Tim Santeford » Inventory

Document Management System (Developer & Graphic Designer)

Tim Santeford — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:39:51 +0000

I’m currently co-developing a massive enterprise level web application used by fortune 500 companies and government contractors. The application includes user roles and permissions, advanced reporting using separate reporting servers, custom APIs for interfacing with client internal systems, custom workflow processing for internal approval processes, inventory tracking, and regulatory threshold monitoring. The application includes fully customizable data driven forms that allow application engineers tailor the application for specific customer needs. The application also supports translation into over 900 languages and even allows customers to override any text with their own jargon.

As part of a 6 person development team, my primary roles are co-architect of core features, progressive enhancement specialist, and primary graphic designer.

Project Specs
Role	Developer/Graphic Designer
Platform	.Net 2.0/3.0
Database	SQL Server 2000/2005

UPC Inventory Tracking

Tim Santeford — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:48:33 +0000

This thick client / server project was developed as an inventory package to be used in a touch screen environment. The client application takes advantage of WPF animation effects to create a fluid and user friendly interface. The server side is a PC based web service connected to a SQL Server 2005 database. The system was designed to track location and inventory based on UPCs or custom barcodes that uniquely identify containers. The client application is capable of generating and printing labels to affix to containers found without barcodes. The client application synchronizes via wireless or cellular network when a connection becomes available.

SQL Server Express proved to be a good choice for the client side data storage and ran surprisingly fast with large data sets event on portable 1.3Ghz mobile device. I was able to achieve sub minute synchronization times by using a streamline serialization method developed in an earlier inventory project. I would highly recommend using the Toughbook U1 to anyone in need of a fast and rugged portable solution.

Hardware
Panasonic Toughbook U1

Project Specs
Role	Sole Developer
Platform	WPF
Database	Client: SQL Express/Server: SQL Server
Database Size	15 tables with record counts in the 50k-100k range

RFID Inventory Tracking

Tim Santeford — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:55:48 +0000

This project consists of two parts: a PPC client application and a PC base web service. The system was designed to track location and quantities of chemical inventory. The client application is capable of two way synchronization and is designed to be taken into the field where there will be no network connection. The application is capable of collecting and queuing up an enormous amount of container scan events. Once an entire room or location is scanned the interface allows the user to page through the details of each captured container. The detail screen allows the user to view associated data, set the fill level, and or and highlight the container for disposal. Written specifically to run on a Symbol MC9090-G handheld, the client application worked with linear and 2D barcodes as well as RFID Tags.

I overcame efficiency problems with Microsoft’s built in serialization mechanism by devising my own custom serialization/de-serialization methods. This enhancement cut web synchronization time by 10 ten times. By fully utilizing the relational database capabilities of SQLce, I was able to create a clean and highly productive interface that allows users full access to the company’s entire product and container catalog.

Hardware
Symbol MC9090-g RFID Scanner

Project Specs
Role	Sole Developer
Platform	Windows Mobile 6 .Net/Windows NT .Net
Database	SQLce/SQL Server
Database Size	15 tables with record counts in the 10k-100k range

Note to furture RFID developers: Gen 2 tags have a about a 80-85% read rate at about 5 feet in my real world tests with the 9090-G. Tags on metal containers like paint cans had about a 2 foot directional range. Of course tags inside metal cabinets are impossible to read.