Facilities Management

[peacefulone61]

I have found myself in the employment of a new school coming in as a technical director. There is an established technical program in place but it is not as efficient as it could be. I was wondering if there is a user friendly Management software that is available to help manage and track resources and students. Thank you for any help or insight that you can provide.

 

[Footer]

By track students, what are you tracking? What type of resources are you tracking? What are you trying to do?

 

[peacefulone61]

I have one main theater, but performances in multiple spaces, that are supported by two portable systems for sound and a lighting system. Some of the events end up being booked on top of each other. I would like to be able to assign equipment to an event so I won't double book. The student aspect is for Community service time and making sure i am not having them work to many gigs at one point. Basically assigning students to different projects.

 

[Studio]

The way my school does it is a combination of calendars on our schools FirstClass software (this is to check out our laptops and projectors) and little slips of paper taped on the AV secretaries computer. It works but is not the best way.

 

[peacefulone61]

Thank you, That is a step up from how we are doing it now.

 

[Chris15]

So there are databases out there, but at least for a start you can implement a fairly effective paperwork system using Office. If you creating a booking form, electronic or paper, (in many ways paper is still king here) which lists the client, venue and their requirements.
From there I'd put it into the calendar in Outlook, so that you can open up a given day and see what's on, what's available, what's dark.
Then create a spreadsheet in Excel with assets down the rows and dates across the columns and "book" the gear to a job by say job number (create a unique one per booking and reference it in all paperwork). Create another sheet within the same book with people substituted for assets and you should start to be in a position where you have some control.

Of course all that could be integrated into an access database or the like if you have the skillset and time required...

 

[madeye]

At my school, we have no adult stage manager, so i have taken on the role of managing our crew. Our crew consists of about 15 high-schoolers so it can get kind of hectic sometimes, and this has helped me a bunch. What i did was assemble a binder with all and everything important, i keep it with me at all times. Somethings that i keep in it are Facility requests, Student Contact info, Hours logs and Receipts, it is super useful but it has helped me a lot. Hope this was helpful.

 

[tech2000]

I am managing a HS Performing Arts Center for the past year now and basically (not exactly the best way, but works for me) what I do is make an events listing which I send out to the students to sign up to work events and have handy. Then I create an "Event Folder" which includes a copy of the facility use paperwork, sheet detailing what equipment is needed and how everything should be setup/positioned, a sheet for two-way radio check out (so we know who has which radio) and a sheet for the students to write down if there are any problems during the event (such as equipment damaged by the renter)
Then again, I do still have to balance this with the required school calendar but that is a different topic.

Hope this helps!