On Mon, May 04, 2015 at 08:16:44AM -0400, berg...@merctech.com wrote: > At $WORK we have shared equipment (laptops, projectors, external drives, > etc.) available on loan to staff, grad students, postdocs and faculty > (~65 people). > > We've had on-going issues with ensuring that the equipment is complete > and ready for use -- most often things like items being returned missing > cables, chargers, and peripherals. > > I'm very interested in learning about any policies or mechanisms you > use to manage similar loaner equipment.
Receipts are the best mechanism, coupled with financial responsibility. Need to check out a projector? Great, we give you the projector, the cables, the adapters, the manual, and this bag. Please sign this receipt for us acknowledging that we gave them to you in the described condition and that you or your department are responsible for damages due to carelessness or abuse. Time to return it? Great, we will do an inspection running down the checklist from our copy of the receipt, including a brief test of functionality. Batteries are dead? No problem, we'll note it and replace it. Lens is cracked? We'd like a word with your department head about funds. Reach the end of a semester or break and there are still receipts instead of equipment? Send a note around to the department secretaries. "Please have Dr Forgetful return the listed equipment in the next week or the department will be charged at replacement prices." You will probably want an inventory management database, and some form of anti-theft security for your storage. As usual, the people problems will outweigh the technology problems. -dsr- _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.lopsa.org https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
