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Hand Held Computing
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| History |
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A major metropolitan city? Department of
Health needed an electronic management system to be used by their
inspectors to log and access reports. The system allows Food Inspectors
to carry small tablet computers that allow inspectors to access and
modify electronic files that are then stored on a central database. In
addition, the inspectors carry portable printers that allow the
inspectors to print any necessary documents.
The
Food Inspection Bureau is a government agency within a metropolitan
city government that handles all food-related issues and problems. Food
Inspectors are obligated to inspect all restaurants and food dealers
once a year. They used to carry stacks of reports and questionnaires as
they went from place to place to perform their inspections. With our
new system, a pocket sized handheld computer and a portable printer
have replaced the stacks of paper. The information required for every
inspection is now formatted and accessible at the inspectors?fingertips.
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| Results |
The Food Inspection Handheld Computer
Project is a Client/Server application. It automates the old inspection
process by replacing the inspector's stack of papers with a hand-held
computer system utilizing an RDMS (Relational Database Management
System) business processing that is distributed between the front-end
GUI application and back-end processing residing with the database.
Simplified inspection process reduces paper load, missing forms, and
human error.
The front-end GUI application is developed using
Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0. Because Visual Basic is also the language
embedded in Microsoft Office suite of desktop products, these standard
applications like Microsoft Word and Outlook are enabled in the
application. The application takes advantage of non-Microsoft products
through OLE/ActiveX technology. Back-end processing is centralized on
Oracle Lite 3.6, which is a quick and easy environment for maintaining
a database. DSI also created online forms that would minimize the need
to retrain inspectors.
The speed and ease-of-use of the storage
and retrieval technology allow Health Inspectors to visit more sites
and report problems immediately. With the system's built-in
intelligence, it increases productivity and helps the Food Inspection
Bureau to meet its mandate and inspect each food vendor in the
metropolitan area periodically.
The system offers:
- Data downloading directly from the central server
- Daily inspection schedules and routes
- Expense tracking
- On-site printing of all inspection reports using a portable printer
- Information dissemination to the field, including a Hot Topics feature
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Technology 