RFID Asset Inventories and Asset Deliveries / Assignments

In many cases, RFID asset location control is achieved through the use of portable scanner(s) without requiring any additional RFID infrastructure…such as RFID doorways or RFID detection zones. This is particularly the case because in most organizations, office and IT assets are assigned to a specific place or person for long-term deployment and do not frequently move within facilities.

Portable scanners include support for RFID and bar code technologies, and communicate with Smartphone and software application via Bluetooth. RFID and/or bar code ‘location tags’ are placed at each discreet location at which assets are located, and, assets are tagged with RFID tags.

Staff using the scanner simply scan a location tag and then the assets at the location to perform an inventory. The data exports from the scanner to the RFID asset management software via WiFi or Ethernet connection. As such, the current locations of assets is updated within the RFID asset management software.

After performing an inventory, and/or at any point in time, multiple reports can be run to reconcile inventory data against database location data and to adjudicate the data captured during an inventory as to assets and their locations.

The mobile scanner / phone software also includes ‘smart inventory’ features. When a location is scanned, the scanner displays ‘expected assets’, based on the assets at the location according to the RFID asset management software. As the assets at the location are scanned, each row of data (each row of data represents an asset and can display data such as asset description and asset #) highlights in a different color based on:

> Expected and Found
> Unexpected and Found
> Expected and Not Found
> Unknown Tag

As such, asset accountability can be adjudicated real-time rather than and/or in addition to running post-inventory reports. Including the ability to enroll assets ad hoc as needed if an asset was tagged but the tag # was not input to the asset’s database record.

If assets are delivered to destinations, the asset management software enables transfer of asset locations to destinations. Additionally, the portable scanner can be utilized to scan a location tag and asset tag(s) to transfer/update asset locations at destinations versus at a computer.

Finally, the portable scanner also functions similar to a Geiger Counter, using frequency of beeps, color-scale and numeric index to guide Users right-to any needed/missing asset that cannot be rapidly located through normal means.