RFID Asset Management for Universities
Founded in 1908, James Madison University is a public university located in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley with more than 20,000 undergraduate students and a 721-acre campus. Read the full JMU Case Study here.
The Asset Management Challenge
James Madison University (JMU) like many other higher education institutions realized the importance of integrating audio visual (AV) technology in the classroom environment. Over the past 20-years the amount of AV and IT equipment has grown tremendously to nearly 4,000 pieces of equipment currently located across campus in 50 buildings and in over 400 classrooms.
As the amount of AV equipment escalated, maintaining an accurate inventory became increasingly difficult. State funding of their classroom technology required detailed and accurate accounting along with an annual physical audit which required the team to locate and visually inspect each piece of equipment. In 2020, JMU acknowledged that their existing inventory management system was inadequate and unable to support their annual audit requirements. It was at this time that the JMU Classroom Technology Services team, led by James West and supported by Jeff Roadcap, began looking into other asset management solutions.
The leadership team knew that they needed a modern asset management solution that could provide a high level of accuracy and visibility. They also recognized that mobile RFID was a critical aspect of the solution to enable fast and accurate inventories of their IT and AV equipment across a large campus. Furthermore, many of the classroom projectors are ceiling-mounted and difficult to scan with a barcode reader. Mobile RFID does not need a line of sight with the tag and therefore eliminated the need for ladders allowing for much faster and easier inventories.
Jeff and James also needed to find a system that could manage all of the detailed equipment history such as warranty information, maintenance records, install dates, model numbers and other critical asset information. Additionally, JMU was looking for a solution that would be cloud-based to avoid maintaining a server on-premise and instead leverage the service and infrastructure provided by the cloud technology.
The RFID Solution
A2B Tracking’s RFID asset management system provides James Madison University the asset visibility needed to keep track of their ever-expanding AV and IT equipment. A2B Tracking implemented a system that uses Zebra handheld RFID sleds in conjunction with Android smartphones to perform fast, mobile RFID inventories to capture current locations along with a timestamp. Performing inventories in the classroom with mobile RFID is not only fast and efficient but incredibly accurate. The JMU Classroom Technology Services team has effectively eliminated data entry errors and now has complete confidence in their inventory.
The A2B Tracking RFID platform is hosted in the cloud and instantly updates all of the asset and location data as it’s being captured. The last known location of each item is recorded in the database providing a complete lifecycle history of all transactions of the item, from cradle to grave.
“The A2B Tracking RFID asset management solution has been indispensable for our inventory and auditing needs. However, the greatest advantage for our team has been the detailed asset information in one centralized database.” – Jeff Roadcap
Jeff and James particularly appreciate the builtin reporting capabilities in the system to quickly locate specific models of equipment that supports their maintenance work as well as fulfill their audit obligations. JMU is also able to access and edit the detailed equipment history directly from the handheld devices, or from their desktop locations providing valuable information whenever and wherever they need it.
The Results
The A2B Tracking’s RFID solution has provided tremendous value to the University. The ability to perform mobile RFID inventories to immediately understand what equipment is installed in a particular classroom along with access to the entire lifecycle history, the maintenance records and configuration details of that equipment is incredibly powerful. Furthermore, having a modern Asset Management system that provides accurate and complete information allows the University to streamline their classroom technology operations.
The JMU Fixed Assets department is required to perform annual audits of specific high-value and trust fund items. Each year the Classroom Technology Services team is brought in to support this audit initiative to perform a book-to-floor inventory with the equipment that falls under their domain. The Fixed Assets department is required to use a barcode system while Jeff and James take advantage of the RFID solution. Using mobile RFID allows the team to identify all the AV equipment in the classroom area which then allows the Fixed Asset team to systematically go to each item and efficiently scan the barcode – which for the purposes of the audit represents a visual accounting.
The A2B Tracking solution has significantly improved JMU’s inventory accuracy and empowers the classroom technology team with a modern RFID inventory management solution that streamlines their audit process and provides an enormous amount of asset information right at their fingertips.
Case Study
Take a look at this JMU Case Study to learn more about how A2B Tracking can provide modern RFID Asset Management for Universities.
