Data collection with PI Manual Logger Mobile 2012

You use PI Manual Logger Mobile 2012 to enter data manually into a Windows Mobile device. Additionally, if your device has a scanning component (including RFID), the barcode feature permits scanning barcodes to identify tags or groups to enter data.

Data collection with PI Manual Logger Mobile 2012 works as follows:

• You download tour definitions from PI Manual Logger PC to a Windows mobile device.

• You use the downloaded tour definitions to collect data on the tags in a tour run. A tour run is a set of values, comments, and associated timestamps you collect on the mobile device for each tag in the tour.

• After it is completed, the tour run is uploaded to the PI Manual Logger database, where the data can be reviewed and edited before it is transmitted to PI Data Archive. Alternatively, PI Manual Logger can be configured to transmit the collected data to PI Data Archive automatically after the tour runs have been transferred to the PI Manual Logger database.

Wireless data transfer

If a mobile device has a network connection to the server that hosts PI Manual Logger Web Services, you can initiate wireless data transfer from that device, as described in Wireless data transfer from a mobile device.

Data entry methods

PI Manual Logger Mobile 2012 supports the following Windows Mobile device input methods:

• Soft Keyboard

• Character, Letter, or Block Recognizer

• Microsoft Transcriber

• Hardware Keyboard (attached or built-in)

In addition, several third-party soft keyboards—large keys and numbers-only keyboards—and other data entry methods, such as barcode scanners, work well with PI Manual Logger Mobile 2012.

Mobile device barcode scanning

Barcodes can be used as aliases for individual tags or tag groups for the data collection points. During manual data collection, when you scan a barcode, PI Manual Logger Mobile 2012 jumps to the data entry screen for the tag or group associated with the barcode.

Note: Barcode scanning hardware varies. Refer to your device's user manual or consult with your hardware vendor to learn how to trigger your barcode scanner.

Barcodes are mapped to tag names and groups in the Tour Definition window in PI Manual Logger PC. Precisely how you enter data is dependent on which barcode tour options were selected when the tour was configured.

• If Barcode, if assigned, must be scanned or manually entered before data entry is allowed is selected, you must scan a barcode associated with a tag or tag group before you can enter data for it. The data entry screen is locked until you scan a barcode.

• If Display barcode enter screen before data entry screen is selected for a tour in which a barcode is associated with every tag, a barcode screen is displayed on your mobile device for each tag in a tour. The data entry screen for the associated tag is only displayed after you have scanned a barcode.

• If Use barcode scanning for navigation instead of data entry on data entry screen is selected for a tour, when you scan a barcode on the device entry screen, PI Manual Logger navigates to the tag that is associated with that barcode but does not record a value for that tag (available only on specific Motorola Symbol devices only).

Conditional checking

An operator can disable all conditional checking (Clock Scheduling and CMDE) on a mobile device in order to collect tour run data without the automatic display of only tags that are due, and without prompts for collection of empty tags that are still due for collection based upon Clock Scheduling or CMDE. To do this, an operator should tap the Turn all scheduling off check box before clicking OK in the Start a new tour run screen.