PC Companions Eliminate
Paper and Save Money

PrimeSource Building Products uses LG Handheld PCs and Visual CE database software to make their merchandising team more effective.

BY JOHN M. PHILLIPS

Imagine three thousand pieces of paper being dropped on your desk every month. Now imagine one hundred tidbits of important information on every sheet of paper that must be read, tabulated, sorted and summarized by hand. Sound impossible? It was, at one time, for the PrimeSource Building Products merchandising team, but not any longer.

PrimeSource Building Products, a leader in the wholesale building products distribution industry, employs a fleet of merchandisers whose job is to regularly visit major retail chains within the industry and service the products that PrimeSource distributes. With each visit, a Service Call Report (SCR) is filled out that details the results of the store visit and concludes with the signature of an authorized store representative. Once a week, each PrimeSource merchandiser would mail his or her stack of SCR forms to the Corporate headquarters. One or two staff members would sort the hundreds of SCR forms, read through each and every report, retrieve a sample of random forms for analysis, then file the forms away. It has been an arduous process that has required an enormous amount of manpower and cost. Because of the volume of information, accurate assessment of the effectiveness of the merchandising fleet has been nearly impossible.

Selecting components for the SCR system

What PrimeSource has been looking for is a way to easily capture the SCR data at the point of service, including the authorized signature of the store representative, and transmit that data to headquarters where it could be used as real information. The emerging use and advances of Handheld Personal Computer (H/PC) technology seemed to be an ideal solution to alleviate the manual paper system deficiencies. For starters, the H/PC is able to capture electronic signatures using its touch screen technology. More than that, the H/PC is capable of data transmission by a modem with Dial-Up Networking (DUN). Last, the operating system of an H/PC, Windows CE, has a Graphical User Interface (GUI) front end that is easy to use and intuitive. These three components were required of any solution in order for the project to be a success.

While there are many software tools available within Windows CE and an H/PC, the one thing that was painfully missing (from the earlier Windows CE 2.0 Handheld PCs ) was a database application, complete with GUI front end. Fortunately there are a number of database applications available from third-party developers. Several were evaluated and Visual CE^tm from Syware, Inc. was chosen because of its easy to construct user interface and its inherent ODBC drivers for Windows^® CE. (Syware has recently announced the release of Visual CE 4.0, more information at www.syware.com).

The next decision point in the project was to decide exactly which H/PC would be used for the PrimeSource merchandising fleet. Again, there are many, many choices of H/PC units. After careful examination of the affordable choices in the marketplace, the LG Phenom Express from LG Electronics (www.lgphenom.com) was chosen because of its ample memory (8mb); spacious keyboard; its large, bright backlight touchscreen; and built-in 21.6 MHz modem.

Building and testing the SCR system

Once the database software and hardware platform had been chosen, the next step was to actually build the database application. The development of Visual CE applications is done on a desktop unit using Windows 95 or Windows NT. Input fields on the Visual CE form must be tied to fields in a relational database. Visual CE provides a quick and easy way to create databases, which are then downloaded to the H/PC (or Palm-size PC). Once the database definitions were complete, an electronic replica of the paper SCR form was constructed, downloaded to the H/PC and then tested for accuracy. The data collected with the electronic form is kept in the memory of the H/PC and will remain there as a backup. The real power of Visual CE comes in its ability to synchronize with any ODBC compliant database, like Microsoft Access. All that is required prior to the first synchronization is an ODBC definition telling Visual CE which relational database to synchronize with. Using Windows CE Services, Visual CE will synchronize the database information stored in the H/PC with Microsoft Access tables. It will even create the Microsoft Access tables for you on the first synchronization, saving a great deal of time and effort.

The application was tested thoroughly and two H/PC units were configured and installed with the electronic SCR application. The H/PC units were assigned to two merchandisers with territories close to headquarters, and they put the application to the test. The use of H/PC technology was a welcome addition and generated genuine excitement as it was demonstrated to store personal. The electronic signatures of an authorized store representative, naturally, was key to a general acceptance of electronic service call reports.

Remote data transmission a must

While capturing the SCR data on the H/PC was a success in itself, the real value of the project was the ability to accumulate and organize the SCR information accurately - and quickly! That meant that our nation-wide fleet of merchandisers had to be able to transmit their SCR data electronically, not in a paper fashion. Windows CE Services and Visual CE made a perfect combination when it came to remote data transmissions.

A Windows NT machine was set up at headquarters with Windows CE Services and Visual CE to act as the recipient for each merchandiser's SCR data. Remote Access Services (RAS) was configured on the NT machine to accept dial-up connections from each H/PC, complete with NT authentication. Each H/PC was set up with a dial-up networking entry to be able to connect to the NT machine. A nice feature of Visual CE is its ability to automatically synchronize ODBC data on connection to Windows CE. When an H/PC dials the NT machine, Visual CE will begin synchronizing the SCR data in the H/PC with the Access tables residing on the NT machine with no intervention. Once synchronization is complete, the merchandiser terminates his or her connection. Some back end processes were added to gather up all the SCR records and save them off into a single history table for easy reporting.

A smooth roll out

The roll out and implementation of the project was very smooth. Each H/PC was configured and tested at the corporate headquarters. Specific customers were added to each merchandiser's Access tables and an initial synchronization was performed before shipping out the H/PC units to the field. The merchandisers were trained in large groups across the nation, using PowerPoint presentations. Each merchandiser was given an internally-developed user manual, which covered every facet of the H/PC, the electronic SCR application and data synchronization. Even the most novice computer user was able to use this application and easily transmit SCR data. Throughout the testing phase of the project, there were no discernible problems.

Once the application was rolled to the fleet of merchandisers, synchronization problems started appearing. In some instances, the merchandisers were prematurely terminating the data connection to the NT machine before the synchronization had finished. In other instances, the connection would simply "drop" for no explained reason. In either instance, the merchandiser is instructed to attempt synchronization again. If it does not work the first time, it usually will work again on the second or even third try. Work continues with Microsoft and Syware to find a permanent solution, which will allow synchronization the first time, every time.

Every project has its lessons. For simplicity's sake it was the intent to have only one set of global tables that each and every merchandiser would synchronize against. Since each merchandiser has a unique set of customers, a unique name and a unique servicing distribution center, it was not possible to do this. Ultimately, four distinct tables were set up for each and every merchandiser and their H/PC would synchronize against only those tables. On a nightly basis, all the individual SCR tables are merged together into one table for reporting purposes.

Another good use of the platform emerged that saves the Company even more time and dollars. Each week, a 10-minute voice-mail message, giving instructions to the merchandisers, was recorded by the Merchandising Coordinator and sent out. This "merchandising hotline" voice mail system was replaced with a Visual CE form. Each time a merchandiser sends his or her SCR data to the NT machine, the "hotline" information is sent down to the H/PC, allowing the merchandiser to read the information at his or her leisure, rather than franticly writing the information down as it is heard on the phone.

A cost-saving success

A natural accompaniment to the H/PC units would be the ability to print. With Windows CE 2.0, the ability to print was built into the operating system. There are portable, infrared printers that are now reaching the marketplace that make a logical companion to the H/PC. One such unit, a DPU-3445 battery-powered thermal printer from Seiko has tested very well so far. With this new technology, merchandisers would be able to create a hard copy of their work, including printing SCR data to be left at the store, the merchandising hotline information, Pocket Word, Pocket Excel and Pocket Outlook documents, as well as E-mail and faxes.

The use of H/PCs to gather remote point-of-sale merchandising information has proven to be a viable solution. As with all information systems, what you do with the data determines how successful the project is. In terms of dollar savings, PrimeSource is enjoying the luxury of eliminating a great deal of paper (and printing costs), long distance phone bills, postage costs and manpower associated with sorting and filing paper. The integration of operating system platforms (Windows CE, 95/98, and NT) make the building of true information systems easy and affordable. New applications for Windows CE are arriving almost daily and with them comes the ability to utilize H/PC technology with a much broader audience.

For PrimeSource Building Products, the project is a success and puts the Company well ahead of its competitors. Other areas of the business may benefit as well from this platform, including the outside sales force. With the rapid changes in Windows CE, PrimeSource is evaluating using other units to replace the current H/PC technology that may involve larger, color screens and more functionality. In any event, the emergence of the H/PC has become a positive contribution to PrimeSource and will continue to be that way for a very long time to come.

John Phillips is currently the Vice President of Information Services and Chief Information Officer of Processors Unlimited, Inc., an industry-leading reverse distribution and logistics firm located in Dallas, Texas. Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Phillips served as the Director of MIS for PrimeSource Building Products, Inc. and held several key positions with Frito-Lay, Inc. and Texas Instruments, Inc. Mr. Phillips resides in Plano, Texas along with his wife, Kay, and children Jordan, Will and Christian.