FAQs
Table of Contents (Click on any subject for information)
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Customer Base
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Data
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Equipment/Hand-held devices
4. Cellular
CELLULAR OR PHONE QUESTIONS:
Will BirdNest work with any cellular provider?
BirdNest is fully deployable today on the Sprint/Nextel and the AT&T
networks. Allow us to connect you with your local carrier’s Public Sector
representative. It is NOT recommended to setup your account or purchase phones
through retail outlets.
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Does BirdNest use my cell minutes to send and receive data?
No! BirdNest uses the data network. You must have a Sprint/Nextel data plan in order to download the BirdNest program, send and receive data.
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Does BirdNest drain my cell phone’s battery?
BirdNest is designed to work in the background and to “sleep” when not in active use. A cell phone that has been sufficiently charged to operate a voice plan during the day will have enough power to run BirdNest as well. Many of our customer’s also keep a car charger to insure they have sufficient battery life to run their voice plans.
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What if I need to make or receive a call?
BirdNest does not get in the way of cellular or push-to-talk calls. You are capable of making or receiving phone calls while entering data into BirdNest on the handset. If you receive a phone call while using BirdNest, the phone will automatically switch to phone mode and suspend BirdNest, or if you need to make a call, simply switch to the voice function, tend to your call and switch back to BirdNest. BirdNest returns you to the exact location where the interruption occurred. You will not lose any data.
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What if I lose the cell signal?
Once you log in to BirdNest on your phone in the morning, you do not need to be in cellular coverage to do your job. When you submit data it uploads if a signal is available, or it will watch for a signal to transmit data when it can. We suggest that you log out at the end of each day while you have a good cell signal.
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What happens if my phone stops working, phone is dropped or the battery is removed?
Data that is saved to phone memory is stored (even through loss of power) until the automatic upload is complete. If the handset is destroyed, data not yet uploaded will be lost.
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What if I’m in a poor coverage area?
BirdNest runs independent of a cellular signal. However, it needs to communicate with a cellular or wireless network daily in order to operate according to specifications. A user could leave a coverage area and stay out all day if required (user only needs access to cellular coverage in mornings to receive the profile, and in evenings to transmit data and log out).
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Will this work on other handheld devices such as PDA (Palm or Windows device)?
BirdNest requires a data-capable cell phone that runs JAVA MIDP2 on a
Sprint/Nextel or AT&T network.
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BIRDNEST: HOW DOES IT WORK
How does information get to the phone?
When you log in every morning, the BirdNest JAVA program communicates with the BirdNest server and retrieves the user’s profile, which consists of:Assigned areas, districts and facilities Element list of data to be collected, which includes: Last date collected, last reading, appropriate data entry format, as well as applied calculations and validations. Access to a 5-day history of previous readings for each element can be selected as required.
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Do you use text messaging or web access?
BirdNest does NOT use text messaging or web access from the phone to deliver data to and from the handset and the web.
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Data is transmitted through the cellular packet data network to the secure BirdNest server. From an Internet connected computer you access your account at http:v2.birdnest.com/ with an authorized user ID and password. This allows personnel to view, edit and share the data as an electronic version of the log sheet for each facility. It also allows generation of on-demand operational, compliance and maintenance reports and graphs to be shared and distributed as required. Access to data allows operational and preventive maintenance analysis to be performed in order to take a real time proactive approach to operations and maintenance services.
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You assign user ID and Password access to your staff and to guests. BirdNest permissions and access rights can be set to allow users to:
- edit, build and save reports, or
- only view specified data or reports.
Reports can be generated for hard copy use or viewed and saved for repeated usage on line.
Reports can be exported and saved on the user’s desktop where they can be printed or distributed as required.
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BirdNest client companies control what a user can see and do when they log in. BirdNest authenticates who is requesting access to the website by verifying unique User IDs and Passwords that you set and control. Once logged in, you authorize each user’s functional rights when you assigned user organization and job group. For example, a Supervisor of a division can do a lot but only in his department whereas a clerk at the corporate level can see all the divisions but can only perform specific tasks.Wireless device users have a third level of security applied when they access BirdNest. Access Control is accomplished by requiring a User have a BirdNest JAVA application running on their wireless device before we authenticate and authorize access.During training, we will review and recommend user ID and password management procedures along with organizational best practices.
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COMPATIBLE APPLICATIONS:
Is BirdNest compatible with SCADA or other back office systems applications?
BirdNest data is compatible with many SCADA and back office systems because it is stored in XML, which allows different software packages to “talk” to each other.
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Is BirdNest a back door or portal to my existing enterprise system?
BirdNest is NOT a back door or portal to your enterprise system. Data is accessible from http://tools.BirdNest.com and can be exported:
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to your desktop as a comma delimited file format such as Excel, or
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It can be posted in XML format as a web service to be retrieved by,
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Your SCADA software, or
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Other back office program, or
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As an OLE DB or ODBC data source for output integration
These are common practices for data that must be integrated with other back office systems and can be quoted if required. Your company’s internal IT department would be responsible for the integration process to other programs.
GETTING STARTED
What is involved in getting started? - How hard is it to set up?
A customer needs to obtain or enable JAVA MIDP2 capable phones and activate a cellular data plan from their cellular provider.
The next step is to work with BirdNest to:
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Describe your organization structure
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Identify facilities, elements, managers and users, which will be utilizing BirdNest
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Provide copies of most recent log sheets in order for BirdNest to configure customer’s administrative accounts.
BirdNest conducts training for field users to start the data capture process.BirdNest conducts administrative or web-based training for managers on navigating, viewing and editing techniques for optimum managerial oversight, downloading data and generating on-demand reports.
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How long does it take to get started? Train our people? Deploy?
For a small to medium size municipality, or private operation, it takes approximately 3-4 weeks to provision your phones, configure your organization and upload recent log activity. Larger municipalities and organizations with multiple divisions or departments will require a longer set up period due to the volume of data to be input.Overall training of field personnel and supervisors can be done in no more than a few hours once the initial set up is completed. BirdNest is fully deployable for field users once operator training is complete. BirdNest strives to be flexible with your operational needs and time constraints in order to facilitate a quick and efficient implementation. BirdNest customer support is available on web, by email, by phone.
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PRICING
What kind of agreement do you require?
Month-to-month. No long-term contract. Written 30-day cancellation policy.
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Our pricing model has a one-time implementation (setup and training) fee
and a daily cost. Fees include unlimited access to view and use your data,
run, print and export reports and share your data. Your administrator and
managers govern user IDs and passwords. In short we charge to put data
into the database. Viewing and sharing data is included. A fully detailed
Pricing Guide is available upon request. Let us know how many people will be
using BirdNest to submit data from the field.
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Do you offer any add-on services such as GPS tracking or consulting?
BirdNest offers an optional GPS component that will track and display field operator location and route daily as well as a historical record of route and data activity that can be recalled and displayed. BirdNest is available on a consulting basis to help with any of your data monitoring, tracking or verification challenges or opportunities.
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GENERAL INFO
How many facilities are currently using BirdNest services?
Approximately 6000 facilities nationwide that are owned and/or operated by individual municipalities, or private operating companies are using BirdNest Services today.
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Where is BirdNest deployed in the US?
BirdNest has been expanding to a nationwide market after starting
in Houston, Texas. BirdNest is currently deployed
throughout through out the United
States. BirdNest is a web-based service
designed to serve a broad national market. We are a
“software-as-a-service” (SaaS) company. BirdNest is proud to be a leader
in this form of deployment for enterprise applications.
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What do I do if regulators or permit requires onsite log sheet?
To fulfill permit requirements for a handwritten, onsite record, BirdNest suggests: Maintaining a compliance-only logbook that can be annotated on site prior to transmitting data to the BirdNest server. Printing and posting a copy of your BirdNest electronic log sheet, or Agencies or customers can be supplied with authorized “Guest” access so they can review permit specific data on their desktop browser using their assigned user ID & password.
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How do my operators manage their facilities without a hand-written log sheet?
History is a standard feature of BirdNest. If an operator notices or thinks something is amiss, he can act right then and there. A running 5-day history of each reading can be easily accessed on the phone. Additional history can be requested if needed. This history feature is especially beneficial in place of log sheets at the end/beginning of the month when there would not be a log sheet history available because all hand-written log sheets have been turned into management for review and reporting.Entering reset values is also a standard feature of BirdNest as well as calculating weekend math for those facilities that are only monitored 5 days a week but need calculations for 7 days. BirdNest is designed to make the job of recording data easier, less time consuming and more reliable for the field operator and free the operator to perform maintenance, performance and supervisory tasks as required to efficiently and effectively manage his facilities.
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When it comes to water data collection applications, BirdNest means increased efficiency and better decision-making. Read all about it here, use our Contact Form or call us at 713-868-2900. today.