A mobile, digital work order tool

The purpose of this project was to design and implement a software application capable of operating in a mobile environment, By providing a biomedical engineering technician with a mobile data terminal, the following operational benefits can be realized: access to an accurate and active inventory of products and locations; the ability to upload and download a database of work requests; the ability to initiate and complete a work request on site. In addition, this tool will allow clinical engineering departments to become more productive and efficient by providing a conduit in which their technicians can meet and exceed established service levels for routine support, improve productivity, reduce the administrative time associated with paper-based systems, and provide more reliable and accurate data in a timely manner. The tools used for this project include Microsoft Visual Basic(R) 6.0 with a toolkit for Windows CE(R), Microsoft Access(R), Metrix(R) and Hewlett Packard handheld and palmtop devices. In addition to designing the software for the handheld platform, data must be transferred seamlessly between the handheld device and a host computer.