Precision Scheduling

Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology

Home > Precision Scheduling

21st Century Classroom

Precision Scheduling

5/1/2008

By Rama Ramaswami

Wheaton's equipment circulation process relies heavily on student labor. "About 20 student operators manage the circulation desk," explains Rhoadarmer. "People call, e-mail, send a form, or come in person to reserve equipment, and the student operators enter the reservation into WebCheckout." According to Rhoadarmer, it was essential to invest in a highly sophisticated system that students could use with minimal training. "Ninety percent of the work in WebCheckout is done by students," he says. "They make reservations, create serial numbers for new items that come in, perform a physical inventory, check things in and out, and make deliveries. They handle a couple hundred checkouts a week. Of course, they are supervised by full-time staff members who also manage the initial WebCheckout setup."

Perhaps the most useful feature of the system is its ability to generate detailed reports on the equipment, notes Rhoadarmer: "You can get usage reports on a specific piece or type of equipment, or reports on who has holds on what equipment. Everything you type in is logged. You can list assets for insurance purposes; you can search assets by lowest value, highest value, location, manufacturer, etcetera. The system eliminates a lot of paper-and-pencil, and note tracking."

J.R. Smith, the college's director of media resources, calls WebCheckout a vast improvement over what the school was using previously to track its assets: a software package designed for heavy-duty industrial equipment rentals. "It was a big tool that didn't fit our needs," explains Smith. "It was awkward and not intuitive at all." By contrast, he says, the new system is so user-friendly that the college community was using it before formal training was scheduled.

While he calls the price of the software "extremely attractive," Smith is less concerned about cost savings than about streamlining asset management. Although inventory loss has been negligible so far, he wants to be able to track items precisely, he says, and the previous equipment rental system did not have the capability to keep tabs on items at short intervals. "A piece of equipment might come in and go out several times a day, and we needed to track that."

What's even more exciting, says Smith, is that Wheaton is partnering with WebCheckout to develop new software, called the PlanQ Production Module, which will enable the media department to manage A/V productions (such as theatrical performances and student-directed movies). "It will allow us to develop a timeline for a production, track and schedule resources, and allocate equipment," enthuses Smith, explaining that "A production might be shown at a single event but it may involve six months of shooting videos, producing DVDs, and posting content online. PlanQ will help us coordinate all of these events and manage the entire schedule for a production at the same time. It also allows us to place students in the right production, develop cost estimates, and so on. We're looking forward to it."

Rama Ramaswami is senior editor at The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist, Financial Times, and other international publications. She is based in New York City.