Field data capture

Field data capture technology is widely used in different applications. Oil and gas explorations, geological surveys, land acquisition projects and mobile installations make use of this technology extensively. Field data capture or data acquisition can be done at various time intervals, daily, hourly or even continuously. The cost involved in these operations is a major factor for consideration while decided on the data rate. In most of the cases, the operations are spread over a large geographical spread and this may by itself be a major issue while deciding on the kind of field data capture devices deployed at site. There is a perpetual lack of trained and experienced field engineers and this has led to a frenetic effort to automate the data capture process. Stringent service level agreements, 24×7 operations and zero tolerance environment puts tremendous pressure on the management to evolve better and faster methods to maintain flawless services at all times.

Field data capture systems have to be simple, easy and flexible to control, and at the same time one must be able to manage work to and from the field force easily. If the field data capture system is able to receive jobs, assign job tracking automatically and re-organize rosters seamlessly to create the most efficient methods, staff and supervisors can gain greater control over their day-to-day activities so they are able to manage by exception only. Their time can thus be diverted to other productive activities such as improving customer service, resolving issues and contributing to the growth of the business. It is not enough to have a system that provides field data capture and convey it to the other parts of the overall business information system. The system should be such that without bringing the business to a halt financially or operationally it should make way for a complex technological solution.