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What is Inventory Management Software and How Can It Help Your Local Educational Agency?

Inventory management software is a collection of software tools and processes that help local educational agencies (LEAs) manage their Fixed Assets in Real Time. While most LEAs are already equipped with a Financial Management System, most of these large systems fall very short in the continued tracking, updating and accountability of Fixed Assets. In the long run, the manual updating of assets in these large Financial Management Systems has become a huge liability for LEA’s when it comes time to audit and review their Fixed Assets, for the purpose of complying with Federal Tracking Requirements and overall purchasing decisions. LEAs can use an inventory management software to take control of their fixed asset workflow, the right software can link directly to your current Financial Management System.This blog post will introduce you to the basics of an inventory management software, why you need one, and what components are crucial in the right software.

Why Does a LEA Need an Inventory Management Software?

Inventory Management Software for LEAs

While being provided federal funding for the purchase of new equipment within a school district is a wonderful thing, the tracking of equipment that these funds are used for is often overlooked. Federal programs normally require 3 things of a LEA at all times:

  1. To make sure all equipment is properly tagged and labeled for tracking.
  2. To maintain current information on the equipment of the lifetime of the program which funds were received.
  3. Keep accurate, up to date information available for review and audit at all times.

In the long run, poor oversight of equipment can cause more financial loss for the district than gain, whether it be through audit findings or mismanagement and loss of equipment. Traditional methods of paper and pencil to track the constant movement, use and retirement of equipment, can not keep up in today’s technology 1 to 1 learning environments. An inventory management software that can allow you to digitally scan, reconcile, and store your asset records is paramount for complying with federal regulations. A system that can allow you to do all this and provide reporting with the push of a button is invaluable.

What Are the Components of an Inventory Management Software?

A full service Inventory Management Software will have 3 very crucial components to it:

  1. Have a barcode scanning system that allows teams to quickly scan and audit their equipment in the field at the push of a button.
  2. Have a central database that allows you to upload and organize the information from barcode scanning. This information must be available at the push of a button for the purposes of review and evaluation. A cloud based system will allow this to be easily achieved.
  3. Be able to interface with the current Financial System used by the district. All too often, schools go through the time and cost of implementing a new inventory software or system only to find their information is not able to interface with their main system. In which case they are stuck with a large waste of time, money and have useless information.

Wrapping Up

To have an effective inventory management software you must determine which materials you should track and how often, normally state and federal guidelines make this very easy to know. Then search for a software that fits your needs, such as Divot Assets K12 Asset Manager. With the right team and software behind you, your inventory management system can become one of your biggest assets in your district!

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