Features
Keeping Track
6/29/2012 By: Ellen Ullman
From knowing where every piece of
equipment is located to the moment a
software license expires, the benefits of
asset management software are seemingly
endless. Technology directors sing
the praises of these products, and note
the following benefits—a reduction in
wasted time, effort, and money—at the
top of their lists.
Here are some other asset
management software packages:
Faronics System Profiler
www.faronics.com
IBM Maximo Asset Management
www.ibm.com
LANDesk Management Suite
and LANDesk Patch Manager
www.landesk.com
NetSupport DNA
www.netsupportdna.com
SchoolDude ITAMDirect
www.schooldude.com
Symantec Altiris Asset
Management Suite
www.symantec.com
Wilson Independent
School District
Wilson, Texas
What do
you use?
CrossTec EMS
www.crosstecsoftware.com
What do you
use it for?
“With this product, I can have complete inventory of all the
systems attached to it,” says Justin McKibben, IT director at
Wilson ISD. “I can track serial numbers, owners, maintenance
schedules, key codes, Windows updates, and software updates. I
can also install programs onto some, many, or all of the computers
in the district.”
What do you
like or dislike
about it?
“There is nothing I don’t like; I love it. It makes
my job a million times simpler.” At the top of
McKibben’s list of likes is software deployment.
He says, “Let’s say I have 200 computers that all
need Adobe Flash Player. Instead of spending
a month or more going to each machine and
installing it, I can put it on my main server, click,
and it’s distributed to whichever machines need
it. That takes anywhere from two seconds to 20
minutes. It’s the biggest advantage.”
How is the
interface?
“It’s super easy and very straightforward.
The buttons at the top of screen are similar
to the Office 2010 interface. The options are
straightforward and not overly technical. You
can customize it to be more techie, but even
districts without a full-time technology person
could use it easily.”
Does it have
a mobile
console?
There’s no mobile console,
but McKibben can use
remote-login software on a
smartphone to access it on
the server.
Has it helped
you save money
or time?
“Yes,” says McKibben. “It monitors the
energy output of any computers on the
EMS network and the length of time they
are on. It also reports back these findings in
a chart. You can change power settings to
take the power consumption down and save
money.” McKibben says the product also
helps him save money on maintenance.
His staff no longer “changes the toner in a
printer willy-nilly” because CrossTec EMS
tells you when it’s time to replace it.
Lincoln Public
Schools (LPS)
Lincoln, Nebraska
What do
you use?
Absolute
Manage
www.absolute.com
What do you
use it for?
Kirk Langer, director of technology for LPS, has used Absolute
Manage for five years to manage laptops and desktops, including
tracking and imaging the devices and managing licenses. “It helps
us know when it’s time to take a product out of service by doing
data-warehouse work,” he says. “If we need a minimum amount
of storage for something, it kicks back the answer. We use it
to understand our assets.” Recently, as his district has begun
deploying iPads, Langer has begun using Absolute Manage to
manage them as well.
What do you
like or dislike
about it?
“It’s evolving to answer market and customer
needs and will continue to be a good product,”
says Langer. “I’d like to see Absolute lead the
way with understanding that the new trend of
‘mobile device management’ isn’t right. Device
management is device management, and PCs
will be with us for some time. I’d like them to
blend mobile product offerings into Absolute
Manage so that existing customers can reap
those benefits in a unified, cost-effective
environment.”
How is the
interface?
“It’s essential for the process of knowing our
fleet of devices and to be able to glean information
easily. It also helps to make decisions
regarding efficiency.” Langer likes that the
product is malleable enough to build custom
fields so he can track things in specific ways.
Does it have
a mobile
console?
Although there is some mobile
usage, Langer doesn’t
use that functionality.
Has it helped
you save money
or time?
“We used to have three or four products do
what Absolute Manage does in a single product.
We expect to do even more as the remote
control piece comes in. It allows us to skinny
down our portfolio, decrease license fees,
improve efficiencies, and save time. In May
2011, our district office burned down and
everything was lost. Our insurance carrier
wanted detailed records to show our loss, and
the IT department did that more accurately
than anyone else in the building. We had
verifiable evidence, thanks to Absolute.”
Mary Institute and St.
Louis Country Day
School (MICDS)
St. Louis,
Missouri
What do
you use?
Dell KACE
K2000
www.kace.com
What do you
use it for?
“It helps us mange our help- and service-desk processes, do
data analysis, create frequent-failure and process-improvement
reports, and track assets,” says Tom Wyman, director of technology
at MICDS. “On the PC side, we use it to push Windows and
Office updates. Our 5th through 12th graders have computers,
and we need to know they are patched and secure.”
What do you
like or dislike
about it?
“The biggest con is the pricing. It’s a commercial
price, which is a tough swing for a lot
of educational institutions. In terms of functionality,
I have no issues. Like many others, we
have iPads in the classrooms and I’d like to be
able to track those more than just as assets. I’d
like to know where they are, but Dell is already
working on this.”
How is the
interface?
“It’s easy to use. I’m in the system all day,
every day. We can set up several different
ticket queues, such as typical help-desk and
day-to-day stuff, project management, and
new requests. When someone wants a new
piece of equipment or software, I can capture
all of that and communicate about status.”
Does it have
a mobile
console?
“There’s a Web-based
interface, so you can
use it through anything
with a browser. I can do
everything from home, and
there is a limited amount
of imaging that can be
done from home.”
Has it helped
you save money
or time?
“Having this in place has freed us to do
other things. The value goes beyond the
labor hours saved. Over a one-year period,
we’ve saved in the high hundreds of hours.
Just the ability to push software through
the system can save me 150 hours a year.”
Palm Springs Unified
School District
(PSUSD)
Palm Springs, California
What do
you use?
Destiny Asset
Manager from
Follett Software
www.follettsoftware.com
What do you
use it for?
“We recognized the need to track the ever-expanding number of
electronic items such as netbooks, iPads, and iPods that are loaned
out to teachers and students for educational purposes,” says Bryan
Denk, database systems analyst for PSUSD. “We’ve chosen to create
asset records as generic object-descriptors—digital camera, for
example, instead of Canon PowerShot SD940-IS Camera—with
all detailed attributes entered in the copy record only. We feel that
this will make summative school- and district-level reports easier
to evaluate.”
What do you
like or dislike
about it?
“Follett gives great training and support. After
just three days of training, we were able to go
live,” says Rebecca Abeyta, director of purchasing
for PSUSD. “It’s easy to use, and I don’t
have any problems. Even when we had some
questions about the reporting cycle, our Follett
rep gave us training and all was fine.”
How is the
interface?
Denk says his users have expressed mixed
feelings about the interface. Those with
a great deal of experience using Destiny’s
Library Manager and Textbook Manager find
the interface intuitive and easy to use. However,
he gets frequent calls for assistance from
intermittent Asset Manager users who are
confused by the multi-layers of tabs, menuitems,
sub-tabs, and icon-buttons.
Does it have
a mobile
console?
The product is Web based,
so it can be used from
any Internet-connected
computer or device.
Has it helped
you save money
or time?
“This is our first year implementing
it, and we have not yet had a debriefing
session with the site users to assess
their experience with the software,” says
Denk. “However, users have expressed
that they appreciate the ability to get a
quick visual accounting of the status and
location of items, as well as the ability to
hold students and faculty accountable for
borrowed items.”
Enterprise Elementary
School District
Redding, CA
What do
you use?
Kaseya
www.kaseya.com
What do you
use it for?
“We primarily use it to manage computer assets,” says Eric
Zane, technology director. “We have a little over 800 computers
and eight different sites across the district. It’s a challenge to
keep track of where the computers are and who’s using them.”
What do you
like or dislike
about it?
Zane likes the agent approach. “It gives me a
complete view of what that computer has in
terms of hardware and software.” He says the
only challenge is figuring out how to use the
product to manage other assets, such as VOIP
telephones, network switches, and networked
projectors. “That’s more of a training issue for
us; we’re still in implementation mode,” he adds.
How is the
interface?
“It’s good and well thought out, but it does
require training. That’s not a factor of the
tool—it’s more about the breadth and the
depth of the Kaseya product.”
Does it have
a mobile
console?
Yes; the product is Web
based so it’s accessible
from any browser. Zane
says he uses it from home
and from school sites.
Has it helped
you save money
or time?
“Definitely! We needed to upgrade 180 of
our interactive classroom units; with Kaseya
we were able to automate the software
installation and upgrade. In the past, that
would take about 160 hours. It took us
only 40. It will probably take us only 20
hours next time.
“Also, Kaseya has helped us to streamline
teacher training. Since we can do software
updates so rapily, our teacher trainers can
train everyone on the same system. We used
to start a rollout at one end of the district,
but the trainers were training on different
versions and causing a lot of frustration.”