TL;DR

Using old fashioned 1 dimensional barcodes (think products you buy in a store),

Using 2D barcodes, MCe video barcode reading and native phone to MCe are the best for several very significant for CMMS users reasons.

The best barcodes for CMMS to use are QR.

After that PDF 417, Aztec and DataMatrix.

For parts, there are times that UPC/EAN-13 are best, because the barcode is already on the part and especially if you have a catalogue that matches the code that you can import via tools like DataHub and the MCe API

Details

This lists differences between the 3 ways of barcoding.

Hardware means you have a special piece of hardware like a pen or wand or gun, it could also mean, but rarely used in CMMS, a grocery store style scanner.

If speed of reading is your priority – Hardware will usually be the best choice. MCe has supported this –we tested with a barcode wand reader – starting in 2003.

Software Video (MCe) means the video camera looks for a barcode.

In most cases, this is the best software option – lets the camera continually try to 'find' a barcode. MCe has supported this since the very first, many years ago.

Software one shot means go to the picture taker or file selector, manually select or take a picture, ok the picture, then scan the picture for a barcode. If no barcode is found - take another shot and try again.

If you aren't doing a lot of barcodes, this one is just barely acceptable, better than nothing. MCe added this option shortly after we first had a barcode reader because of iOS bugs. In the past (about 2018 and earlier) it was the ONLY way an iOS device could do it. But if you have a modern iOS or iPadOS device/software, this is no longer a good option.

Why does MCe keep this feature? Because, well, why not, maybe on some devices it will be better? But you won't be happy with the '1 shot' method once you try the Video or Hardware.

Native This is what some companies call the "take a single picture or pull from the directory then see if there is a barcode in it" aka "Software 1 shot."

For some reason, Accruent calls this "Native", this doesn't make sense to us because devices that have a hardware barcode reader built in are the true Native barcode readers. Regardless what you call it – it is the least desirable way to read a barcode, but if it is your only option – it is better than nothing.

Be VERY careful if you think you are going to use competitor software to read barcodes. Details below – things like: When competitors read barcodes wrong (adding the check digit(s) to data!!)

Comparison Table:

Barcode types currently supported

There are many other barcodes, like JAN that are just different names for the ones above. See MCe list of barcodes in the software for all the variant names we currently know about that are the same or supported.

The biggest advantage of MCe with a 2D barcode, is you can use the same barcode for:

1. Logging in and going to the object mentioned in the barcode such as asset, part, user - from their badge etc.., using the phone app with QR, and with custom apps with the others.

2. Logged in, going to the object mentioned in the barcode such as asset, part, user etc.., using any of the codes

3. Filtering a list (this can also be done with most other barcodes in MCe)

4. Picking an item in a pick list (this can also be done with most other barcodes in MCe)

MCe Software Video Scanning

Positives:

• Lower cost than hardware. (Comes free with MCe)
• Standards compliant
• You can switch to Software 1 shot Scanning when this doesn't work for your device.
• Software Video is the 2nd fastest (hardware wins), sometimes is faster than hardware barcode readers.
• Available throughout the application
• More convenient than hardware readers in most cases.

Negatives:

• Usually not as fast as hardware

MCe Software 1 shot²³ Scanning

Positives:

• Lower cost than hardware. (Comes free with MCe)
• Standards compliant
• Available throughout the application

Negatives:

• Slower than hardware barcode reading
• Slower than Software video barcode reading

MC Express Native Scanning:

Positives:

• Lower cost than hardware. (Comes free with Express)

Negatives:`

• Only works on some devices (Doesn't work on devices like Windows tablets, Windows Laptops)
• On several codes like EAN/UPC it is not standards compliant, you have to use the barcodes incorrectly, there is no option to use them correctly. See a solution: Accruent MCExpress and Kinetic - Incorrect barcode read
• Only available on select fields (but to be fair, 90% of the time, that's all you need.)
• MC-Express always returns the check digit. In our opinion this was an unfortunate design decision/bug/mistake. This means it will never be compatible with hardware barcode readers because either you will have to encode your id's incorrectly (with the check digit) in which case the hardware reader will not return the correct result, or you will encode them correctly, in which case you can't use any barcodes that have check digits with MC-Express. When MC-Express came out with this weird/wrong way of reading barcodes, for compatibility with Express, MCe added the ability to read them 'incorrectly' as well as the correct way.
• MC creates barcodes correctly (taking a value and adding a check digit) so of course do most barcode creators. MC-Express will read these barcodes incorrectly, returning a value with the check digit. This will be difficult to change in the future because it will require manually fixing up any values that were entered the MC Express way²⁴ and while for any one customer it is easy to fix if you stop using MC Express, it would be hard to fix ALL customers.
• Slower than Hardware barcode reading
• Slower than MCe Software (video stream) barcode reading.

Neutral:

• Same speed as MCe Native Scanning

Hardware

Positives:

• If you have the hardware in hand, it is usually (but not always) the fastest to get a scan
• If you have a 'pen' scanner, it can read 'around' round objects, no other option will do this, not our software barcode readers and not a 'gun' style hardware scanner.
• Almost all are standards compliant

Negatives:

• requires extra hardware. Most convenient if it is a 'case' for the device (so you don't have to go looking for the barcode scanner or have cords in the way.
• Higher cost – can be significantly higher cost.
• If you can't find the reader (on the floor of your truck, in your briefcase) it is much slower than any of the software/native options.
• You can't use hardware readers AND MC Express, because hardware readers almost always ONLY let you read them following the rules – they are standards compliant, where as MC Express takes the check digit(s) and makes them 'data' – and I have never seen a hardware barcode reader that will let you make that mistake even if you want to. This means that when you set up an asset using MC Express, a hardware barcode reader won't see the first and or last characters (depending on the barcode reader.) However, if you've gone down this road, MCe has a option to support this non-standard way of reading.
  • Note: This is NOT a bug in the Hardware barcode readers. This is a design flaw in MC Express. But it doesn't change the fact that, if you have gone down that path, you will have to decide whether to stop using MC Express and only use MCe and hardware barcode readers, or whether you are going to use only MC Express (and MCe set to read the barcodes incorrectly like MC Express does.)