Digitally Manage Inventory in Schools with Timly Software

On this page you will find information on the following topics:

• Why Should Schools Digitalise Their Assets?
• Digitalisation of Schools in Germany
• Keeping Track of School Resources With Inventory Software
• Improving Everyday School Life With Subsidised Hardware and Software

Why Should Schools Digitalise Their Assets?

Endless meetings, many forms: It is a long way from the regional needs assessment at schools to the delivery of digital devices. To manage inventory in schools, a digital solution is much needed. While in Germany, there are already various schools managing their inventory digitally, there has also been a push for digitalisation in schools in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In many German municipalities, additional IT infrastructures and devices have been approved or are already available. The first successes are becoming apparent. Now many school boards and municipal administrations are facing new challenges: The funding programmes require an administration for which many are not yet prepared.

After submitting the application, many an administrator or headmaster realises that the new devices, networks, licences and contracts also entail extended management needs. So it takes a good management strategy to keep track of equipment orders and funding commitments.

After all, every funding agency wants to know what the finances were specifically used for. Furthermore, grant recipients are obliged to support the evaluation of the funding (i.e. what it is used for and how it improves everyday processes). For this, reports and documentation must be written and submitted. So those who manage their digital resources in an administratively compliant manner from the very beginning are on the safe side.

Digitalisation of Schools in Germany

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport in Baden-Württemberg has developed exemplary reporting regulations. Here, recipients of funding are allowed to submit simplified proof of use to the Landesinvestitionsbank within three months after completion of the measure. All that is required is a confirmation in the proof that the approved grants were used for the intended purpose.

In order to ensure this legally, continuous documentation on the inventory, its use, condition and possible maintenance should be prepared. In addition, proof of use and factual reports are required. With these demanding requirements, investing in modern and secure inventory software can make sense.

An example from Germany illustrates how inventory software like Timly works. Remseck am Neckar is a town north-east of Stuttgart. Following the motto “Schools Fit for the Future” and “Our Children are Our Future”, the municipality planned to apply for funding. To this end, an inventory was conducted at all schools in May 2019. After the funds to manage inventory in schools and purchase new IT-equipment for students were disbursed, the Remseck municipality ordered a large number of new IT resources.

For the secure and traceable management of the IT resources, Remseck concluded a contract with the Zurich-based Timly Software AG. Timly is a modern documentation system that virtually catalogues digital and physical objects. Different users can make new entries and changes decentrally, depending on their authorisation level.

Keeping Track of School Resources With Inventory Software

It is worthwhile for municipal school authorities and schools to think about the management of IT resources at an early stage. Even during the funding period, inventory management software avoids unnecessary effort. Whether statistics on the usage history of the equipment, support contracts, software licences or repairs: inventory software such as Timly documents all information about the digital school inventory in a central location and minimises the manual workload that arises with conventional Excel lists.

This means that questions such as “Who has which inventory right now?”, “What condition is the equipment in?” or “What are the licence fees?” can be answered at the touch of a button. In this way, head teachers and municipal administrators gain a central overview of digital end devices, IT accessories and licence agreements. The application in practice is very easy: labels with QR codes containing a unique inventory number are stuck on the objects purchased with the funding.

These codes can be scanned with a standard smartphone or tablet. Now the software enables various actions that can be individually assigned to each part of the digitised inventory. Whether querying the current location, usage history or repair requirements: authorised users can call up or update all information at any time and from any location.