Device Selection

The first step in designing an electronic data collection system is to select the data collection devices you will use to process bar code material movement transactions. PeopleSoft provides support for three bar code technologies:

Radio Frequency

Radio frequency (RF) systems are used when immediate access to the database is required. This technology requires RF terminals and controllers. RF data collection applications, developed in-house or by third-party suppliers, produce transactions that are passed to the PeopleSoft applications through PeopleSoft Integration Broker using XML messages.

Batch

Batch systems are used when real-time updates are not needed. Batch-oriented data collection applications, developed in-house or by a third-party supplier, produce transactions that are collected in an ASCII text file. The text file is loaded into the PeopleSoft system using the Inbound File Publish utility.

Keyboard Wedge

Keyboard wedges can be used when the person collecting the bar-coded information has access to a workstation running the PeopleSoft application. A wand or a laser gun connects to the keyboard wedge that inputs the bar-coded information directly into the transaction pages. The computer interprets information entered using the keyboard wedge in the same manner as information entered using the keyboard.