Software Adds Geo-Reporting To BlackBerry DevicesSoftware Adds Geo-Reporting To BlackBerry Devices

Flowfinity Wireless, a provider of mobile enterprise productivity applications, on Thursday rolled out a tool for BlackBerry smartphones that adds GPS-location information to every transaction and tells where the data originated from.

Flowfinity Actions 5.1 is intended for BlackBerrys with built-in GPS, such as the BlackBerry Curve 8310 and the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 models. The tool, which uses Geo-reporting and visualization capabilities of Microsoft MapPoint, time stamps and location stamps data any time a task is performed on the smartphone.

Flowfinity Actions running on BlackBerrys makes it possible to generate reports on "who, what, when and where" things occurred. This is useful for businesses that want to record trends visually onto maps and carry out location-specific analysis of business performance, contract compliance, and regulatory compliance, said Flowfinity's spokeswoman. The tool also can be used to track down the location of equipment and inventory.

Any company can use Flowfinity Actions as long as it has deployed Research In Motion's enterprise infrastructure, specifically the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which enables device management and "push" wireless e-mail on BlackBerrys.

Flowfinity Actions is sold as out-of-the-box software, meaning it doesn't require programming or lengthy systems integration in order to be deployed, the spokeswoman said. The software comes with a point-and-click interface, so it can be administered by business managers instead of IT managers.

Version 5.1 will only work on BlackBerry smartphones and another version is in the works that will be available for Windows Mobile-based devices next year. Flowfinity has been offering its tool for four years, but this is the first time it's introducing a version that supports GPS for recording location information.