Hi Patrick, Had to read your message twice to discern your need for tracking AV Assets (physical) vs AV Assets (as in DAM systems). But think I got the hang of it. We use off-the-shelf (and 'closed') software called TopDesk for this - not sure whether it supports the range you describe, but perhaps worth to investigate. http://www.topdesk.com/software/modules-and-features/modules/asset-management
Kind regards, Erwin Verbruggen Project lead R&D Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision Media Parkboulevard 1, 1217 WE Hilversum | Postbus 1060, 1200 BB Hilversum | beeldengeluid.nl On Thu, Sep 1, 2016 at 6:45 PM, Bryan Kennedy <[email protected]> wrote: > We're been tracking materials like this for several years now in the > Science Museum of Minnesota's exhibit design/production group. We use a > custom built database to track all exhibit components and each of their > constituent parts (graphics, objects, media assets, media hardware). This > database has evolved over the years from a series of custom Filemaker > templates to a standardized online web tool. The current web tool was built > in PHP and MySQL (Drupal), but we are currently working on a new system > built in JS/Node/Mongo (Meteor). > > When we first built these systems we looked for off the shelf software that > would meet our needs. And each time we look at improving the system, we ask > ourselves whether we should be spending internal resources to build and > maintain this custom piece of software. However, we've never been able to > find any tool that meets our custom needs. While we develop this system in > the open on GitHub and are happy to share the code ( > https://github.com/scimusmn/agora), I suspect that our system would have > limited use even for another museum in the same exhibit business. A tool > like this is just so linked to your internal business process, which will > differ across institutions. That being said, I'd be interested in hearing > from anyone who feels like a collaboration on a tool like this might be > fruitful. > > Standardizing processes across groups is one of the biggest challenges and > pay-offs in building a tool like this. Each group has to get together and > define the precarious balance between tracking too much information and > making a tool that people will actually use. It's useless to have the > verbose system that tracks every detail, if no one updates the database > when you move a monitor from one floor to another, or resize the graphic to > fit a change in the furniture. We also found that spending time on visual > design and performance was especially important. It probably is obvious, > but was saw better engagement and use when we spent time to make the system > more attractive looking and shaved a second off the page load time. > > If you're limiting your inventory needs to computer hardware assets you > might be able to find some useful tools in the IT sector. Unfortunately, > I've found these tools a bit restricted to network discovery which doesn't > help much for non-networked hardware like old projectors, cameras, > monitors, etc.: > > - https://www.spiceworks.com/ > - http://www.solarwinds.com/ > - > http://www.open-source-guide.com/en/Solutions/ > Infrastructure/It-asset-and-inventory-management > - http://www.ocsinventory-ng.org/ > > I'm super curious to hear how other institutions (large and small) are > tracking assets like these. > > Best, > bk > ---------------------------------------------------- > bryan kennedy > director, exhibit media > science museum of minnesota > [email protected] 651.221.2522 > ---------------------------------------------------- > > On Thu, Sep 1, 2016 at 10:33 AM, Patrick Davis <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > We are starting to look at asset management needs to keep track of all of > > our AV inventory throughout the building as it has gotten out of hand. I > > was wondering what other institutions, specifically large institutions, > > like ours, are doing. > > > > As a educated guess off the top of my head we are in the 1000-1500 items > > range, when you get down to the level of each speaker, monitor, > projector, > > computer, media player, ect.... > > ------- > > Patrick Davis | Exhibitions AV Specialist | The Field Museum > > 1400 S Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605 > > 312-665-7968 > > > > <https://www.fieldmuseum.org/email-signature> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum > Computer > > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > > > To post to this list, send messages to: [email protected] > > > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > > http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > > > The MCN-L archives can be found at: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: [email protected] > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > The MCN-L archives can be found at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > >
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