Managing school inventory using school management software
What is inventory management?
Generally speaking, inventory
management or asset management is the management of inventory or stock. In
educational institutions like schools and colleges, these would be assets like
stationary, moveable infrastructure like chair, tables, desks, blackboards,
teaching aids like overhead projectors, televisions, video players, DVDs,
library assets like books and magazines, etc.
Inventory management in schools,
thus, is the management of these tools and resources to ensure that they are
being cared for properly, utilised in the ideal fashion, and the returns on the
expenditure and labour on them are high. Inventory management thus affects
multiple concerns a school would have – from ensuring their investment has good
returns but also ensuring that all their stakeholders benefit from everything
the school or college has to offer.
Why school inventory management?
We talk often about how schools
need to be supported by a robust infrastructure and a wealth of resources –
inventory management actually takes care of the execution of these ideals.
Thanks to inventory management we are able to fully and effectively use all the
resources we have at our disposal in our classrooms, and on a greater scale, in
our educational institutions like schools and colleges.
It would be a huge waste of
financial resources and procurement efforts to be lackadaisical about inventory
management in our already underfunded and under-resourced schools and colleges.
A carefully planned and consistent approach to the management of these resources
would ensure that we gain the maximum use from them while also ensuring their
longevity. Inventory management ensures we get the best returns on our
expenditures on much-needed assets, tools, resources, and
infrastructure in our schools and colleges.
What are the benefits of School Inventory
Management Module?
We have briefly described the
process of using school management software to manage your inventory above. It is clear that process-driven inventory
management and the use of school management software are a great fit. Below we
explain in further detail how school management software benefits schools and
colleges who want to better their inventory management process and see better
outcomes:
1. Better
Organisation of School Property
The first highly visible benefit
of using inventory management module to manage school tools, resources,
infrastructure – just all of an educational institution’s assets – are that you
will immediately see this entire process becoming more organised. When
educational institutions use school management software they are forced to
first make an accounting of all the assets they possess and register them
within the software. This means there is one place they can turn to to get a
comprehensive and detailed reckoning of all their assets.
2. Superlative Tracking of Assets
Since all requests for use,
requisition, procurement and disbursal of assets go through a inventory
management module and all school property is closely tracked. This cuts down on
one-time borrowing or informal exchanges – which is invariably how schools lose
track of their assets. This also means that there is a drastic reduction in the
loss or theft of expensive school property. It is apparent within one glance
where any given item, tool, resource, or asset is with the school management
software since it cannot be signed out by an unauthorised person.
3.
Anytime and Anywhere Accessibility
No more standing in queues or
filling out forms in triplicate for administrators managing inventory or the
students and teachers trying to access them. The process of inventory
management is far quicker and simpler than ever for all stakeholders – all
thanks to the use of school management software. Students and teachers seeking
to check out an item can only do so through inventory module in school
management software. They can only do this if they are authorised to do so,
which rules out an unauthorised misuse of school inventory. After this, they
have to place a request through the school management software to procure the
item in question.
Unlike before when this would
have to be done with the inventory manager in person, after following a laborious
and time-consuming process, teachers and students can log in any time into
their school management software and raise an indent or a request for a certain
item that they need. This does not need to be done within school hours but at
any time or place of their convenience. This anywhere and anytime accessibility
thanks to school management software means that school inventory is actually
helping the very people it was meant to help while also being used
appropriately – a win-win for all stakeholders!
