PAT Software

[FS-Ivan]

Good afternoon PAT testers.


Forgive the blatant advertising post but I think this may be of interest to some of you.


I have developed an Android app for PAT testers to manualy enter test results on site and then upload to our web based management suite. It was developed for a client who wanted his team of high volume testers to be able to enter tests quickly and easily and crucially to be able to send the test results back to him over the internet without the need to download from machines to laptops.


I have published a demo version on Google Play (otherwise known as The Android Market) and would be very appreciative of any feedback you guys can give. The screen layout is optimised for use with a 7" tablet screen but for evaluation purposes it will work on most screen sizes although I wouldn't recommende using it on a phone day in day out. Why not? Well I'm glad you asked. Most PAT testers will spend a proplonged period of time testing in a day and if they have this software installed on their phone which is picking up emails, posts from Facebook, etc... they are going to end up using more battery than if it is on a seperate device dedicated to testing. You can pick up a decent Android tablet for less than £150 at the moment.


If you have a go with it and think that it needs tweaking here or there please let me know as I'm very open to the ideas of the community - after all it is you guys who will decide if there is a market for it.


I'm a new user here and so am not able to post links so if you go on to Google Play and do a search for "PAT Test Toolkit" (without the quotes) you will find it.


Thanks for your time.


Ivan

 

[Darkwood]

If the full version is chargeable then please discuss with the site Mod's as you will be required to sponsor the site as you are advertising a product, i assume the demo is free to download so you may be ok but thats not my call.

My feedback though is you have 2 levels of PAT testing; those who do alot of it and those who just do the one off's
Those who do the one off will probably get little advantage from your but those who do this for a living usually have a high end testing unit that does all the storing itself and then you just download it into software that came with the tester and it does it all automatically ready to print.
I see why you have designed the app but i can only see this appealling to those with basic testers and lots of testing for which investing in a high end logging tester would be in there interests and pay for itself very quickly.

What does you app offer that my Martindale MPATPLUS and my Safety 1st Express software bundle on my laptop dosn't?
It auto logs and saves all results
The software graphs up all results year in year out and highlights items that may be due to fail, items that require more frequent testing and vice versa and prof' printed result sheets.
All i do is plug tester into laptop and edit if required.

 

[FS-Ivan]

If the full version is chargeable then please discuss with the site Mod's as you will be required to sponsor the site as you are advertising a product, i assume the demo is free to download so you may be ok but thats not my call.

My feedback though is you have 2 levels of PAT testing; those who do alot of it and those who just do the one off's
Those who do the one off will probably get little advantage from your but those who do this for a living usually have a high end testing unit that does all the storing itself and then you just download it into software that came with the tester and it does it all automatically ready to print.
I see why you have designed the app but i can only see this appealling to those with basic testers and lots of testing for which investing in a high end logging tester would be in there interests and pay for itself very quickly.

What does you app offer that my Martindale MPATPLUS and my Safety 1st Express software bundle on my laptop dosn't?
It auto logs and saves all results
The software graphs up all results year in year out and highlights items that may be due to fail, items that require more frequent testing and vice versa and prof' printed result sheets.
All i do is plug tester into laptop and edit if required.

Hi Darkwood, thanks for taking the time to reply.

Regarding sponsoring the forum that could well be an option at some point but at the moment I'm just a first time developer throwing out ideas and looking for feedback so I'll see what the mods say.

To be honest my package would not suit you as a lone tester with equipment you're happy with already in place. In its present form it's suited to people in a similar situation to the guy it was written for. He is a business owner who has 6 guys out testing on a day to day basis all equipped with downloading Meggers who has got fed up with the various problems with compatibility between these machines and the different laptops he and his guys have. He is currently in the process of replacing these Meggers with Seaward battery powered testers which have the advantage of not having to go through a 30 second start up process whenever the tester moves to a new testing area. The advantage for him is that he and his admin staff can log in to my web based interface from any computer/laptop and view the status of jobs as well as export to a .csv file any tests which have been done.

For the more casual PAT testers it wouldn't take much tweaking by me to create a more self contained version of the app which could print .pdf or .csv certificates and export to e-mail if there's the appetite for such a product.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Darkwood]

Good retort, i see this isn't aimed at my circumstances nor would it benefit me hence my post and i see where your intended market is now so wish you good luck on your app.

 

[oldtimer]

Yep depends where your target audience is me I do electrical repairs for rented properties and do the odd PAT test cannot stand it but I need it to compliment the business although just to note because of the new COP being issued the period between tests is being expanded and as I test a dozen items at a time then a notepad and a Word template on the PC will suffice but good luck anyway

 

[hazelm]

Good afternoon PAT testers.


Forgive the blatant advertising post but I think this may be of interest to some of you.


I have developed an Android app for PAT testers to manualy enter test results on site and then upload to our web based management suite. It was developed for a client who wanted his team of high volume testers to be able to enter tests quickly and easily and crucially to be able to send the test results back to him over the internet without the need to download from machines to laptops.


Thanks for your time.


Ivan

Interesting post.

I use Megger software with a Megger tester for about 4,300 items for one travel associated business and the tester swaps from site to site within seconds. The software produces all the IET certificates required by the 4th edition of ISITEE including missing items - that is invaluable.

How does your app improve on this, please?

Ross

 

[grantr37]

Your Android device software would need to be able to interface with the PAT testing machine via Bluetooth and an option of WI-FI interface for newer Tester machines as well.......that would run you into Licencing issues with the PAT tester software development companies/vendors and the PAT tester manufacturers not to mention various Patents associated with the communication protocols used for wired and wireless interfacing to which the current software developers are privy and agreed on.
PAT tester manufacturers are keen to sell their own downloading software and would not take kindly to this, even if it were to involve swapping memory cards of saved data between a Tablet and the PAT machine....in order to process then transmit this via the internet or a VPN to a central storage location....
For PAT machines with a secure digital card facility and no Bluetooth or WI-FI built in,combined Data storage and WI-FI cards are available, however these are currently aimed at the professional photography market and are exorbitantly priced in line with the perceived net worth of the professional photography industry, which can mostly afford such things.
Many PAT testers have already spent up to £3,000 on a PAT testing machine and up to and above £600 on the downloader software package and would not want to pay £200 for a Compact Flash card simply to obtain real time wireless transfer...this means that they will either manually input data at each test into a separate device, i.e a tablet...which is time consuming, as well as the fact that tablets are not ruggedised for industrial use and are easily broken/damaged, also using a stylus pen for extended periods is labour intensive and can cause stress on the eyes, or they will wait and just take the memory card out from the machine at the end of each day to spend 3 minutes downloading it to ready filled forms that get emailed off...
This is a big problem with Postal, warehouse and supermarket employees already with eye damage and stress brought about by fast paced work targets being hindered by slow UI's and badly designed software in addition to the need to chase the next charged up battery...


Unless you can come to an agreement with a manufacturer (and rivals will not agree to work with each other) then you will not be able to set up real time data transfer between a machine and a central server/office and this will result in manual form filling, this is what Electricians are avoiding just now by using a downloading machine...

 

[FS-Ivan]

Interesting post.

I use Megger software with a Megger tester for about 4,300 items for one travel associated business and the tester swaps from site to site within seconds. The software produces all the IET certificates required by the 4th edition of ISITEE including missing items - that is invaluable.

How does your app improve on this, please?

Ross

Hi Ross

Again for a lone tester like yourself with all equipment in place and who only needs to download from one machine to his own pc/laptop you won't really benefit apart from the advantage of being able to access customer and testing data from anywhere via the web. The software is designed for an organisation with more than one tester working in different places and it's main advantage is in being able to easily get testing data to one central location - the web, without shelling out for a laptop for each guy.

Cheers

Ivan

 

[FS-Ivan]

Your Android device software would need to be able to interface with the PAT testing machine via Bluetooth and an option of WI-FI interface for newer Tester machines as well.......that would run you into Licencing issues with the PAT tester software development companies/vendors and the PAT tester manufacturers not to mention various Patents associated with the communication protocols used for wired and wireless interfacing to which the current software developers are privy and agreed on.
PAT tester manufacturers are keen to sell their own downloading software and would not take kindly to this, even if it were to involve swapping memory cards of saved data between a Tablet and the PAT machine....in order to process then transmit this via the internet or a VPN to a central storage location....
For PAT machines with a secure digital card facility and no Bluetooth or WI-FI built in,combined Data storage and WI-FI cards are available, however these are currently aimed at the professional photography market and are exorbitantly priced in line with the perceived net worth of the professional photography industry, which can mostly afford such things.
Many PAT testers have already spent up to £3,000 on a PAT testing machine and up to and above £600 on the downloader software package and would not want to pay £200 for a Compact Flash card simply to obtain real time wireless transfer...this means that they will either manually input data at each test into a separate device, i.e a tablet...which is time consuming, as well as the fact that tablets are not ruggedised for industrial use and are easily broken/damaged, also using a stylus pen for extended periods is labour intensive and can cause stress on the eyes, or they will wait and just take the memory card out from the machine at the end of each day to spend 3 minutes downloading it to ready filled forms that get emailed off...
This is a big problem with Postal, warehouse and supermarket employees already with eye damage and stress brought about by fast paced work targets being hindered by slow UI's and badly designed software in addition to the need to chase the next charged up battery...


Unless you can come to an agreement with a manufacturer (and rivals will not agree to work with each other) then you will not be able to set up real time data transfer between a machine and a central server/office and this will result in manual form filling, this is what Electricians are avoiding just now by using a downloading machine...

Grant.

Thanks for your input. You've clearly given it some thought and I appreciate that.

To be honest, the first thought that crossed by mind when the original client suggested this was "the only way this will be practical is if the device communicates with the machine". However - after I sat down with him and listened to his reasons for wanting to make the change I decided that it was worth the effort to write something for him as I was able to utilize what I had written for another package (for servicing fire extinguishers). In a pretty short space of time the engineers have got used to testing with a new machine and inputting on the tablet and are averaging around 40 tests per hour which is where they were before. This has mostly been achieved by a user interface which is designed with speed of input in mind e.g. offering the user the choice to accept default values for some results and auto suggesting things back to them that they have previously entered like manufacturer names and appliance types, auto-incrementing appliance numbers, these things all cut out unnecessary user input. The use of a stylus is not necessary for using a tablet which you can hold in two hands and use your thumbs for.

We are using protective covers for our tablets which are padded - so far, no losses but at less than £150 maybe you can afford to replace one every 12 months or so if you're willing to spend £3000 on a machine? Affordability was the driving force behind the decision to go with Android rather than Apple devices. In car chargers offer the facility to charge the device on the way to the job should the tester forget (they are getting used to it ).

Cheers

Ivan

 

[grantr37]

That was for a one off customer, there are thousands of PAT testers all over the UK and elsewhere....if you look, you will see that Fluke already do a user package with software for PC and Tablets, some others possibly do so as well now..