Consolidated Safety Services, Inc. (CSS) is an environmental services company that partners with federal and state agencies as well as commercial customers. Founded in 1998, CSS provides deep expertise in science programs support, environmental health & safety, environmental compliance & management, transportation safety & security, and emergency response & disaster recovery.
They offer their clients subject matter expertise as well as location and equipment management for a broad range of projects including quick-response tasks to long-term programs. CSS prides itself on providing state-of-the-art management systems and quality controls to ensure the best outcomes for clients.
Automating systems with EZOfficeInventory for greater efficiency
Duane Ratliff, senior vice president of operations, talked about the challenges they faced while tracking client equipment with a manual system. Before EZOfficeInventory, CSS was using Excel spreadsheets which meant they could not view information in real-time. Also, a manual system could not share information with other business software, which made it harder to align and optimize operations.
As they were looking for the right software to manage equipment, a former colleague who worked for a company that supports NASA projects recommended EZOfficeInventory.
“A lot of work that they do is very similar to the work we are doing in our laboratory operations,” said Duane. “We felt if they can use it to support NASA and have success, we might as well try it.”
Winning with EZOfficeInventory: Streamlined equipment management for clients
EZOfficeInventory made an immediate impact on CSS workflows by offering centralized real-time visibility into equipment usage and movement. With over 800 assets, 2000 asset stock items, and a very large inventory of disposables, EZOfficeInventory is helping CSS track everything from expensive laboratory equipment such as incubators and microscopes to disposables such as rubbing alcohol, fan belts, filters, and more
Duane gave the example of their aerospace division where they provide laboratory operations support services to clients. In the case of one particular client, they have outfitted a dozen labs with equipment ranging from tabletop analytical devices to standalone incubators.
Here they use EZOfficeInventory to tag, locate, and maintain equipment that resides in major geographic regions across Virginia and Florida. In this case, they also use EZOfficeInventory to purchase consumables and other inventory that may not necessarily have a property tag on it but needs to be properly logged into the system for inventory reporting purposes.
Enhanced customer service led to expanded use across client portfolio.
CSS started using EZOfficeInventory in 2018 to manage one client and quickly expanded the use across its customer portfolio due to the success of the system.
Duane explains that they not only use EZOfficeInventory as an internal tool but also offer it to their clients as a value-added service.
EZOfficeInventory’s robust access control functionality enables CSS to provide view-only system access to their clients for full visibility into the location and state of their equipment. CSS also uses the data stored within EZOfficeInventory to generate custom reports per the reporting requirements of their clients.
Integration with Jira speeds up ticket resolution
One of the most compelling features of EZOfficeInventory is the seamless integration with Jira Service Desk.
“When EZO started partnering with the Jira platform, that was very attractive to us since our IT department uses Jira quite extensively for ticketing and help desk services,” says Duane.
The integration has helped CSS completely streamline their work order management. Now when a client for whom they are managing equipment adds a ticket to Jira, the CSS team can simultaneously create a Work Order within EZOfficeInventory. The team saves valuable time by working across platforms to get issues resolved more efficiently.
Another key benefit of this workflow is the ability to update the status of a piece of equipment that is being serviced. They can mark an item as sent for repair, retired, or replaced and all linked systems pick up the information.
Full visibility leads to enhanced employee productivity
The team finds it extremely useful to have visibility into the status of a piece of equipment.
“In the past, someone had to look at three different systems whereas now, behind the scenes, we can look at it from just one web browser,” explains Duane.
Streamlined scheduling
Insight into item availability is also helpful for property custodians. They can use the availability calendar to get a quick snapshot of what’s available and that has helped eliminate scheduling conflicts and inefficiencies.
Fewer lost items with barcode tracking
CSS is managing equipment for multiple clients including high ticket items. They follow a requirement of adding property tags to all assets over a certain value.
EZOfficeInventory’s powerful barcode tracking capability has made it easy for them to quickly and accurately scan equipment with a handheld scanner. The mobile app further streamlines the team’s work by allowing them to easily scan items in the field. The ability to add an item image and description along with location tracking has also been extremely helpful for their everyday operations.
The most significant benefit: Less equipment is lost or misplaced.
“It’s a good thing to have real control over where things are and it has helped us prevent loss of equipment,” confirms Duane.
Location management within EZOfficeInventory has been beneficial for CSS as they manage equipment for clients who are spread across a wide geographic region. They are operating and tracking equipment in the Washington DC region, both in Norfolk, Virginia, and the Eastern Shore as well as at several locations in Orlando, Florida.
Even though there is a widespread distance between the warehouses and facilities where the equipment is stored and where it is being used, it is easy to track within EZOfficeInventory, says Duane.
The future with EZOfficeInventory
The logical and user-friendly interface, extensive self-help library, and responsive support staff have made it easy for the CSS team to adopt and implement the system successfully. According to Duane, EZOfficeInventory offers great value for the price and he looks forward to incorporating it for more clients in the future.
