How schools and universities should manage their gear for fewer losses

Different organizations have different equipment management needs. Schools and universities for example. Some have complex, unique workflows. Others need large volumes of students to collaborate and use equipment, with an important focus on different user roles.

Every day, we help educational institutions all over the world with tracking their valuable equipment. Because Cheqroom is a perfect fit for schools of any type.

Bold claim? Let this blog or video convince you.

Better collaboration through user roles

We encourage team collaboration. That’s why Cheqroom allows you to invite as many students as needed to the account at no extra cost. We can connect to your school’s LDAP, but you can invite them manually if you want.

Either way, you decide the level of access every student gets by setting up permission levels in your account.

Before contacting the equipment room, will they use the tool to see available equipment? Then give them view-only access.

Will they make their own bookings through Cheqroom? Then give them a self-service role. A student worker or staff member will convert the booking into a checkout during pickup.

You can create unique roles for staff and teachers with equipment room access to be able to perform checkouts. Roles and permissions in Cheqroom are entirely up to you.

Elsewhere in Cheqroom, our location feature helps you keep a full inventory overview and assign equipment to specific locations, should you be working with several equipment rooms or departments.

Here as well, you decide which students or staff get to see which inventory.

Import functionality

Importing your inventory is breezy with Cheqroom. It takes just a few clicks until all your important data is in one place.

Purchase information, models, categories, warranty dates, tech specs, user manuals, and maintenance reports fit neatly. Add all the fields you like. We have plenty of types to choose from.

Once you've uploaded your equipment inventory, Cheqroom automatically attaches a picture and generates a QR code. You can use our free mobile app to scan it.

These QR codes can end up on a whole range of key tags and laminated labels, available from our website. We offer different shapes and sizes, all customizable with your school's logo.

The mobile app

Our mobile app definitely deserves a closer look. Its interface is easy on the eyes and gives you the quick visual overview you need.

Students can make reservations on the go, making the rollout much easier, and check equipment availability whenever they want. The app asks the student to give some information when booking equipment. You choose whether that’s their class, student ID, project number or something else entirely. Making these fields required guarantees that you get all the essential information you need.

But the app is also a nifty tool for staff or student workers. They can use the mobile app to scan assets being checked out or returned, generate a contact or checkout agreement for every booking, and even ask for an electronic signature on the spot to increase accountability.

If you’re into customizing, rest assured: you can play around with templates and add your school’s logo or specific terms and conditions. Add important rules if necessary, such as fees for late returns, or remind students of the opening hours of the equipment room.

Frequent breakers of the rules can be blocked at any time if necessary. Rules are rules...

Our flagging functionality

Most organizations like their equipment to live long, healthy lives. So let our flagging functionality be of service.

Create your own relevant and colorful flags that can be used for marking equipment with a low battery that needs repair, maintenance, or cleaning.

Not everyone has to have the same rights. You choose who can flag items and whether this flag makes the item unavailable for upcoming bookings.

When setting a flag, students or staff members have to leave a message and take a picture so maintenance can be planned correctly.

Meanwhile, automated email notifications will let whoever's in charge of maintenance know when an item gets flagged.

Notifications

Those automated email reminders form an important part of a school’s workflow in Cheqroom.

As an equipment manager, you can receive an automated message whenever a reservation comes in, edit the booking if needed, and leave a comment for the student or staff member. This comment can then be automatically sent to them with all the necessary information. You can also set up several reminders for when reservations are due for checkout or when the equipment is due for return.

The bottom line for you and your school? A lot of saved time!

Booking restrictions

With booking restrictions, you will be able to limit the number of people picking up or dropping off gear at the same time. It's great to avoid long queues in the equipment room.

People book equipment for an inflated period of time, just to ensure that they have it for long enough. It could be that some still have assets in their possession that they are not currently using that much, if at all. This becomes an issue if others rely on the same equipment.

You want to keep things fair. That’s why we developed maximum durations for reservations and check-outs.

This feature allows you to define how long a check-out can last. You can choose between minutes, hours, days, and weeks.

Lastly, if you want to prevent last-minute reservations that mess up your schedule, you can limit the minimum time in advance to make a reservation.

Reporting tool

Finally, our reporting tool shows you exciting facts about the state and history of your equipment room. Important information on the busiest times at the equipment room, for example, but also on your equipment usage, which helps you make decisions about purchasing new gear.

With our contact reports, you can also easily stay on top of your students' and staff's activities. You can see who is checking out the most equipment and who is entitled to the Most Punctual Student award.

Caught your attention? Try our free trial or book a demo!