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San Bernardino Human Services will use RFID and barcode systems to help its employees track warehouse documents and property. The department plans to begin testing the system on September 4, with the system going live in January 2008.
Each file in the department contains several documents detailing each resident who receives food assistance or financial assistance. When a document is no longer in use, it remains in the department’s office for 90 days before it is sent to the repository. Even now, there are 1.5 million invalid documents in the five data warehouses of the Department of Human Services in San Bernardino. Now, the department is consolidating the documents into a large warehouse with 10 rows of data racks 160 feet long and 19 inches high.
Danny Tillman, manager of the department’s information services, said the documents are often needed for state hearings or the State Department of Human Services, but recovering them is a time-consuming and laborious job. Warehouse staff must shuttle between rows of material racks to check the codes on the side of the file boxes. It’s possible that the file box is misplaced or is being used by someone else, making the job of finding the file even more difficult.
In order to facilitate file storage and speed up the recovery of inquiries, the department adopts a digital RFID asset file tracking system (Digital RFID Asset File Tracking). The operation of this system requires the application of integrated services, hardware, system software and GlobeRanger provided by Lowry Computer Products. Sensor middleware, iMotion Edgeware platform.
Tillman also said that Human Services staff will use eight RFID entry readers, two RFID label printing encoders, and six handheld single-pieces with barcode and RFID reading capabilities. In this way, staff can know where the required file is in the file box and where it is located and find it quickly.
When the invalid documents arrive at the document warehouse, the workers put 7-15 documents into a file box and affix the Loery Intelligent Tracking UHF Second Generation Electronic Product Code (EPC Gen2 UHF) RFID tag, which contains an electronic product coded and imprinted with a bar ID number. The unique RFID and bar code on the label links the Human Services management system to the file name in the file box. Once the boxes are placed on the rack, staff can use a handheld device to find the RFID or barcode on the label, scan the label on the rack where the box is located, and record their exact location.
This label can simply print a bar code, or it can also include an RFID tag, but either way, an identification code can be generated that facilitates the management of the location of the file box. Computers and other property in the warehouse will also be affixed with RFID tags or barcode ID codes, and data related to these items will be stored in the same way. Thereafter, if any tagged item is removed from the database, the door-mounted entry reader intercepts the unique ID number on the RFID tag and connects via an ethernet cable to transmit the data to the Department of Human Services’ commercial database configuration On the software (SQL database server).
RFID is the primary technology for identifying file boxes, Mendoza said, but bar codes will also be used as an aid. Barcode scanners can be used when RFID tags are mishandled, he said. Conversely, if the file box is placed on a very high shelf, and the label sight line cannot be found (scanned barcode is not readable), in this case, the handheld device will use the RFID function.
Before use, several RFID interrogators and printers are tested to see which works better, said Steve Ells, vice president of professional services at Lowry Computer Products. Once the system is in operation, Human Services can look up documents online based on their file box codes.
The file repository will develop a list of discarded files and classify them according to their location in the repository. The order in which the files are arranged should serve the warehouse operator to restore the files most efficiently. The operator then takes the file out of the file box, signs it in the DRAFT System, and consolidates all the files for those in need.
The IMotion middleware interprets the property and file box ID numbers captured and transmits the data to the back-end system of the Human Services Department. The Lowry software translates the data and then provides it to the back-end storage system, as well as the website as a A basic front-end system so that the warehouse and its staff can monitor the movement of every document and item of property in and out of the warehouse.
A Department of Human Services web service provider will be responsible for the DRAFT application. Lowry will also provide the Department of Human Services with a website-based dashboard that displays deferred properties and documents (property and documents that have been taken out of storage for too long), re-boxing needs, and waiting for human services The department decides the order of file boxing. Mendoza, a business application manager for Human Services, said the application dashboard, human services or warehouse operators, can tell if a file or box has been moved.
The Department of Human Services is phasing in electronic archiving of its documents. Half of the documents that enter the archives are now archived electronically, and the other half are still stored in the warehouse in the form of copies. This, Mendoza said, would greatly reduce the number of documents stored in warehouses. Eventually, the department hopes to electronically archive all documents, phasing out the warehouse system.
Next month, the Department of Human Services will clarify system requirements and test hardware feasibility. By January 2008, the system was fully operational, with tags on property and file boxes being tracked through RFID technology and bar codes, Ells said. Including hardware, software, and middleware, the total cost of the system is expected to be $153,000. Although the department has so far provided no specific return on investment estimates, Tillman touts improvements in document recovery efforts, where a single employee in the warehouse can do what now takes three or four people to complete.
The Department of Human Services hopes to further expand the use of the system, allowing employees to use ID badges containing EPC Gen2 RFID chips. In this way, when an employee takes a document or file box out of the warehouse, the warehouse entry can be recorded. However, the specific date for the system to be used for this purpose has not yet been determined.
Susan King, GlobeRanger’s vice president of business development, said Lowry and GlobeRanger are working together to differentiate DRAFT from the crowd.
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