digital pen project managed by south african ministry of agriculture in partnership with xcallibre...
TRANSCRIPT
Digital Pen Project managed by South African Ministry of Agriculture in
Partnership with Xcallibre
Worlds Fastest Forms Processing Solutions!
Contact : Mr Tozamile LukhaloDirector: National Extension Reform South AfricaEmail : [email protected]
Outline
1. Welcome & Introduction
2. The Pilot Project - 2009
3. Why Digital Pen not Tablet?
4. Post Pilot Project success
5. Project Success – National Rollout
6. Advantages of using Digital Pen & Paper
7. Digital Pen & Paper Technology – How it works?
• Solution Flow
• The Digital Pen
• The Paper forms
8. Live System demonstration
9. Questions?
The Pilot Project - 2009
• Western Cape Department of Agriculture piloted use of Digital Pen Vs Tablets in
2009 for use in the completion, transfer, capture, storage and reporting of extension
advisory forms and related reports.• The aim was to find the most suitable technology to solve problems experienced:
• Difficulty monitoring and managing large field based teams and productivity
• Delays in receiving forms due to large distances from field to office including
lost forms and incomplete forms
• delays in capturing & processing forms
• insufficient info on forms for managers to assist extension officers, no photos
• difficulties of assessing information & reporting due to lack of ICT systems
• poor spatial planning due to lack of GPS coordinates
• No proof of onsite visits• The department wanted a real-time form capture/transfer solution with minimal
training, change management, support and implementation costs.
Why Digital Pen not Tablet?
• After a 3 month initial piloting of Digital Pens and Tablets to capture and transfer forms
the department choose to move forward with digital pens. Why?– Easy to use with little or no training required & Zero change to current work practice– Normal ink & normal paper - Paper copy/backup available– Very long device life (4 to 5 years) vs 1 to 2 tablet– Very long battery life (8 hours writing time)– No second hand resale value - Rarely stolen vs high risk tablet– Cheap vs tablet– Swap out warranty no delays on repairs/broken screen vs lengthy screen
replacement, etc tablet delays– Limited IT support required
Post Pilot Project Success
• The Western Cape then did a full rollout of digital pens to over 100 users • Xcallibre developed a project and farm monitoring system for the client using its digital pen
technology combined with GPS & camera enabled mobile phones.• The solution allows the department’s extension officers to register projects and then do
real time monitoring and provide support at regular site visits, while also attaching GPS
coordinates and photographs.• How do we solve the problems?:
• Difficulty monitoring & managing large field based teams/productivity – Real-time system
reporting - managers have visibility on staff movement/productivity
• Delays in receiving forms due to large distances from field to office including lost
forms/incomplete forms – Real-time transfer of forms to centralised database
• Delays in capturing & processing forms – Automated handwriting recognition software > 90 %
capture accuracy
• insufficient info on forms for managers to assist extension officers, no photos – Photo and GPS
attach allowed managers additional info for decision making
• difficulties of assessing information & reporting due to lack of ICT systems – Centralised online
forms portal allowed secure realt-time access to forms and reports
Project Success – National Rollout
• After the success of the Western Cape Digital Pen Project, DAFF and other 8 provinces
decided that the solution should be rolled out Nationally.• Starting in 2010 other 8 provinces began procuring solution and rolling out
Department Project Start Date Pens
Free State 25-Nov-11 150
Northern Cape 17-Nov-11 110
Western Cape 07-Jul-09 270
Eastern Cape 03-Jul-13 350
KwaZulu-Natal 10-Dec-11 974
Gauteng 25-Feb-11 160
Limpopo 04-Nov-11 700
North West 02-Nov-12 250
Mpumalanga 14-Nov-11 260
Advantages – Why use Xcallibre!
1. Documented & adopted extension methodology, roles & responsibilities,
deliverables, outcomes, etc
2. Real-time forms transfer & processing
3. Consolidated provincial databases of projects, farms, visits, commodities, etc
4. Consolidated national databases of projects, farms, visits, commodities, etc
5. Project and site visit administration system
6. Pre-defined reports, alerts (sms/email) exception reports at the click of a button
7. Track field workers using GPS coordinates, date/time & routes
8. Spatial (GIS) mapping of all form data & online mapping system
9. Visual representation of farm visits by attaching photos
10. No missing or duplicate forms using barcodes & phone validation
How it works- Digital Pen/Tablet?
OR
The Pen – Technical Data
Battery
Memory – 40 A4 Pages or 80 A5 Pages
Processor
InfraredCamera
Ink Cartridge and force sensor
Encrypted data transmission – 128 bit
Bluetooth transceiver/USB
Uses ink
Functions just like a normal
pen
Contains a digital camera
Takes pictures of pen strokes
only
Small data files
Secure data transfer
Bluetooth or USB
The Paper
1.8 mm
1.8
mm
• Small dots printed on ordinary paper• Images and text can be overprinted• Visually a slight grey tone on the paper• Non complex printing process –
Lazer/Litho/Digital• The pixels have an addressing system from
Anoto
The Digital Pen System
Questions ???