In the summer of 1998, PEO TSC contracted with the TMA Corporation to begin looking at Palm, Inc.'s handheld platform. Then, in November 1998, PEO TSC funded a proof of concept study for the development of a customized electronic forms application for BIW. By January 1999, approval to proceed was obtained and TMA developers, using Puma Technology's Satellite Forms (at http://www.pumatech.com/Satellite_Forms_Enterprise.html), created a custom forms application to run on the Palm OS. The application was implemented in Bath in March 1999 and in Pascagoula in January 2000, thus automating the Navy's manual data collection process for destroyer inspections.

The Department of the Navy, Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center
On July 10, Palm, Inc. announced that the Department of the Navy, Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center in Charleston, SC, issued a Basic Agreement to Palm for Palm.Net wireless service. Palm.Net is what powers the Palm VII series handheld computers. This is the first such purchasing agreement for Palm.Net wireless connectivity for government agency customers.

Under the terms of the agreement, SPAWAR will order service from Palm upon request of government agencies requiring such service. SPAWAR can issue CSAs (Communications Service Authorizations) to Palm for telecommunications service and equipment. Each CSA issued under the agreement will provide Palm with the information necessary to process the order.

SPAWAR is working with Palm's technology in other ways as well. SPAWAR Chesapeake, for example, is extending much of the functionality of the Navy's existing systems to the PDA format. SPAWAR Chesapeake has developed nine proof-of-concept applications for the Palm OS, several of which are already in use on a beta test basis on board ship. The SPAWAR PDA applications extend the reach of existing NTCSS (Naval Tactical Command Support System) and other corporate systems, aiding in the data collection process in the field.

When departments within the Navy come up with ideas for PDA applications, SPAWAR immediately begins work to make them realities. Since the PDA development cycle is so short (typically about eight to twelve weeks), SPAWAR can turn the projects around extremely quickly.

The Naval School of Health Sciences
Graduates of the NSHS (Naval School of Health Sciences), at http://nshs.med.navy.mil/, have to complete internships in military hospitals and then do a tour of duty as either a general medical officer, a flight surgeon, or an undersea medical officer. The school's Graduate Medical Education Selection Board uses annual reviews to evaluate the students and assigns tours of duty based on their performance during the internships.

This review and assignment process was once done with printed rosters and paper evaluation forms. However, the NSHS found a way to streamline the review process and enable Selection Board members to more quickly and easily assign tours of duty thanks to the help of Impact Innovations Group (at http://www.impactinnovations.com), a Palm Enterprise Application Partner. The solution Impact Innovations Group developed and designed for the NSHS consists of two components. The Palm OS application was developed using CASL (Crosstalk Application Scripting Language) on the Palm platform, and the client side application was developed using Power Builder 5.0 to interface with the Navy's existing SQL (Structured Query Language) Server database.