ID035 Asset List

The Idea

Many pieces of equipment are often forgotten about when an academic leaves. Quite often these would be good for other members of staff and research but they may not know where they are or if they are available. When a lab is cleared out in a rush even things such as expensive glassware can be discarded as there is no current need for it but may have been needed months earlier. This even applies to things such as computers that can be forgotten and left. While colleagues are asked to return IT equipment/Office items there can be greater follow through. A leaver checklist could be developed that includes a requirement to dispose of/ reallocate items from departing staff. Other departments often require items going unused e.g. the crime scene house(s) are always looking for items to make things look more realistic and would be a good place to check for dropping materials off. While Asset registers are common across schools they are not widely shared/ accessible, or even up to date in many cases. Clearing out my office there were boxes left from 5 years earlier, folders from 20. Not only is accumulating material a fire hazard but it can be useful across different departments e.g. 1990s file separators good for sheet music in Barnes Bar music societies. Resource management is important, but it needs to be done in a way that isn't more time intensive and should be seen as an investment. 

Why This Idea Should Be Considered

It may be the University already has such a list across departments, however then the idea is making that list more well known and accessible, to PhD researchers as well as full time staff. There is often double buying and lack of communication between departments which costs money and tracking down bits of equipment is time consuming. Time spent searching for items and equipment is a large drain on resources when searching an accessible database would take seconds. It also aligns with the University sustainability and research goals as waste is detrimental, as is missing out on techniques unknowingly available at the University. 

How We Would Implement This Idea

Starting and maintaining this list is the hard part. Some schools may have functional and up to date systems and an audit can be carried out to see if effective techniques and systems can be shared, as well as linking up various groups to have a wider spread of resource sharing, or at least know how to access different school systems. There is no impetus for members of staff to do so in their busy schedules so deliberate time must be given to support this. If they are to go through their equipment there must be at least 6 hours set aside to do this, potentially variable depending on what is available, e.g. is it a single office or multiple labs? A halfway house would be every order over a particular limit must be logged on a database from now on. This would accumulate over time and effectively form the asset list. Certain items are higher priorities to keep a track of, such as computers/monitors and these could be prioritised in the system. A lower level version would be a more informal swap shop, effectively a compromise between a University wide system and the ‘Keele For sale or wanted’ Team page. In a similar vein the Warp it scheme could address similar issues: 

https://www.keele.ac.uk/finance/procurement/responsibleprocurement/  

However, like the asset lists this site and information should be more widely disseminated if it is to be useful. Quite often PhD researchers are left out of information as not listed as staff. This loses valuable insights on high turnover offices (e.g. the ones used by the PhD researchers) which often have accumulated material from multiple sets of people without removal. Storage space across campus is a concern in keeping materials as opposed to disposal. By setting up this process it would give all users an overview of what has been retained for continued use saving the university a considerable amount of money, but for this to be achieved it needs to be kept and recorded in an accessible way. A novel if short term solution would be to keep items in empty housing on campus. 

CL point: Agreed, and even storage space information across campus could be shared more widely.  Would it be possible to use some of the empty housing on campus for short term storage? 

What Success Would Look Like

A database with keyword search functions that people can easily look for items they require. It could be inputted automatically when someone orders something over a particular threshold value. Opening it up to project students could save email time with lecturers given how often they ask for if the University has access to equipment etc. This will only work if people are able to maintain it, given the proximity to procurement that could be an answer if they were supported in time and resources, and dedicated storage spacing solutions if it was needed to contain additional equipment without disposal. Given the new engineering department it may be possible to use in house skills to take apart equipment on site.