BIOMÉRIEUX
SOFTWARE FOR MOBILE CALIBRATION AND ADJUSTMENT OF UNCONNECTED PROBES
The project consisted in developing a client-rich application for preparing and issuing calibration certificates for temperature and pressure sensors and mobile software adaptation based on the Alter Mobile Systems (AMS) product, developed by Tana Corp, for measurement recording.
Total project duration : 4 months
The total cost of the project was 40 man-days
Details of the project :
Problematic
The Site Metrology Laboratory regularly checks the thermal and pressure probes on BioMérieux production sites. The calibration protocol calls for a measurement to be taken on the standard probe and on the measurement chain using a standardised generator (furnace, etc.).
Mission statement
The main objective of the project is to automate the capture of field information on mobile terminals and to generate calibration conformity certificates.
A client-rich application has been developed to enable the preparation of calibration interventions. These interventions are loaded on Motorola Windows Mobile terminals, which allow measurements to be taken using Alter Mobile Systems software. These measurements are loaded on the server where the technician can edit the conformity certificates of the probes.
Organization
For the realization of the project, 2 persons have been allocated :
- 1 Project manager, technical and functional manager
- 1 Development Engineers
This contract was executed entirely with Tana Corp resources dedicated to the project.
Main characteristics of the client
A global player in the field of in vitro diagnostics for over 40 years, BioMérieux offers diagnostic solutions (reagents, instruments and software) that determine the origin of a disease or contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety.
BioMérieux’s distribution network is present in more than 150 countries. The company is listed on Euronext Paris with sales of more than one billion euros per year.
Conduct of the project
Advice and support role provided throughout the project
- A real force of accompaniment: The organization of the project gives a primordial importance to the quality of the accompaniment, to make the customer benefit from the expertise and the know-how capitalized by Tana Corp on its projects of the same type.
- Consulting strength : Our solid experience on management applications in the field of distribution and fixed-price projects has enabled us to provide the customer with the best market practices in this field. Moreover, Tana Corp is a force of proposal in the highlighting of functional options likely to bring a strong functional added value.
- Expertise on mobile application: A large part of the application being developed on mobile/embedded hardware, Tana Corp brought all its know-how on the adaptation of the application ergonomics on a “small” screen in order to improve productivity.
Methodology proposed to validate the stages of the project from a customer’s point of view
Proposed project reporting
Weekly monitoring and monthly steering committee.
Tools chosen for the project management
Project Management: MS Project
Incident follow-up : BugX (based on Mantis http://www.mantisbt.org/)
Version and configuration tracking: SubVersion(http://subversion.tigris.org/)
Solution features
Business processes covered by the solution
- Calibration intervention preparation
- Measurement record
- Analysis of calibration data
- Issue of certificates of conformity
What were the most difficult features to implement ?
None.
Technical platform elements
Software package, software or development languages used
After analysis of all the constraints, Tana Corp proposed the realization of a custom application, based entirely on a Microsoft solution :
- Server: Microsoft .Net Framework, C# language, SQLServerCompact
- Mobile terminal: Alter Mobile Systems: C# compact framework
Reasons for the choice
- Microsoft .Net Compact Framework with C# : In order to improve productivity, the interface had to offer improved ergonomics. The choice of this technology, as well as the embedded hardware, was made in close collaboration with the customer.
Share of pre-existing developments used on which the Supplier capitalized to complete the project
Alter Mobile Systems: M.M.F.E. (Meta Embedded Form Engine) created by Tana Corp. in order to respond generically to the problem of remote data entry on mobile terminals (PDAs, Smartphones, laptops, Tablet PCs). A.M.S. offers a complete information management chain, from the moment the user has entered the data in the field to its centralized storage.
Challenges and key success factors
- Ergonomics : daily use of the application in a production context,
- Validation/Qualification : the data from the application is used to issue calibration certificates for probes supervising BioMérieux production.
Business result
Today the application is used in production and has made it possible to automate probe calibrations and avoid double paper-digital data capture
