capture 8 signatures, no problem. Let’s take a look at a inspection form with a signature control.

With this inspection I created a new section on my form called Signatures. I setup the form to have the inspector enter two names and two signatures.

Inspection Form with Signature Capture

To capture a signature simply click on the “Click to Sign” link. This will bring up a signature window where using your mouse you can sign your name.

Signing a Inspection Form in Field ID

On the main inspection form, you will see a small preview of the signature that was captured. At any time you can clear the signature.

Two signatures captured in Field ID

Using Field ID Mobile capturing signatures is just as easy. Simply click in the blank signature box to show the signature capture and using your stylus you can sign your name.

Capturing a signature with Field ID Mobile

With the number of customers using Field ID on the iPad, we made sure that the signature capture works on the iPad.

We are really excited about this new feature and can’t wait to see how our customers start to use it. We are hoping to get some feedback (positive or negative) on the signatures and how our customers are using them. Be sure to drop us a email at support@fieldid.com when you start using this new feature. Full release notes are coming next week summarizing all features coming out on May 1st.

Tags: Features, Field ID, Inspection Software, pda inspections, Safety Compliance, safety inspection
Posted in Inspection Software | No Comments »

Safety Compliance: The Importance of Being Prepared for the Worst

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

Happy Thursday Bloggers! Once again Thursdays means that I bring you my legendary safety compliance blogs. For all of you who don’t know, I grew up in the small suburban city of Mississauga, right outside of Toronto. This morning I woke up to some very disturbing news. One of the condos in Mississauga just had a hot water pipe burst causing millions of dollars worth of damage to the property. In addition, it leaked hot water down from the sixth floor to the parking garage level. The accident killed three cats and one woman’s feet suffered severe burns from walking in the hot water.

It was horrible to wake up to such terrible news, but I think this accident teaches us a very important lesson about safety compliance. There are always two reasons why you should do your very best to ensure your equipment is compliant. The first is that it will cost you millions of dollars when the unexpected happens. A single water pipe broke and it leaked down and caused millions of dollars in damage. Accidents are out of your control. Who would think that one water pipe would cause damage to all the floors underneath it, including the parking garage? Everyone living on those floors would have to be compensated and there will be large amounts of renovation and repair necessary, all from just a single water pipe.

The second reason why you should always be compliant with your equipment and make sure to check them frequently, is the safety of others. As I stated above, there is no way to know how far the damage will go or the intensity of an accident. This water pipe put everyone living on these floors in danger. An accident is never foreseeable, you can never tell when something’s going to happen. The worst part is that you never know how intense an accident will be until it happens. This morning when I heard that there was a hot water pipe burst, I didn’t expect to hear that it caused millions of dollars in damage and killed three cats with an injured woman. People woke up to find their apartments flooded with scalding hot water. This teaches us to always prepare for the worst of accidents, even when we don’t think an accident can be very severe.

It is very difficult to foresee the damage that an accident can cause. However, this is also the reason why we should give our best efforts to make sure that accidents don’t happen. Even if you think that it might not be a very serious accident, it is better to prepare for the worst possible situation. This way, you take no chances and will never be caught off-guard. The cause of this water pipe burst has not be discovered yet, but hopefully everyone can stay safe until then.

Tags: Fire Safety, Mississauga, pda inspections, Safety Compliance, Water Pipes
Posted in Safety Compliance | No Comments »

Android Catching iOS and Blackberry – Fast

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

Last week, all of the technology blogs I read were writing about how fast the Google Android operating system was gaining market share on RIM’s Blackberry and Apple’s iOS. This information was posted by comScore and focuses on smartphone usage from July 2nd to October of this year. The quarter before this Android had 4% growth, and this report had Android with 6.5% growth. That is really fast.

Field ID Mobile is currently available for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 and is big part of our total solution. While the iPhone and the brand new Google phone get all the headlines, there are thousands upon thousands of Windows Mobile devices scanning barcodes and RFID tags, getting dropped to the ground and stepped on, and running offline where no Internet signal makes it. The truth is, the cool devices that you use in your personal life, are not suited all that well for field service work. That being said, things are slowly starting to change.

I am a Phone Geek

I admit it, I am a big time phone geek. There are at least 4 other people at Field ID that are really into phones, and probably more. There isn’t a single day that goes by where the words Blackberry, iPhone or Android isn’t mentioned. As you can imagine, this sparks some friendly debate about the merits of all these different platforms. Our ultimate goal at Field ID is to make our product available on as many different devices as possible. But what platform, if any, will give Windows Mobile a run for its money in these rugged, field service-oriented devices?

Android is Well Positioned

Android is clearly making huge gains in the true smartphone market, but Android is also starting to make some appearances in traditional Windows Mobile places as well. Both Bluebird Pidion and Trimble advertise Android working on their devices. I have also read about Android in some partner forums I get involved in. In the places where Field ID is used, Android seems like a possible competitor to Windows Mobile. It’s open source, so it should be easier and faster to write drivers for barcode scanners and RFID scanners. It doesn’t look like Research in Motion or Apple will be licensing their operating systems any time soon. This really only brings one true competitor to the space – Android. We will keep a watchful eye on all these different platforms as they continue to evolve.

Tags: android, Field ID, Handheld Devices, iPad, iPhone, pda inspections, rugged handheld
Posted in Mobile Inspections | No Comments »

Top 5 Accessories for Your Mobile Inspection Devices

Friday, September 17th, 2010

These days you can get a mobile device with almost any accessory out there. From bar code scanners to fingerprint scanners and everything in between. In this blog post, I will go through the top 5 options, and the pros and cons of each. I am referring mostly to rugged mobile devices.

1. Camera

Many devices come with a camera, and it is a great option. Sometimes, this adds a bit of cost to your device, but most handhelds come with them these days. You may not take many pictures, but when you do, they really come in handy.

2. Bar Code Scanner

Sample of Bar Code

Typically you either need one or you don’t. If you do need one, there are a few things to consider. Are you scanning 1D or 2D bar codes? How many bar codes are you scanning a day and can you get away with an imager vs. a scanner? These are not your grocery story bar codes. Super adhesive polyester and aluminum bar codes exist these days that can be applied to almost anything.

3. RFID Scanner

If you decide to use RFID tags, you will need also need an RFID reader to scan them. Keep a few things in mind when choosing to use RFID to track your fall protection and rigging. Is read range important? Often read range is not important, when doing inspections and asset management. Use industry standard tags so you are not locked into one tag vendor.

4. Cellular Radio

Do you need data in real time? Although it seems as though you do, you would be surprised how much you can get accomplished using offline software, then sync up afterwards. That being said, data plans are getting cheaper and cheaper these days, so you may want to try out working in real time.

5. Printer

Mobile printers are becoming less necessary, and quite often, we use them out of habit more than out of necessity. With so much information online and readily available these days, we really need to determine if a printer is necessary and worth the extra cost.

Tags: Handheld Devices, handhelds, Hardware, pda inspections, RFID
Posted in Inspection Management, Mobile Inspections, Quality Control, Safety Management | 1 Comment »

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