AMT Associates, Inc.

AMT Associates Case Studies

United States Patent and Trademark Office

PTO tracks who’s using what Inventory system lets the agency monitor both equipment and agency users

By Bill Murray
GCN Staff

A radio network inventory system running on handheld computers has brought the Patent and Trademark Office good grades from the Commerce Department’s inspector general.

In fiscal 1997, PTO did well in the IG’s annual inventory inspection, said George Naughton, president of AMT Associates of Arlington, Va., which assisted in building the system. The inspector general’s random tests measure an agency’s ability to track valuable items such as computers.

When PTO buys computers, fax machines, printers and small refrigerators, Naughton said, vendors ship them to a PTO warehouse. There, agency officials attach bar codes and record purchase order and warranty data.

PTO officials have gone “from walking around with a pad and pencil, trying to figure out where everything is, to having signed forms where everyone agrees” about the location of computers and other important property, Naughton said.
When employees leave the agency, the inventory systems can verify whether their workspaces have the same computer equipment as at the last inventory, he said.

Attitude adjustment
PTO has integrated its inventory system with a field engineering system and help desk. That has brought about a change in employee attitudes, according to one PTO official.

“A lot of individuals don’t want to take responsibility,” said Dawn Fields, a PTO program analyst. “Now we have the tools to make them take responsibility.”
For example, systems administrators can track when technicians arrive on site and what they are doing, she said.

Technicians use one of three handheld computer models, numbering 75 in all, from Psion Inc. of Concord, Mass. The HCR 900 is a long-range radio unit, the HC 120 works on a spread-spectrum radio network and the WorkAbout has an integrated laser scanner for batch data collection. All the units run Psion’s Epoc, a Unix-like multitasking operating system.

PTO users keep everything active on the unit, Naughton said. “They can scan while still inputting data. The radio can be transparent to the user,” he said.
On the cellular radio network, Psion users do not even need to dial in, Naughton said.

The handhelds have 512K to 1M of internal memory, and they hold up to 32M of flash electronically programmable read-only memory, using slide-in modules.
With flash EPROM, PTO administrators can write once and not worry about losing data, Naughton said, because no batteries are needed.

Technicians key inventory information into the handhelds. An Oracle7 Release 7.3 relational database stores data on up to 70,000 items, including bar codes, manufacturers, serial numbers, user names, buildings, and room and phone numbers, Naughton said.

The inventory system’s servers are three Hewlett-Packard Co. machines running Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0. One server runs the dispatch of field service personnel and links their handheld units.

Another server acts as a radio server for field inventory data. The third handles inventory reports.

The system’s software is written in Visual Basic. Other programs written in C tie the Oracle database to Epoc on the handhelds, Naughton said.

The agency has trained 100 technicians and 500 property custodians to use the system, Fields said.

“It works well; there’s just a training and learning curve,” she said.

Who and where
At installation, a field service worker enters user name as well as building, room and phone numbers, he said.

The dispatch system assigns bar codes to technicians as their personal identification. Administrators can track the servicing of PTO equipment via the bar codes.

Field engineers carry rugged handhelds with no moving parts, Naughton said. Inventory personnel carry more sensitive Psion laser products and can scan bar codes from as far as 3 feet away, he said.

PTO has spent about $2.5 million on the inventory system during the past three years, Fields said, primarily through a contract with AMT Associates.

This fiscal year, PTO officials will give the Commerce IG inventory reports signed by property custodians, Naughton said.

The state of the forms will be an important part of each property custodian’s annual review.

Agency officials plan to improve on the 1997 Commerce IG’s report, which gave
them the equivalent of a B grade, Naughton said.

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Dunkin Donuts

Market Sector:
Food Service

Application:
In-Store Franchise Management The Client

Dunkin' Donuts is the world's largest coffee shop chain and is famous for its donuts, muffins and bagels which are baked on the premises. The company was founded in 1950 and has been in the franchising business since 1955, operating over 4000 franchised outlets in 20 countries.

The Requirement
Dunkin' Donuts franchisees in the north-east of the United States wanted an easy to use system which would help them both with the running of their business and their reporting requirements to Dunkin' Donuts' accountants.

They had previously been using the Psion Organiser II hand held computer and wished to add a number of new features to their system. They wanted to automate their weekly cycle of stocktaking, inventory management, order entry and receipt of deliveries. Also, they wanted immediate visibility of the performance of their business in terms of labour and ingredients costs as percentages of sales. Finally they needed to be able to produce financial reports, on demand, for their own use and for submission to Dunkin' Donuts' accountants.

The Solution
The Organiser II had previously worked well and had set high standards in terms of price/performance and ease of use. The new system had to maintain these standards while offering higher performance to cater for the additional features required.

The Psion Workabout met these requirements in a light weight yet rugged and ergonomic package. The Franchise Data Collection System, as it has been called, comprises the Workabout hand held computer, a docking holster to provide for battery charging and the data connection to the Workabout, a parallel interface and a dot-matrix printer. The application software was developed by Psion Reseller, AMT Associates, who also tailored it to meet the specific needs of franchise owners.

The Benefits
Before installing the new system, Dunkin' Donuts' store managers calculated weekly inventory and labour usage manually. It took up to four days before inventory reports were sent to Dunkin' Donuts' accountants and would then take the accountants an hour to analyse each store's inventory usage from the paper reports. Using the Workabout, accurate inventory reports are available as soon as the physical stock-check has been completed.

The system holds a 400 item inventory database and price list and keeps a record of the previous week's inventory. It monitors inventory usage during the current week as well as recording labour costs. "With the Psion Workabout, the store manager has instant access to a full set of financial reports, so he can see at a glance exactly how his business is performing" said George Naughton, owner of AMT Associates, "whilst Dunkin' Donuts and the franchise owner benefit from faster and more accurate reporting".

The Future
AMT Associates plan to add a new module to allow orders to be uploaded over a modem as well as a facility to analyse the costs associated with spoiled products. A PC module is planned which will let store owners summarise the weekly results from multiple outlets.

Summary
The Franchise Data Collection system using the Psion Workabout has dramatically cut the store managers' administration and paperwork overhead. The stores are more productive whilst the franchise owners and Dunkin' Donuts have benefited from the improved quality and timeliness of the stores' reports. The Workabout hand held computer provides a highly effective tool for franchise data collection and a great deal more. The automation of regular and repetitive tasks, business management and regular reporting requirements have all produced substantial benefits for all concerned.

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