Real Asset Management International (RAMI) scores big with Putnam City Schools
Oklahoma City school district uses Track4000 to complete a physical audit across 27 schools.
For more than 90 years, Putnam City Schools (PCS) has been one of the top districts in the state of Oklahoma, providing quality education for students in preschool through high school. The district is comprised of 27 schools: 3 high schools, 5 middle schools, 18 elementary schools and 2 that specialize in alternative education. PCS has nearly 19,000 students and 1,400+ certified personnel district-wide.
Considering the size and population of PCS, its hefty asset base of 11,000+ items should come as no surprise. Each time a new item is acquired, a PCS official barcodes the asset and enters its details into Asset4000i, a web-based fixed asset management system supplied by Real Asset Management International (RAMI). For more than two years now, PCS Inventory/Fixed Asset Clerk, Teresa Long, has been using Asset4000, Asset4000i, Inventory4000 and Track4000 to manage financial details and track the physical location of the items.
Prior to implementing RAMI’s software, PCS relied on an obsolete system with limited reporting capabilities and poor usability. The district’s fixed asset data was outdated and unorganized; Teresa and her colleagues established that the information was too unreliable. The team evaluated three different specialist systems and eventually selected RAMI’s fixed asset accounting and tracking modules. The decision came down to its user-friendliness, superior reporting features and web-based capability. Shortly after implementation, Teresa and her team conducted a district-wide physical audit, covering all 27 schools with five handheld scanners. “It was our first physical audit in over 10 years and Track4000 was still new to us at the time. We still managed to complete the audit in just over a month, which was outstanding,” Teresa explained. PCS now plans to conduct district-wide audits every two years and anticipates the next audit to be much quicker after having done it once already.
“We’re back on track now; we have a complete record of all assets within the district, we know which location they’re at, who is responsible for them and we’re also able to store detailed information such as descriptions, purchase costs and dates, condition codes, etc.,” said Teresa. Each of the 27 schools has one user dedicated to updating the fixed asset register (Asset4000i) via its web-based interface; they add and update asset information and barcode items then upload the details into the system. Teresa currently handles all transfers and disposal events, but hopes to allocated that responsibility to each school’s individual user at some point soon. “Asset4000i users currently have restricted access to the register. They can view, add and update asset information only within their screens/school data. I will eventually train the users to conduct transfer and disposal events, which is simple to do.”
PCS is pleased with the system’s benefits so far. Teresa runs several reports on a regular basis. For example, her supervisor can request an asset list for all schools across the district or for an individual school. The reports are Teresa’s favorite aspect of the system, “I can literally produce these reports in 2-3 minutes, which is unbelievable in comparison to what we were able to do two years ago.” Reports are generated and the results are then exported into an Excel(r) spreadsheet for submission.
“Allocating costs and resources has also become much easier,” Teresa commented, “We are able to efficiently track and minimize spending because we know exactly what we have available. If one of the high schools needs five new PCs for a computer lab and I know that we have 10 stored in the warehouse, we can utilize those instead of spending thousands of dollars on new ones.”
Usability is also a key factor, “The system is very intuitive and simple to use,” said Teresa. It has that familiar Windows(r) look and feel, which was a definite draw when we originally viewed the system.” She does utilize RAMI’s Technical Support team on occasion, “They are excellent and always able to resolve issues in a timely manner. I have been very pleased with the support; they are patient and professional.
Putnam City Schools has achieved immense progress with its fixed asset management and inventory tracking processes and procedures since implementing RAMI’s software over two years ago. Business officials are confident in the data and can rely on it to make key business decisions relating to the reallocation of costs and resources across the school district. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the results, support and overall functionality of the software. Choosing RAMI was certainly a wise decision,” Teresa concluded.
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