Handheld Palm computers are a convenient tool for making field operations more cost effective and efficient. While laptop or notebook computers have traditionally been used for data collection, advances in handheld devices have made them an excellent choice for the field. Portable PC’s are relatively heavy, bulky, expensive, and have limited battery capacity. Handheld computers can be easily stowed in a pocket, are inexpensive, have a variety of peripherals available, can turn on and off instantly (no long boot delay), and can operate for weeks between charging or battery replacement. One of the biggest advantages and potential for Palm computing lies in it’s capabilities for customization.

Palm-based Inspection checklist software has been developed as part of the Dam Safety Program Management Tools (DSPMT). This software consists of a single standardized application for the collection and updating of Dam Safety Program Performance Measures (DSPPM) information, National Inventory of Dams (NID) information, and a number of flexible and configurable “plug-in” applications for dam safety inspection checklists. These plug-in applications are available for a variety of organization or dam specific inspection checklists including FERC, USACE, Fill Dams, Concrete Dams, Spillways, Powerhouses, Instrumentation, etc. Using interfaces provided by the DSPMT Desktop application, Users can easily configure the Palm-based application to only present the inspection checklists utilized by the User’s organization. These convenient interfaces also allow dam-specific customized inspection checklists to be configured. This software configuration provides for standardized and consistent data collection of DSPPM and NID information while also providing flexibility for utilizing different inspection checklists. Flexibility is also provided in report generation. Inspection checklists reports can be beamed directly to an IR-enabled printer, Synchronized with Outlook Notes and edited in Word, or Synchronized with the DSPMT Desktop.

Use the Navigation buttons on the left, or the links below, to download the Palm-based Inspection checklist software and to obtain detailed instructions for installing, configuring, and utilizing the DSPMT Palm-based Inspection Checklist software.

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