i-Track

i-Rose, which has been involved in software development since 1993, recently introduced its i-Track solution for asset tracking and management. This year, they also presented themselves for the first time at the CeBIT fair. It is an increasingly common practice for companies in various industries to outsource services such as the management and maintenance of machinery and equipment to control costs. On the other hand, due to the demand for such services, more and more companies are lending funds in the short or long term to their business partners. As the number of these assets can rise to a few hundred thousand and much more extremely quickly, it is necessary to have a powerful and reliable information system to support the management and maintenance of strategic assets for the needs of efficient operations.

There are a number of solutions in the world that offer effective asset management support, and all major enterprise resource planning (ERP) providers have similar solutions in their product range. However, the approach of smaller companies has the advantage that they can specialize in individual areas, develop niche functionalities and adapt their solutions to the needs of customers and their business processes. Close contact with partners from development onwards is an advantage that can be met by even smaller solution providers.

A solution based on costumer needs
This year, they also presented themselves for the first time at the CeBIT fair. i-Track was developed on the basis of interviews with foreign and domestic representatives of companies in various business areas, where they found dissatisfaction with existing asset tracking solutions, as these supposedly weren’t comprehensive. As they already had an i-Service solution at the time, designed to support business processes in the areas of service, maintenance and asset management, an upgrade with the i-Track solution followed.

i-Track is intended for managing two basic types of assets: returnable packaging and various machines and devices. It supports all business functions and enables their transparency, and clearly divides tasks and responsibilities among those involved in the business process. The system automatically creates a data warehouse and independently manages data about the partner, individual assets and operational service providers. At any time, it enables the monitoring of operations by individual business partner, asset or contractor, thus giving a comprehensive insight into the state of assets and a better return on investment in them. The advantages of i-Track are full integration into the already existing customer system and the establishment of appropriate data flows. Currently, i-Track supports ERP systems from domestic manufacturers KOPA and Datalab, and is also preparing a certified connection to the SAP business information system. They also plan to have connections with other systems, but their implementation depends on market demand.

Greater customer satisfaction
At i-Rose, they see their latest product primarily in industries such as brewing, gas (liquefied gas distribution), utilities and charter management. The essence of the solution is to track assets in real time, which enables more economical handling of them. The use of i-Service and i-Track solutions brings fast cost reduction, work process management and thus better organization and responsiveness of the services that use the solutions. In addition to the obvious cost benefits that the company has with this, due to greater responsiveness and transparency of operations, customer satisfaction also increases, which today is undoubtedly a competitive advantage over other providers of similar services.

The most advanced hardware and software architecture
The heart of the system is service-oriented software (SOA), developed in the Java EE environment, which takes care of integration with the local ERP system, business process monitoring, analytics and integration with special hardware. The solution consists of sophisticated software as well as its own hardware solution for reading data in the field and in warehouses. They use advanced RFID technology to track and identify assets. Due to the nature of the business processes that i-Track supports, a large share of business takes place in the field, so they also provided appropriate mobile support. They use basic RFID sensors and barcodes in warehouses, and mobile sensors combined with RFID sensors in the field.
The first type of sensor performs traceability tasks within individual facilities (warehousing operations), and also enables the tracking of assets through production processes. Mobile sensors are used for field tracking, among other things, they enable tracking of dispensers, measuring the type of dispensed liquids and their quantity. They communicate through various channels for data collection: they use satellite navigation to determine the position of resources, GPRS mobile data transfer technology takes care of communication with the i-Track, and bluetooth technology is intended for connection to the mobile computers of operational staff.

On the road of commercial use
i-Track will be premiered at the specialized international fairs in autumn, and i-Rose expects the solution to be most commonly used in industries where they face a large diversification of funds outside the parent company. Currently, the solution acts as a pilot project for their client, which also successfully uses the software solution for optimizing i-Service business processes. With i-Track, the customer will gain control over its assets, thereby reducing operating costs and increasing the organization of operations, responsiveness and satisfaction of its business partners. Thus, i-Track provides access to the system and the opportunity to build a stronger business relationship based on mutual trust and business transparency. Analytical support to partners has been given special emphasis at i-Rose, as their solution includes powerful analytics and graphical reports. Decision support is level based and is available to both management and field workers. i-Track is designed to automatically alert you to problems and incidents in the business process, thus enabling the fastest possible response.

Further development for sales through a partnered network
i-Track will be available as a standalone solution or as an i-Service and i-Agent solution module (customer relationship management solution). The solution will be adapted to different industries, as its use varies considerably from one to another. The main goal for this year, which was entrusted to us by i-Rose, is to develop a solution at the product level that meets all the demanding conditions for sales through a partner network. i-Rose therefore appeared at CeBIT 2008 for the first time this year, as it plans to expand its partner network abroad. They are currently in talks with market partners in Austria, Italy, Germany and Ukraine.

i-Rose also cooperates intensively with high-tech companies such as Hermes Softlab, Iskratel, Mobitel and Telekom in the field of telecommunication process development. In addition to the aforementioned i-Track, i-Service and i-Agent solutions, their key products include i-Doc for electronic document management and archiving, and the Alex software package for digital content management.