Equipment Check In/Out Software

crrussell3

Does anyone know of a lightweight free software that will do like an asset management check in/out? What we are looking at doing is having something that will allow us to easily track our loaner equipment (laptops, projecters, sprint cards, etc), who they are checked out to, when they will be back, etc. Right now we use a shared Outlook calendar that isn't the best solution.

I have thought about making a spreadsheet that will do this, but if there is already a good piece of software why go through the trouble.

Thanks,
Craig

RobertKaucher

What are the problems you are having witht the outlook calendar?

crrussell3

RobertKaucher wrote: »

What are the problems you are having witht the outlook calendar?

Currently the way it is set up is pretty useless, imo. All that is done currently is when someone requests to check out an item, they put it in the Calendar so we know it will be unavailable. There is no visual way to see what all equipment we have available, if it is in/out, or if it is reserved in the near future without browsing through the calendar.

Really what we are looking for is something we can see at a glance what items we have, and what their current status is, and if gone, who has them and when they will be returned.

Thanks!

captobvious

Sounds like a job for vb.net!

crrussell3

captobvious wrote: »

Sounds like a job for vb.net!

Would love to get our application developers to create something for us real quick, but they are under special orders from the CIO to work on the external/internal website redesign and nothing else (unless an application goes down).

TheShadow

seems like a pretty straight forward Access application. Have you checked the microsoft website to see if there is something close?

TheShadow

slow day. Here is a good start for modification

Asset tracking database

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC012253421033.aspx?CategoryID=CT101428241033

Edit gee I just downloaded it myself, after you press the create button it takes you back for a video tutorial on how to use and modify it. Looks like serious hero potential possibilities. If I can be of help yell.

Edit2: If the first one is over kill then try this one. It is very light weight with almost exactly what you mentioned.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102068831033.aspx?CategoryID=CT101428241033

Paul Boz

How many assets are you talking about? A few dozen? a few hundred? a few thousand?

Depending on the scale, you may want to go commercial. The telco I used to work for had a solution similar to this: Barcode Scanner, Barcode Software, Asset Tracking, Inventory Software, & Time and Attendance

We made our own barcode labels, tagged items, then used similar software for resource management. It functioned just like the public library. When you check something out you scan it. When you check it back in you scan it. This way the system is always up to date with minimal human interaction.

crrussell3

TheShadow wrote: »

seems like a pretty straight forward Access application. Have you checked the microsoft website to see if there is something close?

Thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded the same two that you linked in your next post, but haven't had much of a chance to play with them yet. The first one seems to have the most potential after its been modified a bit.

crrussell3

Paul Boz wrote: »

How many assets are you talking about? A few dozen? a few hundred? a few thousand?

Depending on the scale, you may want to go commercial. The telco I used to work for had a solution similar to this: Barcode Scanner, Barcode Software, Asset Tracking, Inventory Software, & Time and Attendance

We made our own barcode labels, tagged items, then used similar software for resource management. It functioned just like the public library. When you check something out you scan it. When you check it back in you scan it. This way the system is always up to date with minimal human interaction.

Currently we have about 20 items that we would have available to be checked out to the end users (laptops, projectors, cameras, sprint cards, etc). A barcode system is overkill for what I am looking for.

I have also looked at some other F/OSS Asset Management Software, and most seem to want to scan the network to build the list, etc, which again is more than what I am after. I just need something lightweight enough to input our 20ish assets, and check them in/out if a user has them along with the information of who the user is, when to expect it back, etc.

Paul Boz

crrussell3 wrote: »

Currently we have about 20 items that we would have available to be checked out to the end users (laptops, projectors, cameras, sprint cards, etc). A barcode system is overkill for what I am looking for.

I have also looked at some other F/OSS Asset Management Software, and most seem to want to scan the network to build the list, etc, which again is more than what I am after. I just need something lightweight enough to input our 20ish assets, and check them in/out if a user has them along with the information of who the user is, when to expect it back, etc.

just put up a big whiteboard. For 20 items its easy to manage and everyone can see it. Low-tech is sometimes the best tech.

msteinhilber

Paul Boz wrote: »

just put up a big whiteboard. For 20 items its easy to manage and everyone can see it. Low-tech is sometimes the best tech.

Another vote for the whiteboard. Had a similar setup at a place I worked for about a dozen items. Taped off the whiteboard into a grid with a box for who presently has it checked out. Also had several columns within each row (row per item) where a date could be filled in to place a reserve on a particular item.

Easy and cheap, of course it came to mind after somebody else put a great deal of effort into trying to determine an electronic solution to it.