Slate Pages | Diversido

Asset Tracking System

Remember when businesses used pen and paper or electronic spreadsheets for tracking and managing their assets? Thanks to projects like Slate Pages, it is a thing of the past. The Slate Pages app is a flexible asset tracking and management system for various industries. It is trusted by firefighters, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineers, logistics, and supply chain management businesses in the United States.

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This solution works from a smartphone — with an easy-to-use app utilising tags for identifying and managing assets. A smart asset tag is called a Slate. It features a unique QR code to access the data linked to an asset. This system is capable of tracking trucks, fleet vehicles, construction, farm and HVAC equipment, machinery, excavators, small tools, etc.

Technology Stack

React JS
Xamarin
Flutter
Azure CI/CD
Firebase Analytics/Crashlytics, Sematext Logging (analytics, crashlytics, logs)
Firebase Performance (app performance monitoring, like App Start Time or Slow Rendering)

Challenge of the Project

The Diversido team is happy to contribute to such a complex project that makes asset management & tracking easier for many businesses. The main goal of our job was to help Slate Pages and their clients forget about the paper inspections and outdated tracking tools.

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Our main challenge was definitely to fit all the needed features into a single mobile application that would be user-friendly and simple to use for all parties. This asset tracking & management system had to keep maintenance logs organised and easily accessible for employees, technicians, and business owners — all from smartphones. We also created an admin panel with the dashboard so that company administrators can easily control ongoing activities.

Migrating the App to Flutter Framework

We gradually migrated from Xamarin to Flutter, adding Flutter screens to the existing Xamarin app. This was a rare case that not so many developers could tackle — one app working on two frameworks.

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We started the migration process because Flutter was faster and supported the web version, too, so we could have the same codebase for both web and mobile. As we can see now, it was also a good idea because Xamarin is not currently supported, and Flutter is getting more and more popular.

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So, how did we do it?

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First, we integrated Flutter into Xamarin, making it possible to render Flutter screens inside the Xamarin app. Then, all new screens and features were created on Flutter, and old screens were migrated to Flutter one by one without a single maintenance day — users did not even notice it! We not only implemented a creative approach but completed the migration process gradually without developing two different apps.

Features We Worked On

We have developed a set of features to make the app highly functional.

QR-codes Generating and Scanning

One of the solutions we came up with to develop this complex system, yet keeping it simple to use, was asset tags (Slates). Each asset receives its unique QR code (as well as link and ID) that can be used for searching, tracking, managing, and sharing slates. These codes are typically located on the user’s asset, so the user can easily scan them to view more information. There is a camera option in the Slate Pages app, which is supported on iOS, Android, mobile devices run on other operating systems, and tablets.

Slate ID Tracking for Every Field and Every User

Of course, not every single piece of equipment can be marked with a QR code. Some tools and devices, like fire hoses or firearms, are too small or too difficult to affix an asset tag to. In such cases, users can track by an ID number or name of the device. To achieve this, we have imported all the serial and ID numbers of equipment or its parts for easy search and system tracking.

Maps Integration

Besides the inherent tracking option, we wanted to make sure each tag or slate contains important info about the asset — different field types like location, photo, date, text, and number — and is customizable by the user. A slate is essentially an asset card with unique attributes that can be used to find a specific asset. We have integrated the Maps, so the user can quickly update the equipment’s location via a smartphone's GPS when scanning a QR tag. Moreover, users can even get directions to the assets since the map view focuses on the address or coordinates. The web portal lets users see all their assets’ locations in one map view.