Tracking portable equipment in schools and at work

 

Tracking portable equipment 

Keeping track of organisations assets within an office or school environment can be difficult for a number of reasons. However, this issue is especially a problem with equipment and goods that are portable. Whether it is cameras, laptops or phones, keeping track of equipment that has been loaned or hired out to a student and staff member can seem almost impossible.

This is made worse not only by the amount of equipment needed in many organisations but the confusion and issues that come with the use of similar, personal equipment brought in by students or staff members.

So, how can you solve the problem of effectively tracking portable equipment in your organisation?

Keeping your assets safe with an effective tracking system

 

With assets moving here, there and everywhere, having a manual inventory is not always the quickest and most effective way to track your equipment. Instead, you need something that allows you to combine physical labelling with computer and tablet tracking.

This is the most effective way to track portable equipment, as everything can be stored on a computer system, without the hassle of unreliable paper inventories.

How can you do this?

 

The easiest way to implement a fast track system such as this is with miniature asset tracking labels. Miniature tracking labels are small and discreet, meaning they can fit onto the smallest of assets and make tracking portable equipment quick and easy.

They work with your computer and laptop because they can contain serial numbers and barcodes, giving you ultimate control. You can use barcodes to log when equipment has been taken out and from what area, helping you to quickly resolve any problems that may arise.

Not only can asset labelling help you with tracking portable equipment that is on loan or missing, these little tags are also a great way to deter thieves and help you reclaim stolen equipment more easily.

The data, such as your barcode or serial number, is engraved onto each label, meaning it is resistant to chemical substances. These nifty little asset tags also break into tiny pieces if forced removal is attempted, making it impossible to remove all of the tag completely. This means that if equipment has been stolen, it can easily be identified by police and returned back to you without unnecessary hassle.

Whether you are worried about stolen equipment or simply need to ensure your loaned equipment is returned when it should be, you can save time and money using a unique asset labelling system.

Tracking Portable Equipment

Keeping track of organisations assets within an office or school environment can be difficult for a number of reasons. However, this issue is especially a problem with equipment and goods that are portable. Whether it is cameras, laptops or phones, keeping track of equipment that has been loaned or hired out to a student and staff member can seem almost impossible.

This is made worse not only by the amount of equipment needed in many organisations but the confusion and issues that come with the use of similar, personal equipment brought in by students or staff members.

So, how can you solve the problem of effectively tracking portable equipment in your organisation?

Keeping your assets safe with an effective tracking system

 With assets moving here, there and everywhere, having a manual inventory is not always the quickest and most effective way to track your equipment. Instead, you need something that allows you to combine physical labelling with computer and tablet tracking.

This is the most effective way to track portable equipment, as everything can be stored on a computer system, without the hassle of unreliable paper inventories.

How can you do this?

The easiest way to implement a fast track system such as this is with miniature asset tracking labels. Miniature tracking labels are small and discreet, meaning they can fit onto the smallest of assets and make tracking portable equipment quick and easy.

They work with your computer and laptop because they can contain serial numbers and barcodes, giving you ultimate control. You can use barcodes to log when equipment has been taken out and from what area, helping you to quickly resolve any problems that may arise.

Not only can asset labelling help you with tracking portable equipment that is on loan or missing, these little tags are also a great way to deter thieves and help you reclaim stolen equipment more easily.

The data, such as your barcode or serial number, is engraved onto each label, meaning it is resistant to chemical substances. These nifty little asset tags also break into tiny pieces if forced removal is attempted, making it impossible to remove all of the tag completely. This means that if equipment has been stolen, it can easily be identified by police and returned back to you without unnecessary hassle.

Whether you are worried about stolen equipment or simply need to ensure your loaned equipment is returned when it should be, you can save time and money using a unique asset labelling system.

Asset Tracking Systems and Their Uses

There’s nothing more irritating for a classroom than to find that very valuable equipment has gone inexplicably missing. 

At a time when schools are becoming harder and harder pressed to adequately provide for the academic needs of all their students losing valuable equipment can be a terrible blow. 

Currently a lot of the equipment that schools need to conduct their business isn’t cheap. So coming up with effective asset tracking systems is crucial if you wish to maintain your school’s hold on its assets.

Sadly lost equipment isn’t exactly a rare occurrence either. A study conducted by the School of Education Admission found that as many as four fifths of schools have, at some point through the year, will suffer from theft of school equipment. 

Often, these thefts were from the school’s ICT department, and more occasionally the audio-visual hardware from media studies classes.

Naturally this equipment is very expensive to replace, and its loss can also be damaging to the students whose courses rely on access to that equipment. 

It’s hard to learn about computer technology without ready access to a computer, after all. 

Of course keeping track of your school’s laptops, microscopes and video recording equipment isn’t something you can do in a day. It takes a lot of work, effort, and not a small amount of proper financial investment as well.

Asset Tracking Systems Made Easy

The easiest way a school can keep track of where its equipment is going is to properly catalogue and record the things it has to begin with. 

One way this can be achieved is to give each piece of equipment its own serial identification number, which would be unique to that item. To make things easier, you can also give that equipment tamper-proof number ID tags to further improve their security and reduce the chances of theft.

It may be an idea to create the system in such a way that objects are not only divided by type, but also by department and storage area as well. 

So, for example, if you have a video projector that’s used by the science department in Building Two, you could have a three-part code that reflects all this information. 

Suddenly it’s become tremendously easier to figure out where everything is supposed to fit in, which also helps prevent accidental claims of theft when, in fact, a piece of equipment was simply returned to the wrong storage cupboard. 

This saves on valuable time and frayed nerves.

Furthermore, you can also give each piece of equipment its own unique barcode. This means that when equipment is taken out, it can be recorded on a computer database as well as a physical logbook for greater accuracy in bookkeeping.

Of course asset tracking systems aren’t any good if you pay no attention to where the assets in question are being moved to. 

Whenever equipment is removed from the storage cupboard, make sure that the identification tag is noted and marked off on a register, with a note detailing when it was borrowed, by whom and for how long. 

This can be used, then, to track where the equipment was last held before it went missing.

Protect Your School’s Assets

No solution is entirely fool proof. 

One of the main quirks of using security ID tags for valuable equipment is that it’s meant to deter thieves, but this doesn’t always work as planned. 

Instead, asset tracking systems can be used to get an idea of when items when missing and where they could have gone, all of which can greatly speed up the process by which it can be safely returned.

Design and Order Asset Labels Online

Pot pal?

Asking a member of staff if they currently has a specific company “pot pal” is likely to result in something of a blank look.  The problem is that even if you reverse “pot pal” and instead ask them if they have a specific laptop the look is likely to be the same.

In short, what you are looking for doesn’t matter.  If it is missing, denial of all knowledge is the standard response.

The rule is simple: if a laptop goes missing, it is as if it never existed.  Pot pal and laptop may be opposites in spelling but once they have gone, you can be sure no one remembers the item at all. 

As one manager said,

“No one wants to admit that they have taken a couple of laptops and not returned them. So what happens is that they sneak the equipment back into store without admitting it was them – which means we are searching for things that have already been returned.”

This is why more and more business managers are introducing asset tracking. It saves time and money and leads to better utilisation of assets because you are able to better track maintenance and service records as well as other valuable information.


By including a barcode on the asset tag or label, you can easily keep track of all your business assets. And at times when you need to send your assets out of your business premises for repair or other purpose, your asset labels differentiate your assets from other similar assets.

Asset tracking allows a company to track what assets it owns, where each is located, who has it, when it was checked out, when it is due for return, when it is scheduled for maintenance, and the cost and depreciation of each asset.


With a high reputation built over the years on customer satisfaction, Dantech can provide help and advice with your asset marking requirements.  Please call us on 01354 688 488 or visit http://www.idassetlabels.co.uk/ for free and unbiased help and advice.

Asset Tags - Asset Protection That Pays For Itself

What is the most cost effective way of stopping the misplacement of valuable equipment?

Protect you equipment and assets!

A recent school research project found that in over four fifths of schools each year at least one item of value goes “missing”. The survey, conducted by the School of Education Administration and Management, found that a substantial number of these “losses” originated from the ICT department.

This clearly highlights the high vulnerability of ICT equipment to theft and loss in schools and that steps do need to be taken to reduce these losses.

It is clear that any workable asset tracking solution will need:

• to actually reduces the level of items that go missing
• aiding the recovery of these items
• be cost effective 

Asset tags are a great security marking solution as when everyone can see that equipment is being tracked, there is a strong disincentive for the equipment to be “borrowed” without permission. 

A key benefit of asset tags is that the cost of using them is very cost effective and is far cheaper than replacing lost equipment each year. In addition schools are required to show proof of depreciation of assets, and having an asset tracking program in place will help schools keep an accurate record of the condition of their equipment ensuring this process runs smoothly. 

Asset tags and school insurance

Tracking your assets with asset tags also reduces questions from insurers and can even help to reduce your premiums as your insurance company can sees that the school is taking the issue of asset protection seriously.

Asset tag materials and properties.

Asset tags can be printed on a range of materials from polyester to aluminium and may include a barcode with a readable number or a readable asset number only. As the asset tag labels cannot be removed from one item and placed on another, you inhibit the use of the trick in which the label from a low-cost item is removed and put on a high cost item.  

The thought of the thief is that when the high-cost item is “lost”, no one will worry too much, as the system shows it as a low-cost item.  Now that problem is avoided.

Expert asset tagging and marking advice

Dantech are specialists in asset tags and can help you to find the right asset tag labels for your specific requirements. For more information visit http://www.idassetlabels.co.uk for free and unbiased help and advice.