Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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Bit of a random but geeky enquiry. My director is just about to stick an order away for 30 grand for a 'new product' that has just came on the market, supposedly from Ireland. I just wanted to see if anyone else has come across it, something similar or has a better suggestion.
You print out a postscript sheet of paper, basically a sheet of blank paper covered in tiny dots, and give them to the engineers. They have a (fucking expensive) pen which they use to write on the sheets which contains a camera at the tip. When they are finished they tick a box at the bottom, this connects to their mobile phone using bluetooth and a downloaded app and then the app transfers the completed form to a cloud application which is then accessible via a browser from anywhere you wish. The hand writing is also converted to text which can then be copy and pasted into our call management system to facilitates the invoicing of the jobs almost in real time.
I was massively sceptical of it at first but having seen it at work it is very impressive. The sheet comes out perfect and even the shittest hand writing is almost always perfectly translated, barring the usual 'p' as a 'd' etc...
Basically I would like to know is anyone has come across this type of thing or have seen or heard of a similar product? I know for a fact our NIC/EIC auditors use something similar which makes me think the company trying to punt it is bullshitting me.
[Edited on 04-09-2012 by Hammer]
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Rob_Quads
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Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: southampton
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Been around for quite a while and can work really well I think.
We used something similar when we hired our suits for my wedding. When we filled in the form as well as the written copy it was instantly uploaded to their system and recognized.
Grrr 'cloud' application. You have to love the how everyone is trying to use the word cloud now for anything that is via the web
[Edited on 04-09-2012 by Rob_Quads]
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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You can tell when someone doesn't really understand what it means i.e. the sales guy.
I asked him what 'the cloud' was just to be a bastard and all he had was 'it means its stored here' and waved his hands about 
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Nismo
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Registered: 12th Sep 02
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We use a system with out engineers have iphones, they then use an App, that fills all in the job details, time spent job number etc... (all customised fields to us) the end user then signs the screen and the job is emailed straight into us with a csv file and any site images and the signature attached, we then invoice straight away.
App is Job Done.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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If someone says 'the cloud' and doesn't follow that by explaining they are only saying the cloud because that's what people expect, I wouldn't trust them.
I would think Nismo's sort of system would be better going forward, enter it straight onto a phone instead of dealing with writing stuff.
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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Problem with that is the same as the 30 grand mistake that was the PDA's that have been binned. The piece of paper engineers leave on site after completing a Fire Alarm maintenance is the legally binding document that says your alarm has been maintained to British Standards.
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Rob_Quads
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Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: southampton
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Whats the betting its a single server sitting in some datacenter somewhere with no replication to other sites i.e. very much not 'cloud'
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Ian
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Registered: 28th Aug 99
Location: Liverpool
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Used to be called a database when I was a lad.
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Rob_Quads
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Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: southampton
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So old school lol
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Toby
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Registered: 29th Nov 05
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http://www.destinywireless.com/flash/
that it?
Really good actually. We had it implemented due to a massive MOD contract. Your company will design its own form in conjunction with Destiny for use with the pen and as you say it will be emailed to a pre determined list.
The 'review' stage that you are referring to (the correction of words/removal of hand writing and replacing of text) does need heavily modifying even for the neatest of scribers but that does depend on the volume of work to be writtern.
[Edited on 04-09-2012 by Toby]
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Gaz
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Registered: 24th Aug 03
Location: Widnes, Cheshire
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just give your guys tablets. cheaper, more reliable and is not going to fuck up when you employe an ex-doctor who cannot write for shit.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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You still need the tablets, the software, and the back end system, it could be a better solution depending on requirements but probably not cheaper.
If a piece of paper is required anyway the OP might very well be the best one.
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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quote:
Originally posted by Toby
http://www.destinywireless.com/flash/
that it?
Really good actually. We had it implemented due to a massive MOD contract. Your company will design its own form in conjunction with Destiny for use with the pen and as you say it will be emailed to a pre determined list.
The 'review' stage that you are referring to (the correction of words/removal of hand writing and replacing of text) does need heavily modifying even for the neatest of scribers but that does depend on the volume of work to be writtern.
[Edited on 04-09-2012 by Toby]
That's it I think or something very similar. I tried it as did 5 other people in the room, the conversion from hand writing to text was extremely impressive.
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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quote:
Originally posted by Gaz
just give your guys tablets. cheaper, more reliable and is not going to fuck up when you employe an ex-doctor who cannot write for shit.
How does that negate the requirement for a physical piece of paper?
I had a thought earlier actually. In a similar fashion to a kitchen designer/salesman what about giving them all iPhone's with that app and a small wireless A4 printer? I'm struggling to see a flaw with that other than the fact it will be thrown in the back of a van and bashed about. Much in the same way as the expensive pens would.
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M2RTY
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Registered: 25th May 01
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The guy who came to service my air con units was showing me his pen on the forms he was using
Only picked up numbers though, and he was on his 5th pen... £285 a time!
Plus his phone had turned its bluetooth off so it failed to upload lol
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