How Asset Tracking Puts the “Spirit” into Church Productions

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There are so many wonderful productions to see during the holiday season, and they all spread the message of joy and togetherness in one way or another. One of the most common productions is the Christmas program produced and presented by many local churches. These are sometimes massive undertakings that can take an entire year to put together. From elaborate settings that rival those of Broadway theaters to simple musical acts on the pulpit to get congregants into the holiday spirit. But no matter the size, they all have one thing in common – they require a great number of assets in order to make the production happen. Yes, churches and other religious institutions need to track assets on a regular basis, but it’s also important to keep up with asset tracking for church productions that may only be used once a year.

Today’s church leaders are taking on many more tasks associated with effectively leading and running their churches. From the largest cathedrals to the smallest chapels, religious institutions really do require a great deal of organization, especially with the great number of assets they have to keep up with. With such a wide range of functions during the week and the large number of people that are required to be involved, especially with a holiday production, it is often challenging to keep track of shared equipment and supplies.

Churches are no longer comprised of just Sunday services and Sunday school. And with those new undertakings technology is playing a more integral role. Everything, from tracking finances and attendance to creating state-of-the-art visual and audio experiences, in person and now viewable over the Internet—has become more important to keep congregants as well as administrative staff engaged. The holiday programs that churches produce have also become more elaborate, with casts in the 100s, live animals, complex lighting cues, ornate sets and live music accompaniment.

When it comes to those holiday productions, tracking the assets to make the show run smoothly and successfully are crucial. Churches are already stressed for funds. Donations or fees from congregants are used for things like building maintenance, employee salaries, religious books and/or reading materials, to fund special targeted programs for congregants, featured speakers or musical performances, and of course to help the community. So putting on a big holiday production requires an additional set of tools and equipment that are at an added cost to churches. Tracking these assets that need to be used year after year is key to keeping costs down and putting on a great and, of course, entertaining show.

There are many components to consider when it comes to asset tracking for a church production – no matter what time of year it occurs. Making sure that all items used are appropriately tracked and kept up with ensures that churches aren’t having to spend unnecessary dollars to replace items that were thought to be lost or stolen, or fix assets that weren’t properly maintained in the first place. Learning which assets are needed for productions should start right at the very beginning of the planning process. That way you know every asset that is needed and can implement an asset tracking system that will keep up with each item – from costumes, to lights, to props, to sets and even musical equipment – right from day one.

Today’s modern asset tracking management software is proving to be very valuable for churches and other religious institutions and productions they produce. Users can scan barcodes using their own smartphone or tablet (which is a great cost-saving measure) and instantly find location, quantity, maintenance history, user history, and much more on each asset. Many programs offer multiple database fields which can be customized for specific use and/or users. This new way of tracking assets via the cloud keeps church staff, show producers, and even performers accountable for the quick and safe return of valuable assets. Now staff aren’t trying to track down equipment or props each year and guess what is usable or what needs to be replaced -- everything is recorded in real-time, and they know who has what and what it’s used for.

Highly configurable, Asset Panda is the perfect asset tracking solution for churches that quickly integrates with existing systems, changing as your needs change for unlimited ways to organize and access the information you need throughout an asset’s entire lifecycle. Completely customizable, Asset Panda is not just incredibly powerful; it’s also very simple to use. Using devices your team is already using, our free Mobile App makes it simple to scan an asset for on-demand access or necessary information. Add pictures or documents, access full histories, generate reports, track maintenance schedules, audit, and get full check in/check out status on every asset entered into the system. The depth of this information enables clients to make better, more informed decisions, eliminates guesswork and costly errors, and ultimately, wasteful spending.

Asset Tracking for churches does not have to be expensive and hard to manage, especially when undertaking holiday productions. By implementing Asset Panda you will be leveraging a world-class system used by some of the largest organizations in the world at a price that fits your individual church’s budget. Share the spirit of the holidays with your congregants and let Asset Panda be your guide for tracking assets. Try us free for 14 days by visiting asssetpanda.com to get started.
By:

Audra London

Audra London, founder of Conceptual Communications, LLC, has over 10 years of writing, public relations and marketing experience and serves as an expert on press releases, media relations, feature writing, web content and marketing copy.

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