Development and Implementation of Internal Asset Tracking Software

1. Development and Implementation of Internal Asset Tracking Software Kushal M. Aurangabadkar, David M. Spies, James C. Roebuck, Ph.D., Shanna Leonard, Alexandra M. Armenta, Debra A. Stern, John Gross, Elizabeth Beckett-Firmage, Francisco A. Garcia, Mari S. Wilhelm, Ph.D., and Fernando D. Martinez, Ph.D. • INTRODUCTION • The National Children’s Study (NCS) involves the management of hardware, software, peripheral devices, licenses and systems by field and central office staff. The Arizona Study Center faced the need for a dependable asset tracking system that would manage the status and location of each asset, its current configuration, and assignment to NCS personnel.Existing open-source asset tracking software did not meet our requirements and allow for the changing needs of the NCS. We elected therefore to develop a solution that allows for the flexibility to track both software and hardware assets as well as their relationships such as software licenses, paired devices, and service contracts linked to multiple devices. • METHODS • The Informatics team at the Arizona Study Center interviewed stakeholders to understand the purchase, distribution, allocation and assignment of assets to various NCS staff members. • The analysis from these interviews helped the team to build a software design model that allows each department or organization the flexibility to track assets based on their required business logic. • Spreadsheets: Previously each of the stakeholders tracked assets using spreadsheets. Though useful, there were many disadvantages, such as format inconsistencies, problems sharing with more than one user, data duplication and version control issues, extra working hours and manual labor. • Data Collection and Analysis: We studied the spreadsheets created, interviewed various department people involved in asset management and analyzed their requirements to proceed with database design. The requirements indicated a design that needs to be more flexible rather than compact so that it serves the purposes of different stakeholders. • Web App & Database Design and Implementation: We used enterprise architect to design the database schema based on the requirements gathered and types of assets involved. The detailed database design are shown in Figure 1. It is now possible to track all assets associated with a staff member, link them with other assets, track locations and add or remove asset properties and their values on-the-fly. The system also provides the ability to highlight expiration dates, asset conditions and necessary dollar value quotations. • GUI design and implementation: The design of GUI is simple and comprehensive to common users. A screen shot of GUI is shown in Figure 2. It depicts a screen of an Asset and the various functions the system provides. • RESULTS AND FEATURES • The software provides facilities including: • Assigning unique identifiers to all assets • Categorizing assets • Dynamically adding asset properties • Associating various assets with each other • Tracking assignment to staff, and • Tracking the location of assets • The software is integrated into the current IMS, but flexible enough to be developed into an independent module. • The software is open-source and written in Groovy using the Grails framework. • CONCLUSION • Developing an internal Asset Tracking Software has helped our Study Center manage all the assets in an orderly fashion. Overall incorporation of the software into our IMS has increased efficiency and reduced error. Figure 1. Database Schema Figure 2. GUI Interface The University of Arizona – NCS Study Center 1657 East Helen Street, Tucson, AZ - AZNCS@email.arizona.edu