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

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