Physical Inventory Training

Presented by the Equipment Inventory Office

2012

When and where they went

O All inventories were mailed to departmental inventory contacts on May 3rd.

O Department heads are notified via email as an audit requirement.

O Department inventory contacts and administrators are also notified via email that inventories are coming.

TimelineO Departments have four months to

complete their inventories.O ALL inventories are due on

August 31st.O There are no exceptions to the

deadline.O There is no such thing as an

“extension” and never has been!O Auditors regularly review the

inventory logs and see who was late/past due.

Inventories are an audit document

O While we use a State approved sampling system now, inventories are mandatory every two years.

O “Sensitive” (weapons) inventories must be done every year.

O EIO keeps your inventories on file for six years and they are frequently audited.

Audit RequirementsO EIO must receive the original

inventory, not a photocopy or working copies.

O All work must be done in ink.O Do not use white out.O Each inventory must be signed on

the individual pages by the processor or coordinator, and the department head/administrator must sign the Final Certification on the last page.

Inventories consist of:O 1. Cover LetterO 2. Instruction SheetO 3. Physical Inventory

What is on this year’s inventory

O Inventorial items only ($2,000 or more and coded 06-XX).

O White bar code or silver numbered tags.

O The sample system includes all federally funded equipment and a focus on lab and audio-visual equipment.

O Items with purple tags or under $2,000 are not included.

Supplemental reportsO You may ask for supplemental

reports that are sorted either by User or by Location.

O You can have the report in an Excel document via email or as a printout.

O Contact Heidi Schwab (heidi22@uw.edu or 616-4045) for supplemental reports.

Doing the actual inventory

Fields on every inventory

O Sixteen fields are on every inventory.O There should be NO BLANKS except

for Wing and Other Location – these fields can be optional.

O If a Model or Serial Number is missing, you must fill it out.

O If an item truly has no Model or Serial Number, you should enter “None” (do not use N/A).

Updating informationO When data is incorrect, draw a line

through the old data (such as user or location) and enter the NEW information below it.

O This way we know that you are updating the information, not adding conflicting information (e.g., two users or locations is not allowed).

Updating TAGSO Do NOT draw a line through a tag

number if you want EIO to change the number for you.

O We must be able to READ the old number to edit it and a line can often obliterate critical numbers.

O Use the “New Asset Number” box for retagging and we will automatically know what you need done.

Writing on your inventory

O NO pencil.O Please use colored inks if you can

(blue, green, purple) since black can be hard to read.

O Do not use any form of white-out – just draw a line through your mistake and write next to it.

O Do not use highlighters – this is really hard on our eyes during processing.

Inventory codesO Every asset MUST have an inventory

code.O If you accidentally forget one, it is an

audit finding.

Located itemsO “L” or a check mark () is used to

indicate that you have found the item.

O Any necessary updates should be written on the item, even if you update it yourself on OASIS.

Previously Surplused items

O If you have Surplused an item and EIO did not receive notification, you can use the “S” code.

O However, to use this code, you must have documentation on file with the tag number included in the document (1024 form or Surplus email verification) to use the “S” code.

O You cannot use the “S” code if you think it was Surplused; you must be able to prove it.

Lost itemsO A certain amount of loss is not

abnormal.O Lost items can be reactivated quite

easily if found later (within 6 years).O If your department did not properly

Surplus items (e.g., include a tag number on the Surplus form) you must report them as Lost.

“Other” proceduresO You may use the “O” code for Other

procedures such as Stolen, Trade-In, Cannibalized, or Return to Vendor.

O You must include the proper 1024 form for anything you assign the “O” code.

O The only 1024 form that is valid is now the Excel based version located on the EIO website.

Out of area andHome equipment

O It is best to contact all your Home and Out of area equipment users first as this can take the longest.

O Email the user and provide them with the tag number. Require that they give you the serial number via return communication.

O This ensures that they actually LOOKED at the item and didn’t just respond with a fast and lazy “Yep”.

Verifying dataO You have to visually verify the tag

number to the manufacturer, model, serial number, user and location.

O You may find typos in serial numbers or users names that need correction.

O Equipment frequently wanders around and needs location and/or user updates.

The hard part (Part 1)O We know that conducting an

inventory is not easy.O If at all possible, enlist a helper.O That way, one of you can have the

document and write on it while the other person is looking at the equipment and reading off numbers.

The hard part (Part 2)O It is a good idea to take along a

flashlight and a hand mirror.O This helps read hard to reach serial

numbers – equipment users get rather cranky if cables are loosened or disconnected during inventory.

Who can do inventories?

O Anyone listed as a custodian/user cannot inventory their own items – anyone else is OK.

O It’s fine to have a helper stand there and do an item in your name – just track in your records that this person helped.

O The term custodian is meant to be the actual user.

O Only items used by a group such as office copiers or computer labs can have a person who may not be the direct user listed as custodian.

“Good Faith Effort”O Above all, your department must

make a “good faith effort” to locate all the items listed on your inventory.

O A REAL pet peeve is being asked to reactivate a “lost” item and being told the old user and location is still the same.

Finding untagged itemsO You should carry orange cards

(equipment cards) with you in case you find items that are untagged.

O You will need to research these items and find out if they are…

O 1: New inventorial items that are not tagged yet; or

O 2: Non-inventorial items (less than $2,000).

Computer systems and clusters

O A computer system (CPU and all its components) should only have one tag number on the hard drive. All the accessories would be untagged and just included in the cost of the computer.

O A computer cluster is a super computer with many hard drives. Only one tag should be on it with “baby tags” that read “C1234567” on all the additional components.

Finishing Up

Preparing to return your inventory

O Do not send EIO your working copies.O All working copies should be kept by you as

your audit documentation.O Only one formal copy (preferably the

original) should be returned to EIO.O Make sure the inventory is in page order and

stapled back together as one document.O Any inventory not sent back properly will be

rejected.O Do NOT staple multiple org codes together!

SignaturesO Proper signatures are critical!!O Each inventory page must be signed

by the processor or the coordinator.O The last page of the inventory

(Certification) must be signed by your department head or administrator.

O The person signing the work pages cannot sign the final page (division of duties).

Showing your workO Any inventory that is too clean is

automatically suspicious. Don’t worry about making it “pretty”.

O All your changes should be transferred to the formal inventory.

O Even if you do your own updates, make sure the changes are shown on the inventory.

Updating OASISO You do not need to have OASIS access to

complete a proper inventory.O If you do make your own changes on OASIS, you

need to do ALL of them (SNs, users, location). O Note that you cannot do tag number changes. O If we have to check to see what you did and

didn’t do, it actually takes longer than simply doing them all for you.

O If you do all your own updates, you must write “ALL CHANGES IN OASIS” on the front page of your inventory.

Questions?O If you have any questions or

problems, please contact Heidi right away. Don’t wait!

O Heidi SchwabO 616-4045O heidi22@uw.eduO You can also contact our main line

at: O 543-4663

More infoO Additional information (including this

training packet) is available on our website.

O http://f2.washington.edu/fm/eio/O The 1024 form is in available in the

“Quick Links” box under “Forms”.

O Thank you for coming today!!