PartTake creates parts batches. They are posted via the Batch Mode Parts interface within TotalFBO. The clock-in function works just like TotalFBO, creating time clock entries that can be scanned and posted by the Batch Mode Labor interface within TotalFBO. Since it works the way TotalFBO does, you can, for example, clock in using TotalFBO, then clock out with PartTake.
Every parts bag will have a different barcode number on it, containing the bag's LotID from within TotalFBO. This keeps bags from different purchase orders separate, so that the LotID links back to a specific part on a specific purchase order. That way, when you scan a part, it not only knows from the LotID which part it is, it also knows where it came from, fulfilling the standard Transport Canada and Federal Aviation Administration requirements for traceability.
But the PartTake system goes one step beyond that, tracing each part to a specific employee. TC and the FAA don't require this, but it can be very handy to have this information. If a question arises about a certain part on a shop order, you can easily see who took it and the approximate date they took it, and ask them about it.
PartTake is a single executable that can be shared on a network. To differentiate machine setups, you create different .ini files using the configuration utility, and start the program with the .ini file name as a parameter. This means it's easy to try out different machine setups, simply by dragging and dropping the .ini file you want on the program.
As far as database passwords go, they are stored encrypted.
User security is somewhat different. PartTake was designed with our own honour-based small business environment in mind. We have only 16 employees, and we can trust ourselves to correctly identify ourselves on the Select Employee screen, without needing a password. While this may not be the case within some larger corporate environments, chances are you don't have an open stockroom and wouldn't need something like PartTake anyway. If you did want to use it in a closed stockroom anyway, this wouldn't be an issue either, since your workstation would only be accessible by the stockroom staff.
Specifically, PartTake is set up such that TotalFBO's user privileges are ignored. Anyone can take or return parts, and anyone can modify someone else's entry for them. This is purposeful, considering the following common scenario:
Say Gille and Dan are working on an aircraft. Dan goes to the stockroom and signs out 16 bolts, not knowing exactly how many he'll need. Later, he finds out he only needed 10, and Gille happens to be going to the stockroom for something else, so he sends the extra bolts back with Gille. Gille simply clicks the shop order line that says, "Dan took 16 of the AN3-5 Bolts," puts the parts back into the bag indicated on the screen, and clicks 10, then gets whatever else he needed.
There's no hassle (Dan doesn't have to do it himself) and there's no security breach (Gille doesn't have to ask Dan for his password.) This may be open to wide abuse, such as employees taking parts for their personal use and putting them on the generic "shop" shop order, or deleting other employees' parts entries to make them look bad, but we've been running this system since the autumn of 2004 without any such occurrences. The workability and convenience of the system depends heavily on the atmosphere of the business within which it runs.
While we appear to have most bugs ironed out, there is one limitation that we have not implemented a solution for, because we've requested Horizon to fix it. The issue is with returning a serialized item. If you return it while it's still on the batch, it's as easy as clicking the item line and choosing "delete". However, to return an item after it has been batched out, you're supposed to scan it and enter a negative quantity. Well, once you post it in TotalFBO, this only half works. All the "sold to" information in the serialized unit remains where it is, and the status doesn't change correctly. Anyway, for now, the only solution is to delete it directly off the shop order within TotalFBO.
As for crashing bugs, we have hopefully fixed them all, but if a new release happens to bring a new bug, it's not earth-shattering. Most of the crashes since the first few months of operation have been easily recovered from simply by restarting the program, which launches in about a second, and automatically resumes its use of the same batch, so there's no locked batch hanging around in TotalFBO. Anyway, crashes automatically create a crash log file, asking the user for a comment, and e-mail it to the address of your choice. You can use mine if you'd like.
Also, at the moment, you're limited to about 10,000,000 inventory lots by the fact that barcodes are done up with exactly seven digits, padded with zeros if need be. This wouldn't take long to change, though. For now, it keeps barcodes a consistent, small size.
You may also notice some buttons for tools (aka Ground Equipment within TotalFBO) in the View Only Screen screenshot. We were going to have it so people could sign out tools from the stockroom and we could track them. This is on hold for now, but the code is there to allow you to view ground equipment, and sign it out or back in (barcodes are in the format, T1234), anyway, but the interface is not done.
We haven't switched to Version 5 for our actual production environment yet, but we have had it running for a few months now for testing, and PartTake appears from our tests to interact identically with Version 5 as it does with Version 4.
We're not sure yet. We thought we would gauge interest first. I (Kevin) would be doing most of the support, and I'm at university from September until April. While I did support Brant Aero well enough during that period last year (especially considering that it was barely starting production use when I left), I am switching universities this year, and I am not positive what the workload will be like.
It will probably be closed-source, but we would probably bundle with it some open-source custom intranet reports we've made in Perl that we find useful. You'll also need the custom-made barcode printing software and other utilities we did up.
We use a CipherLabs 1105-K scanner at each of our scanning stations, and print up barcodes with a Zebra TLP 2844. All of that and labels and ribbons came to under $1,000 CAD, although pricing may be different in the US.
It took us several weeks to barcode all of our ~4,500 parts bags in our spare nights and weekends, because we also had to enter the PO numbers in the computer by hand, since our old accounting/inventory system had no purchase order functionality. If all of your PO/lot information is already entered, all you have to do is print the labels and stick them on. If you get a team of people together you could probably do a stockroom our size in one night. It depends on how easy it is to find parts in your stockroom, and how many there are. The actual software setup should take maybe fifteen minutes or a half hour, if you include assigning nicknames to people, and customizing department and other colours.