HandSpring Visor
TM Symbol SPT-1500/1700 Version
Installation and Operation Instructions
Palm Program Version 1.33
Excel Version 1.13
Desktop Conduit Version 1.67
April 30, 2002
�2001-2002
DATAssociates Inc. 456 Freehall St. Mertztown, PA 19539
Phone: 610-682-0823 Fax: 509-357-3610
Email:
[email protected]
ScanMan
�PottieScan"TM Inventory - Installation Instructions
To begin the installation process, you must
have the Palm Desktop installed on the PC. Once the Palm Desktop
installation is complete, you can begin installing ScanMan �PottieScan�.
For the CD Version: From the TaskBar,
select Start, Run and type x:\setup.bat where �x� is the drive
letter of the CD drive. Restart the computer.
For the 3.5� floppy version:
There are 3 parts to the installation process
as follows:
- HotSync Registration (2 disks)
- PC Conduit Program (3 disks)
- PDA Program Files and Excel Workbook (1
disk)
Begin by inserting the HotSync Registration
Disk 1 into the 3.5" drive. From the TaskBar, select Start, Run and
type a:\setup.exe. Follow the prompts to install the HotSync
components required for the program.
When the HotSync Registration installation is
complete, place the ScanMan �PottieScan� Conduit Program Disk 1 into
the 3.5" drive. From the TaskBar, select Start, Run and type a:\setup.exe.
Follow the prompts to install the HotSync components required for
the program. When the installation is complete, Restart the
computer.
When the installation of ScanMan �PottieScan�
Conduit Program is complete, place the disk labeled "Palm Program
Files Disk 1 of 1" in the 3.5" drive. From the TaskBar, select
Start, Run and type a:\setup.bat. You will be prompted for a user
(Palm) for the program to be installed on. Select the desired user.
The program will require you to perform a HotSync with the
appropriate Palm in the HotSync cradle. When the HotSync is complete
the program will be loaded on the PDA.
ScanMan �PottieScan�TM - System
Requirements
The system requirements to run PottieScan are
as follows:
- Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT/2000
- Intel Pentium 266 or higher
- 32 MB RAM
- 15 MB hard drive space
- Microsoft Excel 97 higher
- Palm OS based barcode scanner and PDA
- Palm Desktop software loaded on PC
ScanMan �PottieScan�TM
- Program Orientation
PottieScan is a complete inventory and route
management system. Set up your inventory and customer list in the
Excel workbook, then schedule deliveries. Upload the data to the
PDA. When the driver/employee makes a delivery, pick-up or performs
maintenance, they navigate to the appropriate screen and scan the
pottie barcode. At the end of the day, the PDA is downloaded to the
desktop. The Inventory is automatically updated. You can keep
complete records of unit maintenance, as well as track maintenance
times.
The Excel workbook contains a program
interface to make data entry quick and accurate. It gives you the
ability to track inventory on site and in the yard.
There are three parts to PottieScan - the
program that resides on the PDA, the Excel Workbook program, and the
desktop conduit program that takes data from the either the PDA
(download) or the Excel Workbook (upload) and transfers that data to
the other.
ScanMan �PottieScan�TM
- Pottie Labeling
It is assumed that the user will place
barcode labels on the Potties to be tracked. Just about any barcode
type is supported by PottieScan except the Interleaved 2 of 5
symbology.
The forecasting ability of PottieScan
requires potties to be labeled with prefixes. Although you don't
have to use the descriptions listed below, you must have the same
alphabetic prefixes in the barcode. The prefixes and descriptions
for pottie labeling are as follows:
AQ
|
Aqua |
P |
Pewter |
DG |
Dark Green |
W |
Wedding |
HDC |
Handicapped |
WS |
Wash Station |
The number following the prefix can be any
combination of numbers, as long as the total number of characters
including the prefix is no greater than 15. You don't have to use
the rational for labeling listed above, but if you want forecasting
to work, you must use these prefixes.
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ScanMan
�PottieScan�TM - Excel Operating Instructions
INTRODUCTION
The PottieScan Excel workbook is named "download.xls"
and is located in the "C:\DAT Palm Apps\PottieScan directory. Open
Microsoft Excel by pressing the "Start" button on the Task Bar,
select "Programs", then "Microsoft Excel". When Excel finishes
loading, select "File" on the Menubar (top left), then select "Open"
and navigate to the "DAT Palm Apps\PottieScan" directory. Select the
file "download.xls" and press the "OK button.
The workbook will load and be displayed on
the desktop. At the bottom of the workbook you will see grey tabs
that indicate the different worksheets in the workbook. Never
rename the sheets, as the Excel program for data entry relies on the
sheet names as they are set up at installation.
The sheets included in the workbook and a
brief description of their use are listed below:
DeliveriesFromPalm |
Holds data transferred from the
PDA to the desktop PC |
DeliveriesToPalm |
Holds deliveries waiting to be
made, transferred to PDA |
Inventory |
A list of the potties and their
barcode numbers, transfer to and updated by the PDA |
Customers |
A list of customers, transfer to
and updated by the PDA |
Maintenance |
Maintenance information
downloaded from the PDA |
PickUpPrompt |
Planning sheet that shows what
potties are to be picked up for a given time period |
InventoryForecast |
A count of each type of pottie
projected to be in inventory for any given date |
A general orientation to Microsoft Excel with
some of the terms used in this Operator's Manual are given in the
illustration below:

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ScanMan
�PottieScan�TM - Where To Start
The following directions walk
you through the use of the various parts of the PottieScan program.
Follow the directions and examples below and enter the same data we
do in Excel and the PDA. You may want to jump right in and start
entering your own data, but we recommend you follow the example. We
guarantee you'll learn quicker if you do it this way.
SETTING UP THE INVENTORY
To get started with PottieScan,
you need a label for each of the potties in inventory or at customer
sites. Then you must enter the barcode number for each pottie into
the inventory worksheet. The inventory worksheet is shown in the
illustration above. If your workbook isn't open to the Inventory
worksheet, you can select it by clicking on the "Inventory"
worksheet tab at the bottom left of the screen.
The barcode number goes in
column A. The serial number in column B is the manufacturer's serial
number for the pottie. The other columns are for customer
information. You can enter it now, or you can wait until the
Customer worksheet is set up. If you choose to set it up now, make
sure that the Customer, Job Site and Comments match entries you'll
make later in the Customer worksheet. You may want to wait, and use
the PDA to collect the data�in effect delivering the unit to that
customer after the fact using the "Unscheduled Delivery" option on
the PDA, or scheduling a delivery in Excel, uploading the PDA and
using the normal "Delivery" option. That way you'll make sure that
the Customer, Job Site and comments match the entries in the
Customer worksheet.
Once you have the barcode
numbers and serial numbers set up in the Inventory worksheet, you're
ready to set up customers. Don't forget that you have to put the
barcode labels on the potties.
SETTING UP THE CUSTOMER LIST
Now its time to set up your list
of customers. To enter customers, schedule deliveries, sort the
worksheets and forecast inventory and pick-ups, you can use a
program built in to the worksheet. To start the program, hold down
the control key (Ctrl) while pressing the "G" key. The program will
start, and the Main Menu will appear:

Press the "Add a Customer"
button. The following screen will appear:
Enter the customer information,
then press the "Update" button. The customer information will be
added to the "Customers" worksheet.
Once you press the "Update"
button, you can continue adding customers to the "Customers"
worksheet. Make sure you press the "Update" button when you're
finished each entry. Enter a few customers just so we can move to
the next step.
Specifically, enter these 3
customers for the example:
Code
|
111 |
222 |
333 |
Company
|
Williams Pharmacy |
Zeus Construction |
Mothers Weddings |
Job Site
|
Around Back |
Site 1 |
Smith Residence |
Comments
|
Get Key at Office
|
Behind Supervisor's
Trailer |
For wedding use,
customer delivers |
Contact
|
Tom Reynolds |
Al Bensing |
Mother Smith |
Street
|
123 Main Street
|
222 Walnut St. |
3222 Home Avenue |
City |
New York |
New York |
New York |
State
|
NY |
NY |
NY |
Zip
|
12343 |
12343 |
12343 |
Phone
|
222-333-4545 |
333-454-9988 |
222-876-4637 |
MULTIPLE CUSTOMER ENTRIES
You may have a customer with
many job sites or locations. You will have to make an entry for each
unique location that will get a delivery. Change the "Job Site" or
"Comments" for the customer to indicate that this is different than
other locations with the same company or customer name.
Pressing the "Exit" button will
terminate the program. Pressing the "Main Menu" button will take you
back to the Main Menu described above. When you're finished,
entering the customer information above, press "Exit".
When the program terminates,
click on the "Customers" tab at the bottom left of the screen, and
you will see the following screen, with the customer information you
just entered.

ADDING ROUTES
PottieScan gives you the ability
to sort deliveries on the PDA by selecting a route or ending date.
In order for the route option to work, you have to set up routes in
the "ROUTES" worksheet. An example of the "ROUTES" worksheet is
shown below:

Note that the Route Code can be
no longer than 5 characters. Generally, you want to keep the route
code as short as possible. You can add a description next to the
route code to remind yourself what each of the route codes mean. For
the example, set up your routes like those above.
ADDING DELIVERIES
With the inventory set up, and
customers entered, we can now schedule deliveries. Start the data
entry program by holding down the "Control" (Ctrl) key and pressing
the "G" key. From the Main Menu, click on the "Add A Delivery
Button. The following screen will be displayed, but the boxes will
be blank:
When the screen appears, the
cursor will be flashing in the box under the "Route:" caption. Start
typing the route code. If the route exists in the route worksheet,
it will be filled in automatically. Then press the "ENTER" key on
the keyboard. Then start typing the customer's name. If the customer
exists in the Customers worksheet when you started the program, the
box will automatically fill with the customer name. If this is the
customer name you want, hit the "Tab" or "Enter" key to move to the
next input field - "Pottie Type". Note that the information for the
customer is filled in the boxes below the input boxes so you can
verify you have the right customer Type the prefix of the pottie
type to be delivered. Now, hit "Tab" or "Enter" to advance to the
box where you will enter the scheduled delivery date. Then enter the
scheduled pick-up date.

Enter the following customer
deliveries with any route you choose:
Customer |
Williams Pharmacy |
Zeus Construction |
Williams Pharmacy |
Pottie Type |
AQ |
AQ |
AQ |
Proj. Deliv. Date |
9/15/01 |
9/15/01 |
9/15/01 |
Proj. Return Date
|
12/31/01 |
10/31/01 |
1/1/02 |
For customers with different job
sites or comments, instead of typing the customer name, click on the
little "down-pointing" triangle to the right of the input box. This
will display a list of all the customers in the "Customers"
worksheet. Using the scroll bar at the right of the window that
appears when you click on the triangle, move through the list and
select the customer you desire. Hit "Enter" or "Tab" to accept the
entry.
Where did the information go?
Click on the "Exit" button and we'll find out. When the program
shuts down, select the "DeliveriesToPalm" worksheet tab on the
bottom left of the screen. Although the entries might be different
if you didn't follow the example, the worksheet looks like this:
Note that if you have multiple
deliveries for the same customer, you can change the "Qty" box to
the number to be delivered. For example, if you put in "3" for the
quantity, there will be three deliveries entered for that customer
in the "DeliveriesToPalm" worksheet.
NEVER enter a customer that
doesn't appear in the Customers worksheet. It will cause an error in
the Desktop Conduit program and you will have to return to the
worksheet and fix it before loading the PDA.

Note that we've scheduled 2
deliveries to the same customer. Since this information will be
transferred to the PDA and the employee will collect data that is
unique to the pottie, we need to make multiple entries for multiple
deliveries to the same customer/jobsite/comments in the Customers
worksheet.
Remember that you can make
entries into any worksheet at any time. For example, you didn't have
to use the Excel program to enter customers or deliveries. You could
have selected the worksheet and made the entries directly. If you
choose to do this, make sure that the customer, job site and notes./
comments are identical to those in the "Customers" worksheet. If
they aren't you'll have an error in the Desktop Conduit program and
you'll have to come back to the worksheet and fix the entry.
Now that we've entered
inventory, customers and deliveries its time to transfer the
delivery information to the PDA.
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ScanMan
�PottieScan�TM - Desktop Conduit Upload PDA
INTRODUCTION
Before proceeding to transfer
information to the PDA, always make sure you've exited Excel. To do
this, hit the "X" at the top right of the screen, or select "File",
"Close" from the Task Bar. Its important to close Excel, because the
Desktop Conduit Program will use the sheet to process the data to be
sent to the PDA. If Excel is open, the sheet won't be able to be
used by the Desktop Conduit program, and you'll get an error
message.
The Desktop Conduit program is
named "conduit.exe" and is located in the "c:\Program Files\DAT Palm
Apps\PottieScan" directory. You can run the program by selecting
"Start" from the Task Bar, "Programs", "DAT Palm Apps" and select
"Conduit".
Since
you will be using the program a lot to transfer data to the PDA, set
up an icon on the desktop. Right-Click anywhere there isn't an icon
on the desktop. Select "New", "Shortcut" and navigate to the
"c:\Program Files\DAT Palm Apps\PottieScan" directory. Select "conduit.exe".
Then click the "Finish" button. To change the icon, Right-Click on
the icon and select "Properties". Then click the "Change Icon"
button. Navigate to the "C:\DAT Palm Apps\PottieScan" directory and
select "PottieScan.ico" and hit the "OK" button. Then hit the "OK"
button. To start the program, Double-Click the icon to run the
program. The following window will appear:
When the program opens, its ready to transfer
data FROM the PDA. The data we just entered needs to be processed
before transfer TO the PDA. To process the data you just entered in
Excel, press the "Transfer To Palm" button on the bottom center of
the Desktop Conduit screen. You will see the green bar (bottom of
the screen above the buttons) turn red, and will be able to see
messages on the red bar and in the white status window (on the
center of the screen) as the Desktop Conduit program process the
data.
When the Desktop Conduit program is finished
processing, a screen similar to the one below left will be
displayed. Note that the bar at the bottom of the screen above the
buttons has turned from red to green, and that the caption in the
green bar states "Transfer to Palm Ready". This is the indication
that everything went well with processing the Excel Data and that
you are ready to HotSync the data to the PDA.
Note that the processing messages in the
white status window read from the bottom to the top. The first
message is "Checking Worksheets", followed by a confirmation that
the error checking is complete for each of the transfer worksheets,
"Customers", "Inventory" and "Delivery". Then there is a count of
the number of items from each sheet that will be transferred. In
this case, there are 3 customers, 432 inventory items (potties) and
3 deliveries. Finally, the Desktop Conduit program prepares the palm
transfer files, then displays the message that we are ready to
HotSync.
If there was a conflict with the data, you
would be prompted in the white status window where the error
occurred. DO NOT EXIT THE DESKTOP CONDUIT IF THERE ARE ERRORS.
For example, if you entered a delivery for a customer that didn�t
exist, you would see a "Customer NoMatch" entry with the row number
displayed in the status window. You would then have to go back to
the Excel worksheet and correct the problem.
You're now ready to load the PDA with the
information that you entered in Excel. Place the PDA in the cradle
and press the HotSync button. The PDA will beep and the HotSync
Progress Box will appear indicating that the HotSync is taking
place. Watch the PDA screen until it displays a message that the
HotSync is complete.
If the scanner does not beep and the HotSync
Dialog Box does not appear, check the following:
- The HotSync Manager is running. Check
the bottom right corner of the monitor by the clock. The HotSync
symbol should be visible. If it isn't, select "Start" on the
Taskbar, select "Programs", select "Palm", and select "HotSync
Manager". The icon by the clock should appear. Now press the
HotSync button on the cradle.
- If the HotSync icon is by the clock,
reset the PDA by removing it from the cradle and push the reset
button using a paper clip in the reset hole in the back of the
PDA. After resetting the PDA, place the unit in the cradle and
press the HotSync button again.
Now that the data from Excel is in the PDA,
we can use the PDA to make deliveries, pick-ups and perform
maintenance.
PDA Orientation:
PottieScan will work with any PalmOS Personal
Digital Assistant. With built in contact, calendar and to-do
programs and plenty of memory for data storage, it is an economical
and versatile device. Coupled with the barcode scanner, the PDA
becomes a lightweight automated data collector.
If you have a Handspring Visor, take out the
plastic cover from the SpringBoard slot on the back of the Visor and
insert the Momentum or CSM scanning module. The scanner will
initialize, and the PDA will show the generic scanning screen. Press
the "house" on the bottom left of the screen to return to the icon
menu on the PDA. The Icon Menu looks like the illustration below:

Note the PottieScan Icon. To start PottieScan,
just tap the icon. Before we get started, we need to discuss how to
navigate through the program and how to scan.
For any screen with options, simply click on
the checkbox or button, and you will be taken to the appropriate
screen.
Once on the desired screen, data can be input
manually or with the PDA scanner. On the HandSpring Visor, scan a
bar code by pressing and releasing the MEMO button. Once the target
barcode is found, release the memo button to scan the code. Note
that the scanner will beep, but not shut off when the bar code is
read. The scanner shuts off on a pre-programmed timer.
If the PDA screen goes blank during the data
collection process, pressing the power key will return you to the
PottieScan program. Pressing any other key along the bottom of the
PDA will terminate PottieScan and start that program.
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ScanMan
�PottieScan�TM - PDA Operating Instructions
The first screen displayed when starting the
program is the "Enter Operator" screen shown below. The user must
enter his identification here so that the information he inputs can
be correlated later. There are a couple of things to remember as we
move on:
When in the PottieScan program, if you press
any of the buttons on the bottom of the PDA associated with the "on
board" programs (calendar, phone list, to-do list or memopad), the
PottieScan program will be terminated wherever you were in the data
collection process. If you've selected a pottie or delivery and
haven't finished the process, the information will be lost and you
will have to start over. This also happens when you press the
silkscreen "House" or "Calculator on the bottom part of the screen
on either side of the Grafitti pad. Make sure you are finished with
the transaction you are entering before pressing one of these
buttons/graphics.
ENTER
THE PDA OPERATOR:
The Operator Code can be entered manually
with Graffitti or can be scanned. The operator code has to be at
least one character, and no more than 5 characters.
If the operator scans his Operator code, the
program will immediately advance to the Main Menu screen. If the
Operator Code is entered manually, pressing the "Continue" button
will advance to the Route/Date Filter Screen.
The "Exit" button terminates the program.
THE ROUTE/DATE FILTER MENU:
The next menu shown is the Route/Date filter.
Depending what routes were assigned during entering deliveries in
Excel, the screen will display deliveries for each route that need
to be performed. It will also allow you to select a "Before Date",
which will show all deliveries (for that route if chosen) scheduled
on or before that date.
Leave the route blank for now, and change the
year to next year, that is the current year plus one using Grafitti
for this example. Press the "CONT." button to move to the Main Menu.
THE MAIN MENU:
The
Main Menu appears as is illustrated at the left:
Note that the operator has the option of
making a regular delivery, an unscheduled delivery, performing
maintenance (including picking up a unit), and "admin" which allow
editing and looking up data. The "Exit" button terminates the
program. The "i" in the top right of the screen will display the
PottieScan program information when pressed.
Each of the options will be discussed below,
using the sample data we entered in Excel earlier.
HOW TO DISPLAY LIST INFORMATION:
To
start, let's see the information that was uploaded to the PDA,
specifically the inventory of potties, customer list and deliveries.
Press the "ADMIN" button. The following screen is displayed:
Before we continue, remember the following
point. The table editing features about to be described are for
experienced PottieScan users. You must take care when making changes
to the tables on the PDA. Changing information on customers or
inventory may cause synchronization with the information in the
Excel workbook to fail, as the Desktop Conduit program checks the
PDA lists against the Excel lists during the download. Editing
features are provided so you can view information, and make small
changes to the tables.
OK,
lets look at the customer list. Press the "Edit Customers" button.
The screen below left will be displayed. You should see the first
customer (ordered alphabetically) you entered in the "Customers"
worksheet in Excel. If you touch any lined item with your stylus,
you will be able to modify its content (it's not a good idea to do
this) by using the keypad or Grafitti.
There are also navigation buttons at the
bottom to move from one entry to the next. Use the "Left Arrow" to
move to the previous entry. The "Right Arrow" moves to the next
entry. Note that if you press the "Right Arrow" button when on the
last entry in the list, you'll be asked if you want to add a new
record.
Pressing the "New" button clears the screen
and gives you the ability to enter a new customer. The "Del" button
will delete the customer that is displayed. The "Back" button takes
you to the previous menu, where you select the inventory you want to
edit or view.
Using the arrows, navigate through the
customer list to see the entries you made in the "Customers"
worksheet in Excel. When you're finished, use the back button to
return to the menu.
The
other "Edit" buttons edit information originally entered using the
Excel workbook with the exception of the "Edit Maint. Record". This
list is created when the employee enters maintenance data, and
starts out as a blank list.
The other option we haven't discussed is the
"Look-Up Customer" button. When pressed, the following screen is
displayed:
This option gives you the ability to look up
customer information by typing in some of the characters of the
customer name. For our example, we've typed in an "O" and now press
the "Continue" button. Every Customer name with an "O in it is now
displayed on the screen. You can edit the information on the screen
in the same manner as in the "Edit Customer" option described above.
We�re now ready to start discussing the
"meat" of the program - delivering, picking-up, and performing
maintenance. Click the "Back" buttons until the "Main Menu" is
displayed on the screen.
MAKING SCHEDULED DELIVERIES:
 From
the Main Menu, press the "Delivery" key. The screen at the bottom
left, with the list of deliveries entered in the Excel worksheet is
displayed:
You select the delivery by pressing on the
customer name/job site combination you want to select. It will turn
black when you select it.
Pressing the "Detail" button at the bottom
left of the screen displays the full customer information for that
delivery (as show at the right). Pressing "Back" from the detail
screen takes you back to the screen where you selected the delivery.
Note that you can "thumb" through this or any
similar list in PottieScan by using the scroll buttons on the PDA
(see PDA Orientation in this manual)
 Pressing
the "Next" Button will take you to the screen where you will scan
the barcode of the pottie delivered to this customer. The screen
appears as follows:
Now scan the pottie barcode that will be
delivered. For this example, we will scan pottie number AQ004.
A couple of things to keep in mind on this
screen: Like all screens where you can use the barcode reader, you
can also key enter the number. Just press the "Done" button when
you're finished. If you picked the wrong customer and want to go
back to select another, press the "Abort" button.
Finally, if you want to change the
information in the inventory to contain a modification to the job
site or comments displayed for the customer, you can make the
changes by pressing on the appropriate area, and changing the
entries by using the keyboard or Grafitti.
For the example, we've changed the site from
"Around Back" to "Right in Front", and the Notes (or comments) from
"Get Key at office" to "No Key Needed". When you scan the barcode,
or manually enter it and press the "Done" button, you are taken back
to the Main Menu screen.
Press the "DELIVERY" button again, and look
at the delivery list. You can see that one of the deliveries to
Williams Pharmacy is now gone. When a delivery is made, the delivery
list is modified to show only those deliveries that have yet to be
made.
UNSCHEDULED DELIVERIES WITH EXISTING
CUSTOMERS:
 PottieScan
also gives you the ability to make unscheduled deliveries. From the
Main Menu, press the "UNSCHED DELIVERY" button. The following screen
is displayed:
There are two options for unscheduled
deliveries. You can deliver to an existing or "Active" customer, or
you can deliver to a new customer. A new customer is one that isn't
on the "Customers" worksheet of the Excel workbook.
Lets try the simple option first and deliver
to an existing customer. Press the "Select" button, and the screen
displaying existing customers will be shown as in the illustration
at the right. Note that the "Job Site" and "Notes" are available for
you to change on this screen. Select the customer, and press the
"Continue" button.
You
are now prompted to scan or key enter the pottie barcode number. To
make it interesting, we're going to try to deliver pottie number
AQ004 again, but this time, instead of delivering it to Willamsburg
Pharmacy, we're going to deliver it to Mothers Weddings. PottieScan
checks the inventory list to make sure that the pottie isn't
assigned to a customer before it allows delivery of the pottie. If
the pottie has already been delivered to a customer, PottieScan
displays a message, and doesn't allow a pottie already delivered to
be delivered again.
If we wanted to, we could use the PDA to
pick-up pottie number AQ004, and the customer information assigned
that pottie in inventory would be removed. We won't do it now
though. Clear the message on the screen by pressing the "OK" button.
Then deliver pottie number AQ005. You will be returned to the Main
Menu.
UNSCHEDULED DELIVERIES WITH NEW CUSTOMERS
 With
PottieScan, you can also deliver a pottie to a new customer. A new
customer is defined as a customer that isn't in the "Customers"
worksheet of the Excel workbook. From the Main Menu, select "UNSCHED.
DELIVERY". Then, from the Unscheduled Delivery menu, press the "Add"
Button. PottieScan displays a blank customer screen, allowing you to
fill in the customer information. For this example, we enter the
following information for a customer called "Vinart Car Dealership"
as shown in the illustration below:
If you want to exit without entering a new
customer, press the "ABORT" button. Otherwise, when you are done
entering the information about the new customer, press the "ADD"
button.
You are then prompted to enter the pottie
barcode. For our example, we will assign the pottie numbered "AQ006"
to the new customer. Entering a valid barcode returns you to the
main menu. Check to see that the new customer is in the customer
list. From the Main Menu, press the "UNSCHED. DELIVERY" button, then
the "SELECT" button. You will see "Vinart Car Dealership" show up in
the customer list. Press the "ABORT" button to go back to the
Unscheduled Delivery menu, then press "ABORT" again to go to the
Main Menu.
Now that we've made some deliveries, and we
have a few potties assigned to customers in our inventory, we can
perform some maintenance tasks.
PERFORMING MAINTENANCE - CLEANING
From the Main Menu, press the "PERFORM MAINT"
button. The following screen will be displayed:
As
you can see, you can perform Cleaning, Extra Cleaning, note that the
unit was "not serviced", Note Repair, or Pick-Up a pottie from the
Maintenance Menu. We'll briefly go through each to describe how they
work.
Press the "Cleaning" button. You will be
prompted to enter the barcode of the pottie to start the cleaning
process. When the barcode is entered, PottieScan checks the
inventory to make sure the pottie is assigned to a customer. If it
isn't assigned to a customer, it doesn't allow cleaning to take
place, and gives the operator a message. Otherwise, a screen is
displayed prompting for the scanning of the barcode when cleaning is
complete. For the example, we're going to clean pottie AQ005. The
screen at the right is the screen where the pottie barcode is
scanned at the completion of the cleaning.
PottieScan
asks the barcode to be scanned twice because it is keeping track of
the time elapsed for the maintenance step. When the cleaning
operation is complete, scan the barcode again. You will be returned
to the Main Menu.
If the PDA "goes to sleep" during the
cleaning process, you can pick up where you left off by pressing the
power button on the PDA. Make sure you don't press any of the other
program buttons, or you'll lose your place in the program. The start
time will be recorded, but there will be no completed time.
PERFORMING MAINTENANCE - EXTRA CLEANING
From
time to time, potties need special cleaning, generally associated
with a special reason for this action. From the Maintenance Menu,
press the "EXTRA CLEANING" button.
PottieScan allows you to enter reason codes
for extra cleaning operations. Just check the box for the reason, or
check the "Other" box, and enter the reason for the cleaning
operation. Pressing the "CON'T" button displays the screen prompting
for scanning a barcode to begin the cleaning process.
For the example, we will check the
"Requested" box, then press the "CON'T" button. We will perform
extra cleaning on pottie number AQ006. The screen prompting for
barcode entry at the end of the cleaning is displayed. Entering
AQ006 again returns us to the Main Menu.
PERFORMING MAINTENANCE - NOT SERVICED
Sometimes,
a pottie can't be serviced because the employee can't get to it, for
example if the gate is locked. You can make a "Not Serviced" entry
by pressing the "NO SERVICE" button from the Maintenance menu. You
are then prompted to scan or enter a pottie barcode.
For our example, we are going to enter AQ005
as the barcode of a pottie that wasn't serviced. The screen at the
right is displayed, prompting for a "no service" reason. You can
press the "NO ACCESS" button or enter a reason. For the example,
press the "NO SERVICE" button. Then press the "DONE" button. You are
returned to the Main Menu.
PERFORMING MAINTENANCE - NOTE REPAIR
If
an employee notices while cleaning or delivering potties that a
pottie is in need of repair, PottieScan gives him the ability to
make an entry so the repair will be noted in the Excel worksheet
when the data is transferred. From the Maintenance Menu, press the
"NOTE REPAIR" Button. The screen below is displayed:
The operator enters the particulars of the
repairs needed in the area under the "Service Notes:" caption, then
scans or enters the pottie barcode.
For our example, we are going to enter "Door
Hinge Broken" as the Service Notes, and enter the barcode AQ004. Now
press the "Continue" button. You will be returned to the Main Menu.
PERFORMING MAINTENANCE - PICK-UP
To pick up a pottie, press the "PERFORM MAINT"
button on the Main Menu. Then press the "PICK-UP" button on the
Maintenance Menu. You will be prompted to scan/enter a pottie
barcode to be picked up. When the barcode is entered, PottieScan
will make sure the pottie is assigned to a customer, and if it
isn't, will display a message to the operator.
For our example, enter pottie number AQ004 as
the pottie to be picked up.
MAKE A FINAL DELIVERY
Now, make one more delivery. From the Main
Menu, select the button for normal delivery, and pick the remaining
delivery for "Williams Pharmacy". Scan/enter pottie number AQ007 as
the pottie delivered.
CHANGING JOBSITE ON DELIVERED UNITS AFTER
UPLOAD�.
We
haven't discussed the "LOOKUP POTTIE" option from the Main Menu yet.
This option is used after the unit has been delivered to the
customer, and the delivery has been uploaded to the Excel worksheet.
When performing maintenance to a unit, the operator can scan the
pottie number, and bring up the information associated with the
pottie in the inventory.
The Job Site and Comments entries can be
edited here. From our example, assume that the data has been
uploaded to the Excel worksheet, then reloaded to the PDA. The
operator can scan pottie number "AQ004" and will see the screen at
the left.
The operator can then change the entries in
Job Site and Comments by entering more pertinent data. This option
is also helpful for viewing the Job Site and Comments for potties
that can't be found on the customer's site for maintenance. In this
case, the operator would enter the pottie number using the keyboard
or Grafitti, and pressing the "Done" button.
TRANSACTION SUMMARY - PDA EXAMPLE
We've finished the PDA data collection
example. Now we're ready to download the data from the PDA to the
Excel worksheet. Lets recap the transactions we've entered on the
PDA:
- Delivered AQ004 to Williams Pharmacy,
changed the Job Site to "Right in Front" and Notes / Comments to
"No Key Needed".
- Made an unscheduled delivery of pottie
AQ005 to Mothers Weddings
- Made an unscheduled delivery of pottie
AQ006 to a new customer called Vinart Car Dealership
- Cleaned pottie AQ005
- Performed "Requested" Extra Cleaning to
pottie AQ006
- Logged "No Service" for pottie AQ005,
because of "No Access"
- Noted pottie AQ004 needed repair for a
broken door hinge.
- Picked up pottie AQ004
- Delivered AQ007 to Williams Pharmacy, no
changes to Job Site or Notes / Comments
We're now ready to download the PDA data into
the Excel Worksheet.
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ScanMan
�PottieScan�TM - Desktop Conduit Download PDA
Before
proceeding to transfer information from the PDA, always make sure
you've exited Excel. To do this, hit the "X" at the top right of the
screen, or select "File", "Close" from the Task Bar. It's important
to close Excel, because the Desktop Conduit Program will use the
Excel workbook to process the data to be sent from the PDA. If Excel
is open, the sheet won't be able to be used by the Desktop Conduit
program.
Start the Desktop Conduit program. Refer to
the section above for directions on starting the program. When the
program loads, it's ready to take information out of the PDA and
deposit it into the Excel worksheet. If you left the program running
after loading the PDA and it is still visible on the PC, press the
"Palm From Palm" button on the bottom left of the screen.
Place the PDA in the HotSync cradle and press
the HotSync button on the cradle. Watch the PDA screen until the
"HotSync Complete" message appears.
When the HotSync finishes, the screen of the
Desktop Conduit program should be identical to the screen on the
left. Lets look at what happened during the HotSync. Remember that
we read the status window from bottom to top.
First, the Desktop Conduit was "Waiting for
HotSync". Then, it loaded the files from the PDA onto the desktop.
Then it updated the Excel workbook with 5 entries in maintenance, 4
deliveries and 1 new customer. Finally, it displayed the message
that the HotSync and Desktop Conduit process was complete.
The data from the PDA is now in the Excel
workbook. Let's open the workbook and look at it.
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ScanMan
�PottieScan�TM - Excel Operating Instructions, Continued�.
The PottieScan Excel workbook is named "download.xls"
and is located in the "C:\DAT Palm Apps\PottieScan directory. Open
Microsoft Excel by pressing the "Start" button on the Task Bar,
select "Programs", then "Microsoft Excel". When Excel finishes
loading, select "File" on the Menubar (top right), "Open" and
navigate to the "DAT Palm Apps\PottieScan" directory. Select the
file "download.xls".
"DeliveriesFromPalm" WORKSHEET
Now that we have the workbook open, on the
bottom left of the screen, click the "DeliveriesFromPalm" tab. The
screen below will appear. It contains the delivery data we entered
on the PDA. Specifically, the following entries were made in the "DeliveriesToPalm"
worksheet of the workbook:
ROW 3 - The first delivery to "Williams
Pharmacy" of pottie AQ004. Note that the Job Site is "Right In
Front" and the Comments are "No Key Needed" that we changed before
scanning/entering the pottie number. Remember this, as the changes
we made will have ramifications in the "DeliveriesToPalm" worksheet
we'll look at next. We picked-up this pottie, but the delivery is
still noted. We'll see the pick-up entry below.
ROW 4 - The final delivery that we made
before downloading the PDA data, pottie number AQ007. Note the date
and time indicates that it is the last delivery, also that the Job
Site and Notes/Comments haven't been changed.
ROW 5 - The unscheduled delivery of
pottie AQ005 to Mothers Weddings. The way you can tell its an
unscheduled delivery is that the column with "Proj. Return Date"
isn't filled in. Look in column J for the projected delivery date.
ROW 6 - The unscheduled delivery of
pottie AQ006 to the new customer "Vinart Car Dealership". Again, we
know it�s an unscheduled delivery because there is no entry in
column J, "Proj Return Date", but there's really no way here in the
"DeliveriesFromPalm" worksheet that we can know it�s a new customer.
We'll be able to see that in the "Customers" worksheet.
As you collect delivery data, the new entries
are placed are placed at the bottom of the list with a blank line in
between the old entries and the start of the new entries. PottieScan
keeps a record of all the deliveries made, including the employee
that made them, the customer, the pottie number delivered and the
date/time of delivery. By sorting the worksheet (see "Help" in
Excel), you can get information like the rental history of a
particular pottie, the number of potties delivered in a given time
period to a specific customer, the number of potty deliveries made
in a given time period by a particular employee, etc.

"DeliveriesFromPalm WORKSHEET
Now lets look at the "DeliveriesToPalm"
worksheet, because downloading from the PDA has made some changes
there.
"DeliveriesToPalm" WORKSHEET
Click the "DeliveriesToPalm" tab
on the bottom left of the screen. The illustration below shows what
you should see if you followed the example.

"DeliveriesToPalm" WORKSHEET
Remember when we entered
deliveries using the program built into Excel, we entered a total of
three deliveries and transferred them to the PDA. On the PDA, we
made both deliveries to "Williams Pharmacy". As you can see in the
illustration, one of the "Williams Pharmacy" deliveries has been
deleted. But we made both deliveries! Why wasn't the second delivery
deleted?
PottieScan will delete the
deliveries in Excel if they've been made, but IF THE JOBSITE AND
NOTES/COMMENTS ARE CHANGED DURING THE DELIVERY, THE ENTRY WILL STAY
IN THE "DeliveriesToPalm" WORKSHEET. This is because when the
deliveries come in from the PDA, PottieScan looks for the Customer,
JobSite, Notes/Comments, and Projected Return Date in the "DeliveriesToPalm"
worksheet. In our example, PottieScan was looking for "Williams
Pharmacy", "Around Back", "Get Key at Office" and "12/31/01" in the
"DeliveriesToPalm" Worksheet. It didn't find it, so it didn't delete
an entry. For the second delivery to "Williams Pharmacy", it looked
for the same information, only with a projected delivery date of
"1/1/02". It found the entry and deleted it.
Since you could've entered other
deliveries since loading the PDA, and some of those entries could
have been deliveries to "Williams Pharmacy" PottieScan didn't want
to delete an entry in "DeliveriesToPalm" that wasn't the right
delivery. The second delivery to "Williams Pharmacy" matched
perfectly, so it was deleted from the worksheet.
PottieScan assumes that you'll
check the "DeliveriesFromPalm" against the "DeliveriesToPalm"
worksheet for each PDA download to check for changed customer
information on a delivery if you allow your employees to use the
option to change Job Site and Notes / Comments during a delivery.
You may decide to tell employees not to change information during a
delivery, so the "DeliveriesToPalm" list will be accurate.
PottieScan also made changes to
the "Inventory" worksheet. Lets look at it next.
"Inventory" WORKSHEET
PottieScan also made entries in
the "Inventory" worksheet. Remember on the PDA when we tried to
deliver a pottie that had already been assigned to a customer? On
the PDA inventory list, the Customer, Job Site and Notes/Comments
were filled in. When the PDA is downloaded it updates the
"Inventory" with customer information. That way, when you upload
another PDA, you can't deliver that pottie number, nor can you
perform any maintenance operation unless the pottie is assigned to a
customer.
OK, lets look at the data. We
can see pottie AQ005 and AQ006 were unscheduled deliveries (no
return date), and that there was a scheduled delivery of AQ007. Note
that pottie AQ004 has no customer assigned to it. We did deliver it,
but then we picked it up. The delivery is noted in the "DeliveriesFromPalm
worksheet, as we've already seen. The pick-up is noted in the
"Maintenance" worksheet.

"Inventory" WORKSHEET
The Projected Return Date
(column J) is important to two features that will be discussed
later�.the "Pick-Up' prompter, and the 'Inventory Forcast' feature.
If you set your inventory up without using the Excel program, make
sure you fill in these entries. If you used the program, you don't
have to worry because it wouldn't let you complete the delivery
entry without entering the Return Date.
Since we did a lot of
maintenance in our example, lets look at the "Maintenance" worksheet
next, and see what happened to the data.
"Maintenance" WORKSHEET
Cleaning, Extra Cleaning, Not
Serviced, Repair and Pick-Ups are shown on the "Maintenance"
worksheet. Click on the "Maintenance" worksheet tab on the bottom
left of the Excel screen. The screen should be similar to the one
shown below:

"Maintenance" WORKSHEET
Remember the maintenance entries
we made on the PDA? First we cleaned pottie AQ005 (Row 3). Then we
performed extra cleaning that was requested to pottie AQ006 (Row 4).
Note that the transaction code column (column C) contains the
"operation"�meaning the category button you pressed on the PDA
before entering the barcode. The "No Service Reason" column (column
I) is what the employee entered when the PDA prompted him to make an
entry.
Continuing with the entries we
made on the PDA, we logged no service to pottie AQ005 because there
was no access to it (Row 5). Then we noted that pottie AQ004 needed
repair because of a broken door hinge (Row 6). Finally, we picked up
pottie AQ004 (Row 7).
The "Time-In" and "Time-Out"
(columns F & G) are of particular interest in the "Maintenance"
worksheet. Not only do you now know what time the service was
conducted, you know how long the service call took. The blank column
titles "Elapsed Time" (column H) can be used to calculating the time
of the service call. Just type in the formula, or copy the formula
entered on a previous row. (for information on formulas and cell
formatting, see Excel's "Help" feature)
In fact, you can reconstruct an
employee's entire day by cutting and pasting entries from the "DeliveriesFromPalm"
and "Maintenance" worksheet. As you can see, PottieScan replaces all
the paperwork you had to do before�in a simple, easy to use system.
One last sheet to look at. Let's
see what happened in the "Customers" sheet.
"Customers" WORKSHEET
inally, lets look at the
"Customers" worksheet by clicking on the tab labeled with the same
name at the bottom left of the screen. Not very much going on here,
but remember when we did the unscheduled delivery to a new customer?
PottieScan entered the new customer in the "Customers" worksheet!

"Customers" WORKSHEET
There are two ways to tell if
PottieScan entered a new customer. The first is that there will be
no customer code in column A, because the PottieScan program doesn't
give the employee the option of entering it. Second, there will be a
"T" in the "NEW?" column of the worksheet (column K).
As we've seen PottieScan gives
you the ability to track your inventory, schedule and track your
deliveries, and keep track of maintenance activity. It completely
replaces the paper system you're using now. There are two other
features of PottieScan we'll look at next - the ability to find
scheduled pick-ups, and the ability to see the number of potties
you'll have available on a given date.
THE PICK-UP PROMPTER
PottieScan gives you the ability
to see which potties need to be picked up in a given time period.
This feature only works if you entered the "Proj.
Return
Date" on the "DeliveriesToPalm" worksheet. We'll assume that you
have the "download.xls" worksheet open. Start the Excel program. To
start the program, hold down the control key (Ctrl) while pressing
the "G" key. The program will start, and the Main Menu will appear:
From the Main Menu, press the
"Run Pick-Up Worksheet" button. The following screen will appear:
For the example, our "Customers" and
"Inventory" worksheet are filled with actual data. There are around
400 potties and as many customers in the worksheet. For the
inventory, the "Proj Return Date" column is filled in for those
potties that are on-site with customers.
Note that we've put in a "From:" date and a
"To:" date. This date span can be any combination of dates, as long
as the "To:" date is later than the "From:" date. In this example,
we want to know about the potties that need to be picked up in
September and October and have entered the dates accordingly.
Pressing the "Process" button runs the
program. As the program runs, you'll see pottie information copied
to the "PickUpPrompt" worksheet. When processing is complete, press
the "Exit" button on the program screen.
In our example, the following information was
copied to the "PickUpPrompt" worksheet:

"PickUpPrompt" worksheet
Notice the that the pick-up
information is sorted in ascending order. All you have to do is
print out the worksheet, and you can schedule your drivers to pick
up the units. There's one other PottieScan feature to check out -
the on-hand inventory worksheet.
THE "InventoryForecast"
WORKSHEET
The final feature of PottieScan
is the Inventory Forecast. With this feature, you can not only tell
how many potties are in your yard today, you can also tell how may
potties will be picked up on any given date.
PottieScan will calculate the
total number of potties for each prefix type. (see "Setting Up The
Inventory" above) It will also calculate the number of potties for
each prefix that are not assigned to a customer as of this moment,
and the number of potties of each prefix that will be returned on
any given date.
Since the Inventory changes
with
every delivery and pick-up, you need to run the "Inventory Forecast"
routine every time you want to see what's in inventory or when
potties will be returned. Start the Excel program. To start the
program, hold down the control key (Ctrl) while pressing the "G"
key. The program will start, and the Main Menu will appear. From the
Main Menu, press the "Inventory Forecast" button. The following
screen will appear:
PottieScan has determined that
in this example, there are 432 potties in inventory. When you press
the "Process" button, PottieScan begins checking the inventory for
pick-up dates, and totaling the number of potties per prefix that
will be picked up on each date. When it finished, the number in the
left box will be the same as the number in the right box and
"Completed" will be displayed above the numbers. Press the "Exit"
button to terminate the program.
If you're not already looking at
the "InventoryForecast" worksheet, click the tab with that title on
the bottom left of the screen. For our example, the data above is
displayed in the worksheet:

"InventoryForecast" WORKSHEET
Look at Row 4. The total number
of potties for each category prefix are shown in this row, along
with the total number of potties in Column H. In the illustration
above there are 173 Aqua (AQ), 138 Dark Green (DG), 8 Pewter (P), 6
Handicap (HDCP), 10 Wash Station (WS), 16 Wedding (W) potties in the
inventory. You can see the totals of "unassigned" potties in Row 6:
34 AQ, 23 DG, 1 P, 1 HDCP, 9 WS and 16 W.
Assuming that today is September
11, 2001, we find (in Row 16) that there are 2 AQ and 3 DG potties
scheduled for pick-up today, for a total of 36 AQ and 65 DG potties
available in inventory. That way we know if a client calls today,
and wants 35 Aqua potties delivered immediately, we probably won't
have them until the end of the day today. PottieScan makes inventory
projections easy.
A couple of administrative
notes: If you go to Row 6, Column A and insert a different date, the
other dates in Column A will be changed automatically. PottieScan
comes set up with 2 years of dates entered in Column A, but you can
modify the start date at any time. The bold numbers in Row 6 are the
totals for each prefix category that had pick-up dates prior to the
current date.
Summary
We've seen that PottieScan can
really help organize your pottie rental business. It eliminates
paperwork by giving you the ability to schedule deliveries, plan
pick-ups and analyze your inventory. PottieScan eliminates
paperwork. Your employees no longer need a clipboard and pencil.
Paper can be eliminated, and with it the changes of data entry
errors and lost forms and reports. PottieScan gives you the ability
to track employee performance, keep track of maintenance and needed
repairs, and integrates your data into an easy to use and understand
Excel worksheet.
If you have any questions or
comments, please feel free to email or call us at the information
given on the cover sheet of this manual. We will continue to serve
you by making improvements in PottieScan, and helping you any way we
can.
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