Blog Description Copyright @AnthonyDotNet https://datacollectioncenter.com Thu, 12 March 2026 12:00:00 Thu, 12 March 2026 12:00:00 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2026/march/12/version-16-has-arrived/ Version 16 is here! This past weekend we updated the servers to the new version 16 of the customer console.  There are 3 major new features we are now offering in the new version: -         DCC Cloud Print -         DCC Lot Utilities -         DCC Automator Let’s dive in on each of these new features. DCC Cloud Print Now you can design and print labels from anywhere in the world that you are connected to the DCC Cloud! -         No Print drivers needed -         ZPL only at this time In the image above you can see the label design page. As you can see, it is very simple to create a label in the designer. Size options are very straightforward, text settings easy to use, as well as easy to use barcode formatting options. This label can be printed to any printer that is connected to the cloud! You don’t need to be on the same network!       DCC Lot Utilities If you are tracking your inventory by lot numbers (like food safety) then this feature might be for you. Lot Utilities now allows you to quickly identify raw materials and finished goods that need to be recalled/isolated, it even uses AI to help identify the responsible raw materials! In the image above you can see that I am viewing a recall report that was done recently. All you have to do is type in the ItemNumber with the LotNumber on the bottom left of the screen and it will run a full recall report. It will tell you the affected Items/Lots as well as any potential common culprits in the raw materials. DCC Automator Looking to dive deeper into your data and the timeline of your inventory? This is the feature for you! DCC Automator makes it to where you can automate several tasks on a schedule to summarize and organize your data. For example, you can tell the Automator to take a snapshot of your inventory every night at midnight, with these snapshots, you can go back in history to compare what your inventory was on those 2 different dates.          In the image above you can see that I have a task setup to run daily at 12 am. I selected the database I want to snapshot; it even asks me what fields in that database I want to snapshot.   Small Additions -         Added some more graphical images to add more color -         Improved the User Admin page to make it easier to create users -         Added more backup types to include Cloud Print & Lot Utilities https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2026/march/12/version-16-has-arrived/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2026/march/12/version-16-has-arrived/ Thu, 12 March 2026 12:00:00 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2026/january/14/version-16-feature-preview-1/ DCC Cloud Print! If you have ever tried to print barcode labels to a barcode printer from your website then you found out that this is not an easy/trivial matter. You need to ensure that you have the right print drivers on the right machine and on the right network. BUT even when you get to that point, you’re still really only screen printing your web page to the printer. Sending a data stream of part numbers to the barcode printer is still difficult.   BUT not any longer …. Introducing DCC Cloud Print Print labels from your ERP/Website with the DCC API to any networked printer in any of your facilities around the world! Drivers? We don’t need no stinkin drivers! Just connect to your facilities to the DCC Cloud, design your labels and start printing!   Now the DCC Platform enables you to:       Design your labels on our platform.       Print Your Labels from the IdyllicWMS         Print from your ERP by sending a simple Print Request to our DCC API.     Simple! Stay tuned for more… Thank you Sincerely, Marshall Ellis The Wizard of the Wide and Narrow, Buddha of Barcode, Brother of Backscatter and Check Digit of Automation https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2026/january/14/version-16-feature-preview-1/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2026/january/14/version-16-feature-preview-1/ Wed, 14 January 2026 15:31:26 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/november/12/dcc-turns-15/ Back in 2010, I was working with a hardware manufacturer (Intermec => Honeywell) and my largest customer at that time was Blockbuster Video. They were my bread and butter for 20 years both in a technical and sales capacity. I built life-long friendships during this time and will be forever thankful BUT the world changed (As it tends to do from time to time) and my bread-and-butter source was coming to an end.   Funny thing … you wake up in 2004 and realize your biggest customer was Blockbuster Video then you’re partying. You wake up in 2010 and realize Blockbuster Video is your largest customer then you’re panicking!  😊   This technology disruption fueled by online streaming improvements that eventually killed Blockbuster Video forced me to pivot from a hardware focus to my first love … software development. My time in the hardware world had come to an end.   My idea? Do something different. My plan? Do something different.   In 2010, The Cloud was young and unproven. BUT it was growing. This is where I wanted to land next so in October of 2010, The Data Collection Center was born. I wanted to help bring data collection to the cloud. No, I wasn’t the first but there was still room for me. I started the coding process and developed Three products:         The IdyllicWMS  (WMS = Warehouse Management System) – No code, Cloud based warehouse management system that is inexpensive and made for the SMB (Small to Medium Business).       Machine Watch  – No code, Cloud based WIP (Work in Process) system designed to track work orders through the manufacturing process.       CSVCollector  – No code, Cloud based system for simple scan and send to a spreadsheet-based applications.   Our first customer was onboarded in Jan/Feb of 2011. Since then, we’ve added custom programming, some great smart people and grown with hundreds of customers.   Am I rich and do I have a yacht? Nah … still drive a Ford.   BUT I get to code EVERY single day and LOVE it! I love waking up and asking myself, “What can I do to make my product better?”. BUT I’m not the quintessential programmer who stays in the office. I love traveling to customer sites and seeing how my customers use my product and how it is helping them. It gives me an immense about of satisfaction and drive. I’m very lucky to be able to do what I’m doing and hope it never ends! Now, I turn to you my customer/partner. The ones who showed trust and believed in us. I want to thank you all for your support. I don’t know what the future holds for us but I’m having a blast and will never forget what you guys have done for us!   Thank you   Sincerely, Marshall Ellis The Wizard of the Wide and Narrow, Buddha of Barcode,  Brother of Backscatter and Check Digit of Automation https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/november/12/dcc-turns-15/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/november/12/dcc-turns-15/ Wed, 12 November 2025 19:24:17 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/october/30/dcc-releases-platform-version-1570/ We’re happy to announce the major release of the DCC Platform Version 15.70! This is our last major release of the platform version 15 (More news to come about Q1 and Version 16!)   Included in this release :           Console Change Highlights o     Added several more symbologies to our device autoconfig. o     Added Raw Materials Consumption analysis to our AI prompts. o     Added Work Order Summarizations to our AI prompts. o     Improved our Imprting functions to allow for more sources and formats. o     Several more fixes! o     Implemented World Peace.         Android Client Device Changes o     Upgrade our device camera scanner to the new Google scanner library.    MUCH faster scanning.    Auto search and zoom for barcodes.    Aligned settings with our Autoconfig settings. o     Updated all dependcies to align with the 16k boundaries (Made compatible with the newer High Horsepower Android devices that are coming). o     Updated for Android 16 compatability. o     Added a Flux Capacitor Management tool.   Login to the web console and check out the release notes for more details!   Reach out us and let’s see how we might be able to help you save time/money and keep your customers happy!   Thank you Sincerely, Marshall Ellis The Wizard of the Wide and Narrow, Buddha of Barcode, Brother of Backscatter and Check Digit of Automation https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/october/30/dcc-releases-platform-version-1570/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/october/30/dcc-releases-platform-version-1570/ Thu, 30 October 2025 17:28:16 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/july/22/dcc-releases-platform-version-1550/ We’re happy to announce the major release of the DCC Platform Version 15.50! Our development team has been working overtime under strict supervision to make this happen for Q2. Included in this release :           A BitCoin purchase option page. (OK, not really just checking to make sure you’re paying attention  😊 )         Dozens of improvements for our support to team to utilize to better help resolve and troubleshoot issues.         More scripting options to help you customize your device’s behavior.         Improvements to our Directed Picking, Counting functions.         Several improvements in the integration section to help you connect to your ERP system more easily.         Some UI improvements to help screen rendering a bit quicker.         Dozens of fixes.   Login to the web console and check out the release notes for more details!   Reach out us and let’s see how we might be able to help you save time/money and keep your customers happy!   Thank you Sincerely, Marshall Ellis The Wizard of the Wide and Narrow, Buddha of Barcode, Brother of Backscatter and Check Digit of Automation https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/july/22/dcc-releases-platform-version-1550/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/july/22/dcc-releases-platform-version-1550/ Tue, 22 July 2025 11:32:38 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/march/21/find-your-missing-tools-before-they-cost-you-thousands/ Imagine you own a field service company that performs maintenance on equipment at remote Oil drilling sites. Your teams drive hours with large maintenance vehicles that contain all the tools you need to do the job. Now the “real world” steps in… Tools get moved or lost over time. When a team of multiple guys in a truck drives hours to a remote site just to find out that they are missing the 10mm socket … BAM that 10mm socket which originally costed less than a dollar … now can potentially cost you THOUSANDS of dollars! How? Why? That team drove all of those hours to this remote site just to NOT be able to perform the required service. The only fixes might be another team driving out with the proper tools or the original team returning to get the necessary tools then driving back to the site. Also, their customer may also be suffering because the needed maintenance did not get performed which may increase a site’s down time. This doesn’t help customer satisfaction at all! None of this equates to a good scenario.   Now, you could alleviate this scenario by perhaps doing an inventory of your tools before leaving. BUT this might take a lot of time and not be very accurate if done by hand so what’s a company to do? How about being able to quickly wave a mobile device and identify missing or wrongly located items in a few minutes before leaving? That’s just what The Data Collection Center has helped customers do! We developed a system where you can quickly identify tools that should be in a truck but are missing or tools that are in a truck that should be in another truck! Through the utilization of RFID technology, we have developed a unique system of fixing these problems … Excuse me … PREVENTNG these problems! In fact, our process is so unique that we applied and have been awarded a patent for it! Patent# 11,132,641 RFID Inventory System and Method.   Reach out us and let’s see how we might be able to help you save time/money and keep your customers happy!   Thank you Sincerely, Marshall Ellis The Wizard of the Wide and Narrow, Buddha of Barcode, Brother of Backscatter and Check Digit of Automation https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/march/21/find-your-missing-tools-before-they-cost-you-thousands/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/march/21/find-your-missing-tools-before-they-cost-you-thousands/ Fri, 21 March 2025 12:32:13 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/february/24/coming-soon-to-idyllicwms-ai/ It seems that the key technology for the near future is AI. Can you go One hour without hearing the term? Nope.  Here at DCC, we have been analyzing and utilizing this amazing and disruptive technology. AI has already made us better and quicker at our development methods. I myself am convinced of its usefulness to our company. We are a better company because of AI. But we have been looking for ways to utilize this technology for you, our customer. .. and that brings us to this moment where we are pleased to announce our new AI module for the IdyllicWMS! We are implementing a standard set of AI tasks which will give recommendations based on historical warehouse data. What does this mean to you?         Imagine the ability to analyze your shipping logs and based on product volumes, plan your warehouse location storage more efficiently and in a few seconds!         Perhaps even get order fulfillment suggestions based on the weather at your warehouses in a few seconds.         How about being able to focus on trouble locations/products that are constantly off in their counts and get recommendations on how to resolve in a few seconds.         Perhaps even help forecast more accurately and faster. These are just a few ideas that we are working on. We know there will be much more. I also think it’s important to let you know that AI will NOT be making decisions for on your warehouse but just giving you some ideas that you may or may not implement.   We are excited to bring this technology to our product set. We will be implementing this module over the next few months so start thinking how you might be able to use it for your company and let’s talk…   I do believe this technology can be useful to your company.  Do I think it will take over the world? Nah. Only if it’s told to by us. Do I think that this technology will replace people? Perhaps some but mostly we believe that PEOPLE who use AI will replace people that don’t use AI so study, learn, plan and start using it…   Thank you Sincerely, Marshall Ellis The seriously “Artificially” Intelligent  😉  Wizard of the Wide and Narrow, Buddha of Barcode, Brother of Backscatter and Check Digit of Automation https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/february/24/coming-soon-to-idyllicwms-ai/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/february/24/coming-soon-to-idyllicwms-ai/ Mon, 24 February 2025 10:00:00 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/january/28/the-hazards-of-not-using-barcoding-for-inventory-management/ I’ve been in the Data Collection industry for almost 35 years. I’ve seen the rise and fall of Blockbuster Video, the realization of the Internet (Thank you Mr. Gore), the market disruptions that Wal Mart and Amazon created along with a few more key events. BTW … barcoding was a HUGE part of the aforementioned companies’ successes. What still amazes me is the number of companies that are still writing down their inventory levels? Not just small companies either. A scary number of Fortune 500 companies still have not adopted Barcode/RFID technologies to help them run better. Sure, some have used in places but not everywhere it should be used. Effective inventory management is essential for businesses of all sizes, ensuring smooth operations, cost control, and customer satisfaction. However, choosing to forgo modern tools like barcoding/RFID for inventory tracking can expose businesses to significant hazards. I tried to summarize a list of the most popular risks of not adopting barcoding in inventory management (Based on my experience): 1. Human Error Manual data entry is prone to mistakes. Typing errors, mislabeling, or misplaced items can lead to inaccurate inventory records, which ripple through purchasing, sales, and restocking processes. Barcoding reduces such errors by automating data capture, ensuring precision in inventory tracking. The typical error rates for manual data entry:         Average Error Rate: o     The average error rate for manual data entry is  1% to 3% , which equates to 1 to 3 errors per 100 keystrokes. So, if your part numbers are 10 characters long then only 1-3 will be wrong. That good enough for you? Hope not! 2. Inefficient Processes Without barcoding, inventory management becomes labor-intensive and time-consuming. Employees must manually count, record, and verify stock, often requiring double-checks to maintain accuracy. This inefficiency slows down operations, increasing labor costs and impacting productivity. You might be able to obtain a pretty accurate but how many extra people would it take? I assure you a person is more expensive than a scanner. 3. Inaccurate Inventory Levels Relying on manual processes often results in discrepancies between actual stock and recorded inventory. These inaccuracies can lead to: Overstocking:  Wasting capital and storage space on unnecessary items. Stockouts:  Lost sales opportunities and dissatisfied customers due to unavailable products. Several times, I have seen companies re order products that are in their warehouse but they don’t know their location so when they need this product, they just re order causing them to use more space and store more inventory than needed. This is why accountants drink so much. 4. Regulatory Non-Compliance Industries like healthcare and food often require strict inventory tracking for compliance with regulatory standards. Manual inventory processes make it harder to meet these requirements, exposing businesses to fines, recalls, or legal action. A MUST! Food manufacturers must be able to trace their ingredients back to a lot for recalls. If you’re making cupcakes and writing down your lot numbers, you’re doing it wrong and risking a lot! To summarize, get some software from a reputable company base in Shady Shores, Texas  😊  and throw away your buggy whips! Sincerely, Marshall Ellis Automation Counselor The Wizard of the Wide and Narrow The Buddha of Barcode The Check Digit of Automation https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/january/28/the-hazards-of-not-using-barcoding-for-inventory-management/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2025/january/28/the-hazards-of-not-using-barcoding-for-inventory-management/ Tue, 28 January 2025 09:38:59 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2024/september/02/the-android-standard-client/ We’ve released several articles highlighting The Data Collection Center’s Customer Console which most of our customers use heavily. BUT we’ve rarely shown the “blood and guts” of The IdyllicWMS. The part of our platform that does the heavy lifting. The Android Standard Client!   Created from the ashes of our original client, the Windows Mobile Client, our Standard Android Client was a necessary migration due to Microsoft’s change in direction with their mobile OS strategy. We saw this coming around 2012 and began work to be ready. Our version 1.00 client was released in 2013 and supported Android 4.4 (KitKat). Today we are on version 15.00 and are supporting Android 6 all the way to Android 14. We believe it is important to maintain this backwards compatibility range since the rugged mobile devices in our market place typically have a life of 5 to 7 years. But we must also pay attention to future capabilities that might obsolete an old feature. It’s a fine line to walk.   The UI design is simple which is also necessary since “easy to use” is number One! Let’s take a look…     Login Screen   The login screen is simple but let’s take a look at a few items around the screen. At the top we have a unique Four-character ID for the user to identify the device to DCC support people. Next to the ID is the most useful icon EVER … the old smiley face. The smiley face is a quick, easy and non-technical way for the user to understand if he/she is online.  No need for those pesky technical questions such as, “Are you connected to WIFI?” or “Do you have internet access?” The smiley face answers all of that. This is a heartbeat which refreshes around every 10 seconds. The version number is also a good item to know for our support staff at a glance. The bold text would be the company name then we have the user/password prompt The Location prompt is what makes all scanners allowed to be used at multiple sites. If your company has multiple warehouses then you can tell the scanner which warehouse/site you want to work with by setting this at login. You can login by clicking the “Login” button and exit with the “Exit” button.   The Menu   After a successful login, the main menu appears. This gives the user a central look at all of the available transactions which may var from company to company.  The real estate on this comes at a premium but we must give the use larger buttons with images and captions. The large buttons allows an ease of use even in a gloved environment.             The Three-Dot Menu   At the top right of all screens which are past the login screen is a Three-Dot menu which has the following functions: Print Manager – Pulls of the printer management screen which allows you to select and manage all printers (IP and/or Bluetooth). Enter Admin Mode – Allows DCC support staff access to administrative functions that may help diagnose/resolve issues. Barcode Test Scans – An area that allows you to test scan some barcodes that may be giving you problems. System Information – A very informative screen that reveals information such as WIFI signal strength and software versions for the device and app.   Scan Test   Sometimes there are barcodes that seem not to scan. The reasons for this are some such as damaged barcodes, wrong symbology or the data format is wrong.  Using the Three-Dot menu and accessing the Scan Test screen can allow you to test some of these codes without creating errors in a transaction screen.  When you move into this screen ALL barcode types are enabled (NOT available on all device Manufacturers) then when you scan barcode you will see the data in a Raw format along with the type of barcode at the bottom of the screen.   System Information   The System Information screen can also be accessed from the Three-Dot menu in most screens. A few items on this screen: WIFI Network – Shows name (SSID) of current WIFI network the device is connected to. RSSI – The signal strength of the connection. This can be useful when trying to troubleshoot WIFI coverage issues. This reading is real time and updates any time there is a change in the signal strength. AP – The mac address of the current access-point the device is connected to. This can also be useful in troubleshooting WIFI coverage issues. Speed – Speed of the current connection (NOT to confused with internet speed. This is only the WIFI link speed). Device – The manufacturer and model of the device. Android – Version of Android. DCC – Version of DCC client ScanLib – Version of DCC’s scanner library which allows auto configuration of scanner parameters (Not available on all manufacturers). This also tells you if your device is supported and allows configuration settings to be changed in the Customer Console.   For questions please reach out to Marshall Ellis @ mellis@datacollectioncenter.com OR 972-489-2043! https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2024/september/02/the-android-standard-client/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2024/september/02/the-android-standard-client/ Mon, 02 September 2024 08:00:00 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2024/july/08/the-data-collection-center-release-version-15/ Shady Shores, TX – July 8th, 2024 –  The Data Collection completes the IdyllicWMS Version 15 update. Per our last announcement a few weeks back, we have updated to IdyllicWMS 15!   Our Dashboard and Charts module is now available on a special preview basis through the rest of the year! Easily see who are your best employees, largest customers, most popular products! Reach out to us to find out more…       Release Summary:           Dashboard o     We now have a complete set of internal dashboard tools for charts and graphs. See your highest volume products, best warehouse employees, busiest bin locations and much more!           Shopify Integration o     Download and fill orders from Shopify           Sage50 Integration o     Update inventory in the popular Sage50 Accounting application.           RFID Custom Tag Mapping o     We have added a custom tag mapping capability that allows to write all type of data to your custom tags with extended memory and functionality.           RFID Tools o     Added more RFID Testing tools. O  Added a quick EPC decoder/encoder in our console to help you validate your EPC tags encoding.         Weather Conditions o     Now see the current weather conditions of all your warehouses to help determine the best place to fill orders.           Various Enhancements o     Android Client is quicker and uses less memory. o     Site UI Improvements. We’re constantly finding new better ways to present information!   Be sure to reach out to us if you have any questions about what this could mean for you!     The Data Collection Center The Data Collection is a software development company headquartered in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex which develops cloud-based platforms that enable customers to easily use data collection technologies such as bar-code and radio frequency identification (RFID) to improve their data capturing capabilities with little to no coding! They provide three main platform products:   IdyllicWMS – Warehouse management system which allows Receiving, Put Away, Cycle Counting, Picking and Shipping. CSVCollector – Generic data collection system for simply data collection such scanning items and sending to a spreadsheet. MachineWatch – Manufacturing software system which allows companies to track manufacturing work orders through their production system.   They also offer customer programming across multiple platforms for all types of businesses.   Contact: Marshall Ellis mellis@datacollectioncenter.com 972-489-2043 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2024/july/08/the-data-collection-center-release-version-15/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2024/july/08/the-data-collection-center-release-version-15/ Mon, 08 July 2024 12:06:05 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2024/june/26/the-data-collection-center-release-version-15/ Shady Shores, TX – June 26th, 2024 –  The Data Collection announces a new major release for the IdyllicWMS! In our 14 th  year of business, we have completed the initial development and are in major systems testing with IdyllicWMS 15. July 6 th  we will release our most comprehensive update EVER!   Just a few highlights…         Dashboard o     We now have a complete set of internal dashboard tools for charts and graphs. See your highest volume products, best warehouse employees, busiest bin locations and much more!         Shopify Integration o     Download and fill orders from Shopify         Sage50 Integration o     Update inventory in the popular Sage50 Accounting application.         RFID Custom Tag Mapping o     We have added a custom tag mapping capability that allows to write all type of data to your custom tags with extended memory and functionality.         RFID Tools o     Added more RFID Testing tools. o     Added a quick EPC decoder/encoder in our console to help you validate your EPC tags encoding!         Various Enhancements o     Android Client is quicker and uses less memory. o     Site UI Improvements. We’re constantly finding new better ways to present information!    “We are finally going to be able to let the developers out of the dungeon to breathe some fresh air for a few minutes! I’m always excited this time of the year when we celebrate our country’s birth and this makes me about as excited Washington must have been at the end of the battle of Saratoga!”, mentioned Marshall Ellis, Director of Product Development.  Be sure to reach out to us if you have any questions about what this could mean for you! https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2024/june/26/the-data-collection-center-release-version-15/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2024/june/26/the-data-collection-center-release-version-15/ Wed, 26 June 2024 11:51:15 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2023/january/17/happy-new-year/ Happy New Year Everybody and hope 2023 turns out to be a good one for all! As we say goodbye to 2022 let’s review… A few interesting stats about 2022: We processed over 1 MILLION RFID Tags! We processed more than 2 MILLION BARCODES! We captured more than 10,000 signatures! We captured almost 10,000 images! We recorded close to 2000 device drops (Physically dropping the device close to 5ft to the floor) YIKES??? What is happening out there??? We also recorded (AND PREVENTED) close to 10,000 invalid data entry errors (Entering the wrong characters or scanning the wrong barcode)! Truly, the world will not be perfect with us humans around ! We implemented 8 updates to the Customer Console which involved various improvements/fixes! We implemented 12 updates to our Android device client application which also involved various improvements/fixes! Our custom software group wrote more than 100,000 lines of code last year!   We had a great year at DCC and are thankful to all of you guys who made it happen!   Scan-N-Print: We are happy to announce a new release coming in Feb/Mar timeframe! We have been asked more and more in the past years to develop a simple scan and print application. An application that simply prints a label of the barcode that is scanned. It sounds simple enough but the problem is that it almost always comes down to developing a custom application that must be loaded to the device with a hardcoded label template. While this can work, any changes to the label require a change to the code which involves more testing and deployment which adds cost!  We have now added a new product called Scan-N-Print which answers these problems! We have developed a standard set of label templates and added a new sub-product of our Warehouse Management System (IdyllicWMS) called Scan-N-Print. Choose one of our standard templates and pay  no setup cost ! Now you have this simple app available for less than a few bucks a day (Support included!). Scan-N-Print uses our standard device client software and provides an easy migration path to other transactions for inventory so you can grow as your needs change!   DCC Version 14: Probably the biggest changes coming in 2023 will be DCC Version 14! Coming in Q1 (Hopefully ) will be our largest release ever with the highest number of improvements! We will be introducing our new database technology DCC INMEM! This will quicken searches and lessen the space needed for your data (Some of this technology is already in use)! This will be a subtle change with few differences in the UI but under the hood it is like adding a supercharger to our engine! Stay tuned for more details on the release date! We are also adding video training links, a new technical support case tracking system and a few other improvements!   DCC Email: As you know our email provider had some technical issues in December. It turns out that they were hacked. Now they have determined that no data was stolen and have fixed the issue but it was an outage that caused us to eventually switch providers. Our email has been running normally for a few weeks now. We had to switch providers but it looks like all went well. If you are expecting a reply and have not seen it then please let me know! Does not look like we missed anything BUT it’s possible!   Thank you https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2023/january/17/happy-new-year/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2023/january/17/happy-new-year/ Tue, 17 January 2023 10:25:49 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2022/june/24/the-data-collection-center-releases-version-12/ Shady Shores, TX – June 24th, 2022 – The Data Collection has released Version 12! We are excited to announce that we have released Version 12! Our most comprehensive release yet! Years of development have resulted in our largest, most feature-filled release! Our goal was to release this version right at our 12 th anniversary and we have beaten that by a few months!  “Our development process is pretty simple. Listen, Observe and Develop! Nothing has ever been truer than take care of your customer and they will take care of you!”, mentioned Marshall Ellis, Director of Product Development.   Just a few highlights of Version 12: We have incorporated our patented RFID Inventory Process. FINALLY, our patented RFID Inventory Process is available to our customer base and can be easily implemented! Get your tool rooms back in shape today!   We have added and improved the Visual Warehouse feature so that now our users can easily query a location visually!     We have improved our device monitoring capabilities as well! Catch device abuse! Catch invalid application use attempts by user which can alert you to training needs!     We have fully implemented our Soft UI or SUI (pronounced: “SOOOIE!” 😊 )! Using today’s best UI practices, we have accented what needs to be seen and “softened” the surrounding elements. Simply a little easier on the eyes!     We have added more control in our RFID Portal / Controller Software. Now you have access to more detailed functionality, like dynamic configuration control, valid RSSI threshold modification and much more! We have widened our Android Support! Now we support Android 6 all the way to Android 12! As you may be aware, Android changes from one release to another can be drastic! We have an extremely diverse device population from Windows CE 4.2 and Windows Mobile 6.5.3 to Android 6 and Android 10. We test, test, test and test to preserve this cross-platform compatibility! We would like to thank our customers for their input! Many changes that we implement come from our users! We will continue to improve our system and help our customers SAVE MONEY! This process never ends BUT is always fun!   The Data Collection Center The Data Collection is a software development company headquartered in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex which develops cloud-based platforms that enable customers to easily use data collection technologies such as bar-code and radio frequency identification (RFID) to improve their data capturing capabilities with little to no coding! They provide three main platform products: IdyllicWMS – Warehouse management system which allows Receiving, Put Away, Cycle Counting, Picking and Shipping. CSVCollector – Generic data collection system for simply data collection such scanning items and sending to a spreadsheet. MachineWatch – Manufacturing software system which allows companies to track manufacturing work orders through their production system. They also offer customer programming across multiple platforms for all types of businesses. https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2022/june/24/the-data-collection-center-releases-version-12/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2022/june/24/the-data-collection-center-releases-version-12/ Fri, 24 June 2022 09:00:00 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2022/february/01/the-data-collection-center-is-awarded-rfid-inventory-system-and-method-patent/ Shady Shores, TX – January 31 st , 2022 –  The Data Collection has been awarded patent number 11,132,641 for RFID Inventory System and Method! The Data Collection Center is constantly looking to add different technology offerings that we think can help our customers solve business problems. We have always attempted to discover different RFID applications and seamlessly add to our platform so that our customers can quickly enjoy the benefits! That being said, we have been awarded RFID Inventory System and Method patent number 11,132,641 that addresses a common RFID system use. Now you should be able to easily walk into a tool crib/bin location area with a handheld RFID unit, wand an area and determine what is missing and/or what is there but should not be! This process can address items which are missing or in the wrong location. Even if you do not completely read all items in single a pass (A common occurrence based on item/tag location/orientation), you can continue the wand process, updating the list as you go!  Tool rooms are a common area where loss can be rather high due to the number of transfers that might be missed or captured incorrectly with a manual process. Now you will not need to spend hours locating tools or purchasing more tools because you cannot find the tools you have! You can simply use a handheld device (Contact us for the approved list of devices) and “wand” this inventory! The device will immediately let you know what is missing and what is there that shouldn’t be! The result is our customer being able to quickly resolve inventory issues! “We are excited at the application possibilities we can now offer to our customers! RFID Technologies have been around for a while BUT the applications to deal with this high-speed data collection technology have historically been complicated and/or expensive! The added benefits that we can offer at a reasonable price and quick implementation allows us to expand our reach into more RFID applications! I’m almost as excited as when I see ducks landing in my decoy spread!”, mentioned Marshall Ellis, Director of Product Development.  Be sure to reach out to us if you have any questions about what this could mean for you! https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2022/february/01/the-data-collection-center-is-awarded-rfid-inventory-system-and-method-patent/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2022/february/01/the-data-collection-center-is-awarded-rfid-inventory-system-and-method-patent/ Tue, 01 February 2022 09:00:01 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2019/september/09/now-partnering-with-bartender-software/ Shady Shores, TX – September 9th, 2019 – The Data Collection has now partnered with BarTender for an easy label making experience for their customers. With over 30 years of experience, BarTender is globally trusted to optimize our customers’ barcode labeling and printing processes. They currently have three editions of the software that allows for easy upgrades for businesses as they grow.  They are excited for the opportunity to share this software to our customers. Data Collection knows the benefits and loves how easy it is to manage. What is it that you may need? Let them help you find the best solution: Print from spreadsheets & databases Print automatically Manage printing at different sites Manage or secure my design and printing system This partnership allows them to continue offering customer programming software across multiple platforms for all types of businesses. Whether you are within in Aerospace, Chemical, Food & Beverage, Medical Devices, Pharmaceutical, Retail, and Supply Chain they can help.  Be sure to  Download Your Free Edition of BarTender . https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2019/september/09/now-partnering-with-bartender-software/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2019/september/09/now-partnering-with-bartender-software/ Mon, 09 September 2019 09:00:00 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2019/june/10/the-data-collection-center-releases-version-950/ Shady Shores, TX – June 10 th , 2019 – The Data Collection has released their platform version 9.50 and is now live! Here are some highlights and features of this release: Operator manual generation – You now have access to more operator (scanner/device users) focused documentation which is built for the scanner/device user and not just the platform side. It comes with screen previews and instruction which are easily printable. Device Screen Previews – You can now preview your device screens before loading your devices! Customizable Views Per User – All inventory/data views can now be customized for each user so that he/she can view only the elements that correspond to his/her job function. Automated Cycle Count Fields – We now have a set of automatically calculated fields that correspond to a cycle count which will set the date, difference and difference in percentage for each cycle count. Android Enhancements – Several Android enhancements, such as speech input and speech prompting! “There was a ton of input from our customers on many of the above enhancements”, said Marshall Ellis, Director of Product Development, “We are thankful and shame on us if we ever quit listening! We got two ears and only one mouth so it’s always a good idea to listen twice as much as we talk. Each customer is unique and so are their list of benefits. Our never-ending challenge is to continue to develop one platform to help them all!” The Data Collection Center The Data Collection is a software development company headquartered in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex which develops cloud-based platforms that enable customers to easily use data collection technologies such as bar-code and radio frequency identification (RFID) to improve their data capturing capabilities with little to no coding! They provide three main platform products: IdyllicWMS – Warehouse management system which allows Receiving, Put Away, Cycle Counting, Picking and Shipping. CSVCollector – Generic data collection system for simply data collection such scanning items and sending to a spreadsheet. MachineWatch – Manufacturing software system which allows companies to track manufacturing work orders through their production system. They also offer customer programming across multiple platforms for all types of businesses. https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2019/june/10/the-data-collection-center-releases-version-950/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2019/june/10/the-data-collection-center-releases-version-950/ Mon, 10 June 2019 10:00:00 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/august/22/17th-annual-north-texas-wercouncil-warehouse-resource-conference/ Come stop by Booth 22 on Thursday, October 25th from 8:00AM-3:00PM at the 17th Annual North Texas WERCouncil Warehouse Resource Convention in Grapevine, Texas at the Grapevine Convention Center! Click here for more details! (Link to:  https://lynk.love/17THWERCouncilConvention ) https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/august/22/17th-annual-north-texas-wercouncil-warehouse-resource-conference/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/august/22/17th-annual-north-texas-wercouncil-warehouse-resource-conference/ Wed, 22 August 2018 11:00:00 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/august/17/android-client-version-800/ We just released our Android Client Version 8.00 which includes support for: Order Filing: Load your sales, order/pick list, then validate all parts and quantities! Batch/Online: No need to be connected for all your scanning. GPS Support Android Gesture Support: Fling up to review all of your data Fling down to see a validation list Long press to see your current order Install from Google Play or sideload from our servers Supports Android 5-8+ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/august/17/android-client-version-800/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/august/17/android-client-version-800/ Fri, 17 August 2018 12:00:00 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/august/09/zebra-rfd8500android-devices-added-to-rfid-extended-support-list/ We are happy to announce that we have fully integrated the Zebra RFD8500 along with compatible Android devices (Such as the TC51) to our Extended RFID Support List. Now we can fully support dense tag population inventories, single tag reads as well as tag locating. This integration allows us to talk directly to the RFD8500 device as opposed to relying on a standard wedge read which can easily overrun an application. https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/august/09/zebra-rfd8500android-devices-added-to-rfid-extended-support-list/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/august/09/zebra-rfd8500android-devices-added-to-rfid-extended-support-list/ Thu, 09 August 2018 12:00:00 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/march/06/the-data-collection-center-releases-version-8/ March 5 th  2018 Shady Shores Texas The Data Collection Center announced its release of version 8 this AM. This also marks the 8 th year in business and positive growth! Marshall Ellis, the head of New Product Development stated, “We continue to change as our customers usage model changes. We installed several monitoring capabilities in version 7 last year that allowed the system to learn how our customers have been using our product. Our product learned how it is being used and was able to tell us perhaps how we can make it even easier for our customers. This new AI capability in our code should continue to help us improve our product! We are forecasting that our customers should save almost half the number of clicks in our console product! This is VERY exciting for us and hope that this translates into even more savings for our customers!” A few highlights from Version 8: This new release improved the console UI and reduces the number of clicks by almost half! We have been monitoring our customers’ usage over the past year in version 7 and have been able to make certain improvements based on the most common click behaviors! We have improved our Android client capabilities! We will continue to make more changes and improvements in the Android as the rugged mobile device population starts to migrate to this platform! We have added a new Sandbox capability so that our customers can design test and review changes without affecting their live environment. UI quicker. We have moved our support capabilities from the older browsers to the new browser versions which has quickened the response time! RFID Product Improvements. The RFID Controller product has improved over the past year and we have added a few more manufacturers to our list of supported readers (Impinj, Alien). https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/march/06/the-data-collection-center-releases-version-8/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2018/march/06/the-data-collection-center-releases-version-8/ Tue, 06 March 2018 00:00:05 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2017/september/07/16th-annual-north-texas-wercouncil-convention/ Come see us at our booth on September 7th 8AM-4:30PM at the 16th Annual North Texas WERCouncil Warehousing Resource Convention! Click here for more details! (Link to:   http://ow.ly/eC5C30etzkb ) https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2017/september/07/16th-annual-north-texas-wercouncil-convention/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2017/september/07/16th-annual-north-texas-wercouncil-convention/ Thu, 07 September 2017 11:26:52 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2017/february/13/major-release-7-now-live/ We are happy to announce that we have released version 7 of The Data Collection Center platform! We have added several improvements such as more ERP integration options, pick list generation, scheduling, enhanced SQL functionality, enhanced The Data Collection Center Scripting Language (DCCSL pronounced “diesel”) and much more! Feel free to contact us for more details! https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2017/february/13/major-release-7-now-live/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2017/february/13/major-release-7-now-live/ Mon, 13 February 2017 08:30:00 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2016/august/04/15th-annual-north-texas-wercouncil-convention/ Come see us at booth 14 on October 27 th  8AM-4:30PM at the 15 th  Annual North Texas WERCouncil Warehousing Resource Convention! Click here for more details! (Link to: https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ehome/ntex2017/419174/ ) https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2016/august/04/15th-annual-north-texas-wercouncil-convention/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2016/august/04/15th-annual-north-texas-wercouncil-convention/ Thu, 04 August 2016 01:31:58 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2016/april/22/android-release-200/ We have released our new Android 2.00 client version! + Added support for modern devices (4.4+) +Improved UI +Improved speed! +Added the DCC barcode camera scanner for consumer phones!   Contact us for more details… https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2016/april/22/android-release-200/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2016/april/22/android-release-200/ Fri, 22 April 2016 13:54:49 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2016/january/05/happy-new-year-2016/ Happy New Year! We would like to thank all of our customers for another awesome year of growth in 2015! We have some exciting changes coming up with our release of Version 6.00 which is coming over the next few weeks! We appreciate your business and are looking forward to a great 2016! https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2016/january/05/happy-new-year-2016/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2016/january/05/happy-new-year-2016/ Tue, 05 January 2016 13:54:07 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/september/02/north-texas-wercouncil-convention/ Come see us at booth 29 on October 13 th  8AM-4:30PM at the 14 th  Annual North Texas WERCouncil Warehousing Resource Convention! Click here for more details! (Link to:  http://www.werc.org/north_texas_wercouncil_14th_annual_warehousing_resource_convention.aspx ) https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/september/02/north-texas-wercouncil-convention/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/september/02/north-texas-wercouncil-convention/ Wed, 02 September 2015 21:41:41 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/september/01/new-website-launch/ We are proud to announce the launch of our new website.  We want our customers to truly understand why our services are important to their businesses.  We hope to increase consumer knowledge of our services by more clearly articulating our strategies and processes.   Sincerely, The Data Collection Center Staff https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/september/01/new-website-launch/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/september/01/new-website-launch/ Tue, 01 September 2015 13:20:29 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/march/26/version-515-live/ We have added several features!                          Line Item Deleting! Delete rows from your inventory files.                                    Add Items to your inventory files in the console! Special note to our customers: Login and check out your release notes to see more details on our latest changes! Sincerely,  The Data Collection Center Staff https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/march/26/version-515-live/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/march/26/version-515-live/ Thu, 26 March 2015 09:35:11 https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/january/3/happy-new-year/ We are extremely grateful for a wonderful year in 2014! We wish you all the best for 2015! MAJOR VERSION RELEASE 5 NOW ACTIVE! We have added several features and fixed a few issues!                       Local Backup Service has been Enhanced! FileXfer Tool has been Enhanced!  More Custom View Options!                               GPS Mapping Additions! Camera Image Naming Options Added! Special note to our customers: Login and check out your release notes to see more details on our  latest changes!                                 Sincerely, The Data Collection Center Staff https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/january/3/happy-new-year/ https://datacollectioncenter.com/blog/2015/january/3/happy-new-year/ Sat, 03 January 2015 09:27:49