Asset management and inventory system for the National Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago

OBJECTIVES

The main purpose of the project is to implement an Asset Management System (AMS) to manage the assets of the Trinidad and Tobago parliament.

The specific project objectives are as follows:

• Inventory of owned assets
• Tagging of assets with a unique code and a barcode
• Development of an asset classification methodology
• Assessment of the risk associated with each asset and a list of assets to be insured
• Design of the AMS system: architecture, technologies, software, interfaces
• Development, installation and testing of the AMS, including the applications for the asset inventory, data management and sharing
• Training courses
• System maintenance

DEVELOPMENT

The project employed a cascade methodology with a series of macro-phases, each one including specific activities to reach the planned objectives and deliver the requested products on schedule.

The macro-phases of fundamental importance for the development of the project were:

• Analysis of current status, with a study of the situation prior to start-up of the project on available data, software applications, hardware infrastructure, users’ domain knowledge and the operating structure of the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament
• Design of the project components, including
1. the asset classification model,
2. definition of the unique code for the barcode to be applied to inventoried assets,
3. the asset inventory execution workflow,
4. organisation of activity areas and work teams,
5. the AMS architecture,
6. the data model for structuring the database,
7. analysis of the functional requirements of the AMS,
8. identification of the necessary desktop and web-based software,
9. design of the hardware infrastructure including tablets and mobile devices to automate the inventory and servers for the information sharing web application.

• Implementation of the activities identified in the design stage, including:
1. implementation of the inventory,
2. identification, tagging and classification of assets,
3. identification of assets to be insured,
4. physical modelling of the database,
5. entry of data into the database,
6. development, personalisation and installation on tablets of the inventory application, the desktop software for data management and the web platform
7. roll-out of training.

In addition to the main phases, pre- and post-project operations were planned.

Activities in the pre-project phase included a kick-off meeting, to meet the people involved and organise the project. The meeting discussed the specific objectives to be achieved, the execution method and the work-plan, comprising the identified activities, related calendar and milestones.

Support activities in the post-project phase included the presence of a local consultant to resolve any doubts about use of the technology, a remote help-desk for software-related problems and an application updating service.

CHARACTERISTICS

The asset management system developed by GeneGIS GI is based on the FileMaker open source suite, in all three versions: data entry (tablet version), data management (desktop), data sharing (web).

Filemaker Mobile has been installed on tablets for data collection using personalised forms configured with default values, predefined lists and related attributes.

The software also supports input of images and automatic calculation of the barcode to apply to the specific asset, defined with a code derived from the type of asset as defined by the classification model.

The barcode is printed in loco, using portable printers, and applied to the asset on adhesive paper.

On completion of inventory work, the data collection user loads the data into a special file area, and the data is inserted into the central AMS database by a management user, who checks the collected data with the FileMaker Desktop system.

The data stored in the database is shared on the AMS web platform, with the FileMaker Web system.

The web platform is accessed internally. Parliament users log on to the system with their personal credentials and, depending on their role, receive authorisation to use specific functions and data. The following functions are provided: search (code, type, area, etc.), print, creation of charts, etc. Users interact with the system using common Internet browsers (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Mac Safari) without requiring local installations or additional plug-ins.

The database management application is PostgreSQL with a PostGIS extension for spatial data.

The AMS web system was installed on a local server and configured with a layout compliant with the organisation’s visual rules (fonts, colours, logo, aims, news, contacts, etc.).

The training activities envisaged in the plan were rolled out, with theoretical classroom courses and practical real-case exercises, and special sessions for specific roles: user, data administrator, system administrator.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

The Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago was supported by GeneGIS GI’s extensive international experience in developing asset management systems and databases based on open source technology. GeneGIS GI put its full technological knowledge at the disposal of the client for the development of the necessary personalised applications.