6 Reasons to Itemize ALL of Your Program’s Inventory

How many times have you and your team realized that you needed a specific piece of electronics, lighting, prop, floor materials, or sound equipment, and can’t remember if you even still have that item, much less where it might be stored? Too many, I’m willing to bet!

But for most people, itemizing various equipment pieces quickly turns into a daunting task, especially when the larger items don’t fit well into the standard boxes designed for instruments, library pieces, or attire/costumes, uniforms, and other performance attire. I get it! As an active thespian and daughter of a retired fine arts teacher, I’ve seen how challenging it is to wrap your arms around all of the vital ‘extra stuff’ for your program. That said, knowing what you have and where it's stored (or assigned) makes THE critical difference between your group running like a well oiled machine or a chaotic zoo. Not sure if the inventory effort is worth your time? Here are six reasons you might want to consider when evaluating this important task:

1. More Freedom to Create

Whether it's a music concert, dance competition, theater production, or marching show, knowing what equipment you have to support your creative vision is 50% of the battle. Do any of these scenarios sound familiar to you? “Do we have any other stands in the music closet or auditorium?” “Do we have another mic belt in the sound booth?” “Do we have enough batons for this number?” “Do we have enough flats to make this set, or do we need to build more?” If you can relate to one or many of these situations, this could be the first reason to place more emphasis on organizing ALL of your program’s assets.

Knowing what you have, even at an eagle-eye view is empowering. Say you have never really looked into the theater’s storage room up until now. Making a general list of items stored there could be a great starting point, and will be helpful for your set designers and building team. You never know. There could be more pieces that you can utilize for making sets and save some money on building materials! Same goes for color guard, winterguard, choral groups and more.

2. Everyone Gets More Done

An advantage of having your equipment itemized and accessible to all of your leaders and helpers is that there are “more eyes on it”. If everyone has access to the same list of supplies, then there’s no more need to reach out to a specific person or group as the experts on what is available for your program. If a parent volunteer needs to know where additional choir folders and stands are stored, they can reference your itemized list for the storage location. And stage managers won’t need to reach out to the prop master to find something for rehearsals, they can just locate what they need themselves and save valuable time for you, students, everyone!

Digitally itemizing your equipment is the best method for keeping track of these vital assets. One reason is that you can enable multiple individuals to access your inventory list at the same time. While you can accomplish this through a spreadsheet, it can quickly become super challenging to maintain and manage if you have more than a few dozen items. That’s why having a robust software system such as CutTime is key. Spreadsheets can easily be overwritten. Thus creating the shared visibility you desire with appropriate ‘editing guardrails’ and a built in audit trail across your team is essential. So if the costume team is entering new accessories for the upcoming dance number, the dance team instructor can see those updates, and make notes on them in real time after taking care of notes for a prop’s repair.

3. Shared Accountability

During the season, your program’s equipment moves around. Just like an instrument, garment, piece of sheet music or script, make sure your equipment and material items are well tracked. If you haven’t already, institute a formal “check out” and “check in” process for your team to follow. It could be something as simple as a log that people need to sign to check out items, or creating a rental agreement for groups to sign when an expensive item is loaned out.

In CutTime for example, you can check items out to an individual and list a return date. If a student asks to take a choir folder home to work on a piece, you’ll have the checkout history.

You can even enter other community groups or teams as a Member in CutTime to track that the item is on loan. Say for example, another theater asks to borrow your set pieces used for a show that they are now performing. You now have a record on the loan on file and can follow up accordingly for the return of your equipment.

A microphone, music stand, or basic chair is just as important as any costume or uniform. So make sure your program members respect these items accordingly! Added bonus, you’ll have greater visibility on what is checked out or currently on loan which will make your rehearsals way more productive which in turn takes a lot of stress off of your performances.

4. Keep Equipment in Top Form

We all know that equipment goes through some wear and tear. Tracking how many times an item has been repaired can help your team make informed decisions on whether or not it’s time to replace something that’s seen better days. Instead of digging around your office for receipts that can easily get lost or ruined, maintain your vendor history and repair notes and gain better visibility to ensure proper maintenance over the life of your equipment pieces.

Tracking an item’s current condition is truly paramount to maintaining everyone’s safety. Imagine that someone discovers that the riser is missing a screw that needs to be replaced. Now you can flag that item’s condition as ‘Poor’ along with an important note as to why. And from there your members can save their poor fingers from being pinched or worse, a disastrous collapse that can result in serious injuries all because your volunteers and student leaders know to avoid that particular riser until it’s been repaired or replaced.

This practice not only gives everyone more peace of mind, but can also save time hunting for the ‘who’ and ‘what’ for past repairs and provide powerful insights for future budgeting requests.

5. Faster Recovery from Loss

We never truly know the value of something until it’s gone.

I heard a story about a community theater that stored most of their props, equipment, and sets in a barn. Unfortunately, that barn structure caught on fire, and they lost most of their equipment - including sets needed for the very next show for that season! Hearing the prop and set masters describe the devastating loss was heart-breaking. Decades of costumes, props, stage materials (and the memories each of them represented) from past shows, had gone up in smoke, literally. The program had to completely scrap the set design for the next show since they no longer had the supplies or resources to replace entire sets. Aren’t we all grateful for the wonderful and brilliant volunteers who step up and make things happen when everything is on the line?! Needless to say, the show went on.

But most of us would agree that it shouldn’t take a tragedy like this to motivate us to track equipment. Having items insured, especially for replacement costs, can be a lifesaver for performing arts groups. Insurance companies will be impressed with your initiative and are more likely to expedite your claim if and when the time comes. Of course, we hope that this situation NEVER happens to you.

6. Get More Sponsorship Support

Finally, when you know what you have, you and your supporters can learn what you need to continue performing and growing. Itemizing your equipment can bring more visibility to what key replacements as well as new equipment items need more capital investment.

Recruiting more students to your orchestra? Looking to expand with a Winterguard program? Have your dance, cheer or theater teams grown at a rate that your lighting, pom pom, and prop supplies can’t keep up with them? All of these scenarios become more possible to support because you have reliable equipment data instead of ‘best guesses’ to inform not only your next capital request, but your program’s fundraising efforts! As your equipment’s inventory picture becomes clearer, you may discover powerful opportunities to recruit additional sponsorship and attract new donors and fans.

There you have it! Your program’s equipment deserves the same level of attention and management as the rest of your assets. Now. here are a few quick tips to help keep you sane and everyone smiling when tackling bigger inventory jobs:

• Create a ‘short list’ of all equipment items. If it plays a role in your rehearsal, performance, and transportation activities, then definitely mark it down.
• Take photos and note the condition of each item. Anything that is missing a part or not able to function as intended, should be immediately flagged for repair or replacement.
• Label your stuff! Paint the initials of your school campus on your music stands. Put all of your costume accessories into organized bins with labels.
• Wipe and clean each item so it is free of dust and any dead insect debris. (Yuck!)
• Ensure your packing and wrapping materials for each piece of equipment are up to snuff. Need bigger containers? Find out who recently moved into your community and ask them for their oversized boxes and packing materials!
• Enlist your students and/or helpers and make it fun! Share a story or two about some of your older ‘heritage’ items while you work.

You got this, now on with the show!