Development of software models to integrate distributed RFID technologies into management information systems

Abstract

The growth of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies within inventory and asset tracking processes during recent years, has caused a corresponding increase in the amounts of tracking data being generated at the edge of the network. This data requires filtering, processing and refining in order to produce information that can be used to provide more efficient business processes and aid decision making. New legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has enforced the asset tracking process in organisations, with RFID enhanced asset tracking technology being proposed as an answer. This however, requires the creation of an economical software system to consume and filter the data being generated by the hardware readers, and provide integration via a middleware solution with existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. This thesis presents a method of collecting and processing data generated by RFID 1 hardware. The manner in which the open source based web application that was designed for this project interacts with ERP systems via Microsoft BizTalk messaging system is also described. Finally this thesis looks at how users of the Juno system are presented and can interact with this information, to help in the asset tracking process. Security considerations are important due to the sensitive company financial information in use and this is considered later on.