Annual Inventory Tips and Tricks

Determine a starting point.
If you are inventorying several offices or areas, determine a starting point for the area and work in a logical direction, making sure to visit every possible location within your office area, including: offices, common areas, storage rooms, classrooms, and hallways.

Let your department know that you are taking inventory.
It may be helpful to send an email to those people whose offices you must inventory, asking them to make sure all inventory items are plainly visible in their offices. For example, a person may not use his/her computer speakers, and may have them stored in a cabinet.

Inventory all areas in your department once before beginning follow-up on missed items.
You may discover that some inventory items are not located in the room or building listed on the inventory report. Most inventory is easily moved, and offices may have been relocated, so visit each area once before concentrating on any missing items.

An inventory is complete when:

1. All items have been located, and scanned or marked.
2. The person who conducted the inventory has signed and dated the last page of the inventory/exception report.
3. Any items not located are properly documented so that they can be removed from your department's inventory. Examples of acceptable documentation include:
   • University Police reports
   • Work orders
   • A memo from the Budget Administrator detailing disposition of the equipment.