Conducting an asset inventory

Inventorying your assets lets you know exactly what you have and where it is, and what is missing. Once you know what you have, you'll also be in a better position to make acquisition decisions.

With Inventory in the Back Office, you can choose to take stock of your entire collection or inspect one section at a time.
Each site can conduct an inventory of its assets, and generate inventory reports.

In addition, the district assets manager can start a district-wide inventory, monitor its progress, and generate district-wide inventory reports.

With either type of inventory, your goal is to enter the barcode number of each unaccounted-for item.

How do I take inventory of my assets?

How do I account for my items?

How do I generate an inventory report?

How does entering barcodes directly differ from uploading a file of scans?

What exactly does clicking Start New do?

What exactly does clicking Finalize do?

What exactly does clicking Finished do?

Can Inventory tell me if an item is in the wrong place?

I marked all my Unaccounted-for items Lost by mistake. What can I do?

How do I conduct a district-wide inventory?

How do I create a text file of barcodes?

How do I upload a file to Destiny?

How do I take inventory of my assets?

The following list gives an overview of the general procedure for Inventory:

  1. Set up a schedule before you start. This will help you keep track of what you've done and what you still need to inventory.
  2. Choose the assets you want to inventory. You can have multiple inventories open at one time and switch between them.
    On the Start Inventory page, you can limit each inventory to any combination of the following: You can also decide what action you want Destiny to take when the Home Location on record does not match the location in which you scanned it.
  3. To verify or update the Home Location of the items you account for, select your current scanning location.
  4. Scan, enter, or upload the barcode numbers for your items.
  5. Once you are sure you have entered the barcode numbers for all of your items, review the list of unaccounted-for items by clicking % Complete under Inventory on the Inventory page, and then See Details next to Unaccounted for:
  6. Review the Lost Items list.
    To open the list, click % Complete under Inventory on the Inventory page, and then See Details next to Accounted for.
    If you can locate any of the items that had been Lost, either click Found on the Lost Items list or enter the barcode directly on the Inventory page to make it Accounted-for and change its Status to Available.
  7. Once the Unaccounted-for total is 0 (zero), your inventory is complete and you can finalize it by clicking Finalize and Yes to the confirmation message.
    If your district assets manager started this inventory, click Finish Inventory and Yes to the confirmation message.

To help you keep track of the assets inventoried, click View In-Progress & Completed Inventories for a list, details, and reports of the inventories.

(back to the top)

How do I account for my items?

You can use any combination of the following tools and methods to take inventory:

  1. Enter them directly on the Inventory page.
  2. Create and upload a file of barcode scans.
    You can use Follett (Destiny) Remote on a Follett Falcon or a workstation, or a PHD Dolphin+, to create the file. You can also use just a text editor, with or without a scanner.

To learn more about the Follett Falcon or PHD Dolphin+, or to download Follett Remote, click Help next to Logout in the upper right corner. Then search for the information you need.

(back to the top)

How does entering barcodes directly differ from uploading a file of scans?

When entering barcodes directly on the Inventory page:

When uploading a file of scans:

(back to the top)

What exactly does clicking Start New do?

Destiny checks the Status of the items meeting your selection criteria and makes them either Accounted-for or Unaccounted-for:

(back to the top)

What exactly does clicking Finalize do?

After you've inventoried the items in the selected ranges, you'll click Finalize to close the inventory. If you have any unaccounted-for items, a message appears.

(back to the top)

What exactly does clicking Finished do?

You'll have a Finish Inventory button for an inventory started by your district assets manager. After you've inventoried all your items, you'll click Finish Inventory, and Yes to the confirmation message, to indicate that you're finished with your part of the inventory. When all the sites are finished, your district assets manager finalizes the inventory and determines whether the items still unaccounted-for are to be marked Lost.

(back to the top)

Can Inventory tell me if an item is in the wrong place?

For each barcode scan, Destiny can compare the Home Location on record to the location in which you're scanning. If the location is different, Destiny can notify you either on-screen (for direct scans) or in the Job Summary (for file uploads). It can also update the location automatically.

On the Start Inventory page, you'll need to choose the action that you want Destiny to take if the location is different.

Make sure to specify your scanning location next to Current scanning location on the Inventory page before accounting for any items.

(back to the top)

I set all my unaccounted-for items to Lost by mistake. What can I do?

If you've finalized an inventory and selected Mark all unaccounted for items "lost" on the confirmation message by mistake, you can reset the item status to Available from the Lost Items list.

To gain access to the Lost Items list, you'll first need to start a new inventory that includes the Lost items. On the Start Inventory page, you may want to limit the inventory to just the types or location of the Lost items. To determine the range to include, you can generate a Completed Inventory Report first.

Once you've started an inventory, you can open the Lost Items list and reset them.

Open the Lost Items list by clicking % Complete under Inventory on the Inventory page, and then See Details next to Accounted for.

Then, reset them.

(back to the top)