District Application of Hand Held Data Recorder Technology

A hand held data recorder (HHDR) enables a district to collect field data in a quick and virtually error-free manner. These units can be used to scan bar code location/equipment identifiers or the operator can manually key in this information followed by the current data. Some HHDRs can be programmed with error checking routines that prompt the operator when an entry is inconsistent with regards to the previous reading from that location. Each entry includes a time and date stamp. When the operator has collected all of the data for the day or for a route, the data is downloaded to a district computer and the previous reading log in the HHDR memory is updated via the computer. This method of data entry reduces the time associated with entering data into multiple ledger books and minimizes the chance of entry errors that occur with manual data handling