Yes, but these are not 'common' responses.
These are single digits! 0 through 9!  I can  
even picture in my mind the delay of hovering 
over each number with the wand until it beeps.

It's even funnier becuase the bar codes have 
to be configured to NOT have embedded carriage 
returns AND the wand also has to be configured 
to NOT provide carriage returns while the user 
builds a number before wanding over, (you 
guessed it,) a carriage return or tab.

(And of course, let me not forget to mention
these are character mode screens going from 
China to the HP3000 in Virgina and back to 
China.)

They haven't quite mastered embedding a 
carriage return only bar code.  Among their
attempts I've even seen caret "^" plus capital
"C" plus capital "R" coded. (^CR)  It's just
plain funny.

BT


Tracy Johnson
MSI Schaevitz Sensors 
-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of James B. Byrne
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2004 9:25 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] Barcode Abuse:


Date:    Tue, 27 Apr 2004 12:23:23 -0400
From:    "Johnson, Tracy" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Barcode Abuse:


> Presuming they also have keyboards and not hand held only
> devices, can=20 anyone tell me what is philosophically wrong with
> this picture?


Nothing.  If the user is doing nearly all data entry with a scanning pen or wand then switching to a keyboard to enter a few digits rather than scanning a number template is ineffient.  We had this exact problem in our document control section and came up with the same answer. We produced a sheet with the common responses, including individual digits, barcoded and laminated.  It had a dramatic effect on throughput and error rates.  This hardly qualifies as abuse.


To put it in perspective, how many high speed typists swicth to the mouse to do selections and simple formatting edits and how many use the keyboard shortcuts instead?  Switching data input modes requires a considerable mental effort which introduces delay and the possibility of error.


Regards,
Jim


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James B. Byrne                Harte & Lyne Limited
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     *** e-mail is not a secure channel ***
mailto:byrnejb.<token>@harte-lyne.ca
James B. Byrne                Harte & Lyne Limited
vox: +1 905 561 1241          9 Brockley Drive
fax: +1 905 561 0757          Hamilton, Ontario
<token> = hal                 Canada L8E 3C3
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