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Inventory Standardization = Implementation Success

Posted on by Morgane Le Marchand

Strategic Planning for SuccessSuccessfully implementing an asset management system isn’t just about software. You need defined processes in place to make sure that your new system delivers strong ROI. Before you even begin inputting inventory data into the system, it’s important to invest time planning how you’ll optimize procedures and staff responsibilities. Why? We’ve asked Joseph Jacks, Coordinator of Technology Services at Tyler ISD in Texas to share the lessons he learned about the importance of standardizing data and processes.

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3 Strategies to Make Inventory Management a Daily Habit for Your Staff

Posted on by Morgane Le Marchand

Nick DePauw, Director of Information Technology at Patterson School District in northern California, knows the challenges of keeping inventory data clean. With 8 campuses, 3 district sites, and over 6,200 students, DePauw oversees over 14,000 assets in the district. In this guest blog post, he shares his tips for motivating district and campus staff to execute daily inventory management strategies in pursuit of clean data.

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Simplify Your Tech Refresh Plan Using Your Asset Management System

Posted on by Morgane Le Marchand

The use of technology in K-12 education brings unique challenges to school districts who must protect their investments and ensure that technology remains operational. Due to the significant investment in technology and the long-term budgeting cycle, it’s crucial that school districts plan for future technology refreshes; your asset management system is a powerful tool to help you do so.

We’ve asked Jason Genovese, Director of IT Operations, Assets and Budget at Garland ISD, to share three key tactics he uses to plan for tech refreshes using the TIPWeb-IT asset management system. With 57,000 students across 72 campuses in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area, Garland ISD is the 70th largest district in the US. Jason tracks over 140,000 assets and is constantly planning and budgeting for their life cycle and replacement.

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4 Reasons Your Homegrown Inventory Management System Will Fail

Posted on by Emily Frazier

You’ve put a lot of time and effort into your homegrown inventory management system. You built it because your district didn’t find existing software that met your unique needs. However, while the advantages of a custom-designed system can be alluring at first, the risks and costs over time exceed the initial benefits.

Many districts today are recognizing the headaches associated with maintaining their homegrown inventory management system are too great to manage. Instead, they’re opting for a third-party vendor developed and supported application. The result is greater transparency, increased efficiencies, and cost savings.

Here are four reasons to evaluate the value of your homegrown inventory management system:

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Williams Settlement Impact on Textbook Accountability

Posted on by Morgane Le Marchand

How does the Williams-Settlement effect textbook inventory management in California public schools?

The Williams case in California requires that all California public schools provide one textbook in four core subject areas for every student for use in the classroom with the ability to take it home to complete required homework assignments.

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Think You Know What IT Asset Management is? Think Again.

Posted on by Emily Frazier

By Kelly Jones

To understand what IT Asset Management (ITAM) is, you need to understand what ITAM isn’t…

Many school districts think they have an asset management system in place because they have one or many of the following:

  • Fixed Asset Systems: Financial professionals within a school district will most likely prefer a fixed asset system as the system of record since it relates to accounting practices. Unfortunately, the system only records acquisitions and disposal costs, not any information pertinent to campus staff, like where the asset is located and whether it’s available for use.
  • A Discovery Tool: Many school districts have a system that can discover physical assets and therefore believe they have an asset management system. The truth is, asset discovery is only a small portion of what constitutes ITAM. It isn’t just discovery, but also the tracking of the physical, financial, and contractual information and its changes throughout the asset’s entire lifecycle.
  • Asset Spreadsheets: Asset spreadsheets are utilized by many school districts. They allow a district to track assets and get some transparency into budgeting, but because the spreadsheets are created and maintained by each individual campus, there is a lack of process and standardization in formatting and naming conventions for the fields being tracked. This makes it virtually impossible to get a holistic, district view of assets in a consistent format, resulting in increased audit response times and inaccurate inventory data.

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5 Tips to Protect Your Inventory Management Program from the Summer Slide

Posted on by Emily Frazier

By Adam Rosenfield

You spent the year working toward tracking and managing your inventory more efficiently. You saw where changes in your policies and procedures have worked, audits were conducted on time, and loss rates are decreasing. But if you don’t pay attention to your inventory during the summer, all of the progress you made during the year could be lost.

Researchers have coined a term called the “summer slide” that describes the tendency for students to lose the achievement gains they made during the year if they don’t continue to stay engaged in stimulating educational activity. And it can happen to your inventory management program too if you don’t keep up your positive momentum throughout the season.

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Make Your Life Easier as an Inventory Manager

Posted on by Emily Frazier

By Sara Arthrell

In recent years, the influx of technology devices and instructional materials into school districts has changed the roles and responsibilities of an inventory manager. Effectively managing an accurate inventory presents its own set of unique challenges as schools strategize how to buy more with less time, money, and resources.

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The Dangers of a Homegrown Inventory Management System at Your School District

Posted on by Emily Frazier

By Adam Rosenfield

You’ve put a lot of time and effort into your homegrown inventory management system. You built it because your district didn’t find existing software that met your unique needs. However, while the advantages of a custom-designed system can be alluring at first, the risks and costs over time exceed the initial benefits.

Many districts today are replacing their homegrown inventory management systems in favor of a third party vendor developed and supported application. Delaying the implementation of a solution can be detrimental to your district’s operational efficiency, costing your staff time, and your district thousands of dollars every year.

Here are four reasons to evaluate the worth of your homegrown inventory management system.

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Measuring Inventory Management Effectiveness: 5 Metrics You Need to Track

Posted on by Emily Frazier

With the influx of technology at your campuses each year, it’s crucial to measure how effective your processes are for managing these devices rather than just assuming your policies are working. Each decision you make should be informed by data, and the result of these efforts should be catalogued for future reference.

When managing an asset inventory program, districts have a litany of data points from which to make strategic decisions to optimize people and processes. All this information can sometimes cause paralysis at your district and stall your program.

How do you know which data to track to get the most out of your inventory management program?

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