San Bernardino Human Services RFID-enables File Warehouse

The label—which might be printed with only a bar code, or could also include an RFID tag—will provide an identifying number to assist in locating that box. Computers and other assets will also be tagged with an RFID label and bar-code ID as they enter the warehouse, and data related to those items will be stored in the same way. Later, if any of those tagged assets are removed from the warehouse, portal readers installed at the doors will capture the unique ID numbers on their RFID tags and send that data via an Ethernet cable connection to the HS SQL database server.

Although RFID will the primary technology for identifying the boxes, Mendoza says, the bar codes will be used as backup. "There are times when you have errors with the tags," he explains, in which case the bar-code scanner could be used. Conversely, if a box were filed on a high shelf where there was no clear line of sight with the label (rendering a bar code unreadable), the handheld device would use the RFID function.

Several RFID interrogator and printer models will be tested before the agency determines which works best, says Steve Ells, Lowry Computer Products' vice president of professional services. Once the system is deployed, agents in the HS office will be able to request files online, according to each file's case number.

At the warehouse, a pull list will be created and sorted by file locations within the warehouse. The files will be listed in an order designed to allow the warehouse operator to retrieve the boxes most efficiently. The operator will then remove each located file from its box, sign it out in the DRAFT system and assemble all pulled files for pickup by a courier.

The iMotion middleware integrates the asset and box ID numbers captured from the readers and directs that data to the HS back-end system. The Lowry software translates that data and provides it to the back-end storage and front-end Web-based systems, enabling warehouse employees to monitor the removal of each file or asset from the warehouse or shelf, or its return.