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Tot-Tracker
Tot-Tracker is the first product in a family
of PDA / Moblie computers that allow users
to track their time for the jobs they perform.
Tot-Tracker came about from my childrens
needs (and their friends) to track their
time baby sitting. This was coupled
with the price reduction of Palm PDA's to
a point where teenages could afford them
(thank you Palm).
Basic Operation
Tot-Trackers basic operation is to allow
the user to enter and hourly rate, start
/ end time and have the application calculate
the rate. Surrounding this basic core functionallity
are the features that allow the user to build
a list of clients, multiple rate types, schedule
appointments and calculate totals.
The basic features (in order of setting up)
are as follows:
- Preferences : Entering user information and
server (for wireless) information.
- Rates : Entering multiple rate types (up
to 6 user defined types) with hourly rates.
- Clients : Entering client information that
includes child info and user rating (shown
on client list).
- Appointments - Scheduled appointments for
childcare / sitting jobs.
Technology
Tot-Tracker is written in J2ME and uses the
Palm Record Store for data storage (backed
up with Palm Desktop). The Palm version
runs on all Palm OS versions 3.5 and above. The
Palm version has not been tested on J2ME
phones as some work still remains to reduce
the JAR file size and command options.
Main Menu
On startup of the Tot-Tracker Application
the main menu will appear. From this
menu all of the features can be accessed.
On first use, the Rates and Preferences
options should be completed. The
rest of the operation of Tot-Tracker is by
using the editing Clients and scheduling
and using Appointments.
Preferences
 The preferences screen contain basic user
information that will be used for processing
on the server side when used with the wireless
feature.
This also contains the server URL and
password for logging onto a webserver that
can make use of the Tot-Tracker XML data
stream.
Rates
 The Rates screen allows the user to enter
and define up to 6 different rate types.
Each rate type consists of a name (user defined)
and an hourly rate.
The rates defined can then be used for
any specific childcare job with the calculated
total using the job start and end times.
Clients
 The Client options first shows a list of
currently entered clients. The user
can edit any existing client, delete them
or define new clients.
The client information consists of basic
name address, phone information as well as
client names, notes and a user defined rate
for each client.
This rate is shown on all client references
(lists, selections, etc) to help the user
(at a quick glance) decide if they want to
accept a job and if so, how much to charge.
The rate is a number from 0..9 and
can be used for any type of rating.
Appointment List
 The Appointment list shows all of the scheduled
appointments that have been defined (in date
order). The user can edit, delete or
create new childcare appointments at will.
Please note that clients may be attached
with each appointment and with them the client
rating.
Selecting an appointment will show the current
jobs information.
Appointment
 Each appointment contains the date, attached
client, start and stop time of the job and
a selected rate. Any client can be
attached by the use of a pull-down menu option. The
Start and End times can be changed at any
time to reflect the actual starting and ending
times of the job, or even to project the
calculated total cost of the job.
At any time the total cost of the job may
be calculated by using the Calc command.
This uses the currently selected rate
type and the current start and end times. The
result is shown in the readonly Amount field
that is also saved with the appointment record.
NOTE: All information is retained in the
Palm's record store database.
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"In the beginner's mind there are many
possibilities; in the expert's mind there
are few."
Shunryu Suzuki; Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. |
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