Re: Thin Clients

I'm gonna hate myself in the morning, but I agree with Trevor. [Geez that hurt.]

I, too, have worked for construction companies so I know where Paul's coming from. I agree that swiping cards is probably a bit impractical and I can't recall a situation where RFID would be viable for time records. And Paul's also right about there being a requirement for signed time cards, even if the customer doesn't require it. But there might be another solution.

For example, an electronic "tablet" (not a laptop - even the lightweight ones would be too bulky for a foreman to carry around all day) which could be transmitted to the office at end-of-day. Most foremen I have worked with don't fill out time cards in real-time, anyway; usually over a beer somewhere. The foreman could even sign these and they could be archived. And the time, pay items/cost codes, etc., sent as machine readable data that just gets uploaded to the i5. Even in the /36 days we looked at something like this (though it involved laptops) for our large jobs; too expensive then for the 3-5 man crews.

In fact, our company is looking at replacing its 1970's technology for order entry. Right now the salesmen do submit orders electronically (untouched by human hands), but we are looking at replacing the old handhelds with PDA's which can hold the complete catalogue rather than having to carry around a printed copy. And the PDA (one demo so far) just dials automagically and transmits the orders when near a cell tower (we sell a lot in rural areas).


* Jerry C. Adams
*IBM System i Programmer/Analyst
B&W Wholesale Distributors, Inc.* *
voice
615.995.7024
fax
615.995.1201
email
jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>



Trevor Perry wrote:

Why would the workers ENTER anything? Why would any solution require the
workers to ENTER a cost code? This is green screen thinking at its finest!

If you used RFID, for example, you could have an RFID reader in several
places. None of these would have to require anything but their own battery
power, and they could all be portable devices. Each of these could be linked
to a cost code - voila! Or, you could have the worker wave their hand in a
left-right direction for cost code 7, and up-down for cost code 8. Cost code
9 would require doing the hokey-pokey, and if you start with the right leg,
it is cost code 4.

Paul, there are so many possibilities to solving this business problem. If
you continue to think with your green brain - there will never be a solution
other than a foreman keying in data into a terminal, 5250 emulator, newlook,
or PSC/400.



I wonder if a green brain means it is moldy (or mouldy)?



On 9/13/07 1:39 PM, "Paul Nelson" <nelsonp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Not gonna happen. Most of the time, the workers don't know the cost codes.
Or care.

Paul Nelson
Cell 708-670-6978
Office 512-392-2577
nelsonp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Trevor Perry
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 12:20 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Thin Clients

You had an RFID chip embedded in your finger?

I really think there is a workable solution in this situation. If you are
recording time against different cost codes, then you can gather the data
from the worker themselves - using technology, not a pencil. Then the
foreman gets the list and sorts it out into the correct cost codes. There is
certainly a way to record data with technology against at least one cost
code - and most likely, different cost codes for different tasks. Remove the
ENTRY part of the equation, at least.

Seriously, this is how we - as an industry - stay green and old and AS/400 -
we put up walls for problems that have some amazing creative solutions..