Zero percent loss: efficient management of inventory items for the technology leaders program

The Technology Leaders Program (TLP) is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program at the University of Virginia. The program has recently received a grant to purchase materials that will support its mission of fostering a maker culture. The TLP faculty advisors recognize that the current pencil-and-paper method of tracking their assets would not effectively and efficiently work with a larger inventory, and so they developed and sponsored a project to automate the tracking process. The system described in this paper is transaction-based, as are many databases, and the following types of transactions are supported: Borrowing, Maintenance, Renewal, and Reservation. Other data include information on users, library items, and vendors. The ultimate project goal is to provide the computer-based back-office support that will enable the TLP to achieve its long-term goal of zero inventory loss.