What do you want from inventory software?

[Phil Graham]

The topic of inventory software was a semi-regular feature on the Live Audio Board for as long as I can remember. The advent of SaaS with HTML/JS interfaces, I feel, has the potential to produce inventory management software that will function well on all classes of devices (e.g. local/remote, desktop/mobile/laptop/tablet).

What sorts of things would you like to see from your next purchased piece of inventory management software?

Edit: I don't mean things like mobile Barcode/QR/RFID/etc. gear scanning techniques. These things are the most low-hanging fruit, and will probably eventually be available from most inventory packages.

 

[Silas Pradetto]

Re: What do you want from inventory software?

Graham Wakefield just showed me a barcode scanner attached to his iPod touch which is what he uses to track all outgoing and incoming gear. I thought it was great. Every cable, case, and rack should have a barcode, and in the software it should be as easy as clicking 'new rental' and scanning everything in, which should generate a bill automatically (obviously pending a discount for some people). Same thing for when the gear comes back - just scanning it in should bring up the outgoing rental and it should check everything back in and bill for what's missing.

There should be another mode for sales (things going out permanently from production inventory), plus for incoming inventory (new gear!) to assign a barcode and all the necessary details.

Graham also mentioned he is getting into an RFID setup with one of those big scanner things that he can literally walk a pile of gear through and the rest is automatic! No more scanning barcodes.

For now, I'm doing all my inventory in QuickBooks, which can't differentiate between new stock and production inventory (AFAIK).

 

[Phil Graham]

Re: Some inventory ideas I have been contemplating

Graham Wakefield just showed me a barcode scanner attached to his iPod touch which is what he uses to track all outgoing and incoming gear. I thought it was great. Every cable, case, and rack should have a barcode, and in the software it should be as easy as clicking 'new rental' and scanning everything in, which should generate a bill automatically (obviously pending a discount for some people). Same thing for when the gear comes back - just scanning it in should bring up the outgoing rental and it should check everything back in and bill for what's missing.

There should be another mode for sales (things going out permanently from production inventory), plus for incoming inventory (new gear!) to assign a barcode and all the necessary details.

Graham also mentioned he is getting into an RFID setup with one of those big scanner things that he can literally walk a pile of gear through and the rest is automatic! No more scanning barcodes.

For now, I'm doing all my inventory in QuickBooks, which can't differentiate between new stock and production inventory (AFAIK).

Silas,

Thanks for the reply, I am more thinking about things like your sales and incoming flows and the ability to swap between them. These sorts of things I feel are more transformative than barcode/qr/rfid, which seem like evolutionary improvements to my mind.

Here are some ideas I have been kicking around:

• Inventory "cascading style sheets" - i.e. there's "on truck" inventory, and under that is "bidded for gig," "available for upsell," "backup," "in transit for other event," etc. This abstracts the carrying inventory from the as-rented inventory.
• Gear "health panel" - i.e. dialog with date purchased, days in inventory, total rentals, number of rental turns, time between turns, reliability, repair dates/times/cost/part, and maybe even advanced features like purchase cost and current MACRS depreciated value.
• Discount monitor - Set internal desired rental recovery rates of return for each item (e.g. 1% of purchase per rental + replacement) and track how the effective rented rate matches the desired rental rate.
• Flexible quoting - quote bulk price, line item, line item with global discount, itemized with bulk price, or mix and match.
• See effective rental rates based on some discounting scheme relative to the quotes. IOW, say the rental is internally $3k by line item at your desired rate of return, and you win the bid gig for a bulk price of $2500. That effective discount could be evenly applied to every item on the bid, or you could chose to take the $500 hit on specific pieces of gear.
• Inventory resale tracking - use eBay to keep track of price depreciation for pieces of gear in inventory and alert when something dramatic happens (like the shift to digital consoles or the 700mHz transition). Helps decide when to prematurely punt inventory.
• Opt in to anonymized reliability databank - All production companies have option to submit an anonymized version of their rental inventory to a database that tracks the frequency and nature of repair which they can then use as a guide for future equipment purchases.
• Location aware transport setup/teardown tracking - use mobile geolocation technology to track true setup/teardown/driving times between events, and retain a database. Combine this with crew count and makeup to optimize labor pool.
• Safety/injury tracking - keep track of safety success and failures, as well as injuries, safety gear, etc. during events.
• Photographic gear record - keep photographic record of inventory pre and post event both for wear and insurance.

I have more ideas, but these are few thoughts I have been kicking around. I'd like to hear other people's insights and pain points.

 

[Silas Pradetto]

Re: Some inventory ideas I have been contemplating

I guess I did focus more on hardware than software features. Your list looks great, I can't think of anything to add.

Edit: there should be 'recommended gear' based on associations predefined by the company, and by trend of what goes out together.

So if I put two K10s on a rental, it would suggest two speaker stands and two XLR cables or something...it all depends how itemized the rental inventory is if that would be effective.

 

[Phil Graham]

Re: Some inventory ideas I have been contemplating

I guess I did focus more on hardware than software features. Your list looks great, I can't think of anything to add.

Edit: there should be 'recommended gear' based on associations predefined by the company, and by trend of what goes out together.

So if I put two K10s on a rental, it would suggest two speaker stands and two XLR cables or something...it all depends how itemized the rental inventory is if that would be effective.

Silas,

An excellent idea, and not one I had thought of on my larger list, though I did have "rental packages". Most of my brainstorm ideas in the post above depend heavily on the granularity of the inventory itemization the client would undertake. I realize that any product based on those ideas would have to have "failovers" for items that did not have the detailed itemization.

I imagine that your inventory suggestions would ideally be based on a hybrid of pre-defined rules (e.g. 1 iec/xlr combo per powered speaker), similarity to previous rentals, and similarity to pre-defined rental packages?

 

[Bennett Prescott]

Re: Some inventory ideas I have been contemplating

How about inventory rotation? Spread wear over a large number of identical items.

 

[Ryan Lantzy]

Re: Some inventory ideas I have been contemplating

Silas,

An excellent idea, and not one I had thought of on my larger list, though I did have "rental packages". Most of my brainstorm ideas in the post above depend heavily on the granularity of the inventory itemization the client would undertake. I realize that any product based on those ideas would have to have "failovers" for items that did not have the detailed itemization.

I imagine that your inventory suggestions would ideally be based on a hybrid of pre-defined rules (e.g. 1 iec/xlr combo per powered speaker), similarity to previous rentals, and similarity to pre-defined rental packages?

To expand on that, you could have a "gig template" builder. Where you have typical band configurations you work with (or even specific bands) that have certain number of musicans/singers. This would yeild mic/wedge/cabling packages. Better yet if the software could intelligently assign assets. Say you have 10 powered wedges and 14 unpowered wedges, some powered subs, some unpowered subs and three bands of varying sizes. Would be cool if it could optimize the selections to use the same category of gear for a given band (i.e. all powered or all unpowered).

Another idea would be to set up reoccurring rentals on a schedule.

Another: (Probably a bit tougher to realize results from...) Time to set up gear/system. May help predict a gig setup time duration and evaluate future purchases. This could also be anonymized and pooled for mass consumption. I know switching to a digital FOH setup has shaved probably a good man-hour off of gig setup/teardown labor.

 

[Daniel Nickleski]

Re: What do you want from inventory software?

My business partner is putting the final touched on a full production company database. It is an internet based database that lets us enter an event with every detail that the event has (including gear which is part of a sub inventory control portion of the database). We have been using it for the past 5 months and it has been EXTREMELY beneficial to our company. It even runs off our iPads and iPhones. Come early 2012 we should be ready to market it to other companies as well.

 

[John O'Brien]

Re: What do you want from inventory software?

Graham Wakefield just showed me a barcode scanner attached to his iPod touch which is what he uses to track all outgoing and incoming gear. I thought it was great. Every cable, case, and rack should have a barcode, and in the software it should be as easy as clicking 'new rental' and scanning everything in, which should generate a bill automatically (obviously pending a discount for some people). Same thing for when the gear comes back - just scanning it in should bring up the outgoing rental and it should check everything back in and bill for what's missing.

There should be another mode for sales (things going out permanently from production inventory), plus for incoming inventory (new gear!) to assign a barcode and all the necessary details.

Graham also mentioned he is getting into an RFID setup with one of those big scanner things that he can literally walk a pile of gear through and the rest is automatic! No more scanning barcodes.

For now, I'm doing all my inventory in QuickBooks, which can't differentiate between new stock and production inventory (AFAIK).

So this software to work with this scanner thing isn't out yet? Or is it. Our shop could use really use something like that, given the amount of rental gear that comes out of our production side of the shop.

 

[Graham Wakefield]

Re: What do you want from inventory software?

Graham Wakefield just showed me a barcode scanner attached to his iPod touch which is what he uses to track all outgoing and incoming gear. I thought it was great. Every cable, case, and rack should have a barcode, and in the software it should be as easy as clicking 'new rental' and scanning everything in, which should generate a bill automatically (obviously pending a discount for some people). Same thing for when the gear comes back - just scanning it in should bring up the outgoing rental and it should check everything back in and bill for what's missing.

There should be another mode for sales (things going out permanently from production inventory), plus for incoming inventory (new gear!) to assign a barcode and all the necessary details.

Graham also mentioned he is getting into an RFID setup with one of those big scanner things that he can literally walk a pile of gear through and the rest is automatic! No more scanning barcodes.

For now, I'm doing all my inventory in QuickBooks, which can't differentiate between new stock and production inventory (AFAIK).

I'll chime in here, as this touches on my day to day work. I think the important thing is the way current systems look at "inventory". In something like quickbooks, Inventory is bought and sold, and not a "service" so to speak, where as in rental software we look at items as things that are sent out and sent back in.
In my day job, I deal with a huge warehouse of 5000 organic and natural food products, we are the primary distributor to whole foods on this side of the country, and we have to deal with keeping track of 4 warehouses full of product.
The way our software looks at items or inventory is unique in that it does not care about money until it exports data up to our invoicing/CRM system. Items are there, but they can not be deleted or sold per say. They can be picked and marked external, but are not considered sold or removed in any other meaning that they are moved out of available inventory. The system does not do money, it just does what it says, warehouse management.

The system i use is HireTrack with lots of modifications, patches, and other fun changes, and I'm happy to talk to anyone who wants to know more about software or hardware for their shop.
Here are a few of our changes
-Suggested Kit's /additions
like what Silas described, I add 100 feet of truss and 4 motors, it suggests 10 spansets, 20 shackles of appropriate rating, etc

On the Fly add,
when we are scanning an order out, if we scan something else it is added when it hits our CRM if we tell it to.

Substitution
Systems are setup in Kit's and category's. If my K12's are all on rent it will suggest a pair of passive 12's and an amprack.

Cross rental requests:
electronically send a request for a cross rental when I add the items to a quote and I don't have them, adjust price as needed.

LOCATION STORAGE:
this is the biggest one, all our storage areas are labeled as such : 1M100A00, where 1 is the floor, M is the zone, 100 is the section, and A00 is the shelf. This makes things easy to find and makes it easy to set up and stage a show or rental neatly and faster


there are more but it's all stuff that has been implemented over time. I really should just hire a coder or 2 to wrap what I've done into a usable package, because as it is now there's a lot of fidgeting in it.
The list that people have come up with here looks good however.

 

[Graham Wakefield]

Re: What do you want from inventory software?

So this software to work with this scanner thing isn't out yet? Or is it. Our shop could use really use something like that, given the amount of rental gear that comes out of our production side of the shop.

John,
there are a few different ways to deal with this, in hiretrack, rentaldesk, and many more. My software still isn't really releasable because of how it's put together. I'd be happy to discuss this with you further if you want, send me a PM or call/email. my info is in my signature.
best
-Graham

 

[Stuart Høgg]

Re: What do you want from inventory software?

LOCATION STORAGE:
this is the biggest one, all our storage areas are labeled as such : 1M100A00, where 1 is the floor, M is the zone, 100 is the section, and A00 is the shelf. This makes things easy to find and makes it easy to set up and stage a show or rental neatly and faster

I'm curious to hear how many people label all the locations in their storage space. I can appreciate the usefulness of the practice in large warehouses like Graham manages. On the other hand, we are in a relatively warren-like warehouse that is over 100yrs old. Whilst labelling the main racking would be fairly straightforward, we have a multitude of "hidey holes" where items live and they are harder to identify and classify.

I wonder if other folks with smaller warehouses (we are around 5000 sq ft) have found this to be worth doing?

 

[Graham Wakefield]

Re: What do you want from inventory software?

I'm curious to hear how many people label all the locations in their storage space. I can appreciate the usefulness of the practice in large warehouses like Graham manages. On the other hand, we are in a relatively warren-like warehouse that is over 100yrs old. Whilst labelling the main racking would be fairly straightforward, we have a multitude of "hidey holes" where items live and they are harder to identify and classify.

I wonder if other folks with smaller warehouses (we are around 5000 sq ft) have found this to be worth doing?

For what it's worth, I do it because I can send other people to pick a rental from my shop without them having to know where things are stored. I just moved into a 8,000 sq foot part of a warehouse and it's becoming more and more useful every day. I know I can confidently send someone in to pick and prep a simple rental without them ever having used the equipment or been in my warehouse before and that they should be mostly okay. The current big thing I'm working on is labeling cases as they go out with a 4x6 piece of poly plastic with the item's in the case, the customer and the delivery address, and the return date.
Either way, labeling can help you in a bunch of different ways, and for those nooks and crannies, assign them one location and just use it like that. Like you could have your location set up as A100A, where A is the zone or section of shelves, 100 is the location or group of shelves, and A is the shelf. It just needs to be in order, and something someone can follow.

 

[Ian Coughlin]

Re: What do you want from inventory software?

For what it's worth, I do it because I can send other people to pick a rental from my shop without them having to know where things are stored. I just moved into a 8,000 sq foot part of a warehouse and it's becoming more and more useful every day. I know I can confidently send someone in to pick and prep a simple rental without them ever having used the equipment or been in my warehouse before and that they should be mostly okay. The current big thing I'm working on is labeling cases as they go out with a 4x6 piece of poly plastic with the item's in the case, the customer and the delivery address, and the return date.
Either way, labeling can help you in a bunch of different ways, and for those nooks and crannies, assign them one location and just use it like that. Like you could have your location set up as A100A, where A is the zone or section of shelves, 100 is the location or group of shelves, and A is the shelf. It just needs to be in order, and something someone can follow.

Glad to see this thread took off better than my thread :frown:

Two things that I came across in my search of this topic has been

1)http://www.myassettag.com/ <-- Love this site, there are so many possibilities. I plan on ordering an assortment to label everything from cables to speakers and truss.
and
2)http://www.fishbowlinventory.com/quickbooks-integration/ <-- I have/use quickbooks this seems to fit the bill.

 

[Stuart Høgg]

Re: What do you want from inventory software?

For what it's worth, I do it because I can send other people to pick a rental from my shop without them having to know where things are stored.

That's pretty much the goal we're aiming for. Our regular staff can all handle basic dry rentals, but it takes time to familiarise new staff with the layout and an out-of-the-ordinary request can leave them stumped.

My hunch is that there's a lot to be gained from a more systematic approach. The challenge, of course, is finding the time and effort to implement it, so it's encouraging to hear other people's success stories.

 

[gordon mcgregor]

Re: What do you want from inventory software?

One thing you need to make sure happens is that stuff goes back to where it belongs as soon as possible after it arrives back from hire.G