What to Include in an Inventory Database
Universities that offer equipment lending programmes work hard to ensure students have a good experience using these services. How they organise and display the items available for loan is a key aspect here. Having items tagged with useful descriptive data in an inventory database helps users to find the best equipment to meet their needs.
Photos are useful of course, but what other key items of information are helping students the most? There are a lot of options here, so we’ve collated a range of examples used by our Connect2 booking system customers to show what’s potentially important to include in the equipment catalogue.
You’ll see there’s lots of data that helps store workers too, making large inventories of equipment easier to manage. It can help with equipment maintenance for example, for understanding when items are out of warranty. Or it might support better inventory storage, helping workers to locate and return items to the correct shelf and aisle.
Here’s a fairly comprehensive list of options to consider for helping both students and staff:
| Property: | Reason for using: | Useful for: |
| Make/Model | Often included in an item’s description, but otherwise useful to add as a distinct property | Students and/or store workers |
| Manufacturer | If not already included in the resource name, use a dedicated property for manufacturer | Students and store workers |
| Manufacturer website | This can be a useful source for further product information | Students and store workers |
| Location in the store | Help store workers locate items faster by giving the store aisle and shelf number | Store workers |
| Used for | Course, class, module etc | Students and store workers |
| Warranty | For repairs and inventory lifecycle management | Store workers |
| Dimensions | Useful for making transport arrangements e.g. will users need a trolly? | Students and store workers |
| Weight | Same as above regarding pick up and return arrangements | Students and store workers |
| Support/Help tel number | For support from manufacturer | Store workers |
| Condition | To record permanent minor damage, e.g. scratches, before further use | Store workers |
| Ports and connections | Helps for knowing cables and adaptors required | Students and store workers |
| Skill level (low, medium, high) | To know relevant roles or if adequate training in place before use | Students and store workers |
| Operating system | Useful for laptop loan programmes | Students and store workers |
| Batteries included? | To know if an additional battery is required | Students and store workers |
| Additional items included? | E.g. bag, power cable etc | Students and store workers |
| Allowed off campus? | More valuable, larger items may need to stay on campus | Students and store workers |
| Model year | Students may prefer to continue with older, more familiar items or prefer newer ones. Also useful for inventory lifecycle management | Students and/or store workers |
| Material | E.g. for bags for travel/storage | Students and store workers |
In conclusion, tagging your stock with key data and deciding what’s visible to students and to staff is an important step when setting up an inventory database as part of an equipment loaner program. It’s worth taking time to consider exactly what kinds of data to store, as it really pays off in saved time and a better user experience.
For further information and advice on your equipment database or any other aspect of equipment lending, contact the Connect2 team here.
