The greatest amount of time a UL spent at each computer system was the manual collection of information about the PC's current configuration which was to be passed-on to the team performing the replacement.  Data collected included:

• The location of the computer
• User contact information
• Network settings (IP address, NIC address, print queues)
• A list of non-standard hardware installed on the PC
• A list of supported applications which would be re-installed on the user's new machine
• The current e-mail configuration for every user of the computer
• The location of key files (.pst, .pab, .mmf).

Functionality Goals:

An inventory program had the potential to improve accuracy and efficiency by providing the following functionality:

1. Automatic collection of information about the current configuration of the computer
2. Provide a list of User Names and their corresponding "TID" numbers, a required piece of information for the rollout.  By providing this to the UL at the time of inventory, time was saved by eliminating the need to acquire a list of user TID numbers for the particular machine.  Only user names were required.
3. Provide fields for the manual input of information for the UL that could not be automatically collected, such as physical location of the machine, department manager, etc, to eliminate errors in transcription, and also guarantee quality of text produced.  Bad hand-writing was a major barrier to efficiency - this was due primarily to the inconsistent working conditions the UL encountered as they proceded from department to department in the hospital.
4. Provide the UL the ability to conduct more than one inventory at a time, vastly improving efficiency.

Challenges:

The greatest challenge in implementing this system was doing it in such a way that allowed it to opperate within the established framework of the project.  Inhibiting factors included:

1. User Liaisons were generally unskilled in computing.
2. User Liaisons had already spent several days training on the current pen & paper form.
3. The UHN's network did not include a common area from which files could be downloaded at the time of inventory
4. Information collected in the inventory was passed-on to the next team in paper form

Solution:

The first version of the inventory program worked as follows:

1. The UL carried a floppy disk to be inserted into the machine to be inventoried (challenge 3)
2. A single command installed the inventory application to the machine and began the program (challenge 1)
3. A "wizard" style information input was presented to the UL, with a breakdown identical to the form they had been using to manually enter information. (challenge 2)
4. Information such as installed programs was collected automatically (challenge 1)
5. When the inventory was complete, the computer profile was saved to the floppy disk in a simple .txt file, which the UL later printed and submitted to the next team (challenge 4)

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