School asset management software has undergone a rapid transformation over the years. The education sector is now a trillion-dollar industry and with student numbers growing sharply, there’s a need for adequate school resources to ensure quality teaching.
School districts need to track multitudes of inventory and assets, not only across campuses but also across individual students. In this blog, we cover technology every district leader needs to know.
The school and education sector generally are looking for an easier and more efficient method of keeping track of items, knowing who has guardianship (student or teacher) over them and creating efficient procurement and maintenance schedules. Gone are the days of excel spreadsheets, which can be time-consuming, restrictive, and at risk of fire or data loss.
The education sector is turning to asset management software to solve problems and ensure:
- The availability and working condition of assets to each student/staff member
- Maximum usability of key assets that are crucial for day-to-day operations
- All asset and equipment data is stored in one accurate asset register
Education asset management software is one of the easiest and quickest ways to build and maintain an up-to-date asset register. ‘Assets’ can be anything from chairs, desks, keys, and laptops, to important documents such as fire procedures, warranties and financial contracts.
Asset registers allow you to store all kinds of information alongside each of your school’s assets:
- Asset’s current condition
- Asset’s current and previous locations
- Teacher or classroom an asset has been or is currently assigned to
- Asset’s schedule for repair and when it will be unavailable during this period
- How much an asset is being used and by which member of staff
According to Dan Miyamoto from The Hawaii Department of Education, “Hardcat’s software helped us quickly search for items and prepare reports. I wanted to be able to access and manipulate the information on our assets. Hardcat allows me to do this. I can query reports using different fields and export the information. This helps me a lot.”
Hardcat’s asset tracking solution has ensured that the Hawaii Department of Education was able to reduce existing expenses, avoid future expenses by purchasing unnecessary assets and gain operating control over all its audio-visual assets.
Web asset management and Cloud-hosted SaaS deployment options
Mobility and asset tracking
An important feature to look out for when selecting your asset register is mobility. Having access to your school asset management software data, on your mobile devices, allows data to be accessible to anyone, anywhere, and at any time.
An example; if a teacher wanted to check the current location of an electronic whiteboard, they would not need to be on school grounds to access the asset register to check the data. Instead, the teacher would be able to check this at home via a smartphone app.
Booking system for loaned equipment
By booking out equipment schools can generate reports on ‘who has what’ avoiding double-bookings. For example, a teacher may have built their entire lesson plan around using a projector, only to find that it is unavailable.
With an asset booking system in place, you can:
- Check-in/check-out or issue and return key assets such as laptops and projectors
- Create a shared calendar between staff and departments to highlight which assets are available
Establishing the existence of school assets
Essentially, asset auditing is a physical verification process. Comparing an organisation’s “official list” of assets and inventory to the actual assets physically located. By conducting this examination, you are confirming that the assets listed on your balance sheet are real (or exist physically).
Establishing the existence and location of an organisation’s assets, and evaluating their usable condition is a crucial business task for small and large organisations.
An asset management system that incorporates mobility and an inventory module can help improve the time management of inventory counts (asset audits) across each department.
- Easily and quickly scan the inventory of books, stationery, desks and chairs in each classroom
- Help reduce downtime of important assets by scheduling pre-planned repair times and producing a maintenance schedule that can be accessed by teachers and administrators via their smartphones and tablets
Better outcomes through better integration
It’s important to know what other software can be integrated into your choice of school asset management software and how easy the process is. For instance, your institution may already be set up with accounting applications, emails, spreadsheets and more. It can be beneficial to know if your chosen software solution provides integration services so you are not double entering data.
Reasons why asset management is important to schools
School asset management software allows schools to keep track of all their assets, regardless of ‘type’. It can tell you where the assets are located, how they are used, and when changes were made to them (maintenance, repairs and upgrades).
- The data from your asset management solution can ensure that asset recovery will lead to better returns
- You can manage assets from different locations accurately and effectively
- Regular audits of the assets will ensure that the financial statements are accurate
- You can save money on maintenance. Maintenance is a business expense that can cut into profits. Overdoing it can bring significant costs. On the other hand, under-maintenance can lead to reduced productivity
- It brings a more efficient operation. Asset management allows you to understand the capabilities of your assets, and how they can be utilised most effectively
- Allows the implementation of a risk management plan. Asset management also includes the management of the risks connected with the use and ownership of the assets. Proper assessment of the assets can help to identify the risks involved and come up with a solution to avoid them
Top Five Benefits
Listed here are the top five benefits that you and your staff can take advantage of when you choose the right asset management tool for your school:
1. Improve the truth of your record-keeping
Hardcat software builds a central data registry for all essential assets, which is crucial for emergencies such as fire or damage. Reducing delays in filing insurance claims.
2. Avoid overspending
For requests for more laptops, for example, Hardcat would be able to report on the total number of laptops available to the school, where they are and how many are not being fully utilised.
3. Reducing the risk of theft or misplaced assets
Utilising Hardcat’s tracking and tagging features, theft of crucial educational assets can be reduced. For example, if a classroom laptop cannot be located, teachers can check the data and see where it was last seen and who it was last used by.
4. Quick and easy manual asset audits
Physically auditing, inventory stock-take or wall-to-wall audit, are just some of the terminology used to describe this physical examination of your assets. The next step is to reconcile this data with your asset register, critical for operational and financial reasons. With the Hardcat MiCatX, mobility app audits can be performed using your phone with an option to ‘self-audit’ for quick ‘on-the-spot’ asset audits.
5. Make faster, more accurate decisions
Hardcat’s asset tracking delivers deeper business intelligence, providing you with the critical insights you need to make decisions. And with the data accessible wherever you are, it’s not hard to make the calls that will optimise your assets, ensure better governance, and create real performance improvement in your asset management processes.
Hardcat’s solutions are simple to use
There’s no point in having an asset and inventory tracking system if the data is too hard to find. Hardcat’s solutions are simple to use, with an intuitive user interface that makes it easy for users to find what they need, when they need it. And a more intuitive user experience means better governance; after all, a system that is easy to use is more likely to be used correctly.
- Maximise and track the usability of school equipment
- Ensure the availability of assets such as laptops and science equipment to students and teachers
- Achieve effective management of a school’s entire assets, equipment and inventory base, in a cost-effective way
Maximise operational efficiencies
and make your life simpler!
Talk to a subject matter expert today.
