At each of these stages, the winemakers will use their Total Quality Management Palm application to record such information as appearance, taste, and sugar content. They'll then get this information back to the growers to give them a better means of evaluating their growing methods.

The real benefit here, says Wylie, is that it gets the wine makers and vineyard managers talking. A healthy dialogue means a healthy crop, which makes for a better product.

Lessons learned
Through this process of integrating handheld computing technology into the winemaking business, Wylie has learned some lessons that could be valuable to you if you're attempting to integrate Palm computers into your company.

For one thing, Wylie says, people are paranoid. In a company, you stand a good chance of coming across employees ranging from those who don't consider themselves particularly technically savvy to the virtual Luddites. They've probably just gotten used to a PC being an integral feature of their workplace desktop and may be reluctant to take yet another technological leap by adopting handhelds. Some may convince themselves the technology is beyond them.

However, Wylie has discovered through experience that if you spend a little time with reluctant mobile computer users, walking them through the basics, they'll be completely at home with the device in a matter of days thanks to Palm's simple, intuitive operating system.

Another tip he has for anyone using a database application in their business is to make copious use of pick-lists (drop-down menus). When you have to enter a piece of information into a particular field, pick-lists within the field give you a list of options from which to choose. This not only saves you the chore of writing out the response, but it also creates uniformity among the users in your company. With paper forms or blank fields, various users may adopt unique abbreviations and phrasing that could be difficult for other personnel to decipher, and it could lead to confusion in the analysis phase. With pick-lists, the responses are uniform and standardized across the board.

Conclusion
Stimson Lane's Columbia Crest vineyard's use of Palm devices has improved worker morale, saved time and money, improved communication, and reduced data errors. All this has, no doubt, contributed to the continued improvement in production of their excellent brand. One could say it's a vintage example of the advantages Palm computing can have for an enterprise.

Charles Boxill is a Senior Applications Programmer/Analyst for Computer Management Associates (CMS), Burtonsville, MD. Charles has become a Palm convert.