PEN COMPUTERS DEBUT IN HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION WORK

For the first time in the United States, pen computers are being used in
highway construction work in Michigan in project that promises to spread
nationally and save local, state and county governmental agencies millions
of dollars highway construction costs.

The Michigan Department of Transportation, which is developing the project,
has concluded the savings brought pen computing are so dramatic it will
receive a full $1 million return on its investment in only 11 months. The
$1 million represents what it will cost the state to buy an estimated 275
GRiDPAD pen computers from GRiD Systems Corp., Westlake, Texas, and the
needed software from GRiD and Pen Pal Associates Inc., Los Altos, CA.

The 275 lightweight DOS-compatible computers, based on either 8086 or 80386
processors, will be given to state department inspectors who daily monitor
federally-funded road, highway and bridge construction projects around the
state.

Pen computers employ several new technologies and enable users to enter
data and graphics with a pen instead of a keyboard. This brings computing
power to construction inspectors and other mobile workers who are on their
feet all day and are unable to sit and work at a desktop computer.

Kevin Fox, an MDOT senior systems analyst and the department's project
leader, explained "Our pilot project started in September when we
distributed more than a dozen pen computers to inspectors in the field. So
far, it is going very well. The benefits are 90 dramatic that there is
little doubt we'll go ahead and implement the project statewide. We expect
to be up and running throughout Michigan in time for the 1993 construction
season."

"We think that the cost savings of using the GRiDPAD pen computers will be
approximately $1 million a year. And I think its a conservative
estimate."

Fox, based in Lansing, said several other states including Florida and
Illinois are closely monitoring the progress of the pen computing effort
to determine if they should use the technology for the Inspector Daily
Report (IDR) application.

"The process required to fill out inspection reports is very similar from
state to state," he explained. "If it works here, there's no reason why it
wouldn't work in other states."

Fox and other department officials believe that pen computers also can be
successfully used in numerous future applications including soil boring
and testing, highway and bridge design, maintenance and bridge and railway
inspections.

The MDOT looked at pen computing hardware and software from several vendors
but selected GRiD and Pen Pal for several reasons. "Most importantly,"
said Fox, "while most vendors were talking about their pen hardware and
software, GRiD and Pen Pal were the only two companies who had solid,
operational pen computers and development software."

The rebuilding of America's infrastructure of roads, highways and bridges
is increasing with the passage of the $151 billion Inter modal Surface
Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). In the 1991-92 fiscal year, state
and federally funded road projects in Michigan totaled more than $450
million.

Michigan's 300 plug DOT inspectors are charged with filling out a lengthy
IDR documenting project progress and each contractor's work. Some 1,500 of
the reports are written each week during construction season. More than
36,000 IDR's are completed each construction season in Michigan.

For years, the IDR's have been turned in daily to one of 52 state project
offices where the data is rekeyed into a PC. Hard copy reports are then
generated on the PC and mailed to DOT headquarters in Lansing.

Inspectors note how much material (sand, additives, curing compounds,
stone, gravel, steel reinforcement, etc.) is used on each project. They
record numerous other details including the name of the project foreman,
which road equipment was used and weather conditions.

Accuracy of the information is crucial because the reports are used to
determine how much construction companies are paid. The IDR's also are
used to provide supporting documentation for the state in the event it is
sued for an accident on a road or highway.

The process (before pen computing) included lengthy key punching of the
reports as clerks tried to decipher penmanship that often resembled the
style of your neighborhood physician.

Lyle Tinkham, senior technician in the DOT's Ann Arbor office, said, "You
can barely read some of these reports, due to poor handwriting. A lot of
errors are made when the reports are typed into the PC. Now that we're
starting to use the pen computers, we're avoiding all those transcribing
errors because the data is downloaded electronically into the PC . "

Ed Aymer, lead construction technician in the MDOT office in Deford,
supervises and trains inspectors to use the GRiD pen computers. According
to Aymer, "So far, during these early stages, the time spent filling out
forms in the field electronically versus with pen and paper is about the
same. But the time to get it off the pen computer and into the desktop is
greatly reduced. It's cutting our time in getting reports out by 35 to 40
percent.

"This new system is eliminating many errors. It is simplifying the system
and making everyone use the same format. The real benefit is that everyone
will have to do it the same way."

Aymer explained that in the past many inspectors did not fill in all the
blanks and answer all the questions. "Now," he said, "all the questions
are answered because you can't go on to the next section until you answer
all the questions. This is really giving us more complete information.'

A department analysis has concluded that the MDOT will save about $500,000
a year by eliminating the daily key punching of IDR's in each project
office. And it determined that completing electronic forms on the
four-pound computers instead of filling out pen-and-paper forms will save
each inspector about 30 minutes a day with an annual savings of an
additional $500,000 to the state.

(The DOT is initially purchasing 8086-based GRiDPAD RC model computers with
a list price of $2,595 for the pilot project. They are configured with two
1MB RAM cards priced at $250 each. The state expects to purchase 386-based
GRiD pen computers for the state-wide implementation of the program.)

Fox said, "The inspectors can really use the extra one half hour a day.
They are overworked right now, and with a 42 percent increase in federal
funding, there will be more construction work and more IDR's to do. They
will find it difficult to do high quality inspections with the increased
workload, but the pen computers will give them more time to do their work
well."

He added, "As in most states, we have a freeze on hiring now. We will not
have to lay anyone off when we eliminate the key punching, because there
is still a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done due to the
increase in construction work."

The form's based inspection application was developed by Scott Noeker, a
department systems analyst based in Lansing. Noeker used a software
development product designed for pen computing called Power Pen Pal from
Pen Pal Associates.

"Power Pen Pal," said Noeker, "was very easy to learn. took a two-day
course at the GRiD office in Southfield and picked it right up. It was
very user friendly and has excellent functionality." (Power Pen Pal is
priced at $995.)

Noeker explained he really didn't have to write any code to develop the
application. It was built in. "I had to replicate a number of paper forms
for the project and ended up taking care of the whole thing with about 30
different screens."

(Power Pen Pal works with GRiD's Penright, an industry standard,
DOS-compatible pencentric operating environment for custom applications.)

The department will consider sharing the software application with
transportation agencies nationwide, said Fox.

Cliff Farr, an assistant construction staff engineer with the MDOT in
Lansing, said, "This project has generated a significant amount of
interest from local governmental road agencies. These organizations
oversee construction on jobs totaling approximately $160 million a year.
Quite often they have a limited staff to carry out all these tasks. For
example, the person doing the actual inspections at the job site and
making out the daily reports is possibly the same person who enters this
field data on the PC in the project office. They may also be the same
person responsible for generating the pay estimate.

"These local agencies are very interested in this penbased system. While
they may be making up to four separate entries throughout this process
now, they'll make just one entry with a pen computer. County road
commissions and cities will be a big growth area in the future for this
technology."

GRiD Systems Corp
7 Village Circle, Westlake, TX 76262
PO Box 612706, D/FW Airport, TX 75261
817-491-5200;  fax: 817-491-5952

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