Looking at Inventory Control Software for Universities

Universities have many items that must be monitored and tracked across virtually every department. Because of its impact on college campuses, large and small, inventory control software for universities should be a required tool.

Think back to your college days. How many items did you personally have to keep up with? Books, computers, athletic equipment. And wasn't it challenging to track where these items were at certain times? Now think of the inventory that universities have to keep up with. That’s a pretty overwhelming number. Computers, printers, tablets, office/classroom furniture, loads of athletic equipment for various sports, university cars/buses. The list is lengthy. That’s why inventory control software for universities plays such a vital role.

Time constraints and growing inventory put colleges in a difficult position to keep up with their inventory. As enrollment grows or new classes are added, so do the items that students and faculty need. And administrators/faculty don't have time to search for lost or misplaced items. Unfortunately, universities are losing thousands of dollars simply because they are not accurately tracking and measuring their assets.

When tracking inventory at universities, knowing where an item is, who has it, if it has been checked in/out, and its maintenance history is vital data that administrators need to know.

The Benefits of Inventory Control Software for Higher Education

Robust, flexible, and cloud-based inventory tracking software with corresponding mobile apps are helping universities and their staff keep up with their increasing number of assets and where they are at all times. This software saves universities, administration, and students two of the most valuable resources — money and time. Colleges that implement inventory control software find that they reap many benefits:

• Tracks down stolen, lost, or missing assets
• Enforces accountability
• Keeps everything in a centralized database
• Eliminates the purchase of unnecessary or duplicate items
• It gives users the ability to instantly scan assets with a mobile app instead of expensive multiple barcode scanners
• Integrates with the school’s IT help desk

Look at how three campuses have utilized Asset Panda’s inventory control software for universities.

College of DuPage

Based in Glen Ellyn, IL, the College of DuPage is a community college with a steady eye on regional, national and international developments. Within the Liberal Arts Department, numerous assets must be tracked and managed, from IT equipment to art supplies and motion picture/television equipment to theater lighting. Before switching to Asset Panda, they were using a weaker product to track assets that did not use a relational database. With such a large number of assets in use, they can now better manage all of their assets and the subsequent distribution to students and faculty in a more timely and efficient manner.

Saint Francis University

Saint Francis University is the oldest Franciscan-based Catholic university in the United States. But the software no longer supported the asset tracking system Saint Francis University was using to manage its fixed assets. The institution was facing the reality of losing all its asset data and history. The main reason for choosing Asset Panda was “its ability to be a simplistic operation” for Saint Francis University, a feature the other systems they looked at didn’t have. They found that the other products were too robust and geared toward manufacturing or warehouse environments, and they needed something very simple to manage fixed assets and depreciation costs. With the implementation and customizable fields, St Francis could match things into Asset Panda out of the current data they were used to managing.

Stanford University

Stanford University is one of the world’s leading research universities, known for its entrepreneurial character and relationship with Silicon Valley. Today, Stanford has over 16,000 students and over 2,200 faculty members. Stanford chose Asset Panda to keep track of assets for home and overseas offices for the undergraduate student's study abroad program. Their previous method of utilizing an internally hosted site using a basic CRED PHP script was not effective in tracking and managing student assets that were consistently used by students worldwide. They had no reporting capabilities. The staff just added/removed items line by line as assets went in and out. There was never an explicit, up-to-date knowledge of exactly what assets they had, where they were, or their condition.

Asset Panda's Higher Education Inventory Management Software

Asset Panda’s cloud-based platform enables universities to experience all these benefits and more. Asset Panda works the way you do, on devices you’re already using, both online and through free mobile apps. This makes it easy for all your users to access the information they need, when they need it, from wherever they happen to be. Our higher education inventory management software is highly configurable, so it can become whatever you need it to be and adjust as your students change or your department changes.

Users can select the features relevant to their department’s needs and customize them. From the palm of your hand, 24 hours a day, you can check on an item’s check-in/check-out status, GPS location, insurance policy, lease/purchase information, maintenance history, and even depreciation figures.

Give Asset Panda's university inventory management software a try with a free 14-day trial (no credit card required)! You’ll receive full access to user guides, video tutorials, free mobile apps, and call-in and live chat support from our fantastic Asset Panda support team.