Classroom Inventory System
The classroom inventory system is a desktop and Palm-based system developed for a national firm. It allows their salespeople to perform on-site inventories of instructional materials in public and private schools. It then compares actual inventories with school district guidelines and produces a series of purchase recommendations on a school or classroom level. It includes a sophisticated utilization analysis to save schools money by relocating inventory or by selecting products that meet multiple needs.
The Challenges:
- Gather inventories in classrooms, and provide detailed purchase recommendations based on many factors, including:
- inventory age
- district guidelines
- sharing of inventory among classrooms
- possible use of combination products that fulfill multiple needs
- desire of schools to optimize use of materials by moving products to more appropriate classrooms when possible changing product offerings
- Aggregate inventory data at headquarters for use in central planning and school reassignment.
- Make sure that all salespeople maintain up-to-date product lists at all times
Our Solution:
Provide a means for every salesperson to enter inventory data on a Palm Pilot, so that inventories may be taken in classrooms in a quiet and efficient manner. Give each salesperson a set of comprehensive yet easy-to-use analysis tools on their desktop computers. Include a completely automated system that transfers inventory data to headquarters on a monthly basis, and updated product listings back to the desktops, using the internet.
