The start of the school year was a well orchestrated chaos pre-pandemic. Now, with more campuses and districts going 1 to 1, tracking a school's assets is a challenge and one that can be costly if mismanaged.
For example, in 2020, the Greenville, South Carolina public schools reported 4,000 missing Chromebooks worth nearly $1.2 million dollars.
This costs schools money and can make it difficult for other students to utilize these educational tools. With the aid of an efficient, cloud-based asset management software, you’ll be able to track, update, and improve the utilization of your school assets with minimal extra effort.
Learning how to track assigned Chromebooks used in school below so you can save yourself time and money.
Not sure if you’re ready for the school year? Reach out to AdminRemix for a one-on-one consultation.
Understanding Your School Needs
Every school has to manage a unique budget, timeline, and student body. The key to using asset management software correctly is pinpointing what you need to achieve and why.
Questions To Consider
There are a plethora of questions to answer and very little time in the day to do so. Below are aspects you should consider before investing in and taking your asset management abilities to the next level.
- Do you know where all of your Chromebooks are?
- What is the average number of Chromebooks lost per school year?
- How many assets do you need to assign in and out every school year?
- How much time does that take and how error prone is it?
- Are you using barcodes and scanners to make that process as efficient as possible?
- Are you able to easily track maintenance tasks?
- What other equipment do you assign to students or faculty (tablets, cameras, etc)?
- What are the current shortcomings of your current asset management system (hand keyed check-ins, inefficient workflow, insufficient reporting, etc)?
- Are you struggling to manage tasks and assign deadlines?
- Tracking Your Information In One Place
There are many steps involved in asset management: Tracking, maintenance, following up with individuals...and the more moving parts, the more things that can go wrong.
“Unfortunately, most asset management in schools is performed on a spreadsheet or even manually recorded on paper. These methods are wholly inadequate at keeping track of large quantities of education technology."
Tagged Assets
With a simple lookup or scan of a barcode you can quickly and easily pull up all the information related to an asset, a student, or a classroom allowing you to track as you go. You can also assess available inventory to monitor utilization in real time and plan any needed purchases for the year ahead.
- Students studying on a laptop
- Managing Your Assets
- Chromebooks are very useful...and expensive. Losing just one can set your school back hundreds of dollars. How do you ensure you know where each and everyone is assigned?
Keeping track of the assigned Chromebooks used in schools is streamlined with the aid of asset management software. Number, barcode, school location, address, and individual student contact details are kept in one place, updated on-the-fly and accessible to the entire team instantaneously.
Using Check In/Check Out Systems
The most effective way to make sure your school’s Chromebooks are returned on time is to have a check in/check out system on your side.
Run reports on your asset management system to make sure that all assets are returned at the end of the year checkout, or whenever your district determines.
You can even make sure each Chromebook is being adequately taken care of by creating maintenance tasks which can easily be tracked and completed. Staying on top of your asset management contributes to a virtuous cycle that keeps the entire school running smoothly.
Chromebook Tracking Software
Each Chromebook goes on a unique journey once it’s in the hands of a student. Tracking software makes sure when you assign a student an item you can easily get them to sign a use agreement form acknowledging their possession and outlining the expectations they must comply with in order to maintain possession of the device. Most important amongst these expectations is knowing when the Chromebook must be returned. You can also outline the penalties for non-compliance or missing or lost items.
Unique Chromebook Device Serial Numbers
A device serial number is the most significant way to track with an item has been returned or lost. However, that’s not the only way you can look out for your student body.
Cloud-Based Asset Inventory Solutions
“If you’re not using cloud-based software to store data and manage your equipment, it’s safe to say you’re behind the times. Today, everything seems to be stored in the cloud—and for good reason.”
With so many variables shifting on a dime, the benefits of a cloud-based asset management software make it easy to adapt as needed.
No matter how many people are helping you manage your assets, every new update will be immediately visible to the whole team, whether it’s a new check out or a maintenance task. This ensures everyone has the access and ability to track where each of your Chromebooks are at all times.