Managing inventory and resource lending to students can present a heavy workload. For instance, how many times each week do you need to establish why an item isn’t on the shelf as expected?
Working with technicians in university media stores we've seen how issues like this can steal hours every day – time that could be used to support students more productively. Connect2 has been developed to resolve these kinds of issues right away before they develop into problems.
So why isn’t the item on the shelf?
With connect2, it's easy to know each time what's happened. Each time a student or staff member borrows an item, connect2 makes a record of the loan, linking the item to the user. So if an item is missing, you can instantly trace it back to the user, using the online interface. Connect2 can also use barcodes so the system is 100% foolproof and even more efficient.
Better than this - connect2 allows you to organize resources in ‘collections’, so if an item is late back, it won’t impact on the next reservation unless it’s the very last item in the collection pool.
Best of all - connect2 provides a checkout dashboard that forewarns you if any items scheduled for checkout are yet to be returned (see the screengrab below). Meanwhile, connect2 is on the case automatically sending out reminders to users to return items promptly.
The result - items are much less likely to be returned late or go missing, and if they do, the ‘collections’ system minimizes the impact on other students. Either way, you'll understand exactly what’s going on - you can establish the whereabouts of each and every item, instantly!
This doesn’t just relieve the tedium around resource tracking. Connect2’s use of collections in reservation management helps you balance the peaks and troughs of resource demand – improving availability for everyone.
To find out more about connect2 and how it can benefit your department, please contact:
Danny Thomas on 646 583 2215, email enquiries@connect2software.com
