The Parkview Baptist School, one of the largest private schools in Louisiana in terms of student body size, has over 1200 students enrolled from pre-K – grade 12. The school also offers a “flex” learning program to 100 students, who can choose to either come to campus according to their own schedules or take online classes.
Technology is an important part of learning at Parkview Baptist and the school provides grades 5 and 6 as well as grades 9 through 12 laptops for use on campus, and at home. Currently, grades 7 and 8 are provided iPads, but those will soon be replaced with laptops too. The younger students from grades 1 through 4 are also provided iPads, however, those are used on campus only.
The school also stocks a large inventory of technology-based learning equipment such as projectors, chargers, accessories, and more. With a large student body and many high-ticket assets to track, Parkview Baptist needs to ensure their inventory management system can seamlessly manage all devices and accessories while still being flexible enough to fit their unique workflows.
EZOfficeInventory is a great fit for their requirements and has enabled them to automate and streamline their system so they are able to easily track everything from expensive laptops to cables and chargers.
Here is the school’s journey towards automation with EZOfficeInventory as told by the school’s technology coordinator Shawn Liner, the primary source interacting with the software.
Parkview Baptist moves towards increased inventory control
The school continues to grow every year, and as operations and inventory expanded, they needed a solution to efficiently track all their equipment. This is why Parkview Baptist shifted to EZOfficeInventory. It eliminated multiple operational issues and enabled the school to significantly enhance workflows for their staff and students.
Shawn inherited the software when he joined the school. Some of the system features that have alleviated pain points are the ability to generate Custom Reports, manage tickets and incidents via the Zendesk integration, and improve asset identification with customized Print Labels.
“It’s one of those cases where every time I turn around, there’s something new I can do with the software”, says Shawn
Here are some specific ways operations and workflows improved for Parkview Baptist once they implemented EZOfficeInventory:
Staying informed with automated Reports
Shawn uses the Reports feature to get a complete overview of the school’s assets every day. He has set up automated reports to be sent to him at the end of every day. For example, he can tell if the warranty is expiring for a specific item, the maintenance status of equipment, the stock quantity of each model of equipment, and so on.
The ability to customize these reports is particularly valuable to him. It enables him to extract maximum benefit from the data and generate reports that are uniquely suited to his needs.
“Every time I wish it (EZOfficeInventory) would do something, I find out it actually does!”, says Shawn
Tracking items in bulk with the Asset Stock module
Apart from high ticket equipment such as laptops and iPads, the school also uses a lot of smaller equipment and accessories, such as chargers and cables, etc. The school was previously not able to track these items at all which was highly inconvenient and resulted in lost/misplaced items.
EZOfficeInventory offered them the ideal solution with the ability to add and track items in bulk. Now, accessories such as chargers and cables are all added into the system as Asset Stock which can be checked out, reserved, or moved across different locations.
Using the Zendesk Integration for effective issue resolution
The Parkview Baptist School needed a service ticketing system to document issues related to their equipment and Zendesk was the obvious fit for them. The fact that Zendesk integrates seamlessly with EZOfficeInventory was definitely a big advantage, one that allowed them to speed up their resolution processes.
A recurring problem they encountered was that their interactive whiteboards kept malfunctioning. Even though they updated the firmware repeatedly, the problem still persisted. With the Zendesk ticketing system linked to their inventory in EZOfficeInventory, Shawn was able to view the asset’s history in EZOfficeInventory and know that they had worked on this board several times already. With useful information at his fingertips, he quickly identified malfunctioning equipment, looked up its history, and started the return merchandise authorization (RMA) process before the warranty period ran out.
Benefiting from convenient checkouts with Bundles
The media department at the Parkview Baptist School has benefited greatly from the Bundles module. While previously they needed to individually find and check out all the items they required for different projects, now they can simply bundle them together in the system. This way they can be conveniently pulled up and checked out together.
For example, the most commonly used media kit includes a camera, an audio recorder, and a tripod, packaged together into a suitcase. The system creates a bundle that contains all these items. The media department now simply checks out the entire bundle, saving time and eliminating the tedious repetitive task of individually collecting the items every time.
Improving item identification with customizable Print Labels
Before implementing EZOfficeInventory, the school was working with regular labels that had limited or no capability to uniquely identify items. The labels included a QR code that had very limited information – the school name and the asset name. This meant, there was virtually no way to make a distinction between one iPad and another.
Parkview Baptist now uses the Print Labels feature in EZOfficeInventory that enables them to generate customizable labels and add relevant/detailed information, such as the memory capacity, purchase date, and model number. This has made it easier for them to accurately track specific items and save time. For example, teachers are able to scan the labels and get relevant information instantly – such as who the device is checked out to.
Tracking assets on the go with the Mobile App
One of the most beneficial features for Shawn is EZOfficeInventory’s powerful mobile app that offers high levels of functionality. Shawn regularly uses the mobile app to log in and scan QR codes directly from the phone, without needing to carry a third-party device. This ability to scan items on the go enables him to do his job with greater agility and flexibility.
The future with EZOfficeInventory
As the Parkview Baptist School grows, it is becoming increasingly flexible in terms of study schedules. Flexibility and customizability are also the benefits that Shawn values the most about EZOfficeInventory.
He is excited about exploring the full functionality of the solution and trying features such as online Purchase Orders and setting up asset depreciation.
As the school continues to grow and evolve its model, Shawn knows that EZOfficeInventory will continue to fit in and serve the school well.
“My favorite feature would be the flexibility the system offers!” concludes Shawn.
