How are you booking laptops?

[Jcx500]

We had an excel spreadsheet before lockdown. Staff inputted when they needed laptops etc and it got updated.

 

Due to the short numbers of staff and students on site recently we’ve handed them out on request etc.

 

Now we are gearing up to re-open how are you handling laptop bookings is there a simpler way than a spreadsheet. We have used classroom bookings in the past and staff didn’t really take to the idea of it

 

Thanks

Jc

 

Edit : apologies for the misspelling in the title I can’t figure out how to do it on the moblile app

Edited February 25, 2021 by Jcx500
Grammar

[webman]

We have used classroom bookings in the past and staff didn’t really take to the idea of it

 

(Hi, author of classroombookings here!) Sorry to hear staff didn't take to the idea of it Was it the move to a digital system they weren't keen on, or something specific about classroombookings itself? Keen to hear about any pain points people have (either admin or staff) so I can try and make it better. Thanks!

[hardtailstar]

We have teachers in charge of laptop trolleys and they book them out.

[Guest Guest]

We have a book with each cabinet, nobody bothers booking though. As long as they work as they should I couldnt care less

[Jcx500]

(Hi, author of classroombookings here!) Sorry to hear staff didn't take to the idea of it Was it the move to a digital system they weren't keen on, or something specific about classroombookings itself? Keen to hear about any pain points people have (either admin or staff) so I can try and make it better. Thanks!

 

Yes i believe they didn't like the move to the digital system, i love CRBS btw, i might try again with staff but get SLT more on board this time as its a great system

[steveg]

The layout of our school means we have laptops available to small groups of classrooms so they just sort it out themselves. I have used MRBS in the past which is pretty simple, or you could use a shared calendar for each trolley?

[LeMarchand]

Anyone here on Arbor? We were told that this had that sort of function, but I haven't found it yet. (Haven't looked hard, though).

 

At present we have booking calendars, but it's both clunky and (of course) never used. Classroom Bookings looks interesting, though.

[Sonic007]

We use Skedda

https://www.skedda.com/

[MrBitey]

I have a spreadsheet on Google sheets which staff request laptops on. I get notified when they make a change to it. I then add the booking to my Outlook calendar and add myself and the booker as attendees. So they know the booking has been made and I get prodded to take the devices to the correct place at the correct time.

[Danp]

I've added them as a resource in Google Admin so they are booked via Google Calendar. User makes a booking in their own calendar and picks the resource. I then have a simple webpage on Staff Intranet that shows the calendars if someone needs to check first. Edited March 1, 2021 by Danp

[LeMarchand]

Anyone here on Arbor? We were told that this had that sort of function, but I haven't found it yet. (Haven't looked hard, though).

 

At present we have booking calendars, but it's both clunky and (of course) never used. Classroom Bookings looks interesting, though.

 

Found it in Arbor - a bit better than the current setup, but it's still not that user-friendly.

 

Anyone used:

 

 

• https://www.timify.com/en-gb/
  
• https://simplybook.me/en/
  
• https://www.picktime.com/scheduling-software/equipement-rental
  
• https://labshake.com/mylab/shared-resource-management
  
• https://www.bookkit.org/for-universities
  

 

 

No offence meant to @webman, but school won't pay for ClassroomBookings and it looks far too complex for me to set up self-hosted, alas.

[webman]

No offence meant to @webman, but school won't pay for ClassroomBookings

 

That's cool, none taken! Let me know if there's anything I can help with.

[Olliekai]

I've used @webman's classroom bookings in 3 previous schools and its pretty perfect. We stopped using it in my current school and use schoolbooking.com, purely due to SIMS integration as our timetable is changed far too often, and also for resource tracking. (When it gets those features, I'll be moving straight back)

 

 

There's also a resource booking built into EduLink One, but I've not used that.

[LeMarchand]

After trying some of the above links, found a down and dirty but easy to use and (for most schools) free method using Teams.

 

Use (or create) a Team with appropriate members and add a Calendar Pro tab with an appropriate name. Easily creates and shares a calendar for each item or group.

 

[DavR]

We have a shared calendar in Outlook. People frequently don't use it, but if people clash then whoever put their name down on the calendar takes priority, and they learn to reserve things next time.

[Sanchez]

We have around 150 Chromebooks available for booking and we use a Google form for staff to book on. The form automatically checks for availability and if there are enough devices it creates a calendar entry on a shared calendar and invites the booker as a guest so it appears on their calendar too.

[slugshead]

We use Snipe-It https://snipeitapp.com/product

 

It's got this function where you can mark and asset as bookable, user logs in, adds the items to a "cart" and IT get a notification that person X wants a list of equipment. IT then get the equipment ready for collection. Lot like click and collect.

 

Assets are marked as checked out to that person and when they return them to IT, they are checked back in. User gets email receipt of requesting, items checked out and items checked back in. Pretty neat solution to be fair

[DrCheese]

Second for Snipe-IT - It's hands down, the absolute best asset tracking system I've found in 15+ years of doing this job. It can be a bit of a faff to setup, but it's absolutely worth it.

 

All our equipment is on it, checked out to the rooms they're in - When we issued the DFE laptops I synchronised it with our AD so it pulled in all the student names/emails & just checked out devices to them. Painless.

[slugshead]

Second for Snipe-IT - It's hands down, the absolute best asset tracking system I've found in 15+ years of doing this job. It can be a bit of a faff to setup, but it's absolutely worth it.

 

All our equipment is on it, checked out to the rooms they're in - When we issued the DFE laptops I synchronised it with our AD so it pulled in all the student names/emails & just checked out devices to them. Painless.

 

Agreed on the setup! But it really does tick all the boxes and more, tracking costs/depreciation, support contacts, warranty periods. We check out the fixed assets to rooms, portables to individuals and have the bookable equipment too.

 

I had our apprentice go through it all and put photos of each model device we own, complete all the supplier information including adding their logos. It looks so slick when fully populated and needs almost no maintenance

[DrCheese]

Agreed on the setup! But it really does tick all the boxes and more, tracking costs/depreciation, support contacts, warranty periods. We check out the fixed assets to rooms, portables to individuals and have the bookable equipment too.

 

I had our apprentice go through it all and put photos of each model device we own, complete all the supplier information including adding their logos. It looks so slick when fully populated and needs almost no maintenance

 

Haha, we did the same - All the photos/logos of the devices. It looks quite swish when showing off to people.

 

I've tried to always store the PO numbers/value of devices as well which has come in handy recently when asking for budget (eg what we have now cost X when we bought it, we need the funding to replace it...)