Information Systems:MobiControl
Overview
MobiControl is MDM (Mobile Device Management) software that was acquired for the centralized management of the mobile computers/RF scanners used in the Distribution Centre. The software makes it possible to configure all 37 RF mobile computers in a consistent and automated fashion. Prior to MobiControl, the RF guns had to be configured independently, and they were found to have different versions of the OS as well as the TekTerm program, leading to different device behaviors and therefore difficult management.
As of August 2016, MobiControl device agents were also installed on the 8 new laptops purchased for select staff ( see Evergreen project).
MobiControl can be difficult to understand and configure when you take into consideration the complicated nature of Windows CE (it is a micro-version of a Windows operating system so a lot of settings are registry-based). The software's roots are in Windows CE, but with the OS soon becoming obsolete, MobiControl like all other MDM software is evolving towards management of Android/iOS devices.
This page attempts to detail as best possible all the work that has been done with MobiControl at uniPHARM.
Administration overview
Device configuration is consistent across all RF devices and comprise 3 main MobiControl packages. That is, 3 MobiControl packages contain the payloads that take a device from stock Windows CE to a state ready to deploy into the Distribution Centre.
Config Change: Full ASCII mode for sign-on ID badges (Distribution Centre)
May 29, 2015 - User accounts will have case-sensitive passwords on the new Power8, effective June 13, 2015. Distribution Centre staff scan ID badges to sign on to RF terminals, so new badges need to be generated. The Code 39 barcode format of these ID badges use special characters to specify lowercase. Thus, a change needs to be pushed out to all the RF terminals to set the Full ASCII mode in the terminal's Scanner Settings to on (it is off by default).