Case Study - Bluecoat CofE Primary School

Introduction

Bluecoat C of E Primary School in Great Torrington, Devon is a community school with around 500 pupils and 100 staff.

Challenges

For several years Bluecoat did very little tracking of their assets. What information they had was recorded on spreadsheets. This meant very little attention was taken to the maintenance status of these items and assets would frequently go missing with no record of responsibility.

The ICT manager, Marten, decided they needed a reliable inventory tracking system that would work for them.

The first system they used may have been reasonably priced but was considered clunky and built using old technology. It couldn’t be configured to make it do what they required and instead of saving them time it was making their lives harder. Around this time there was also a need for the Premises Manager to have somewhere to record the PAT inspections which would not have been easy or quick to set up.

This is when they started looking for a replacement, however, they found that several alternative inventory management systems were too expensive and didn’t have the required features. As a school with a small budget, they needed a system that had the functionality they needed without the high-cost commercial businesses often get charged. What they needed was an “off-the-shelf” package, and this is where we came in.

trackingThis

Bluecoat contacted trackingThis in 2020 and asked for a demo of the system. Even though the system hadn’t been used in schools before Bluecoat saw the benefits it could bring them. After a short discussion, we came up with a version of the trackingThis platform that would fit in their price range and still give the school the system features they needed.

The part of the system the school would use most was the inventory register to record and track all relevant details about items they own. This would allow them to have a better overall view of their assets when things go wrong.

However, they also use the booking system for their equipment and the reporting function to record the status of each item used, which was perfect for the audits that take place at the end of the school year.

These functions allow Bluecoat to maintain their assets without spending time maintaining spreadsheets. Making these processes quick and easy to follow allows them to save money and make sure every member of staff has the equipment they need with the use of our booking system.

Results, ROI and Future Plans

Bluecoat school has seen some very positive results within their first year of using the trackingThis Education Inventory Management System. They have found that items have lasted longer, fewer items are lost, and they are spending less time finding information, all because the system is making their repair and tracking processes much more reliable.

With plans to increase their use of the trackingThis system, we know these results will only get better so that we can inspire more schools to take control of their inventory with the help of our dedicated Education Inventory Management System.

Published 24 August 2021 09:30 by Dawn Richards