Aiken County Public School District’s Assistive Technology Department Can Now Focus on Student Needs Instead of Looking for Assets

South Carolina’s Aiken County Public School’s Assistive Technology team had a nightmare experience using Excel to track assets. But not anymore thanks to Asset Panda.  

Asset Panda Solutions:

• Check in/Check out status
• Barcode generator
• Asset tracking over multiple locations
• Inventory management
• School asset tracking

Customer since: April 2018

We have over 3,000 employees across the Aiken County Public School District, which is located in Aiken, South Carolina. There are on average over 24,500 students in 42 schools, which includes 3 charter schools and 1 career+technology center. With a district the size of ours, there are thousands of assets that need to be tracked and managed as they are moved from class to class, building to building and person to person.

My role is specifically with the Assistive Technology (AT) team.  The AT team provides services and equipment, such as computers, iPads and other AT types of equipment, to students served by special programs – students who have disabilities or learning issues that require adaptations or modifications through Assistive Technology to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.

As the number of students who need the type of services and equipment we provide continues to increase, so does the need for more AT equipment to help them learn and grow. There are significant costs to add the equipment and its upkeep, and we have to be cognizant of our spending on everything. Initially, we were using an excel spreadsheet to track all of our equipment and important information like its location, who was using it, if it was working, if it was lost. It was a nightmare.

Once we determined we needed a better and more accurate way to keep up with our constantly moving and growing inventory of AT equipment, we found Asset Panda. In just a few short months, we already feel more efficient with our AT inventory and more comfortable that it is not getting lost in the system.

The mobile app has been especially convenient as we move equipment from school to school. It’s been very easy to use Asset Panda from our own phone or mobile device, offering a quick way to check equipment in and out. The data is up-to-date from the moment it’s entered and we can access it anytime, from anywhere. The added capabilities of being able to take pictures of our equipment and attach it to our assets provide more accountability for all involved. Barcodes affixed to assets allow us to link them to any student, teacher or school in our district. Accountability is much more evident and guesswork is a thing of the past.

While learning Asset Panda took a little more time for the “non-tech” people, they have embraced the platform and realize the value and savings it’s bringing to our department and the district as a whole. We are saving lots of time throughout the week and that’s time we can give back to our students/faculty instead of searching for a missing item. The Asset Panda support and customer service teams have been great and they are easy to reach with any questions/concerns/issues we have had.

–LeAnn Reinholt, Assistive Technology Lead