Taking Inventory
James Madison University, Fall 2023
Problem Statement
Security engineering officers (SEOs) and security technical specialists (STSs) at overseas offices need a more streamlined way to account for on-site security technology assets in order to reduce the over-reporting of inventory shortages that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Problem Scoping and Discovery
The team conducted 39 discovery interviews and gained the following insights:
Complex inventory interfaces, slow scanners, large volumes of assets, and low perceived effort-to-reward ratio lead to human error and negligence.
Asset tracking and management capabilities are limited by issues with operating locations, including network security concerns as they relate to new solutions.
STS personnel must balance daily workload with inventory responsibilities, meaning assets that break are labeled as missing due to lack of bandwidth to submit paperwork.
Existing software for tracking assets is not intuitive or user-friendly; this is a barrier for efficiently executing inventory operations.
Solution Proposed
Students devised a two-pronged approach for optimized asset tracking: (1) Geotagging assets AR technology provides precise location of the item and reduces time spent searching for the asset, respectively. (2) Transitioning to a year-round running inventory and implementing an automated inventory reminder system would enable personnel to quickly assess high-priority assets and history of individual asset management.
