The myth of "plug and play"

Despite all the talk about "plug and play" bar-code systems, logistics managers can expect to arrange for some integration work if they want to send the scanned data to a computer system.

By James A Cooke -- Logistics Management, 8/1/1998

John Glass, manager of the Central Stores at Washington State University, had high hopes for his newly purchased bar-code system. His plans called for using bar codes to track and control the 5,000 gas cylinders Central Stores rents to the Pullman, Wash.-based school's engineering and science departments. And he hoped to have the system in place quickly.

But those hopes were quickly dashed. When Glass started making arrangements for linking the system to the campus mainframe, he learned it would not be simple. "I was looking for a system that would interface fairly easily," says Glass. "But then I was told it would take 60 hours of programming time."

The added programming, he learned, would be required to enable the system to send scanned data to the university's inventory-management and billing software, which runs on an IBM mainframe. "We were hoping to install the system this summer, but it may be delayed to the fall," Glass reports.

Glass's situation is hardly unique. Most bar-code systems require programming interfaces to upload scanned information to a software program. Yet many buyers are surprised to find that their automatic-identification hardware is not "plug and play."

Integrators blame it on marketing hype from the manufacturers. Bar-code-equipment makers have created the impression that a bar-code laser scanner can be installed as quickly as hooking up a telephone to a jack. "The manufacturers created the notion of 'plug and play,'" charges David "Zap" Czaplicki, a vice president with the Bellevue, Wash.-based systems-integration firm Systems Technical Sales Corp. "But when you sit at the integrator's side and work with the end user, you realize it's 'plug, configure, and pray.'"

Manufacturers of auto-ID equipment, however, say that the misconception is not their doing. "Manufacturers', integrators', and end users' definitions and perceptions of the term 'plug and play' vary significantly," says Christine Goetz, a spokeswoman for Intermec Technologies, the second-largest supplier of bar-code systems. "In most cases, there are configuration steps in the process. How quickly one can 'play' is dependent upon those steps." She adds that typically, products based on industry standards do provide for easier installation.

Whatever the reason for the misunderstanding, the problem almost always turns out to be the interface. Business computer software, as a general rule, can't accept a stream of data directly from a scanner. Whether it's the manufacturer or a systems integrator, someone has to write software that allows the host computer to use the data read by the scanner.

For most companies that's an expense that's easily overlooked when purchasing a bar-code system, yet it's critical to success. "There's an additional cost to have someone write all those data-collection routines," says Bert Moore, president of IDAT Consulting and Education in Pittsburgh. "But handling the data is still a problem whether it's a bar code or key entry."

Not So Simple

Bar-code scanners have come a long way in a decade. Today, most scanners are included as just one feature in a data-collection system. These generally come with keyboards and keypads plus a laser engine for scanning. They may include a radio unit for wireless transmission of data or even pen-based computing capabilities. Pen-based computing lets an individual use a stylus to manipulate a touchscreen to enter data.

For basic applications, a simple device known as a "wedge" can work. A wedge connects the keyboard to the PC/terminal port, and it essentially tricks a computer into accepting scanned data as keyboarded input.

Yet whether the data-collection tool is a scanner or a wedge, a wand or a handheld terminal, it must convey the information captured from a bar code to a computer. Although there are simple programs available that decipher the bar code, they generally don't provide a full interface to other pieces of business software that need the data for warehouse operations or inventory control.

Take the PC software product "Spreadsheet Simplicity" from Hand Held Products Inc. That package allows a PC operator to take bar-code data and place that information into an Excel spreadsheet. Anyone familiar with an Excel spreadsheet can set up a simple record-keeping system for inventory counts and item tracking. A scanner can read a bar-code symbol and place the information it reads into an appropriate column in a spreadsheet.

But Hand Held Products officials concede that extra steps are needed to exchange data between the spreadsheet and a larger host computer system, such as a warehouse-management system (WMS). Daniel Yeakley, software product manager at Hand Held Products, says the easiest way to send data would be to export information from the spreadsheet into one of 20 common file formats such as ASCII. If the host computer for some reason couldn't import one of those common formats, then the user would have to write a macro, or series of commands, in Excel or write a program in the Visual Basic (VB) computer language to transfer the data. "Probably as a non-programmer, you wouldn't write a VB script," admits Yeakley.

Processing Problems

Although bar-code makers are trying to make life easier for customers with programs such as Spreadsheet Simplicity, data transfer between scanning and computing remains a problem. "The hardware is a piece of cake," says Moore. "But the software isn't as easy. The legacy systems aren't designed to handle the traffic or the data as it's coming in [from the scanner]."

To gain the benefits of bar codes--accurate data input--the application software that's handling inventory control or running the warehouse must be able to accept the data stream generated by a terminal. "If your computer system can't process a [bar-code] datafile, that's where the integration falls apart," says Norman Katz, president of the consulting firm Katzcan Inc. in Dania, Fla. "It's up to the application software to take the data and process it."

Moore notes that most host computer systems can't understand the data identifiers in a bar code. Data identifiers act as punctuation marks in the bar-code symbol that break up data fields. For instance, a bar-code symbol may contain a purchase order, vendor number, product number, and quantity with each data field, punctuated by data identifiers. In this example, Moore notes, problems can occur if the mainframe computer was programmed to accept item quantity first rather than purchase order. A programmer would have to write code to reorder the data sequence so that the mainframe computer could accept bar-code-scanned data.

The Cost of Connectivity

Whose job is it then to make sure that scanned data can be processed? Czaplicki notes that bar-code manufacturers often will step in to provide software support on big sales. Medium-sized companies sometimes can get support from a value-added reseller, a middleman who retails a particular line of bar-code hardware. Small firms getting into bar coding often are the ones hit hardest by a lack of support. "The end user who buys his hardware cheap from a mail-order house has a problem," says Czaplicki. "Somebody has to integrate because it's not 'plug and play.'"

If a company lacks the internal information-technology resources to tie the bar-code system to its business software, then it has to hire an integrator to write the communication routine. Those services can be quite expensive. Czaplicki notes that integrators charge anywhere from $125 to $150 an hour. "You can pay $5,000 a week for an integrator, depending on what you want to accomplish," he notes.

Until the day comes when bar-code systems can be hooked right up to the computer, companies will likely have to bear the extra expense of integration. After all, the connectivity between bar-code scanner and computer enables a logistics operation to take advantage of automatic identification to expedite receiving and shipping products and achieve inventory accuracy in the warehouse.

For most companies without internal IT resources or buying clout, that means paying extra to hire an integrator to tie the software and bar-code systems together. "Connectivity is the real issue," says Czaplicki. "You need an integrator to make certain that the equipment will provide the information to your system. Because in the end, customers are really buying 'desired results,' not bar-code equipment."