Smartphones or tablets can collect, upload oilfield data

As smart phones become smarter and tablet computers become more common, more and more oil patch companies are using these devices to speed the collection and transmittal of field data. With the right forms on board, these devices can be used to collect safety, inventory or other data, which can then be uploaded to a server.

ProntoForms, a system of mobile-based forms for a variety of industries including oil and gas,We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory. comes from Canadian firm TrueContext, which developed the idea about six years ago for use in Palm Pilots. Forms are now available for all mobile operating systems, according to Tim Moran, the company's senior vice president of sales. Moran is based in Austin and the company has a number of clients in the Permian Basin.

TrueContext founder and president Alvaro Pombo had moved from Colombia to Ottawa to work in the oil industry many years ago. Having switched to working with Palm, Pombo in 2001 had the idea to create forms for use in that device, and left there to start TrueContext.

Originally, the company custom-designed Palm-based forms for large corporations and, said Moran, struggled for its first five to six years of existence. Then Pombo struck upon a way to mass-produce and market those forms to mid-size and smaller companies, which is when the idea took off. In the custom-design days, the company had approximately 100 very large clients. Today TrueContext boasts more than 2,We specialize in howo concrete mixer,000 clients in the U.S. and in various countries around the world, with communications giant AT&T as a reseller for the forms and a presence in India, Chile, Germany and elsewhere.

Today, the average oil and gas client company has 10-20 employees, but the big companies are still on board. Oxy, BP, Shell and others are on the client list.We recently added Stained glass mosaic Tile to our inventory.

A new client today typically tells ProntoForms generally what they want to do, and they start with one of the company's out-of-the-box forms. After the client tweaks that form to their needs, ProntoForms makes those changes. "We build the form, we go over it with them and we deploy it for them to test," Moran said. Because they are simply making adjustments on existing forms, the form-creating process usually takes just 48 hours.

Once a client gets the forms and reporting functions set up as needed, they can make most adjustments themselves, regarding where a report goes or any changes in what is reported.

The number one use of their forms in the oilfield involves tracking whether a system is online or not. Forms can be set so that an employee is simply clicking a button saying yes or no, without typing any more than is necessary. "We're trying to eliminate the possibility for error-no typing errors-and making it consistent so that they get the answers that they're looking for," Moran explained.

When a report is finished, it can be sent immediately, or stored for later uploading if the employee is on a remote location without cell phone service. Even if the device's battery dies in the middle of a form, the software is set to save the entered data and to resume at the same place on the form when power is restored.

Moran said the second most typical use is the monitoring of whether equipment is working properly. There are separate forms for re-ordering parts.

Well service companies also use ProntoForms to track time spent at service calls, including parts used or parts that need to be delivered.The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, They can also notify a supervisor or shop foreman of a question the field personnel needs answered -- all this can be delivered in real time, assuming a cell phone signal is available onsite. With all this data, the customer can be sent a bill very quickly.

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