Introduction

Most workers today are truly mobile and don’t always have a computer terminal where they perform their work. Laptops are too bulky for many situations and Internet connectivity is not always available.

Quality Data’s PocketForms system offers a complete and cost-effective solution that lets you easily extend your business processes onto Pocket PC devices in the hands of your mobile work force. With no database or computer programming skills, and in a matter of minutes, you can create forms for collecting or sharing information, very much like you are used to doing with Microsoft Office.

These forms can be distributed to any number of mobile users who can read or fill them out with our free Pocket PC software. Since completed or partially completed forms can be sent by e-mail, you can easily implement your approval workflow between mobile workers in the field.

When a form arrives back at the office, collected data can be printed using Microsoft Word templates designed to match your standard company forms. The built-in data viewer lets you report on all your collected data and includes features for printing and exporting to popular formats such as XML or Microsoft Access.

How can we help you?

With PocketForms, you can quickly and easily create forms for performing:

• Inspections
• Surveys
• Field research
• Work orders
• Customer service engagements
  

You’ll have everything you need to build and deliver information and data entry forms that are tailored to work the way you do.

Since it is designed to easily integrate with existing line of business applications, you have a path for immediate improvements in efficiency and productivity.

Best of all, it’s built on standard hardware and uses non-proprietary software technologies in order to leverage your existing infrastructure.

What makes PocketForms Unique?

PocketForms is so easy to use that even the casual user can create good looking and useful Pocket PC data collection forms. When you need to perform a special inspection or a series of first run tests, you won’t have to hire a team of programmers to write a custom data-entry tool. With automatic revision control built right-in, you can even comply with quality requirements.

While it may look like you are working with a database, the data you collect is actually kept in separate XML documents for maximum portability. This means that an individual data form can be transferred between Pocket PC users via Email, Infra-red or simply by swapping memory cards.

PocketForms is flexible in a number of ways but ultimately, it’s all about getting critical business information back to the business. We provide options for saving right into a centralized database server, synchronizing a batch of collected data forms over the Internet, Emailing collected data to the home office and also for synchronizing with your PC or Laptop.

If you require your collected information to wind up in an existing system, you are going to love our pluggable application framework which lets you easily extend on the built-in capabilities.

Which edition fits your needs (1/2)

PocketForms is available in two versions.

The Professional Edition is used to gather information from a small number of mobile users or when centralized connectivity is not required. The software runs on a PC or Laptop computer and can synchronize with a Pocket PC that has been connected using Microsoft ActiveSync.

If your Pocket PC device cannot be physically docked with your PC, you can also use Email to send or receive forms.

The program lets you review the collected information in a number of ways. For example, you can use our “emulator” to see how the form looked on the device. You can review a “spreadsheet-like” listing of collected data and export it for import into programs such as Microsoft Access or Microsoft Excel.

Of course, any forms you create will work with our free Pocket PC viewing software.

Which edition fits your needs (2/2)

The Enterprise Edition builds on the features of PocketForms Professional with additional functionality needed for a distributed mobile work force.

The software you install on your PC or Laptop is known as the “Enterprise Manager” and can connect over the Internet to what is known as a “Web Service”. When you have an Internet connection available, you can log into the “web service” to review information and download forms placed there by others. When you are working off-line, you can continue to use all the features you would have in our Professional Edition.

While working online, you can manage the list of remote users who should be allowed to synchronize with the server from their Pocket PC. You can also set up “distribution groups” that define who should get each type of form whenever they sync up.

On the back end, the Web Service stores its information in a SQL Server database and is therefore available for other purposes. Thanks to our “Application Provider Model”, you can change the behavior of the web service to plug in your own handling of arriving data. Our Sharepoint Bridge uses this capability, for example, to route collected data over into a Windows Sharepoint Portal List.

And as with the Professional Edition, any forms you create will work with our free Pocket PC viewing software.

How does it work (1/4)?

Let’s take a brief look at the product usage cycle. First, anyone with a copy of PocketForms Professional or PocketForms Enterprise Manager can create custom data forms. If you are using Enterprise Manager, you can publish the form up to the web service.

How does it work (2/4)?

We can push out selected forms onto the Pocket PC devices using Active Sync or Email. If we are using the PocketForms Enterprise System, the Pocket PC will “pull” the latest revisions of any forms that are to be distributed to the person logging in.

How does it work (3/4)?

Out in the field, our mobile users fill out our forms with rich information including photos and handwritten signatures. A form can be sent to another mobile user for additional data entry if required.

How does it work (4/4)?

Once a filled-out form has been received, we can use PocketForms Professional or PocketForms Enterprise Manager to review the collected information. If the form was saved up to the web service, we can use PocketForms Enterprise Manager to view it and also to save it locally for offline review.

Summary

Whether you choose the Professional Edition as a simple way to collect information or the Enterprise Edition for a distributed and integrated solution, we know you will be satisfied with the performance of our product and our level of service.