what information do the auditors need for IT equipment

[enjay]

Just had a chat with the finance officer, and she says every kb and mouse needs to be recorded.

 

mouse £5 times that by 1500 computers and it all adds up. Rubbishnes

 

That's rubbishness of the highest order! The keyboard is part of the computer, not a separate item. It is an integral part of the system, without which it will not function. Should you also put bar codes on the power lead too, as at £1 each, 1500 of them is quite an investment too?

 

If you added a DVD drive to a computer it would become part of that machine and the PC with DVD drive would be a single asset item, you wouldn't record it separately and put two stickers on the PC, would you.

 

Ask your Finance Manager if you are also recording every pen, Post-It note, staple and sheet of toilet paper (insert joke about "logging" things here) as those collectively cost a lot of money too...

[PEO]

That's rubbishness of the highest order! The keyboard is part of the computer, not a separate item. It is an integral part of the system, without which it will not function. Should you also put bar codes on the power lead too, as at £1 each, 1500 of them is quite an investment too?

 

If you added a DVD drive to a computer it would become part of that machine and the PC with DVD drive would be a single asset item, you wouldn't record it separately and put two stickers on the PC, would you.

 

Ask your Finance Manager if you are also recording every pen, Post-It note, staple and sheet of toilet paper (insert joke about "logging" things here) as those collectively cost a lot of money too...

 

lol will do that....

[grumpy_git]

If we recorded every single keyboard and mouse we'd be there all day.

 

At the moment the annual audit is basically me going around each piece of kit and ticking it off the database, adding/removing where necessary. It would be so much quicker if you could go round a room scanning barcodes, then compare that with the list of what *should* be in the room. And when scrapping a batch of monitors, instead of scribbling numbers on post-it notes, scanning all the barcodes and setting all those as 'scrapped'.

 

Bog standard paper labels is an idea if we put them somewhere that kids can't/are unlikely to go, perhaps with some clear tape (outdoor grade stuff?) covering them to prevent some damage.

[PEO]

If we recorded every single keyboard and mouse we'd be there all day.

 

At the moment the annual audit is basically me going around each piece of kit and ticking it off the database, adding/removing where necessary. It would be so much quicker if you could go round a room scanning barcodes, then compare that with the list of what *should* be in the room. And when scrapping a batch of monitors, instead of scribbling numbers on post-it notes, scanning all the barcodes and setting all those as 'scrapped'.

 

Bog standard paper labels is an idea if we put them somewhere that kids can't/are unlikely to go, perhaps with some clear tape (outdoor grade stuff?) covering them to prevent some damage.

 

Looking forward to getting it all setup, It will take a little time but once done It will have its rewards. I will be using simple stick labels were possible.

[Sylv3r]

Depends what on la and school it was agreed that for us as a school it is anything over £100.

 

Russ

 

It used to be £50 per item or more here but the LA guidelines now states £25 this year. They also specifically ask to record easily stolen items such as calculators etc.

 

I don't however record mice, keyboards etc. At the end of the day if we have a break-in and 30 computers from a room go missing I know they are 30 keyboards / mice to go with them. Not that the burglar will envoy cutting all the cable ties off etc

[grumpy_git]

I think our insurance excess is about £100 quid anyway - so recording a £2 mouse is pointless!

[User3204]

We only have to have items that are over £500 per device listed, so officially the only things in the school are:

1) The hall projector

2) The Lens in the Hall projector.

3) The servers;

4) The A3 colour printers;

 

What we actually have is a bunch of spreadsheets, with the serial numbers that the suppliers send to us in the despatch note. I usually don't keep exact track where the units are kept. Fingers-crossed, we have yet to have any serious thefts.

[plexer]

What about software that's an asset too and can be expensive?

 

Ben

[enjay]

I usually don't keep exact track where the units are kept. Fingers-crossed, we have yet to have any serious thefts.

 

I would address that, if I were you. If something got nicked, it seems like the only way of providing the Police and insurers with serial numbers would be to go round the entire school with you list of serial numbers to identify which one is missing.

[srochford]

I would address that, if I were you. If something got nicked, it seems like the only way of providing the Police and insurers with serial numbers would be to go round the entire school with you list of serial numbers to identify which one is missing.

 

It certainly does make sense to record which machines go where (stick it as a field in Active Directory or add the computer name as a column to the spreadsheet) but I don't think that the police are likely to go looking for equipment with particular serial numbers. As I understand it, what happens is that they recover (say) an HP 2530 laptop with serial number 12345; if you can say "Yes, I bought serial number 12345 on date ...." then that proves it belongs to you.

[plexer]

If something gets stolen you need to provide details of it to get a crime number and for your insurers so that a claim can be processed.

 

You can't just say we had 20 pc's knicked and expect them to cough up for replacements.

 

Ben

[SteveBentley]

We only have to have items that are over £500 per device listed, so officially the only things in the school are:

1) The hall projector

2) The Lens in the Hall projector.

3) The servers;

4) The A3 colour printers;

 

Where are you buying IWBs from for less than £500?

[enjay]

I don't think that the police are likely to go looking for equipment with particular serial numbers. As I understand it, what happens is that they recover (say) an HP 2530 laptop with serial number 12345; if you can say "Yes, I bought serial number 12345 on date ...." then that proves it belongs to you.

 

Not quite. When something is stolen, you provide the Police with the serial number, which they record somewhere. Of course, they don't actively look for the item, but they do check back any serial numbers when they recover stolen items in a raid or whatever. If the serial number is listed against your site, they go "we found your projector" and charge the culprits with the break-in to your school and any associated crimes (e.g. anything else which went in the same theft, the criminal damage to the door they kicked in, etc). If the number isn't listed, they go "that's a shame" and move on, they won't call you and say "we recovered a Hitachi EDX12 projector and we thought it could be the one you had stolen".

 

At least, that is how it worked when we filed a Police report a few months ago.