ME40321 - Paul Wallace - The Use of QR Codes for Document Management in Safety-Critical Industries
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ME40321: PROJECT REPORT
THE USE OF QR CODES FOR DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT IN SAFETY-CRITICAL INDUSTRIES Paul Wallace 19/04/2011
Supervisor:
Stephen Culley
Co-Supervisor:
Hamish McAlpine
Department of Mechanical Engineering FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND DESIGN
FINAL YEAR MEng PROJECT REPORT
The Use of QR Codes for Document Management in Safety-critical Industries Paul Wallace 19/04/2011
“I certify that I have read and understood the entry in the Student Handbook for the Department of Mechanical Engineering on Cheating and Plagiarism and that all material in this assignment is my own work, except where I have indicated with appropriate references. I agree that, in line l ine with Regulation 15.3(e), if requested I will submit an electronic copy of this work for submission
to a Plagiarism Detection Service for quality assurance purposes.”
Author’s signature: …………………………. Supervisor: Prof. S.J. Culley Assessor: Dr. H.C. McAlpine
The Use of Barcodes for Document Management in Safety-Critical Industries
Report Document Contextual Information (Metadata) Static QR Code, which contains the restricted document metadata set of: Description, Master Author, Creation Date, Title, Subject, Classification/Type, Language, Format and Publisher.
Report Document Status Information Dynamic QR Code, which displays information on document version, approval status and historic editing events. Report Document Storage Information Dynamic QR Code, which displays information on document location, access rights, and archiving.
Report Document Reference Information Dynamic QR Code, which displays information on references contained within the report.
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SUMMARY Whilst systems for the management of electronic documents are commonplace in industry, their integration with existing paper document management is often overlooked. overlooked. This can lead to many issues such as the loss of design rationale during annotation; the use of documents which have been superseded since printing; and the inability to verify the context of a printed resource. This project considers the application of Quick Response barcodes to rapidly and reliably bridge the gap between a static paper document and these dynamic electronic systems. A set of concepts for revising existing document management processes processes are produced following a review of popular document management software packages; interviews of current engineers; and an analysis of the literature concerning the cause of failures. The most promising areas for the application of barcodes suggested include the storage of and access to metadata, version control and referencing. The methods for applying barcodes to these concepts are investigated through a period of self-testing and reflection; structured structured testing of the barcodes and associated display and scanning technologies; and a questionnaire concerning information information importance and useful features. The primary factors affecting barcode display size were found to be the resolution of monitors and their production on inkjet printers. A set of guidelines are generated regarding the minimum barcode size for reliable implementation implementation with various hardware. A final system for the management of an engineering report is then proposed, along with an example systems architecture architecture and interface, i nterface, which are applied to this report document. A method which can be adopted by industry for the deployment of a barcode-enabled document management system is then suggested, with a set of supporting recommendations. recommendations.
To read the barcodes throughout this report, an ‘app’ for Smartphones can be downloaded for free from: http://www.i-nigma.mobi
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CONTENTS 1
2
3
4
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1
Issues with Document Management Management ........................................... ..................... ........................................... ........................................... ................................ .......... 1
1.2
Barcodes and Associated Associated Technology ........................................... ..................... ........................................... ........................................... ............................. ....... 2
1.3
Aims and Objectives ................................................................................................................................ 3
1.4
Project Outline ........................................................................................................................................... 3
1.5
Report Contents and Structure........................................................................................................... 5
1.5.1
Summary of Literature Literature Review............................................ ...................... ........................................... ........................................... ................................ .......... 5
1.5.2
Summary of Technology Review......................................... ................... ............................................ ........................................... ............................... .......... 5
1.5.3
Summary of Application Definition Definition and Investigation.......................................... Investigation..................... ............................... .......... 5
1.5.4
Summary of Application Method Development ................................................................. ................................................................. 5
1.5.5
Summary of Overall Results and Integrated Approach Proposal............................... ..................... .......... 5
1.5.6
Summary of Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 6
Literature Review .............................................................................................................................................. 7 2.1
Document Management Management in Engineering ........................................... ..................... ........................................... ........................................... ......................... ... 7
2.2
Document Management Management Software............................................ ...................... ............................................ ............................................ ................................... ............. 7
2.3
Metadata ...................................................................................................................................................... 9
2.4
Software Design ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Technology Review ........................................................................................................................................ 11 3.1
Databases ................................................................................................................................................. 11
3.2
PDA and Smartphones ........................................................................................................................ 11
3.3
Alternative Technologies Technologies to Barcodes........................................... ..................... ........................................... ........................................... .......................... .... 12
3.4
Barcodes and Interpretation ............................................................................................................ 13
3.5
Quick Response (QR) Barcodes ....................................................................................................... 15
Investigation and Definition of Potential Barcode Applications Applications .......................................... ..................... ............................ ....... 17 4.1
Targeted Review of Literature Literature and Failure Cases .......................................... .................... ............................................ ......................... ... 17
4.1.1 4.2
Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 18
Document Management Software Package Analysis.............................................................. Analysis.............................................................. 18
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4.2.1
Goals and Methodology Methodology............................................ ...................... ............................................ ............................................ ........................................... ..................... 18
4.2.2
Results .............................................................................................................................................. 19
4.2.3
Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 21
4.3
4.3.1
Goals and Methodology Methodology............................................ ...................... ............................................ ............................................ ........................................... ..................... 21
4.3.2
Results and Discussion .............................................................................................................. 24
4.3.3
Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 27
4.4
5
Potential Barcode Barcode Application Concepts Concepts .......................................... .................... ............................................ ........................................... ..................... 28
4.4.1
Concept 1 - Review Annotation Capture Capture............................................ ...................... ........................................... ................................ ........... 29
4.4.2
Concept 2 - Existence and Archiving Archiving ............................................ ...................... ........................................... ....................................... .................. 30
4.4.3
Concept 3 - Print Tracking ....................................................................................................... 31
4.4.4
Concept 4 - Dynamic Reference Storage ............................................ ...................... ........................................... ................................ ........... 32
4.4.5
Concept 5 - Version Verification............................................................................................ 33
4.4.6
Concept 6 - Process Control and Feedback........................................... ..................... ........................................... ............................ ....... 34
4.4.7
Concept 7 - Metadata Access .................................................................................................. 35
Development of Methods Methods for Applying Barcodes.......................................... .................... ............................................ .................................... .............. 36 5.1
Self-Testing of Concepts ..................................................................................................................... 36
5.1.1
Goals and Methodology Methodology............................................ ...................... ............................................ ............................................ ........................................... ..................... 36
5.1.2
Results and Discussion .............................................................................................................. 40
5.1.3
Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 44
5.2
Barcode Function Testing .................................................................................................................. 45
5.2.1
Goals and Methodology Methodology............................................ ...................... ............................................ ............................................ ........................................... ..................... 45
5.2.2
Results and Discussion .............................................................................................................. 50
5.2.3
Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 54
5.3
6
Engineer Interviews ............................................................................................................................. 21
Information Importance Importance and Usefulness Questionnaire .................................... .................. 55
5.3.1
Goals and Methodology Methodology............................................ ...................... ............................................ ............................................ ........................................... ..................... 56
5.3.2
Results and Discussion .............................................................................................................. 59
5.3.3
Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 61
Overall Results and Integrated Approach Approach Proposal ......................................... ................... ............................................ ................................ .......... 63
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6.1
Proposed System System Components Components ........................................... ..................... ............................................ ............................................ ....................................... ................. 63
6.2
Proposed Systems Systems Architecture Architecture ......................................... ................... ............................................ ............................................ ....................................... ................. 64
6.3
Proposed Interface Design ................................................................................................................ 71
6.4
Proposed Deployment Deployment Method........................................... ..................... ............................................ ............................................ ....................................... ................. 74
7
Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................................... 75 7.1
Motivation For Project ........................................................................................................................ 75
7.2
Aims and Objectives ............................................................................................................................. 75
7.3
Methods and Main Findings.............................................................................................................. 76
7.4
Recommendations Recommendations To Industry.......................................... .................... ............................................ ............................................ ....................................... ................. 78
8
Further Work .................................................................................................................................................... 80
9
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................ 81
10
References ..................................................................................................................................................... 82
11
Appendices ................................................................................................................................................... 87
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1
INTRODUCTION
An article in Business Week in 1975 entitled The Office of the Future suggested that there would be a massive drive towards a paperless office within the coming years (anon, 1975). Yet over three decades on and despite the advances in computing such as e-mail and word processing along with the legal acceptance of digital si gnatures (BERR, 2002), paper consumption in Europe has grown by 2.9% per annum over the last fifteen years (Confederation (Confederation of European Paper Industries, 2010). Alternative technologies technologies which replicate and enhance the affordances affordances of paper are emerging (Heikenfeld et al., 2011), but the Hype Cycle from Gartner, a research specialist in various technologies, predicts that they will not be in mainstream adoption for between two and five years (King, 2010). It is i s therefore necessary to accept the future role of paper in engineering, and consider technologies and processes to bridge the gap between the printed physical world and the rapidly-changing rapidly-changing virtual world, i.e. “we should work towards a future in which paper and electronic document tools work in concert and organizational processes make optimal use of both” (Sellen and Harper, 2003).
1. 1
ISSUES WITH DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
The most significant problem with paper documents is that they are a static record. This often manifests itself through the invalidation of references when files are moved. A typical strategy to deal with this is the use of a Document Management System (DMS), where processes or technologies are employed to manage both paper and electronic documents. documents. Despite these systems, and often as a result of them, around “30% of engineers’ time is spent accessing information.” (Lowe et al.) By linking paper documents to electronic systems, their use can be enhanced with the beneficial characteristics and functions available only to electronic documents, documents, such as: the storage of large amounts of information; widespread and remote access; fast, exhaustive searching; flexible, systematic viewing and sorting; quick links to related materials; and dynamically updating or modifying content. A robust document management system is crucial within safety-critical industries, where the “failure of such systems can lead to injury or death” (McGettrick et al. , 2000). These industries include, but are not limited to, the automotive, aeronautical, medical, petrochemical, petrochemical, construction, nuclear and military sectors. By increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the paper or digital system, engineers will be able to focus on the safety-critical tasks.
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One of the difficulties difficulties faced in proposing a solution is the varying levels of technology-driven technology-driven and process-driven document management adopted by engineering companies (Wiggins, 2000). A strategy is therefore required for which the technology exists and can be rapidly applied.
1. 2
BARCODES AND ASSOCIATED TECHNOLOGY
Barcodes already have widespread adoption in the retail, manufacturing and logistics industries as a means of linking printed labels to an electronic management system. system. They are typically used for identification and tracking of stock, materials and manufacturing processes (Sabric et al., 2007). The most significant benefit of barcodes is that they enable keyless data entry to a system. This reduces the chance of user input error from 1 in 300 for human input to 1 in 15,000 for barcodes (Becta, 2009). Their application to document management has been considered through their use as a digital watermark and as a ‘barcode-DMS’ barcode-DMS’ interface (Hirakawa and Lijima, 2009; Han et al., 2005; Hoke, 2005; Baum, 2005), however this work does not i nclude detailed guidelines for their application. Hoke suggests that the effective implementation of barcodes to document management practices can “significantly “ significantly improve the efficiency of organizations and the profitability of businesses.” businesses.” A recent example of their use is the electronic capture of paper documents in the UK Government Census. Barcodes were printed to the feedback forms at a rate of 130 per second (Office for National Statistics, 2010) and were used to automate the capture and organisation of the collected data.
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1. 3
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of the project is to investigate the potential role of barcodes for the management and augmentation augmentation of printed and electronic documents. documents. The main objectives to achieve this are: 1. Explore the technologies and current methods used for barcodes and document management. 2. Produce a set of concepts for enhancing the current practices through the application of barcodes. 3. Prove and develop the concepts. 4. Create a systems architecture and interface for the revised methods of document management. 5. Analyse the findings and produce a set of recommendations for applying the process in industry.
1. 4
PROJECT OUTLINE
A flowchart for the project outline is presented in Figure 1.
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3 . 1 n o i t c e S
4 n o i t c e S
5 n o i t c e S
4 . 4 n o i t c e S
s t u p t u O
s e v i t c e j T b A o H d W n a s m i A
n o i t a g i t s e v n i t c e j o r p y r a n i m i l e r P
s e u s s i d n a Y s e c H i t W c a r p t n e r r u C
s e n i l e d i u g n o i t a t n e m e l p m i e d o c r a B
3 . 3 . 5 n o i t c e S
s e n i l e d i u g e c n a t r o p m i a t a d a t e M
n o i t a c i l p p a a t a W d O H d n a y g o l o n h c e T
m r o t s n i a r b s n o i t a c i l p p a e d o c r a B
w e i v e r y g o l o n h c e t d n a e r u t a r e t i L
s w e i v r e t n i r e e n i g n E
e r u t a r e t i l n i s e s a c e r u l i a F
I x i d n e p p A
3 / 2 n o i t c e S
3 . 4 n o i t c e S
1 . 4 n o i t c e S
s i s y l a n a e g a k c a p e r a w t f o s t n e m e g a n a m t n e m u c o D
n o i t c e l f e r d n a g n i t s e t f l e S
l a s i a r p p a y g o l o n h c e t e d o c r a B
e r i a n n o i t s e u q c i m e d a c a d n a r e e n i g n E
2 . 4 n o i t c e S
1 . 1 . 5 n o i t c e S
2 . 1 . 5 n o i t c e S
3 . 1 . 5 n o i t c e S
F IGURE 1 – F LOWCHART
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2 . 6 n o i t c e S
3 . 6 n o i t c e S
4 . 6 n o i t c e S
e r u t c e t i h c r a s m e t s y s d e s o p o r P
s n g i s e d e c a f r e t n i d e s o p o r P
d o h t e m t n e m y o l p e d d e s o p o r P
t n e m e g a n a m t S n N e y r O m t I u s S c u U L o d n C d r i N f o i n O C s e d o c r a b f o e s U
8 n o i t c e S
k r o w r e h t r u F
t n e m p o l e v e d d n a y r a m m u S
d n a s i s y n l o i a s n a s u l a c s i u d d i v i d n I
d n a s i n s o y i l s a s n u a c s p i u d o r G
s e s s e c o r P
s t u p n I
s t p e c n o c n o i t a c i l p p a d e s o p o r P
H x i d n e p p A
7 n o i t c e S
W O H d n a Y H W , T A H W
REPRESENTING PROJECT PROGRESSION
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1. 5
REPORT CONTENTS AND STRUCTURE
The contents and structure of each section will now be summarised.
1.5.1 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW This section describes the pertinent research activity and literature relevant to this project so as to justify the project undertaking and highlight the the contribution which the project will make. Topics reviewed are: document management in engineering; document management software; metadata and software design.
1.5.2 SUMMARY OF TECHNOLOGY REVIEW This section reviews the ‘state of the art’ for the technologies considered in this report. It summarises the technologies into essential information to provide a justification for the selection and application throughout the project. Technologies reviewed are: databases; PDAs and smartphones; alternative technologies; barcodes and interpretation; and Quick Response barcodes.
The Use of Barcodes for Document Management in Safety-Critical Industries
1. 5
REPORT CONTENTS AND STRUCTURE
The contents and structure of each section will now be summarised.
1.5.1 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW This section describes the pertinent research activity and literature relevant to this project so as to justify the project undertaking and highlight the the contribution which the project will make. Topics reviewed are: document management in engineering; document management software; metadata and software design.
1.5.2 SUMMARY OF TECHNOLOGY REVIEW This section reviews the ‘state of the art’ for the technologies considered in this report. It summarises the technologies into essential information to provide a justification for the selection and application throughout the project. Technologies reviewed are: databases; PDAs and smartphones; alternative technologies; barcodes and interpretation; and Quick Response barcodes.
1.5.3 SUMMARY OF APPLICATION DEFINITION AND INVESTIGATION This section investigates the underlying reasons for why improvements should be made to existing document management practices. This is achieved through the review of popular document management software packages; interviews of engineering professionals; and an analysis of the literature concerning document management software software and failures. A set of application concepts are then generated.
1.5.4 SUMMARY OF APPLICATION METHOD DEVELOPMENT This section considers methods for applying the proposed concepts, and explores the issues associated with these through: a self-testing implementation implementation of the concepts; structured barcode and associated scanning and display technology testing; and the creation and analysis of a questionnaire questionnaire concerning the importance and usefulness of information.
1.5.5 SUMMARY OF OVERALL RESULTS AND INTEGRATED APPROACH PROPOSAL This section develops these concepts into a final set of system components, discusses their application to this report document and suggests how they can be applied by providing an
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example systems architecture and interface design. It then demonstrates a deployment process which describes how the methods used for generating this system can be implemented.
1.5.6 SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS This section presents the motivation for the project and restates the aims and objectives. It then discusses the methods methods used and main findings for each of the aims and objectives. A set of recommendations to industry are then made.
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2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Through studying a variety of sources on the subject of document management, it is clear that there is a great deal of activity in this area, including a number of projects which endeavour endeavour to standardise and improve upon existing practices. This section extracts and describes the pertinent research in the following topics: document management in engineering; document management software; metadata and software s oftware design.
2. 1
DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT IN ENGINEERING
In business, the importance of a manageable and auditable paper trail is highly important for legal and regulatory compliance; for example it is highly desirable in industry to meet quality and data security standards such as ISO 9001: 2008 (Quality Management Systems) Systems) and ISO 27001:2005 27001:2005 (Information Security). It is also very important for businesses to create and sustain competitive advantage advantage and “effective and efficient retrieval facilities [are] an ivity” (Zantout and Marir, 1999). Therefore, it is important factor affecting worker product ivity” important to understand how engineers use and organise information (Lowe et al.). The interest in this area is not just from academics, but those in industry wishing to apply the suggestions suggestions from this work. The ability to re-use information is also the target of much research. The Knowledge and Information Management Grand Challenge Challenge Project is a three year, £5m programme of which the primary output is the development of a set of guiding “Principles of Engineering Information Management” (McMahon et al., 2009). Preserving information enables the use of knowledge discovery software which can aid decisions and improve processes (Zieger and Lloyd, 2001).
2. 2
DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
There are a number of available software packages for the management of i nformation, nformation, many of which can be described by generic marketing terms shown in Table 1. These categories will often overlap or be a part of an integrated system. All of these software packages store the information in some form of computerised database, and could therefore be classified as records management applications with increased functionality (Wiggins, 2000). When discussing the relationship between paper-based and digitally-stored aircraft management software, Romanski (2003) stresses the importance that “traceability to all artefacts [is] established during the certification of safety critical criti cal software”. This is ultimately Paul Wallace
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the goal of a well-structured well-structured management system. Work has also been carried out into i nto webbased document management systems (Balasubramaniuan (Balasubramaniuan and Bashian, 1998), which is i s of particular significance as there is widespread interest in the idea of distributed systems known as ‘cloud computing’. T ABLE 1 - C ATEGORIES OF ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) allows the
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
integration of management information both
allows the management of the interaction with
internally and externally across an entire
clients, customers and sales prospects.
organisation.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) allows the
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) allows
management of a business network providing
information management, typically for
products and services.
engineering companies, during the conception, design, manufacture, service and disposal of a product.
The benefits of digital document management systems described by Sellen and Harper (2003) include:
Storing large amounts of information in a small space
Widespread and remote access to information stores
Fast, exhaustive searching of information i nformation stores
Flexible, systematic viewing and sorting
Quick links to related materials
Dynamically updating or modifying content
Support for different kinds of documents
Controlling access until information is “ready”
Consistent indexing of files
Portability, joint viewing and markup
Quick access to files
The foremost features of document management systems suggested by Wiggins (2000) are compared to assertions by Sprague (1995) and the recommendations of the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM, 2010) in Table 2.
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T ABLE 2 – P RIMARY FEATURES OF DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Wiggins
Sprague
AIIM
Operational use
Status reporting
Work flow
Access control
Indexing
Version control
Version Control
Revision and version
Retention management
Roll back
control
Disaster recovery
Audit Trail
Check In / Check Out and Locking
Operational needs
Annotation and Stamps
Information content
Summarisation
Individual items
Storage location
Security and access control
2. 3
METADATA
According to the National Information Standards Organisation (NISO) “Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage an information resource” (NISO, 2004). This description suggests that metadata is a supplementary supplementary entity, however a great deal of literature takes a more stern opinion on its i ts use. Darlington et al. (2008) argue that metadata is used to place a document, or object, into “some recognisable individuating context”, and only then can it be identified as an “information object ”. It seems obvious then that anybody creating a document should include metadata, however Bangay (2010) suggests that it is usually incomplete or contradicts the nature of the document. A number of large research projects focus on the importance of metadata structure, for example the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI, 2010) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Technology (NIST, 2010) guidelines, which contribute a schema s chema for application to metadata storage. Many of these schemata can be adapted to suit company requirements. Metadata is of particular importance in document archiving and retrieval, which is the focus of the PREMIS Data Dictionary for Metadata Preservation project (PREMIS, 2005).
2. 4
SOFTWARE DESIGN
With the design of any system, a systematic approach is required. According to Hong (2005), the design of a software system “should “ should contain at least five basic elements:
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1. the objectives of the design, 2. a description of the designed product, 3. the rationale of the design, 4. a plan of the production, and finally, 5. the designated usage usage of the product.” A common way of representing this design process is the use of a set of notation described as software or systems architecture, which “involves the description of elements from which systems are built, interactions among those elements, patterns that guide their composition, and constraints on these patterns”. (Shaw and Garlan, 1996) There are many approaches to systems architecture modelling, however “a traditional distinction regarding modelling perspectives is between the structural, structural, functional and behavioural behavioural perspective” of the system (Krogstie, 2007). To allow this, some authors suggest the simplification of a system by considering it from various viewpoints (Shaw and Garlan, 1993), such as the The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF, 2009) and the Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing (ISO/IEC 10746-3: 1996). To create these diagrams a standard modelling language should be used (Hong, 2005). The Integrated DEFinition language language (IDEF) is a long-established long-established method used in engineering system design and has been adapted for software systems architecture, however the Universal Modelling Language (UML) is broadly accepted as the software industry standard for this (Kim et al.).
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3
TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
This section reviews the ‘state of the art’ for the technologies considered considered in this report. It summarises the technologies technologies into essential information to provide a justification for their selection and application throughout the project. Technologies described are: databases; PDAs and smartphones; alternative barcode technologies; barcode types and interpretation; interpretation; and Quick Response barcodes.
3. 1
DATABASES
A database is a digital organisation of text, images and statistics. It is possible to interact with a database using computer software known as a DataBase Management System (DBMS). These provide access, storage, security and backup facilities to provide a convenient and efficient method of utilising the data (Rob et al., 2008). A relational database stores information logically rather than physically and so a query language is used to provide an interface for storing and retrieving information from it. Commonly used database management systems include MySQL, Filemaker, Microsoft Access and Oracle (Rob et al., 2008).
3. 2
PDA AND SMARTPHONES
A Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) is a mobile electronic device for information management and display. A smartphone is an application of this with the functions of a mobile phone incorporated. Due to this subtle difference, throughout the report the terms PDA and smartphone smartphone will be used interchangeably. Recently there has been exponential growth in the adoption of PDAs and currently they make up 28% of the UK and US mobile phone market (Nielsen, 2010). Common features of PDAs include:
Network and internet access and the internet via wireless WAN or Wi-Fi
Web-browsing capabilities
Touch-screen technology
Built-in digital camera
Up to 1Ghz processor speed and 500MB RAM
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By creating a software application (or ‘app’) the hardware can be utilised to perform a wide variety of functions. Freely-available Freely-available apps can be easily downloaded for reading the information contained within the barcodes used throughout this report, such as i-Nigma.
http://www.i-nigma.com
A portable handheld device which can interact with centrally-stored or online resources has a wealth of potential applications. Smartphones Smartphones have been used in medical professions for accessing drug databases (Groote and Doranski, 2004), for improving educational practices (Wishart et al., 2007) and for aiding people with disabilities (Tekin and Coughlan, 2010). Their use for document management has not been extensively researched. researched.
3. 3
ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIV E TECHNOLOGIES TO BARCODES
One area of notable research is in the application of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to industry. An RFID tag contains a transponder, which emits encoded information when passed within the interrogation zone of a receiver. The ability to store high volumes of data has facilitated their application in the tracking of automotive automotive assembly lines, pharmaceutical distribution, and publishing and library book loans (Hamano, 2010). The shortfall of RFID tags is that the receivers are not currently installed in a mass-market products such as PDAs, however progression progression is being made towards their integration in Japan and the UK (Hori and Matsumoto, 2004). Although the cost of RFID tag production is low, barcodes can be printed or displayed for free. Barcodes can also be read from monitors and paper, which RFID tags cannot. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a technique used for converting printed printed text and handwriting into a machine-readable text format. It is widely used in the electronic conversion of books, however even from an excellent quality original studies have shown only 99% accuracy for printed text (Feng and Manmatha, 2010; Holley, 2009) and 90% accuracy for handwritten text (Burd, 2011). The benefit of barcodes over OCR is that a greater quantity of information can be displayed in the same area as printed text with superior reliability. An alternative approach to linking printed documents to electronic resources is to remove the paper resources altogether. Current portable document ‘e document ‘e-readers -readers’’ such as the Kindle (Amazon, 2011) allow the display of books and documents in electronic format, but these
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technologies do not yet feature the interactive affordances of paper, such as being thin, light and flexible (Sellen and Harper, 2003). There is a great deal of research r esearch into alternative ‘e‘e paper’, paper’, which is flexible and can display moving images in full colour, but these technologies will not be in mainstream use for many years (Heikenfeld et al., 2011).
3. 4
BARCODES AND INTERPRETATION
A barcode converts information into an image with areas of high and low reflective property which can be read using an optical scanner. The original information can be retrieved using software algorithms. A number of different barcode types exist, each with their own encryption algorithms, the most prevalent of these are demonstrated in Table 3. The datamatrix barcode type has seen extensive use in industry, for example the labelling of the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) paper driving licenses (Dept. for Transport, 2010). The main limitation of barcodes is the requirement for a line-of-sight in reading and the environmental environmental variability in their application. The justification for the exploration of QR barcodes in this project are that they have:
over twice the storage capacity of all other barcodes,
superior error checking capabilities within the encryption algorithms,
a small printout size relative to their content,
a high speed scanning and interpretation process.
Specific barcode scanners are available and i n widespread use in industry. An example of this is the Honeywell MS7580 Genesis shown in Figure 2. This particular model can read multiple barcode types and input the embedded information to a PC via a USB connection.
Image taken from http://www.honeywell.com http://www.honeywell.com F IGURE 2 – H ONEYWELL MS7580 G ENESIS SPECIFIC BARCODE SCANNER
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T ABLE 3 – C OMPARISON OF BARCODE TYPES
Example
Summarised from Anon, 2011 Maximum Name Developer Storage Capacity Universal Product Code UPC-A barcode
Library book referencing Retail industry point-of-sale.
RVSI Acuity CiMatrix
2,335 characters (alphanumeric)
DVLA driver data Parcel Delivery tracking Pharmaceutical Industry labelling Space Shuttle part numbering
Aztec Code
Honeywell
3,067 characters (alphanumeric)
Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Industry labelling
High Capacity Colour Barcode
Microsoft
3,500 characters (alphanumeric)
Quick Response (QR) Code
Denso Wave
4,296 characters (alphanumeric) or 7,089 characters (numeric)
Google adverts University of Bath coursework submission
MaxiCode
UPS
93 characters (alphanumeric)
UPS Parcel Delivery Tracking
Shotcode
High Energy Magic (Cambridge University)
49 characters
Online marketing
CodaBlock
Symbol Technologies
1,156 characters (alphanumeric)
Data Matrix
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12 characters (numeric)
Uses
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3. 5
QUICK RESPONSE (QR) BARCODES
Information which is required for the interpretation of this report is extracted from the Denso Wave website (Denso Wave, 2011) and summarised now.
The QR barcode was developed by Denso Wave in 1994.
The use of QR barcode is free of any license as the patent rights are not exercised.
It is clearly defined and published as a Japanese Industrial Industrial Standards (JIS X 0510) and ISO international standard (ISO/IEC18004).
It features an Error Correction Capability (ECC) for dirt and damage in four categories L (7%), M(15%), Q(25%) and H(30%) .
It can be read from any angle.
A Secure QR (SQR) format exists with data encryption capabilities.
Data can be encoded in numeric, alphanumeric, binary and kanji formats.
The physical features of the barcode are now described and supplemented by Figure 3.
Image taken from http://www.keyence.com F IGURE 3 – QR
BARCODE FEATURES
A module is a single data cell which has a binary representation.
A white margin equivalent to 4 modules is required around the barcode.
There are 40 ‘versions’ which indicates the number of modules on each side. This ranges from Version 1 (21 × 21 modules) up to Version 40 (177 × 177 modules).
The timing and position detection patterns are used to determine the barcode orientation for scanning.
The alignment pattern is used to ‘stitch’ together multiple barcodes for high storage capacity.
The format information signifies the error correction rate used.
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There are a many free scripts written in various programming programming languages for encoding information in a QR Code. A comprehensive barcode generation utility is available from:
http://keremerkan.net/qr-code-and-2d-code-generator/
A free PHP script for generating and modifying PDF files is available from:
http://www.fpdf.org/
Throughout the rest of the report it can be assumed that ‘barcode’ refers to a QR Code.
Note: During the progression of the project, a new version of the QR barcode has been released, iQR, with specific application for the automotive and aeronautical industries. Compared to QR barcodes, it features 80% higher data capacity, is 30% smaller and has up to 50% error correction. It also offers the arrangement of the modules in a rectangular matrix format (Smolski, 2011).
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4
INVESTIGATION AND DEFINITION OF POTENTIAL BARCODE APPLICATIONS
This section investigates how improvements should be made to existing document management practices and the underlying reasons for doing so. This is achieved through the review of popular document management management software packages, interviews of current engineers and an analysis of the literature concerning document management software and failures. A set of application concepts are then generated.
4. 1
TARGETED REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND FAILURE CASES
This section considers cases in the literature which may be useful in determining the rationale behind effective document management systems. The literature literature which was considered is shown in Table 4 and the full discussion is available in Appendix A. T ABLE 4 – D ETAILS OF TARGETED LITERATURE
Identifier
Author
Literature
Fisher and
1
Kingma, 2001
Literature
Goulielmos and
2
Tzannatos, 1997
Literature 3
Work
Industry
Review of failure cases
Review of accident statistics
Aeronautical and Aerospace Shipping
Review of an existing knowledge Zieger, 2001
management system and document
Aeronautical
management system Literature 4 Literature 5 Literature 6 Literature 7 Literature 8 Literature 9
Parnas, 2009 Kajko-Mattsson, 2005
Scott and O’Malley , 2002
Review of system development practice
Review of software documentation
Review of standards
Keraron, 2009
Study of annotation use and storage
AIIM, 2009
Guidelines
Hales, 2011
Failure Case Investigation
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Software Engineering Railway, Aeronautical and Automotive Safety lifecycle management Aeronautical and Gas Information Management Systems
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4.1.1 OVERVIEW After reviewing the literature described in Table 4, a number of general observations observations will now be made.
To create a useful document management management system it is i s important to consider not just the information which is stored, but the way in which it can be displayed to the user.
Three factors drive the design and implementation of a document management system: Information overload, display of data and timeliness.
It is useful to store and share knowledge and, in particular, design rationale.
There is a high importance of clear linking of documents and in particular access to documentation which is reliable, i.e. i .e. up-to-date and comprehensive.
It is important to maintain a manageable and auditable paper trail.
Indexing is crucial to the management of documents.
Concise text should be used for accuracy in data-based decisions, whereas graphics should be used for a fast response time in process-based decisions.
Current standards on data control (IEC 61508) and safety lifecycle requirements (ANSI/ISA S84.01) are not detailed enough concerning the design of management systems and user interaction with them.
4. 2
DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE PACKAGE ANALYSIS
This section will focus on the methods for document management within a selection of software packages used in industry.
4.2.1 GOALS AND METHODOLOGY The primary goal of this research is to explore the functions of a selection of document management software packages packages and extract the salient features and methods which they use to achieve these. The focus of this project is engineering-specific engineering-specific documentation, documentation, and since si nce PLM software is the most appropriate for this it will be expanded further. The four most popular PLM software packages were selected for review. No access to the programs will be used other than the published data from the developer ’s website. In addition to the generic PLM software, two specific s pecific document management software software packages were also selected and investigate i nvestigated. d. The six software packages are shown in Table 5. The primary considerations of the review are document storage and access, and metadata support. Paul Wallace
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T ABLE 5 – D ETAILS OF SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Developer
Software
PTC
Windchill
Siemens
Teamcenter
Dassault Systèmes
Enovia
Open Source
Aras PLM
SAP
PLM
Open Source
Leto DMS
Software Category
Further Information
PLM
Specific DMS Open Source
OpenDocMan
4.2.2 RESULTS A summary of the findings is presented in Table 6.
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T ABLE 6 – S UMMARISED
Developer
PTC
Siemens
Software
Windchill
Teamcenter
Client
Common Features for Document Management
Focus
Systèmes
Open Source
SAP
Open Source
Enovia
Aras PLM
PLM
Leto DMS
Access Control
large
Automated report generation of document activity
Medium-
Modular and configurable user interface
large
Workflow control of engineering changes
Files are automatically
Interface and parts driven by Bill of Materials (BOM)
renamed with a unique
Medium-
large
Small-
Specific modules for Computer Aided Design (CAD) components, assemblies and drawings and Electronic
medium
Medium-
Database Support
Server 2005
Homepage providing dashboard analytics
Oracle Database 11g,
Comprehensive user management and access restriction with differentiation between departments, projects, and employment roles.
identifier.
Versions stored and
Design Automation (EDA) integration
organised within a server
Management of project progression through stage-
database.
Many software-specific
Quality compliance for document storage and access.
Part Production Approval Process ( PPAP)
Microsoft SQL Server 2008
metadata elements. IBM DB2 Universal Any additional custom metadata fields can be
Database, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server 2008
applied to file records. Microsoft SQL Server 2008
gate or phase-gate analysis
IBM DB2 Universal Database, Oracle, Microsoft
large
SQL Server 2008
Smallmedium
PHP-driven with web-based interface
Interface and parts driven by folder structure Quality compliance for document storage and access.
OpenDocMan
Metadata Support
Oracle, Microsoft SQL
Open Source
Storage of Documents
Medium-
structure Dassault
COMPARISON OF SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Files are automatically
Files listed through tables of contents, indexes
Full-text searches and sort features
Expiration date for documents
Small-
Online editing of files
medium
Multiples file types supported but no linking to
User management and access restriction with
three user ‘security’ levels: Admin, Manager and User.
renamed with a unique identifier. Versions stored and organised within a server folder structure
CAD programs
Check in/out and lockdown
Basic document change tracking through user
Many software-specific metadata elements.
Additional custom metadata fields are not
MySQL (compatibility through ADOdb)
supported.
comment and storage of previous versions
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4.2.3 OVERVIEW A set of overall observations can be made about software packages for document management:
Documents are renamed or appended with a unique identifier.
The original filenames are stored.
Documents are stored in a database for large systems and in a traditional folder folder structure for smaller systems.
All metadata is stored in a database so that it can be queried.
Collaborative working for specific document management software is restricted to review and approval processes.
4. 3
None of the software packages have paper document management routines.
ENGINEER INTERVIEWS
This section describes a method and results for analysing the document management procedures of engineering companies for both electronic and printed documents. It attempts to determine the actual methods used in industry and highlight potential breaks in the
The Use of Barcodes for Document Management in Safety-Critical Industries
4.2.3 OVERVIEW A set of overall observations can be made about software packages for document management:
Documents are renamed or appended with a unique identifier.
The original filenames are stored.
Documents are stored in a database for large systems and in a traditional folder folder structure for smaller systems.
All metadata is stored in a database so that it can be queried.
Collaborative working for specific document management software is restricted to review and approval processes.
4. 3
None of the software packages have paper document management routines.
ENGINEER INTERVIEWS
This section describes a method and results for analysing the document management procedures of engineering companies for both electronic and printed documents. It attempts to determine the actual methods used in industry and highlight potential breaks in the process. A review of document management practices within large enterprise systems has been undertaken in the Document Management Software Software review, however the findings are only applicable t o ‘model’ companies. companies . An engineering company must often adapt their established working methods to fulfil the unique requirements of a particular project i.e. some of the software features will be used extensively, modified to suit the purpose, or disregarded in place of a manual system. There will also be a level of parallelism in use of the electronic system and manual procedures, the interaction of which cannot be determined without internal knowledge of the company. An information-gathering information-gathering exercise is therefore required to gain insight into the document management methods employed in industry.
4.3.1 GOALS AND METHODOLOGY The short project timescale would not permit an observational study and so an interviewbased study was used. This is an exercise for directing the project work rather than to gather evidence to support a predetermined hypothesis, and so the focus will be on the opinions of
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the interviewees. For this, Bryman (1989) suggests a qualitative research method as “the emphasis in qualitative research tends to be on individuals’ interpretations of their environments and of their own and others’ behaviour”. As there is likely to be variation in the company practices, a strictly structured interview process will not be possible. The research strategy will therefore be a descriptive study of existing practices via a semi-structured interview. Research Question:
How do engineers currently use and manage both electronic and printed documents and resources, and integrate them with existing management software systems?
There are three main processes involved in this research strategy: 1. Define research objectives and create interview questionnaire. 2. Select and interview company representatives. representatives. 3. Data analysis. By setting research objectives, the ideas contained with the research statement statement can be put into a documentable form. Three research objectives are common to all topics: current practice, common issues and suggested improvements. improvements. The specific research objectives are listed in Table 7 and were based upon the analysis of document management software and the initial project group brainstorming exercise. Having considered the information requirements, requirements, the way in which these will be obtained must then be determined. The use of a scenario-based scenario- based interviews can evoke “task -oriented -oriented reflection in design work; they make human activity the starting point and the standard for design work.” (Carroll, 2000). This will be using a list of prompting questions derived from the specific information objectives listed in Table 7 as a prompt for the interviewees to interpret and relate to their own experiences at their company. ‘open -ended’ questions to enable discussion around the Semi-structured Semi-structured interviews often use ‘openkey investigatory areas, and are “widely used in flexible designs, either as the sole method or in combination with others” (Robson). These allow the interviewee to convey their opinion on the topics and include related examples and information, whilst maintaining the guidance of the interviewer for meaningful results. The final interview strategy can be created by combining these questions with the diagrammatic diagrammatic framework of the scenario-based interview and is available in Appendix B.
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T ABLE 7 – S PECIFIC RESEARCH OBJECTIVES FOR ENGINEER INTERVIEWS
Topic
Specific Information Objective
Electronic or paper format
Confirmation processes
Feedback processes
File system structure
Revision security
Document verification
Document release
File system structure
Hardware/software Hardware/software interfacing
Document/resource Document/resource metadata
Referencing
Document/resource Document/resource availability
Review process
Access security
Document duplication and redundancy
Messages and announcements
Version control
Resource linking
Collaborative Collaborative working
Document sharing
T ABLE 8 – D ETAILS OF PARTICIPANTS FOR ENGINEER INTERVIEWS
Company
Engineering
Type of
No.
Interviewee
ID
Sector
Product/Service
Employees
Role
Defence and
Marine consultancy
1300
Engineering
Company 1
security
Consultant
Company
Consumer
Design and manufacture manufacture
2
electrical
of consumer products
3000
Design Engineer
products Company 3 Company
Plastics and
Design of manufacturing manufacturing
rubber
machinery
Aerospace
Surface coating services
200
Design Engineer
4
70
Mechanical
(26000
Engineer
company group)
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Ideally, the data sample would be derived from all of the ‘safety -critical’ sub-categories sub-categories within the engineering industry outlined in the introduction. However, due to the limited preparation time, this was not possible. Therefore a “convenience sampling” method of interviewee selection was was used (Kane, 1984). This involved any willing participants participants within an engineering company irrespective of their role. Information on the interviewees and employers is shown in Table 8.
4.3.2 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION To compare the four companies, information has been extracted from the interviews and is summarised in Table 9, below. For further information a summary of the practices of each of the four companies refer to Appendix C. USE OF PAPER
Paper is still common and universally used for document review and annotation.
The ‘wet ink’ signature attitude is still st ill prevalent and electronic authorisation through digital signatures is not always trusted.
Keeping annotations for future document users is often poorly managed.
The extent of paper document storage varies considerably.
Some companies try to run ‘paperless’ where possible, through electronic communication and electronic editing, sharing and access to documents.
Out-of-date paper versions are a common issue. This is currently solved in two ways: either only electronic documents are trusted, or alternatively a strictly-controlled, strictly-controlled, process-driven document management management practice is used.
In one instance, manual filing processes are used for management and only one paper version can exist. An official ‘released’ colour stamp is used to verify the documents. This enables the sole paper ‘released document’ to be trusted fully.
A process-driven document management can be attributed to the strict Quality Assurance (QA) procedures required for ISO 9001 compliance.
Counter-intuitively, stricter QA involves a reduced level of system automation.
ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS
There are varying levels of computerisation and a solely electronic system is not always the most effective solution.
The access of features through a single interface increases designer efficiency in finding and accessing information. information.
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The easy sharing of resources through a fully-integrated fully-integrated electronic system lends itself well to rapid development and collaborative working.
Technology-based systems allow the designers to focus on the design tasks instead of the ‘housekeeping’. ‘housekeeping’.
Most established engineering companies take a parallel ‘integrate and evolve’ approach to development of their systems.
Document management practices such as file naming and version control cannot be managed by ‘common sense’ alone .
No correlation can be drawn between the company classification and whether they use a traditional folder structure or database for storing documents or CAD models.
A company could have any permutation of the processes and technologies suggested, i.e. every company is unique.
Any proposed general solution should be modular as there is no ‘one -size-fits-all’ -size-fits-all’ solution.
RESEARCH METHODS The document management practices discovered through the interviews were not as expected and so gave a very useful insight into the role of paper and electronic systems in four different engineering companies. These observations could be further enhanced by using other research techniques in addition to the semi-structured interview, such as the analysis of the working documents of the companies or a period of operational observation. This would enable the ‘triangulation’ technique described by Kane (1984) to verify the qualitative interview responses. Typically, unstructured interviews do not provide comparable responses. Although a qualitative research method was used to gain unbiased opinions, the information had to be analysed and categorised by the author. Whilst the intention was to guide the project focus and suggest possible applications, useful insight was gained through the limited sample size available. The method used can be treated as a recommendation recommendation to future researchers and for implementation in industry, and with a wider sample size and company base conclusions on the industry in general could be drawn.
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T ABLE 9 – S UMMARISED RESULTS OF ENGINEER INTERVIEWS
Company 1
Company 2
Company 3
Company 4
IM system
Resource library only
All documents and CAD components
All documents and CAD components
All documents and CAD components
Document/report file structure
Folders
Database
Database
Database
CAD file structure
Folders
Database
Folders
Database
Processdriven
IM practices
Processdriven
Technologydriven
Technologydriven and Processdriven
Level of automation
Low
High
Medium
Medium
Low:
Low:
High:
Review, Archiving
Review
Review, Approval, Production, Archiving
Medium: Use of paper documents
Review, Approval, Archiving
Control of paper documents
Signed coversheets (released documents)
None
Archiving of released documents
Hard-copy and electronic
Hard-copy and Electronic
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Instruction on CAD template
QA stamp, checking procedures (released documents)
Electronic
Hard-copy and Electronic
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4.3.3 OVERVIEW The intention of the interviews was to find how engineers currently use and manage both electronic and printed documents and integrate them with existing electronic resources. A set of general statements can be made about important considerations considerations in applying barcodes to existing document management practices.
The referencing of other documents and resources is a common problem with existing systems.
For some companies the use of paper is essential and should be enhanced through electronic interaction, not replaced.
Companies with strict quality assurance requirements tend to use a process-driven document management system with less automation. automation.
Document storage is a mixture of folders and databases and is independent of company size and industr i ndustrial ial sector.
Most document management systems have ‘evolved’ through procedure and technology developments, developments, and companies cannot directly replace their entire system easily.
Integrated technology-based technology-based systems allow better collaboration and workflow management.
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4. 4
POTENTIAL BARCODE APPLICATION CONCEPTS
The findings from the document management software package analysis, engineer interviews and document management literature review have highlighted a number of problems with the current processes. This section presents seven conceptual scenarios with the greatest perceived benefit. Each of these concepts takes an area of an existing process and focuses on the area which is most prone to an electronic system, process, or human error. It then attempts to mitigate the risk of occurrence through the application of barcodes by suggesting an alternative process. The seven concepts are summarised in Table 10.
T ABLE 10 – S UMMARY OF BARCODE APPLICATION CONCEPTS
Concept
1
Category
Workflow management
Description
Review annotation capture
Sources
Engineer Interviews Literature and failure cases Software Package Analysis
2
Storage
Existence and archiving
3
Storage
Print tracking
Engineer Interviews
4
Referencing
Dynamic reference storage
Engineer Interviews
5
Status
Version verification
6
Feedback
Process control and feedback
7
Storage
Metadata access
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Engineer Interviews
Engineer Interviews Literature and failure cases Engineer Interviews Literature and failure cases Software Package Analysis Engineer Interviews
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4.4.1 CONCEPT 1 - REVIEW ANNOTATION CAPTURE All of the companies interviewed use printed documents for annotation during review. Sometimes this annotated document is not stored electronically and after use the reasons for design changes can be lost (Company 3, Literature 7). There is often no method for confirming that all
Rationale:
design changes have been carried out (Company 3). The manual involvement in the scanning and storing processes can result in design rationale being misplaced (Company 2). Batch processing of paper annotations is complex (Company 2).
Requirement:
A process is required which simplifies the electronic storage of annotated documents with increased reliability through a reduction in manual input.
Current Process
Suggested Process
An electronic copy of the document is printed
An electronic copy of the document is printed with a barcode containing the original document details
Annotations are made on the document
Annotations are made on the document
The document is scanned
The document is scanned (potentially in batches)
Scans are manually renamed and placed into a general scan folder
The barcode is interpreted by software
The document is manually moved to the specific project folder
The document is automatically named, moved to the specific project folder and linked to the original document
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4.4.2 CONCEPT 2 - EXISTENCE AND ARCHIVING All companies interviewed use some form of electronic archiving and most use hard-copy storage (Software review). Sometimes only released Rationale:
documents are archived (Company 1). The reason behind the existence of a paper document is sometimes forgotten (Company 3). It is not known whether a paper document is current or can be archived or destroyed (Company 3).
Requirement:
A process is required where the rationale behind printing and expiry of a document is recorded.
Current Process
Suggested Process
A document is printed
A document is printed with a barcode containing information such as when it was printed, by whom and for what purpose
After some period of time the reason for its existence is forgotten
Upon scanning of the barcode, the 'existence rationale' of the document can be retrieved
Confusion whether document should be disposed of or archived
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4.4.3 CONCEPT 3 - PRINT TRACKING Some companies allow the use of printed documents for production processes. Any printed document approved by the quality manager is assumed to be the most recent version (Company 4). If a document is Rationale:
replaced without destroying destroying the original, for example if the original is lost, then multiple instances with different content may exist and there is no way of checking which is the ‘correct’ version (Company 4). Typically this information is not generated by document management software (Software review).
Requirement:
A process is required which labels documents with details of when, by whom and why they were printed.
Current Process
Suggested Process
A document is printed and stamped as the sole released copy
A document is printed with a barcode containing a unique identifier, and stamped as the sole released copy
The document is lost
A unique identifier, and approval date and time are stored in a database
A new copy must be printed and also stamped as the sole released copy
The document is lost and the database record is flagged as 'missing'
It is not possible to determine whether any future use is the most recent or the lost copy
A new copy is printed with a barcode containing a unique identifier, and also stamped as the sole released copy Upon document use, scanning the bar code will indicate whether it is the most recent document or the original 'missing' document
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4.4.4 CONCEPT 4 - DYNAMIC REFERENCE STORAGE All of the companies interviewed did not explicitly state the target document in their referencing system. The target document is not always contained in Rationale:
the expected location (Company 1, Company 3). Sometimes the target document may have been updated and no longer be applicable to the referring document (Company 4).
Requirement: Requireme nt:
A dynamic link to the target document is required.
Current Process
Suggested Process
References from within document are specified by the target name
References from within document are given a unique identifier and the target location is stored in a database
References manually looked up within the system folder structure
Document is printed or viewed on screen
Scanning barcode checks database for updated target location
Document is automatically retrieved
Reciprocal referencing lookup is possible
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4.4.5 CONCEPT 5 - VERSION VERIFICATION Engineering drawings undergo many revisions (Literature 9). Often Rationale:
manufacturing manufacturing companies use existing drawings on repeat order of components components (Company 3). Without proper version control and checking procedures the quality process cannot be guaranteed (Literature 8).
Requirement:
A method for manufacturers to confirm they possess correct version is required
Current Process
Suggested Process
Drawings produced
Drawings produced
Sent as printed copy or PDF to manufacturer manufacturer
Version details made accessible from web server
Parts produced
Barcode embedded on drawings with link to current version
Sent as printed copy or PDF to manufacture
Scanning barcode runs server-side query to confirm current version
Parts produced
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4.4.6 CONCEPT 6 - PROCESS CONTROL AND FEEDBACK Often a lack of management concern and a poor maintenance and inspection schedule results in failure of systems (Literature 9). Common issues with document management are a result of poor collaborative working and Rationale:
project organisation both internally (Company 3) and externally (Literature 9). Detailed documentation of products and systems is essential (Literature 5). The lack of feedback in document receipt often results in critical action not being taken (Company 3).
Requirement:
A method is required to improve the reliability of inspection and maintenance during interaction between companies or departments. departments.
Current Process
Suggested Process
Product manufatured and passed to client
Product manufatured and passed to client
No maintenance procedure imposed
Inspection barcodes placed at critical failure areas
Inspection schedule with safety ‘accept’ or ‘reject’ barcodes
Scanning barcode sends data back to design company
Warning flags if checks are not sent regularly or if ‘reject’ code scanned
Designer fixes faults to ensure safety
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4.4.7 CONCEPT 7 - METADATA ACCESS No software packages provide electronic access to document metadata once it is printed (Software (Software review). The storage s torage of document metadata is critical
Rationale:
to ensure a manageable and auditable paper trail (Literature 1). Traceability in safety critical engineering roles is vital (Literature 2).
Requirement:
The metadata should be available for a printed document in an electronic format.
Current Process
Suggested Process
An electronic document contains detailed metadata
An electronic document contains metadata
The document is printed
The metadata is encoded into a barcode and embedded on the document
The metadata is lost
The document is printed
Scanning the barcode reveals the document metadata
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5
DEVELOPMENT OF METHODS FOR APPLYING BARCODES
The previous section considered the motivation for an improved document management system and suggested possible concepts for solving the issue. This section extends this by considering how these concepts could be applied and explores the issues by applying them to a self-testing strategy, undertaking structured barcode testing and creating and analysing a questionnaire concerning the importance and usefulness of i nformation.
5. 1
SELF-TESTING OF CONCEPTS
This section uses a self-testing approach to validate and assess the concepts outlined in Section 4.6. A selection of the concepts are applied to a weekly project report and the methods of application are iterated and evaluated. The purpose of the self-testing strategy is to associate these concepts to a scenario for the project; to apply them concurrently to the working method with other project tasks and research; and finally to analyse and evaluate the concepts. By using a structured and systematic application with a detailed reflection and analysis of the particular concept being investigated, investigated, it will be possible to obtain first-hand experience on the effectiveness and limitations of the concept.
5.1.1 GOALS AND METHODOLOGY There are three main goals of this self-testing strategy: 1. Provide evidence to support theory through experimentation. 2. Accentuate unforeseen limitations of concepts. c oncepts. 3. Suggest refinements to concepts for inclusion in the systems architecture. A trial-and-error trial-and-error approach “satisfies a carefully selected subset of the most important and basic requirements. This solution is [then] evaluated evaluated against other requirements.” requirements.” “For those requirements that are not satisfied, modifications on the design are made to meet these requirements while preserving the required properties that it has already satisfied” (Hong, 2005). The strategy will be i terative, and with each cycle, the method of applying the concepts will be refined to work towards a ‘perfect’ system. system . After each iteration, a short report will be
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generated outlining the techniques used to apply the concepts, and a brief discussion of the benefits and limitations discovered, which is represented visually in Figure 4.
F IGURE 4 – S ELF TESTING PROCESS
REPRESENTATION
SELECTION OF CONCEPTS The engineer interviews and review of document management management software packages has highlighted highlighted a number of areas in which barcodes can be applied to document management management systems. Although Although not all concepts will be evaluated directly, the results generated may be applicable to these and will allow an analysis. The criteria of available hardware, available software, time resources required and potential application to a weekly report were applied to select the concepts for application, as shown in Table 11. T ABLE 11 – E VALUATION OF CONCEPTS FOR APPLICATION TO SELF - TESTING STRATEGY
Hardware Requirements
Software Requirements
Project Timescale
Applicable to to Weekly Report
Review annotation capture
No
No
Yes
No
Existence and archiving
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Print tracking
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Dynamic reference storage
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Version verification
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Process control and feedback
Yes
No
Yes
No
Metadata access
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Concept
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WEEKLY REPORT CONTAINER To apply the concepts a weekly report container scheme will be used. A general report template will be set-up, updated each week with the relevant data and then released as a different version. The format of the weekly report ‘container’ used is shown in Figure 5. A metadata core is well suited to incorporate version control, document decomposition, workflow management and linking to files and resources.
F IGURE 5 – W EEKLY DOCUMENT REPORT CONTAINER VISUALISATION
APPLICATION OF CONCEPTS TO STRATEGY This section describes the concept application and analysis for each iteration of the selftesting strategy. Suggestions from the literature, research activities and the analysis of previous iterations were used to develop the concept application methods. A summary of the application method for each iteration is shown in Table 12 and the detailed description of the each can be found in Appendix D.
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T ABLE 12 – M ETHOD OF CONCEPT APPLICATION TO SELF - TESTING STRATEGY
Concept Area
Metadata Access
Requirement
Process
Application
Information is
Information about the
A barcode can be used
stored about a
document itself will be
on the title page and
document context
stored for each report.
contain information
and content
about the author and information within the document.
Version Control
Document Decomposition
A document is
References and project
A barcode can be used
cyclically released
timeline will be updated
on the report and
and then modified.
weekly and released as
contain information
a new document
relating to version
version.
number.
A document
Using the weekly report
A barcode can be used
contains labelled
template as a ‘container’
alongside the section
sections or other
to hold the references
titles and contain
stand-alone
and project timeline
information about the
documents.
documents as individual
section version and
sections.
original document location.
Workflow Management
Referencing
A document is
Confirmation of group
A barcode can be used
passed between
member receipt of
on the title page which
users for input.
report can be either by
sends confirmation data
Email, SMS or database
from individual users
update.
when scanned.
A document can be
Links to detailed
A barcode can be used in
supplemented by
research on particular
the margin or as a
further reading or
areas and external
footnote to provide a
external media
working examples
web link to the relevant media.
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5.1.2 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION One of the primary results from this study was the reflection on each iteration and the recommendations for future iteration development. Table 13 demonstrates the iterative development of each concept. T ABLE 13 – I TERATIVE DEVELOPMENT SELF - TESTING CONCEPTS
Metadata Access
First Iteration
Second Iteration
Final Iteration
Barcode in document
Barcode on
Barcode on coversheet
with encoded
coversheet with
which contains
metadata
encoded metadata
database query to display metadata
Version Control
Barcode in document
Barcode on
Small barcode in
title on first page
coversheet
document title on every page linked to database version.
Barcode next to
Barcode next to
Barcode next to
Document
document heading
document heading
document heading
Decomposition
containing local
containing online
linked to database
filename
filename
resource location
Not implemented
Barcode on
Barcode on coversheet
Workflow
coversheet which
which updates
Management
sends confirmatio c onfirmation n
database record
email
Referencing
Barcode next to
Barcode next to
Barcode next to
reference which
reference which
reference which
contains text URL
contains text URL
contains database query to generate URL
The literature review demonstrated that timeliness timeliness is one of the most important i mportant aspects in safety-critical management management of documents and information. For the self-testing s elf-testing strategy this was evaluated in two ways. Firstly, the user input requirement for document revision (a common process to all three iterations) was assessed for the number of operations, mouse clicks, mouse drags and keypresses. The results are displayed in Figure 6. Secondly, the level
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of automation for the main processes in the strategy was compared for each iteration and is shown in Table 14.
User Input Requirements for Document Revision 40
(Limited for clarity)
35 30 25
y c n e u q e r F
20 15 10 5 0
First It Iteration
Second It Iteration
Final It Iter at ation
Future It Iterations
Operations
16
9
8
2
Mouse Clicks
48
21
19
2
Mouse Drags
2
1
0
0
36 0
0
3
0
Key Presses
F IGURE 6 – U SER INPUT REQUIREMENTS FOR DOCUMENT REVISION IN SELF - TESTING ITERATIONS
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T ABLE 14 – C OMPARISON OF PROCESS AUTOMATION FOR SELF - TESTING ITERATIONS
First Iteration
Second Iteration
Final Iteration
Stage
Process
Manual / Automatic
Manual / Automatic
Manual / Automatic
1
Review document
Manual
Manual
Manual
2
Approve document
Manual
Manual
Manual
3
Release document
Manual
Automated
Automated
4
Store document
Manual
Semi-Automated Semi-Automa ted
Automated
5
Generate barcode
Manual
Automated
Automated
6
Embed barcode on document
Manual
Automated
Automated
7
Print or display document
Manual
Automated
Automated
8
Scan barcode
Manual
Manual
Manual
9
Display document information
SemiAutomated
Semi-Automated
Automated
10
Determine version number
Manual
Manual
Automated
11
Apply sectioning sectioni ng
Manual
Manual
12
Confirm document receipt
Semi-Automated
Semi-Automated
13
View previous versions
Automated
14
View related documents
Automated
15
Link to electronic document
Automated
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The salient points from the critical reports have been extracted and presented in Table 15. T ABLE 15 – S UMMARISED DISCUSSION OF SELF- TESTING ITERATIONS
Iteration
Salient reflection points
Method Development and Recommendations
Manual generation and embedding
First
Iteration
and display template for
prone to inconsistenc i nconsistencies ies through
consistency of information. information.
Release system with automatic
Without compulsory input of
barcode generation and
metadata it is overlooked. overlooked.
embedding.
Necessity to edit ‘released’
document invalidates release procedure.
Structured metadata input form
of barcodes is time consuming and
user input error.
Structured control of released versions.
Usability of barcode information is
Barcode display size and quality testing.
poor when stored as a block of text.
Size and quality during embedding may render barcode unreadable.
Excessive volume of information
and use query to link to dynamic
to structural tags.
content.
Local file storage is undesirable.
Useful to locate barcode and content text on coversheet, but information
Iteration
Store document information on every page.
Only input metadata and
is lost if torn off.
manage final released
Static barcode links to resources are
documents.
unreliable.
Store information in database
stored within metadata barcode due
Second
Use pre-determined inputs to
Compulsory input of metadata for
reduce user input error e.g.
every WIP document removes
dropdown menus.
working flexibility.
Integration of release mechanism to software packages is unreliable.
- Continues overleaf – overleaf –
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Iteration
Salient reflection points
Method Development and Recommendations
Scanning of workflow barcode was
unreliable and had poor response rate.
Final Iteration
Need for research into PDA
Use of network storage is desirable
identification for workflow
provided reliable connection is
management.
Use of single ‘released’ format of PDF has better consistency.
testing.
available.
Need for barcode printing
Need for detailed consideration of document metadata elements.
Need for consideration of
Automatic resizing of barcodes
information importance and
ensures all are readable.
useful features for interface
Automatic file storage and naming
design.
structure increases reliability of system.
Combination of information storage via barcode on coversheet and small database reference on every page is useful.
Short data query in barcode for database link reduces barcode size considerably.
5.1.3 OVERVIEW A set of general observations observations and further research activities will now be made, based upon the reflections from each iteration, the process time comparison and the automation comparison.
Automatic resizing of barcodes at the point of embedding is a necessity in application to ensure their readability.
Storage of detailed information information within a barcode is undesirable as it results in a large barcode and the free-text format is often difficult to interpret.
Storing document metadata within a database and using the content of the barcode to query it allows high volumes of metadata to be stored, but with a small barcode size.
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Displaying document details with database software can display the metadata in a more useful format. The database query barcode should be embedded on every page of the document.
Static reference links from barcodes are useful, but it is more reliable to store the URL in a dynamic database and use the barcode to run a query for the most recent resource location.
Documents should only be managed when they are released to allow freedom in work practices for files with WIP status.
Released documents should be stored in PDF format for consistency.
The removal of repeated user input, especially keyboard entry, significantly lowers the chance of error through misspelling misspelling and non-conformance to the process.
The strategy was also used to direct work in the following areas:
Detailed consideration of document metadata elements.
Consideration of information importance and useful features for interface design.
Barcode display size and quality testing.
5. 2
BARCODE FUNCTION TESTING
This section describes a method and results for assessing the ‘readability’ of barcodes and produces a set of guidelines for how they should be implemented. One important observation from the self-testing and reflection was that barcodes which were readable on the author’s PDAs were not readable for the other group members’ PDAs. For widespread adoption, it is important that the usability is maintained, irrespective irrespective of printer and scanner resolution and software functionality. functionality.
5.2.1 GOALS AND METHODOLOGY The main goals of the testing and the way in which they are investigated investigated are shown in Table 16. t he ‘readability’ of the barcode when displayed or The main factors which can influence the printed are image quality, display resolution, scanner resolution and barcode decoding software reliability and usability. Further information information on these is available in Appendix E. The main factors affecting the barcode ‘readability’ and how they can be tested in a structured manner are summarised in Table 17.
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T ABLE 16 – G OALS AND ASSOCIATED INVESTIGATION METHODS FOR BARCODE FUNCTION TESTING
1
Goal
Investigation Method
Highlight any unforeseen flaws in the
Noting observations on performance
barcode application.
whilst undertaking structured scan
Review and discuss observed environmental environmental
testing.
effects and potential mitigations. 2
Confirm the barcode flaws suggested by
Using structured scan testing
the literature and theory.
Determine whether the smallest readable size is in accordance with the prediction. 3
Compare the practical usability to that
Using structured scan testing for a range
suggested by the literature and theory.
of scanner, electronic display and printed
Assess and compare the performance of the
paper resolutions.
scanners and display methods.
Using structured scan testing for a range
Assess and compare the performance of the
of software.
scanning software. 4
Develop a set of guidelines for all display
Organising the research data to find the
and scan media.
minimum acceptable size compatibility across all scanners and display methods.
For this testing, a set of custom ‘eye charts’ will be produced. They are similar to those used by an optician, but contain barcodes instead of letters as demonstrated demonstrated by Figure 7. The use of these creates a repeatable testing method, which will allow each of the factors affecting readability to be assessed and comparisons c omparisons drawn between the available hardware and software. A classification was created to compare the minimum size that barcodes could be printed or scanned at. This is a one-dimensional reference to the number of modules contained within 1mm actual display size, and the categories used are shown in Table 20 for interpretation of the results. Each of the display methods were converted to a theoretical maximum number of modules/mm for the results discussion. A higher value for modules/mm indicates that an equivalent content can be displayed in a smaller barcode.
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T ABLE 17 – A PPLICATION OF BARCODE TESTING METHODS TO FACTORS AFF ECTING READABILITY
Factor
Description
Testing
affecting
Testing Method
Chart
readability
For a barcode to be
Image Quality
interpreted it must be
Contrast
possible to distinguish the
Eyechart
areas of high/low reflective reflective property. These may be
Scaling
indistinct if the barcode has
Raster
blurred edges or poor
Eyechart
Scanning with a variety of different scanners and recording minimum/maximum minimum/maximum contrast and scaling which is scan-able for each.
contrast. The display method forms
Displaying on a variety of
the barcode modules Display
through pixels, the size of
Size Test
Resolution
which will affect the
Eyechart
minimum size that the
monitors and printing resolutions and recording minimum scan-able size for each.
barcode can be displayed. The scanner will have a finite number of optical cells
Scanning with a variety of
Scanner
used to distinguish between
Size Test
scanners and recording
Resolution
the modules, which will
Eyechart
minimum scan-able size for
affect the minimum size that
each.
the barcode can be read at. Barcode decoding software reliability and usability
Paul Wallace
After reading the barcode, software is required to apply
Scanning with a variety of
algorithms to interpret the
Size Test
software applications and
pattern of modules and
Eyechart
recording minimum size for
retrieve the data encoded
each software application.
within the barcode.
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Fading Eyechart
Foreground Lightening
Background Darkening
Scaling Raster Eyechart
Opticians Eyechart
Original Image
H
Enlargement
E Z L P O T D A F V N
E
U
Shrinking
C
Size Test Eyechart
A
Scalable vector image (lossless)
B
C
F IGURE 7 – B ARCODE FUNCTION TESTING CHARTS
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The hardware which was used for testing is listed in Table 18. The testing method adopted, processes and outputs can be represented visually by Figure 8.
T ABLE 18 – A VAILABLE HARDWARE FOR BARCODE FUNCTION TESTING
Office Laser Printers
Home Inkjet Photo Inkjet Laptop Monitor
Displays
Touch-screen Tablet Monitor Desktop Monitor PDA Screen Barcode Scanner
Scanners
PDA Scanner Home flatbed scanner Office flatbed scanner
Scaling recommendation Scaled raster image eyechart 1
s i s y l a n a d n a n o i t a v r e s b O
Image qu quality te testing Faded vector image eyecharts
2
Image size testing
Contrastrecommendation
Display size recommendation
Scaled vector image eyechart Software recommendation
F IGURE 8 – B ARCODE FUNCTION TESTING PROCESS REPRESENTATION
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5.2.2 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The summarised results will now be presented and discussed. IMAGE QUALITY TESTING
It is possible to scan the barcodes when the black modules have faded by as much as 80% and the white background is darkened by up to 50%.
The scanning of resized raster images is only sensitive to shrinking, with a maximum 40% reduction. During reduction, the pixels which make up the modules are ‘grouped’ together and an average value is taken. This means that the structure of the data itself is modified and becomes unreadable.
The scalar barcode was resized by as much as 600% and the barcode was still readable. The limit for enlargement encountered was due to the size of the display method available and is dependent dependent on the focal distance of the scanner.
IMAGE SIZE TESTING The display size testing discussion is summarised in Table 19. A key for the size testing categories is shown in Table 20 for interpretation of the results. T ABLE 19 – D ISCUSSION OF BARCODE DISPLAY SIZE TESTING
Results
Summarised discussion
The greatest barrier to the readability of the barcodes was the display capability of the monitors with around 3 modules/mm (Category D).
The second significant barrier was the barcode printing ability of the printers. At typical office resolutions, the printed chart was capable of displaying the highest
Table 21 – Display and scan
category of modules/mm. However, However, using home inkjet at
medium minimum barcode
‘draft’ resolutions lowered the performance to that of the
size compatibility matrix
monitors, at around 3 modules/mm (Category D).
The third significant barrier was the scanning and interpretation capabilities capabilities of the PDA Camera, with a common value of 4 modules/mm (Category B).
The specific barcode scanner was far superior to the PDA cameras, as it was only limited by the display method. method. - Continues overleaf -
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The flatbed scanners showed no problem in reading the document and reproducing it when the resolution was higher than that of the original printing.
The scanning may cause problems if the document is marked or damaged as the imperfections imperfections will be reproduced as well.
Software could be used to interpret and re-generate the barcode into a ‘perfect’ electronic format be fore rereleasing the document, such as during photocopying.
Not only did the software decoding ability for the PDA testing vary widely across different PDAs for the same program, but even across different software packages for the same PDA.
Table 22 – PDA and scan
The I-Nigma barcode decoding application achieved the same result for all PDAs tested, and so this is
software minimum barcode
recommended as the most consistent (and incidentally,
size compatibility matrix
best performing) software. s oftware.
Repetition of borderline tests with a light shining on the paper showed an improvement for the PDA cameras (although the original result was recorded), which demonstrates demonstrates the effect of environmental factors.
For the PDAs the theoretical values far exceed the empirical values, suggesting there are features of the
Figure 9 –Comparison of
camera hardware which limit the ability of the scanner to
theoretical and empirical
view the information. For the Photo Inkjet printer, a
barcode display capability
similar difference can be seen, which is attributed attributed to the
when scanned with specific
printer being able to produce resolutions resolutions far higher than
barcode scanner
the scanner can read.
The empirical values were typically one category lower than the theoretical values for displaying the barcodes.
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T ABLE 20 - S IZE CATEGORY LABELS AND ASSOCIATED MODULES / MM
Label
Modules/mm
A
>5.0
B C
>4.0 >3.3
D
>2.9
E
>2.5
F
>2.2
G
>2.0
Potential Display size
Smallest
Largest
T ABLE 21 – D ISPLAY AND SCAN MEDIUM MINIMUM B ARCODE SIZE COMPATIBILITY MATRIX
Scan Medium
x signifies untested
Smartphone Camera
Display Medium
Paul Wallace
Specific Barcode Scanner
Home Flatbed Scanner
Office Flatbed Scanner
PDA Screen
x
B
x
x
Laptop 17" Monitor
C
B
x
x
Laptop 15" Touchscreen Monitor
C
C
x
x
Desktop 19" Monitor
D
D
x
x
Office Laser
B
A
A
A
Home Inkjet
D
D
D
D
Photo Inkjet
B
A
A
A
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T ABLE 22 – PD A
AND SCAN SOFTWARE MINIMUM BARCODE SIZE COMPATIBILITY MATRIX
Scan Medium
Scanning Software
iPhone3
iPhone4
HTC Desire
Camera
Camera
Camera
RedLaser
E
E
C
I-Nigma
B
B
B
ScanLife
D
D
B
F IGURE 9 – C OMPARISON OF THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL BARCODE DISPLAY CAPABILITY WHEN SCANNED WI TH SPECIFIC BARCODE SCANNER
RESEARCH METHODS Whilst it is not possible to take into account every possible variable, particularly environmental factors such as shadows or lighting, this testing aims to develop some practical guidelines through structured testing of common barcode generation, display and scanning hardware and software.
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Although this is only testing a small cross-section of technologies and variables, not only are the results useful enough to form a good first step to create practical guidelines, but the method may also be adopted by industry and tailored to their specific context such as the hardware and software available.
5.2.3 OVERVIEW Following the extensive testing detailed above, six conclusions are made and a set of barcode size guidelines with a detailed process that organisations should apply are now discussed, together with an example implementation.
The shrinking of raster images is undesirable.
PDAs have very similar performance but this is highly dependent on the software used.
Barcodes should only be scaled in a vector format, or interpreted and then regenerated at the desired size.
Barcodes printed in black ink on white paper can withstand contrast contrast changes of up to 50% paper darkening and 80% ink lightening. The effect of these in combination is untested.
In practice, the maximum modules/mm modules/mm for display methods are one category lower than the theoretical value.
The main influences on barcode display size are the resolution of monitors (Category B-D), the resolution of home inkjet printers (Category D) and the scanning ability of PDA cameras (Category B).
The barcode production should be set at the lowest tested value of the applicable hardware.
A set of general guidelines have been created in the form of a table, which can be used to find the minimum printable size for a barcode at any encryption level and length of embedded data. Only alphanumeric characters have been considered (the content is smaller with only numeric characters or larger with kanji symbols and depends on the encoding method). The table can be seen in Appendix G. A usage strategy and example have been created in Figure 10.
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Note: A script has been created to calculate the minimum string length at: http://www.qrproject.com/pro http://www.qrproject.com/project/string_len ject/string_length.php gth.php
General Process
Example Application
Calculate length of string to be encoded
“This is a test string to be encoded. It contains 63 characters .”
Select level of Error Correction Capability (ECC)
Desired correction level: Q (25% of codewords can be restored)
Select scanner or display resolution capability (whichever is lowest)
Scanner: Honeywell MK7580 Barcode Scanner – Category A Display: Home Inkjet 300dpi – Category D So, minimum is Category D
Read off minimum printable size
QR version 4 (33 x 33 modules) 2 Minimum printable size 12mm
F IGURE 10 – F LOWCHART DEMONSTRATING USE OF BARCODE DISPLAY SIZE GUIDELINES
5. 3
INFORMATION IMPORTANCE AND USEFULNESS QUESTIONNAIRE
This section considers the information used in document management management and investigates what information should be stored about a document and how it should be displayed. This is achieved through a review of existing metadata standards and a questionnaire targeted at engineers and academics. It then recommends which elements should be included to the systems architecture model and suggests useful features for the document management system graphical interface. The research into document management software concerned the features and not the detailed database content and structure. Also, for the purposes of the self-testing it was not necessary to integrate the methods fully with an existing document management system. It was acceptable to assume, therefore, that any information desired could be stored about the document. The information contained about the document for each self-testing revision can be seen in Table 23.
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T ABLE 23 – M ETADATA STORED FOR SELF - TESTING ITERATIONS
Baseline
Second Iteration
Third Iteration
ID
ID
Identifier
Title
Title
Title
Author
Author
Description
Storage Method
Storage Method
Author
Release Version
Release Version
Created
Release Location
Release Location
Format
Release Date
Release Date
Subject
WIP File Location
Location
Systems Architecture
-To be determined-
Status Version Original Name
5.3.1 GOALS AND METHODOLOGY It is necessary to determine what metadata should be stored. A mini-survey has a small number of questions and respondents, and was considered the best option to achieve this goal as they are “useful for short projects and can be analysed easily without a computer” (Kane, 1984). This would be in the form of a questionnaire, questionnaire, as an interview would provide provide too much information to process at this stage of the project. Research Question:
What are the ten most important pieces of information information to store about an engineering technical report?
There are three main processes involved in this research strategy: 1. Define research objectives and create interview questionnaire. 2. Selection of participants and performing of research. 3. Data analysis. As with the engineer interviews, a scenario-based research method will be used. This type of research method method “representing the use of a system or application with interaction scenarios… focuses design reflection and supports envisionment and the consideration of alternatives” (Carroll, 2000). Bangay (2010) categorises engineering documents into five categories . Due
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to the different applications of these documents, the information stored about them is likely to be different. An analysis of the metadata for these document types is in Table 24. T ABLE 24 – D OCUMENT TYPES AND CURRENT ASSOCIATED METADATA ADOPTION
Document Type
Metadata Discussion
Technical Papers /
This information is specific to the engineering domain, however
Technical Reports
there is no industry-wide standardisation standardisation of this information.
Engineering Drawings
Information stored in drawing templates is typical and demonstrates demonstrates a refined metadata set. These are automatically appended with metadata by servers
Emails / Correspondence Correspondence
during sending, hence their common adoption for a traceable record
Engineering
This has specific standards to which it i t must adhere, which cover
Documentation
the metadata requirements. requirements.
Sales Information /
This is typical and already demonstrates demonstrates a refined metadata set.
Inventories
It is necessary to restrict the selection to only one type of document. A Technical Report has been selected as the sscenario cenario document as it is a common document which contains unique information with no formal standardisation. It has also already been used as an example in in the self-testing strategy and so will allow comparison between the current function and the ‘idealised’ function. To select the metadata to be stored about the Technical Report it was necessary to consider various metadata standards for suggestions. Four standards were analysed: 1. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI): Dublin Core Metadata Element Set 2. UK Government: e-Government Metadata Standard (e-GMS) 3. International Organization for Standardization (ISO): IEC 82045-2:2004 Document management -- Part 2: Metadata elements elements and information reference reference mode 4. US Library of Commerce (LOC): PREMIS Data Dictionary for Metadata Preservation From the analysis of these standards, a list of potential elements was created which can be seen in Table 25. All of these elements had valid reasons for use, however the self-testing had recommended that such large volumes of information should not be stored in a barcode and so a method was required to restrict this list for application.
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To select these elements, a questionnaire will be devised where engineers and academics could select their ‘top ten’ elements to store about the documents. Obtaining a ranking for those selected would provide information on the perceived value of the elements and then could be analysed to influence the interpretation and display of the metadata after the barcode is scanned. There are a number of options to achieve this, but it was felt that the best method would be a ‘points distribution’ system, whereby the participants are given twenty points to distribute between their selected ten items to indicate the importance of each element. Another useful output from this questionnaire is to evaluate some of the concepts described in section 4.5. By phrasing the concepts as ‘useful elements’ and collecting a score of how useful they are in the respondent’s opinion, a t otal otal can be generated to review which features should be incorporated into the final systems architecture model. This was inspired by the techniques used in web-based shopping such as Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk ). T ABLE 25 – S UMMARY OF METADATA STANDARDS ANALYSIS
Standard
DCMI Contributor Coverage Creator Date Description Format Identifier Language Publisher Relation Rights Source Subject Title Type
Primary Metadata Categories
UK e-GMS Accessibility Addressee Aggregation Audience Contributor Coverage Creator Date Description Digital signature Disposal Format Identifier Language Location Mandate Preservation Publisher Relation Rights Source Status Subject Title Type HTML text XML text RDF text
Primary Metadata Formats
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Text HTML text XML text RDF text
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ISO Identification Access Security Approval File representation Organizations, persons and roles Description Classification Release Validity Relation to other objects Relationship between documents Logbook References to external documents Distribution and subscription Archiving EXPRESS text XML text
US-LOC Object Identifier Preservation Level Object Category Object Characteristics Creating Application Original Name Storage Environment Signature Information Relationship Linking Event Identifier Linking Intellectual Entity Identifier Linking Permission Statement Identifier Relational database XML files
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5.3.2 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The questionnaire used can be found in Appendix J. Of the 21 participants, one-third one-third were academics and two-thirds were engineering professionals. A weighting factor of two was used for the ‘important element’ category and then this value was added to the ‘value rating’ to rank the ‘importance’ results which are displayed in Figure 11.
Data Element Importance and Value Ratings Ordered by a combined weighted score score (From 21 responses) No. Responses Indictating 'Important' Data Element 0
5
10
15
20
References Description Master Author Contributor Version Creation Date Title Status Source Subject Identifier Classification / Type Rights Language Events Format Storage Distribution Publisher Preservation and Disposal Dynamic 0
10
20
30
40
50
Data Element Total Value Rating
F IGURE 11 – D ATA ELEMENT IMPORTANCE AND VALUE RATINGS ORDERED BY A COMBINED
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The Use of Barcodes for Document Management in Safety-Critical Industries
Usefulness of Suggested Su ggested Features Features (From 21 responses) 0 - Unsure; 0 - Useless; 1 - Vaguely; 2 - Moderately; 3 - Highly; 4 Exceptionally
Link to electronic version of report document
Documents which reference this report document
References contained within report document
Similar report documents
Previous report document user comments
Common documents also accessed by previous report document users
More from same author/project/company
Report document ‘value’ score, computer generated from properties and associations
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
'Usefulness' Total Score
F IGURE 12 – U SEFULNESS OF SUGGESTED FEATURES RESULTS
The 21 responses shown in Figure 11 and Figure 12 are now discussed.
The high ‘usefulness’ of storing external document references is in accordance with the results of the engineer interviews and suggests that users wish to access the resources without actually having to read the document itself.
The significance of reciprocal referencing is also demonstrated as the ‘documents which reference this report’ was scored as highly as the outward references. Most document management systems do not typically boast this feature.
computer. Little trust is placed in the evaluation of a documents ‘usefulness’ by a computer.
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A high usefulness was attributed to the comments from previous document users. This is a technique that is often used in knowledge management systems and CAD design.
Information regarding the preservation and disposal of the document was not considered to be important. This implies that the report does not have an ‘expiry date’ unless it is superseded by another version.
No responses considered the actual server query used for a dynamically-generated dynamically-generated t o the brief specifying a ‘technical document to be important. It is possible that this is due to engineering report’.
A further study could produce multiple questionnaires for the different document types outlined in the methodology
The ‘publisher’ of the document was also unanimously considered considered to be of lower importance than the other elements, and on reflection this data element should have been combined with the ‘source’ data element.
The ‘description’ element was ranked very highly on both imp ortance and importance rating.
Generally, the ‘total importance’ importance’ and ‘importance rating' were closely linked, apart from: creation date, source, subject and classification/type. This shows that these elements were considered amongst the most important, but not of high importance themselves.
5.3.3 OVERVIEW From the discussion a ranking of important elements and features has been created in Table 26. Four useful features of an engineering technical report document management are highlighted: 1. Link to electronic document 2. External references to and by the document 3. Similar report documents documents 4. Previous document user comments
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T ABLE 26 - C ATEGORISATION OF ELEMENT IMPORTANCE
Element Importance
Elements or features
References Description Master Author Contributor Version Highly
Creation Date Title Status Source Subject Identifier Classification / Type Rights Language Events
Moderately
Format Storage Distribution Publisher Preservation and Disposal
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6
OVERALL RESULTS AND INTEGRATED APPROACH PROPOSAL
In the previous section, research activities including self-testing, barcode function testing and an information importance and usefulness questionnaire were used to further evaluate the concepts. This section develops these concepts into a final set of system components for application to this report document, providing an example systems architecture and interface design. It then demonstrates a deployment process which describes how the overall methods used for generating this system can be implemented in industry.
6. 1
PROPOSED SYSTEM COMPONENTS
To demonstrate the application of the research, all of the recommendations from previous studies are combined to suggest a final system implementation. By assuming the scenario of a ‘future’ iteration of the self -testing -testing strategy, concepts are proved by applying them to this report document. Further information information on the final self-testing iteration is available in Appendix D for reference. This study suggests four main components which could be applied to a document management system through through the use of barcodes, as described in Table 27. The implementation implementation of these components can be modular, i.e. any single component or combination can be used, but all of them have been applied to this report document. A dynamic barcode stores a URL appended with a database query. A server-side script will then display the relevant information in a web-browser window when scanned with a PDA barcode reading application. A static barcode stores the data in XML format which will be displayed by any barcode reading application when scanned with a PDA.
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T ABLE 27 – S UMMARY OF MAIN SYSTEM COMPONENTS AND APPLICATION TO
Component
Description
Metadata Use
Barcode Use The complete set of metadata for this report
Description
document including the compulsory and
Master Author Storage of Metadata Access
contextual information about the document
desirable elements will be stored in a
Contributor
database. A dynamic metadata barcode on the
Creation Date
coversheet will be used to access this
Title
information.
Subject Classification/Type
Each of the individual sections will also have a
Language
static metadata barcode which contains a
Format
restricted set of compulsory information to
Publisher
describe their content.
Linking to external Referencing
documents and
CURRENT DOCUMENT
Any references made within the report will be stored in a database along with the source
Source
(project or author) and a dynamic barcode
References
will be used to access this information and
resources
display the document. The version, approval status and historic
Status
Document
Version
editing events for the document will be stored
version
Approval
in a database. A dynamic barcode will be
control
Events
embedded on the title page to access this information.
Storage
6. 2
Document
Rights
The access rights for the document, extent of
access,
Distribution
distribution, and level of preservation and
retrieval
Preservation and
disposal will be stored in a database. A
and
Disposal
dynamic barcode will be embedded on the
archiving
Storage
title page to access this information.
PROPOSED SYSTEMS ARCHITECTUR ARCHITECTURE E
Example diagrams for a systems architecture will now be presented to show how the final system implementation could be represented. represented. Viewing the system from different perspectives is a useful way of extracting each of the elements described by Krogstie. The most applicable to this system is the “4+1 Architectural View Model” shown in Figure 13. The 4+1 view model uses multiple, concurrent concurrent views for
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describing the architecture architecture of software systems. Each of the views can be represented by a number of representation diagrams described in Table 28. T ABLE 28 – D ESCRIPTION OF VIEWPOINTS FOR THE 4+ 1
ARCHITECTURAL VIEW MODEL
Viewpoint
Description
Development View
System components components and software management overview
Physical View
Topology of system hardware and software components and runtime behaviour of system
Scenario View
Functionality Functional ity that the system provides to end users
Logical View
Sequence of interaction between objects and processes
Process View
Communication Communication and dynamic interaction of system components
The application of the UML representation to each of the viewpoints for this system is shown in Table 29. Only one of each diagram type has been produced – these are for illustration purposes only. To create the whole systems architecture each diagram would have multiple associated diagrams. Hence not enough information is provided to create the final system but the method which would be used is demonstrated. demonstrated.
F IGURE 13 – T HE 4+ 1
ARCHITECTURAL VIEW MODEL
T ABLE 29 – D ETAILS OF UM L
SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE DIAGRAMS
UML Representation
Viewpoint
Extent
Example
Component Diagram
Development View
Overall System
Figure 14
Deployment Diagram
Physical View
Overall System
Figure 15
Use Case Diagram
Scenario View
Version Control
Figure 16
Sequence Diagram
Logical View
Release Document Figure 17
Activity Diagram
Process View
Release Document Figure 18
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Metadata System DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION Type: Component Diagram Viewpoint: Development View
identifier
System components and software management overview
Description, master author, contributor, creation date, title, subject, classification/type, language, format, publisher «uses»
Referencing System identifier «uses»
Source, references
User Interface
Database System
Document Management System
«uses»
«uses»
Status System Version, approval, events identifier
«uses»
Rights, distribution, preservation and disposal, storage
Storage System
KEY Name
Component
identifier
Aggregation
Port
Receiver
X,Y,Z
F IGURE 14 – O VERALL
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SYSTEM
– C OMPONENT
DIAGRAM
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(D EVELOPMENT
Relationship Connector Transmission Data
VIEW )
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DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION
: PDA : Scanner
Deployment Diagram Type: Viewpoint: Physical View : Document Store
: Document Client
Topology of system hardware and software components and runtime behaviour of system
*
*
: Database Management System * *
* Release
View
KEY
: Workstation : Name
*
Node
: Document Client
: Name
: Document Store
Component
** : Document Management System
Information flow
: Printer : Naming Schema
Interface
*
*
|Function Association *
F IGURE 15 – O VERALL
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SYSTEM
– D EPLOYMENT
DIAGRAM
(P HYSICAL
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VIEW )
*
Multiplicity
The Use of Barcodes for Document Management in Safety-Critical Industries
DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION
: PDA : Scanner
Deployment Diagram Type: Viewpoint: Physical View : Document Store
: Document Client
Topology of system hardware and software components and runtime behaviour of system
*
*
: Database Management System *
*
*
Release
View
KEY
: Workstation : Name
*
Node
: Document Client
: Name
: Document Store
Component
** : Document Management System
Information flow
: Printer : Naming Schema
Interface
*
*
|Function Association *
F IGURE 15 – O VERALL
Paul Wallace
SYSTEM
– D EPLOYMENT
-6767-
DIAGRAM
(P HYSICAL
*
Multiplicity
VIEW )
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System
DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION Type: Use Case Diagram Viewpoint: Scenario View
Create Project
Functionality that the system provides to end users
Enter Project Details
Top Package::Project Manager
Release Document
Top Package::Document Database
Up-version Document KEY
The Use of Barcodes for Document Management in Safety-Critical Industries
System
DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION Type: Use Case Diagram Viewpoint: Scenario View
Create Project
Functionality that the system provides to end users
Enter Project Details
Top Package::Project Manager
Release Document
Top Package::Document Database
Up-version Document KEY
Top Package::Engineer Actor
Check Version Number
Level :: ::Name
Name
Use Case
Aggregation
Association
F IGURE 16 – V ERSION CONTROL – U SE CASE DIAGRAM (S CENARIO VIEW )
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DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION
KEY
Type: Sequence Diagram Viewpoint: Logical View
Lifeline
Sequence of interaction between objects and processes
Activation (swimlane) Message Name
Database Server Top Package::Engineer
Message call/return Communication Communication Partner
Document Store
Document Client
Internal Communication pin (node)
Class (Boundary)
Release document Name
Send data Check for existing
Class (Actor) Create record
::Name Level :: Name
New
Class (Object)
Embed barcode Check upload
Barcode Generator
Initial State Confirm Display confirmation
Final State
F IGURE 17 – R ELEASE
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DOCUMENT
– S EQUENCE
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(L OGICAL VIEW )
DIAGRAM
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DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION Type: ActivityDiagram Viewpoint: Process View Communication and dynamic interaction of system components
Display error [Check file type]
[Up-version or New]
PDF [Check unique] EXISTS
Upload file
Rename
NEW Display error [DatabaseConnection] EXISTS
Create database record
Generate barcode and embed
Display error
[Embedded check] OK
Display error
KEY Display confirmation
Description [guide]
State
Decision
Parallel activity (fork/join) Activity
Initial State
Final State
F IGURE 18 – R ELEASE
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DOCUMENT
– A CTIVITY
DIAGRAM
(P ROCESS
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VIEW )
The Use of Barcodes for Document Management in Safety-Critical Industries
DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION Type: ActivityDiagram Viewpoint: Process View Communication and dynamic interaction of system components
Display error [Check file type]
[Up-version or New]
PDF [Check unique] EXISTS
Upload file
Rename
NEW Display error [DatabaseConnection] EXISTS
Create database record
Generate barcode and embed
Display error
[Embedded check] OK
Display error
KEY Display confirmation
Description [guide]
State
Decision
Parallel activity (fork/join) Activity
Initial State
Final State
F IGURE 18 – R ELEASE
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DOCUMENT
– A CTIVITY
-7070-
DIAGRAM
(P ROCESS
VIEW )
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6. 3
PROPOSED INTERFACE DESIGN
There is a great deal of previous research on interface design, which considers user behaviour, content organisation, navigation and input. For the purposes of this project, the elements considered in the interface design are only those based upon the conducted research – namely the findings of the engineer interviews, information usefulness and importance questionnaire and the self-testing strategy. The interface design in Figure 19 is for illustration only. It is i s included to demonstrate how the conclusions drawn from the previous work could be applied to the display of document information upon scanning of the document barcode. The four revised concepts are all incorporated to this design to demonstrate their application, and the relevant features of the interface design are described in Table 30.
The Use of Barcodes for Document Management in Safety-Critical Industries
6. 3
PROPOSED INTERFACE DESIGN
There is a great deal of previous research on interface design, which considers user behaviour, content organisation, navigation and input. For the purposes of this project, the elements considered in the interface design are only those based upon the conducted research – namely the findings of the engineer interviews, information usefulness and importance questionnaire and the self-testing strategy. The interface design in Figure 19 is for illustration only. It is i s included to demonstrate how the conclusions drawn from the previous work could be applied to the display of document information upon scanning of the document barcode. The four revised concepts are all incorporated to this design to demonstrate their application, and the relevant features of the interface design are described in Table 30.
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T ABLE 30 – S UMMARY OF INTERFACE DESIGN EXAMPLE FEATURES
Feature
Application description
Justification
Grouping of
Elements are grouped by purpose. This permits
Engineer
elements
inclusion/exclusion inclusion/exclusion of particular groups for a modular
interviews
implementation. Arrangement
Groups are arranged by importance into three sections,
Information
of groups
critical information, highly important information and
importance and
moderately important information.
usefulness questionnaire
Fonts and
Font sizes and typefaces are used to direct the direct the user’s
Information
Borders
attention depending on importance. Similarly for highly
importance and
important groups thicker borders are used to draw
usefulness
attention to these. The version number is highlighted highlighted in
questionnaire
green if this is the most recent version and red if a newer version exists, which allows a quick reference. Separator
These split the interface into three sections of groups.
Information
bars
Firstly critical elements (identifier, document title,
importance and
version, link to electronic copy, document description),
usefulness
then highly important information (references, version
questionnaire
history and authors) and finally moderately important information (previous user comments, further document information and storage and access information). User input
To ensure a robust process and minimise user input,
Self-testing
only two elements are included – addition of a
strategy
comment to the document record or uploading a new version of the document. Active
Many elements are active to show further resources
Information
hyperlinks
and to link directly to references for quick access.
importance and usefulness questionnaire
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Document record unique identifier used throughout system for reference
Large, bold font to focus
Version number in red to quickly show higher version exists
user’s attention to critical
data
Clear link to electronic copy of this document
No modification of details is permitted (apart from comments). Changes must require upversioning of docment
Large but italicised font shows importance but supplementary information
First separator marks boundary between crucial information and highly important information
[0029] – Document Title – Version 2.2 [electronic copy] copy] History of all versions and release dates with links to these documents. Existing version marked and if higher versions highlighted in bold, red font
Author and contributors are important information for finding further information about the project
Upload new version
Detailed document description or abstract of report
Contribution
Version History
Master Author:
Paul Wallace PW
2.3 – 10/03/2010
Contributors:
Hamish McAlpine HCM Steve Culley SJC
2.2 – 08/02/2010
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