Inventory and Shipping Workflow Software

Client

University of Michigan Health System Department of Family Medicine

The Challenge

The purpose of the Stepping Up to Health study was to test an the effectiveness of an online program to promote walking in people with or at risk for chronic disease. Study participants were assigned and shipped internet-connected USB pedometers to measure their progress towards weekly walking goals. The study's staff needed a way to efficiently inventory new pedometers and assign them to participants as they joined the study. In addition, they needed an automated way to complete and collate a collection of waivers and forms for each participant, which varied depending on the specific medical conditions of each a time-consuming and error-prone task when completed by hand.

The Solution

I developed custom software to streamline the process of managing and shipping pedometers to particpants. Written in Java, and using Hibernate and the Eclipse Rich Client Platform, this software allowed pedometers to be inventoried as simply as plugging them in and clicking an on-screen button. By integrating with the department's back-end database, the pedometers could be assigned in much the same way. During assignment step, the software fetched patient information from the database, and the appropriate patient documents and forms were automatically selected, filled in and printed. With a final click, FedEx shipping and pickup requests for the pedometer were generated, and a FedEx shipping label was printed using a local label printer. Using this software, the time required to perform the inventory and assignment steps for each pedometer was drastically reduced to just a few minutes, allowing the study's staff to shift their attention from these administrative steps to managing the core aspects of the program.

Technologies