With Compeat, you can use a mobile computer to scan or manually enter inventory counts. After counting, you can connect the mobile computer to your PC and synchronize the data with Compeat Advantage. No wireless connection is needed.
To use a mobile device with Compeat Advantage, you must have Microsoft ActiveSync installed, and have a compatible mobile device running Compeat Mobile software (Symbol MC3000, MC3090, or PPT8800). The device's docking station must be connected (generally by USB) to your PC.
The mobile device's cradle (or dock) should be connected (typically via USB) to a computer with Compeat Advantage and Microsoft ActiveSync ® (available from the Microsoft website) installed.
When the mobile computer is connected to a properly configured computer, updated inventory data can be transferred between the mobile computer and the PC.
Your mobile computer should have a basic Windows CE operating system. The desktop and basic interface is similar to a standard Windows system.
To open Compeat Mobile, double-click on the Compeat Mobile icon using the stylus, or go to the Start menu > Programs, and select Compeat.
Compeat Mobile opens to a main screen from which you can navigate to the rest of the available features.
The following menu options are available from the main screen:
File Contains commands to import and export data files and to exit the system.
Actions Contains commands to clear counts. These actions will set all counts on the mobile computer to blank.
Note: a blank cell differs from a zero quantity; a zero quantity will replace an existing quantity with zero (in Overwrite mode), but a blank cell will have no effect on existing counts in Compeat.
Help Displays the version number of the Compeat Mobile software loaded on your mobile computer and the date/time (according to the mobile computer's Date/Time setting) of the most recent import and export.
Compeat Mobile has the following counting options:
Note: The available options can be configured in Compeat under Screen Access. Depending on your security access, you may or may not see all of these options.
Because data between Compeat Mobile and Compeat become desynchronized when the mobile is taken out, you should avoid editing inventory counts or items in Compeat while the mobile is out.
You should also avoid using two hand-helds in the same location because there is the possibility for counting the same item twice and having the quantity doubled, or counting the same item type in two different positions and having the quantity overwritten.
Along the same lines, you should always export from Compeat to the mobile before you count to refresh your inventory.
Note for Additive Mode users: When the software is used in additive mode (see Description of Export Options under Mobile Device Import/Export), numbers exported from Compeat Mobile are added to any existing numbers in Compeat Advantage. Compeat Mobile retains any count numbers you have entered, even after exporting from Compeat Mobile, until they have been cleared or overwritten by a fresh import from Compeat Advantage. For this reason, if you are counting multiple locations on the same device and exporting to Advantage after each location, you should clear the counts before starting a new location. Do this by going to Actions menu in the main screen of Compeat Mobile and selecting Clear Counts.
As an example, if you were to count the kitchen and export those numbers to Compeat Advantage, and then count the storeroom and export again to Compeat Advantage, the second export would result in the correct count for the storeroom and incorrectly double the amount for the kitchen if you did not clear the count after the first export.