Bret Joslyn, COO of Joslyn Manufacturing, uses Visual CE and his Pocket PC to stay on top of contact information, speed up job quotes and save time in his busy work schedule
Editor's note: This is based on an article submitted to me by SYWARE, the developers of Visual CE. The original was quite interesting and accurate, but I took another look at the product, checked the facts, re-interviewed Bret Joslyn, and re-wrote the article. It's an excellent,
user-friendly program for novice and professional database developers alike. --Rich Hall
The desktop PC transformed the way people lived and worked. At the same time it tied them down to a desk, a situation mobile professionals could not accept. They demanded increasingly smaller portable computers "luggables," notebooks, laptops and eventually handhelds and PDAs. But of necessity, the smaller devices lacked the power of a desktop PC. The continuing challenge to mobile professionals and those supporting them was (and is) to provide specific and effective business solutions on the smallest devices without spending a fortune developing them.
This was particularly important to Bret Joslyn, Chief Operating Officer of Joslyn Manufacturing of Macedonia Ohio (www.joslyn-mfg.com). Brett's company makes custom-formed plastic OEM components and point of purchase displays used in department stores nationwide. The custom-designed nature of his
products means that Bret has to deal with a constant flurry of job quotes,
purchase orders, and changing inventory.
Bret spends much of his workday out of the office and away from his desktop PC. And whether he's visiting customers in the field or checking out production on the manufacturing floor, he needs to be able to enter
and access critical information quickly. Originally, he carried folders, and relied on his memory and scraps of paper to keep track of details. Brett tried using a laptop PC, but found it too cumbersome. He settled on the Casio E-105 Palms-size PC (www.casio.com/personalpcs)
and recently added a Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC (www.compaq.com/products/handhelds).
He says he loves the iPAQ's size and screen, but still uses the Casio E-105 because of its built-in CompactFlash slot.
Needs critical information with him all the time
Bret's goal was to have critical inventory and manufacturing information with him all the time. "For me, this means knowing what I have, where I'm getting it from, and what I need to be doing with it." All this information was available on databases in his desktop PC and Bret set out to find a way to take it with him on his Palm-size and then Pocket PC.
Research in magazines and on the Internet led him to a number of applications that could interface with his desktop PC. Bret originally
looked at Ptab (a spreadsheet program for the Palm-size PCs;
www.z4soft.com); Pocket DB (a simple database program without synchronization capability;
http://members.aol.com/doanc/dbce.html); and PocketCard (the Pocket PC
version of obbase from
www.obsolution.com/download.htm). He settled on Visual CE, an intuitive database and forms building tool for Pocket, Palm-size and Handheld PCs, from SYWARE (www.syware.com). "In searching for a database program, I found that Visual CE was the one that was touted the most. Now I see why, because it's so easy to use."
Tracking purchase orders
Bret first used Visual CE to develop an application to keep track of purchase orders. He used Visual CE's drag and drop design functionality
to define his own tables and data forms (see Screen 1). He was also able to designate index fields to search for records alphabetically, by date, or by other criteria. "It was incredibly easy to set things up and move things around," he notes.
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