Customer Stories

2Weeks Mobile Application Uses Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK to Help Manage COVID-19 Test Users Across Switzerland

DDM Technology

Industry

Healthcare

Product

Dynamsoft Barcode Reader

Technology

Smartphones, Cloud services, 2D barcoding, Database administration

Key Requirements

  • Support for all common mobile browsers
  • Simple implementation
  • High accuracy and speed in scanning

Summary

A Swiss development team worked to create a comprehensive COVID-19 technology solution. For the canton Swiss government and businesses throughout, it wanted to provide testing, vaccination tracking and appointments, physical site management, and tracing capabilities. It desired to provide these solutions all within a mobile browser for use on common smartphones. At the core of testing and vaccination would be the use of a barcode reader to correlate users with tests. The team first tried to adapt a free solution but quickly uncovered it was not up to the task. So, they found a professional solution in Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK. With the SDK, the application was up and running in just three months. It significantly sped time to usage, reduced technical requirements, and most important it is up to the task of working for its users each day across Switzerland.

Customer Overview

A small Swiss development team sought to create a COVID-19 mobile application for testing, vaccination, and tracing management. The application is used by the canton governments, medical practitioners, and citizens across Switzerland. Details and access to the mobile application are made available at https://www.2weeks.ch/.

The application was developed in collaboration with cantonal authorities. Named 2Weeks Testing, it delivers a scalable and user-friendly solution for organizing and conducting Covid-19 testing, vaccination appointments, and tracing management.

For tracing, it delivers a legally compliant recording of guests that visit a local business. This is ideal for restaurants, hotels, bars, clubs as well as sports and leisure facilities. The application also has an option for expansion for organizations that want to manage multiple sites.

Technology Requirements

The 2Weeks application is a robust end-to-end COVID-19 solution. Its appointment management lets citizens sign up for a test. Managers of the application can view test capacity per test site to determine capacity via a simple the admin panel. Fully booked time windows are automatically hidden.

There is a physical site management capability for larger organizations such as cantons, hospital, or pharmacy associations. They can manage several test centers centrally or decentralized.

At the heart of the application is COVID-19 test management. Pre-registered test candidates can be quickly entered in the system using a QR code and assigned uniquely to a corresponding "test kit." The candidates that are registered using a QR code can also be clearly assigned to a vaccination. Whether logged in, registered, or tested; the status of each candidate can be tracked at any time. An important feature is that the whole process is "mobile-friendly," so that the test centers do not have to be equipped with a lot of infrastructure.

For the processing of COVID-19 tests, which must be evaluated by a laboratory (PCR tests), barcode labels are created automatically using 2Weeks. They are affixed to individual tests. Within the special laboratory module, these barcodes can be scanned after evaluation of the tests. The result can then be entered directly by the laboratory staff. This enables efficient and fast processing of PCR tests.

As a result of barcode and other technologies, it is simpler to provide managers with necessary statistics. One can read out exact case numbers at any time via a clear dashboard. Thus, managers can receive necessary information in a timely manner to be able to make decisions on the go. Statistics have their own data source, so they can also be easily published on customer websites.

Naturally, at the heart of testing and vaccination was the need for reliable barcode scanning. Since the 2Weeks application is meant to be ideal for smartphone use, the barcoding needed to work across all common mobile Internet browsers as opposed to a dedicated app. This would remove any requirement for creating and managing cumbersome mobile apps and make the application more universally available.

The Implementation

To begin, the development team used a free barcode reader software development kit available online. Unfortunately, their internal testing found it did not work reliably for their needs. It was clear, with the importance of health data involved, they had to look for a professional barcode tool.

One of the developers came across Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK on the internet. After researching it and other possible solutions, the team believed it would offer the best of possibilities for a barcoding solution. They decided to use the Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK.

The team developed the application to use smartphone cameras to read QR codes within their browser-based app. In just three months, it was up and running. It was being used for the testing and vaccination results as well as appointment setting.

Return on Investment

While it is inevitable that some very old smartphones still being used are not supported, the application has been a success. It is being used regularly by thousands of people daily to get COVID-19 testing and properly provide results to people.

The team was able to eliminate the scan reliability issues uncovered with the free barcode reader SDK. In addition, they eliminated many months of additional work that would have been required to build a barcode reader internally. In addition, with Dynamsoft providing regular support for the SDK, there is no need to worry about technically supporting the barcoding aspect that is central to the application.

Pull Quote

"We started with a free barcode reader SDK and, unfortunately, found it would not meet the reliability needs we had for sensitive health data," said Marc Brunner, CEO, 2Weeks. "So, we relied on Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK and it has turned out to be easy to implement and strongly capable in its real-world use."

Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK

Dynamsoft's Barcode Reader SDK is a software development kit (SDK) that enables developers to efficiently embed enterprise-grade 1D and 2D barcode reading functionality in a web, desktop, or mobile application. It requires using just a few lines of code. This eliminates months of added development time and spares extra resource costs. It is available for use on platforms including, JavaScript, C and C++, .NET, Python, Java, Android, and iOS.

The team found Dynamsoft’s SDK simple to use and implement. They were able to complete the integration without having to leverage the Dynamsoft technical support team. The entire implementation process took less than two weeks to get up and running and be ready for use.

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