Assigning Tech Accessories

We didn’t track these things in my previous or current districts so I’m gonna follow along to see if anyone has something clever.

My current district has asset tags for staff laptop/Chromebook power adapters, and we also use them if we’re loaning power adapters for state testing. That’s about it for accessories though.

We have hired an amazing tech secretary who is very organized. She has incredibly organized all of the items with quantities. She is currently using a spreadsheet to keep track of these but it would be fantastic if there is a way in iIQ.

​@SMillsTVSD Great conversation to be having here! I am planning on bringing this up within our Open Office Hours today. Hope to see you there - 

We started inventorying some accessories like chargers and styluses a couple years ago because so many students would tell us that they never received those items.  Chargers are not bad because they have a serial number on the item but most styluses only have the serial number on the box.  Even though we cannot track them after the fact at least we can use it to check out the accessory to the student.  We don’t loan accessories to students but teachers/staff will ask to borrow a charger and we create a ticket as a forgot item and check out the charger to them and make them return it.

We do not track cables and such as I think that would be a nightmare. We do not have the luxury of having a department secretary and we are a small staff.

I would love the check out and check in process to pop up or prompt for accessories.  We really do not care about the serial numbers so much but rather that the person was issued the accessory.  We could make our own custom list if we have a couple different models of accessories.  Examples:

Dell 65W USB-C Charger
Dell 65W Barrel Charger
Dell ModelXXX stylus
Microsoft ModelXXX stylus.

The pop up could be divided into categories so we can see the chargers, styluses, and any other accessory in their own column or something.   Or check off the accessory types given and then get prompted for the model.  

For anything that we don’t deem valuable enough or believe is improbable to reliably track as a unique asset, we use the parts system. So that would be spare keyboards, mice, general cables (not power adapters, those are assets), and your various dongles. I’ve seen other inventory systems label these as consumables, non-serialized assets, or non-unique assets.

It does require a ticket to correctly use the “part” but that’s good because there is a documentation trail with the ticket of who requested it and when it was delivered.

Chargers are tagged, as are document cameras and Wacom drawing tablets.  If the mouse/keyboard are wireless and over a certain value, they’re tagged as well. In general teachers are free to pick up their own kb/mouse and office staff will either use what came with their desktop or pick up something they like and can work with school finance for reimbursement if they wish.  

All other accessories and dongles/cables are generally noted as room accessories and are expected to be there at the end of the year.  We have utilized a “kit” idea in some situations where we’ll note that the kit contains video dongle, audio cable, etc. and the kit is checked out. End of year checks would show that the kit isn’t complete and we could circle back to the teacher and rectify the issue. Where appropriate we can apply an Avery label or a silver/white Sharpie to note kit numbers, but we don’t waste asset tags and such for low cost accessories. 

I think what our Secretary is trying to do is keep track of the quantities of items to know when to order more. I just wasn’t sure if iIQ had something I could use or a workaround. I do like the “Kit” idea. I might use that for Laptop cases, charger and stylus. Thanks, everyone.