Inventory System - Bespoke for schools

[DEvans]

Hey Everyone,

 

I've been developing an open source inventory system for schools that strips out all the unused junk from an expensive inventory system and keeps things basic and organised.

 

It's still in Alpha at present, but will be putting it out for Beta in the upcoming weeks.

 

So far it will do:

 

• Bulk Imports of ICT Equipment
  
• Individual imports
  
• Warranty Monitoring and alerts
  
• Note taking on individual machines
  
• Simple Scan item Show data, quickly.
  
• Admin control panel to manage user logins to the system, database admin etc.
  

 

The data stored includes:

 

• Serial Number
  
• Make
  
• Model
  
• Purchase Date
  
• Purchased From (Company you purchased through, with invoice data)
  
• Warranty Start Date (If different to purchase date)
  
• Warranty Length (with countdown)
  
• Warranty Name/Type (Accidental Damage, NBD etc)
  

 

 

I chose all these as these are the most commonly used by all technicians around schools. Working with people who script in powershell, we are exploring secure and reliable ways to import data from machines already out in your schools and unlike spiceworks, be quick about it.

 

The sole reason I've done this is for speed. Spiceworks is a fantastic system which I have little trouble with, but it does seem to be a little over developed for the needs of some of the smaller schools.

 

The idea is to take the experience from people who work in the ICT departments of schools and colleges and develop a bespoke, free system, that requires no flash, no shockwave, java etc. Simple Html 5, CSS 3 and some bog standard programming.

 

It's developed in Classic ASP which puts many off, but its a complete language, supported on all latest windows o/s's, plugs into IIS magically and no update for it is going to come along and break it. It's also extremely quick and is running with the latest SQL Express 2012 database.

 

 

I'm looking for people who want to try it out, aid me in the development, throw ideas at me. At the end of the day, if you are fed up of your current inventory solution and would like a simple one that requires no additional resources on your computer to run, then this might be for you, so help me help you.

 

There's been plenty developed as open source before, but people have different needs. If you want bog standard, why do you need to install all the features, the majority of which you are never going to use.

 

I've designed the whole site in a modular method, you add the features you will use and never install those you won't.

 

It's essentially a sober version of spiceworks, just developed by one guy lol.

 

 

I'll be posting screenshots in the next few weeks (graphically it needs tidying up) and i'll progress from there.

 

What I would like are more ideas.

 

If you got a new set of laptops, what data would you like stored about them? Would you like what O/S is installed, Software? or are you more specific on the hardware, Maybe RAM amounts etc.

 

The trick is to find what data technicians need and then data that they want. Those we need, will come pre-installed, those people want, i'll create as an option, which can be added by the administrator of the system.

 

If you receive a broken laptop and you scan it, what data do you need to jump out at you. Would you like the option to choose what data jumps out at you before you scan it in? (e.g Click Serial, Scan and it comes up with all data with the serial key highlighted for you) Everything is possible.

 

So far it works in all resolutions between 800x600 to 1920x1080, in IE8+, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera.

 

 

What do you guys think, would anyone be willing to help out during Beta also.

[Sylv3r]

Sounds good - I'll happily help once your in a position to launch it.

[jdoldridge]

Brill. will give it a go

[mdench]

Sounded great till the asp part as all our web servers are apache on ubuntu. Sounds great tho so keep it going if we happen to set up IIS ill give it a go!

[DEvans]

Few Updates on the Project

 

The import feature is working, you can bulk import multiple devices of the same type in 4 simple steps or simply scan in individuals in a quick one step fashion.

 

The web application is following a very straight forward, common sense approach. The basics you want from a website, such as if there is an error, you don't need to go back and retype everything back in again, the feature that you can resolve errors without needing to go back to other steps etc. The fact that it works in pretty much any screen resolution. Big buttons have also been implemented with tablets in mind also, sorta working on the mobile side of things and ways to use a tablets/mobile camera for scanning.

 

Just all the tools you need there and then, no faffing about. Simple and straight to the point.

 

Also, this is open source and i'll be providing documentation on how to "make it your own". Logos can be modified and by all means change the colour scheme if you so desire, all I ask is that my initials/name is kept in the footer.

 

Additionally, I have spoken to a good PHP developer of mine and we are working on a way to get this working on apache servers and MySQL. Understandably I don't want to limit this to just your windows systems, that's unfair as I love both sides of the fence.

 

So to give you an idea on what its looking like here are some screenshots of the bulk import process.

 

Homepage

 

Logged In Home Page

 

Inventory Main Menu

 

Scan In Bulk Step 1

 

Scan In Bulk Step 2

 

Scan In Bulk Step 3

 

Scan in Bulk Step 4

 

Scan in Import Summary (PreChecks)

 

The single step process is for individual scanning in, the only way (I know how) to successfully ensure that what you put in is controlled to prevent junk in the database is to do a step by step process for the bulk imports as each serial needs to be checked before import and each bit of data needs to be double checked to prevent duplication.

 

When its just one device, it is easier to handle.

 

 

Before BETA Release I am working on the following

 

• Optimise and Index SQL for faster imports
  
• Admin Control Panel and User Management
  
• Button Modifications and Clean up
  
• Debug Mode Switch for error reporting
  
• Messaging centre optimisation (duplicate message prevention)
  
• PDF Report Outputs
  
• Excel Importer (Import Bulk from Excel)
  
• Excel Report Output
  

 

 

There will be more screenshots when I get further with these developments. I'm also taking requests on how people would prefer it to be laid out and trying to work a way of implementing those recommendations, unfortunately I am just a bit far away from that, I need it working before I add new stuff.

 

Current Future Features since first announcement

 

• Messaging Centre with Warranty Monitoring
  
• Printer Support (Bespoke Forms for Printers)
  
• Projector Inventory (Bespoke Projector Forms)
  
• Smartboard and Promethean Board Inventory Management
  

 

It's really getting on and to see what it looked like about 6 months ago to now is quite amazing, I haven't done a big programming project for a long time, not since my university days and i've missed the feeling of seeing something like this grow up.

 

Just hope it holds out for BETA.

 

Thanks for all your support,

 

I'll update you all again soon in a couple weeks,

 

Dan

Edited July 31, 2013 by DEvans

[kevin_lane]

looks gud

[DEvans]

Ok its been a while and just to let everyone know the stages this is at.

 

I've been busy building a PHP version of this website which essentially is identical to the current. I've had a vast amount of people say a php version would be amazing, so i've heard you and am building one. I'm trying to get them to be at the same level side by side, purely for sanity purposes.

 

It is now tablet friendly with HTML 5 tabs and drop downs. It works off SQL Server Express (ASP version) and MySQL (PHP Version).

 

I am literally transitioning to a different job at present, so naturally development has halted briefly, but it's still coming and still being developed. In fact my new job enables me to spend more time on it as before this was done during personal hours not working hours.

 

Apologies for the delay, i'm just trying to please everyone. My PHP knowledge is not the best in the world, its been a while since I used it, but once I got into the swing of it again, I was able to get stuff working in the same way as the ASP version rather quickly.

 

Still in development and I appreciate the support, some people have been absolutely amazing.

 

Some Alpha testers have just taking it apart and broken it in ways I thought were not possible, its amazing how much testing needs to be done, even before Beta.

 

Thanks again and stay tuned,

 

Dan

[pshilling92]

Screenshots look really good, how's this coming along?

[Wubbalubbadub]

Looks amazing! I can't wait to try it out!

[IUHSD_Andrew]

Is this in production?