North Trafford College gets good results from Series4000

Other specialist solutions we have used in the past simply don't compete with RAM’s Series4000 range when it comes to college accounting requirements.

North Trafford College, the Manchester based further education institute, has selected Real Asset Management's Track4000
(Fixed Asset and Inventory Tracking Software) solution to monitor its base of fixed assets and inventory items, following a drive to improve security and record-keeping.

The decision to replace the spreadsheet system with a dedicated fixed asset tracking solution came after a management decision to bar-code all items that were either of high value or were portable with the potential to go missing.

“We needed a comprehensive list of items that recorded location details as a basis to track movements,” explained Dave Marshall, North Trafford's management accountant. “We chose Real Asset Management as our preferred supplier because of its ability to provide a complete solution. Asset4000 (Fixed Asset Management Software) brings comprehensive functionality for managing all of our financial requirements, such as the apportionment of capital grants, and Track4000 allows us to bar-code property and carry out physical audits. Other specialist solutions we have used in the past simply don't compete with RAM's Series4000 range when it comes to college accounting requirements.”

North Trafford has recently completed an exercise to bar-code its entire asset base. It mainly consists of IT equipment, buildings and classroom fixtures such as welding bays. “We also made the decision to bar-code lower value items such as cameras and headphones because portable items are particularly prone to disappearing. It is even more difficult to trace items when they move between our two sites. Following a recent break-in, RAM’s system proved to be invaluable by providing us with a full report of stolen items with barcode numbers, serial numbers, accurate valuations and location details to give to our insurers. This amount of detail really helped us to make an accurate insurance claim.”

“Our auditors have also been very impressed with our new system,” added Marshall. “The main failing of a spreadsheet system is that there is no audit history, an essential aspect often highlighted by the auditors that has been rectified by Asset4000. It's now easy to review disposal records and historical reports of any period of time.”

“All in all, we are delighted with RAM’s solution,” declared Marshall. “It's easy to use and particularly suited to the way colleges manage assets. Once the data was loaded onto the system, we were able to separate grant funded and college funded assets and have released the depreciation element of those grant funded items. On the reporting side, we regularly view new additions, take a monthly look at the annual summary report and forecast depreciation for future periods. The system also has some very nice features, such as the ability to store photographs of assets. We have used this for our more unusual assets, such as our greenhouse.

“The benefits of a dedicated system have already been realised,” concluded Marshall. “By carrying out regular physical audits, we can really ensure our asset register is up to date and giving us the right information.”

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