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IT Equipment Inventory The District leases most of its computers and other IT assets from the Erie 1 Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), but also purchases IT equipment from other vendors. District officials used How Should District Officials Maintain IT Equipment Inventory? an application A school board should adopt a comprehensive written policy that sets forth to track the guidelines and procedures for establishing and maintaining IT equipment inventory. School district officials should maintain detailed, up-to-date inventory District’s records for all IT equipment including adding new equipment to the inventory; notifying the IT Department when equipment is reassigned, lost or stolen; and IT assets documenting and updating the inventory for equipment disposal. Inventory (device records should include a description of each item including the make, model and serial number; the name of the individual to whom the device is assigned, list), but the if applicable; the physical location of the asset; and relevant purchase or lease records were information including the initial cost, depreciation and acquisition date. incomplete. In addition, school district officials should verify the accuracy of inventory records through periodic (i.e., annual) physical inventory counts. Also, officials should periodically examine devices to confirm the assets are in the District’s possession, to assess their condition and verify accurate location information in the inventory records. Maintaining complete and up-to-date IT inventory records also helps a school board develop and implement an effective IT equipment replacement plan. Officials Did Not Maintain a Complete IT Equipment Inventory District officials used an application to track the District’s IT assets (device list), but the records were incomplete. The device list included information such as tag number, make, model, serial number, building and room number, but did not include acquisition date, cost or whom the device was assigned to. Furthermore, certain fields and key information for some devices was not recorded or was inadvertently left blank. For example, the serial number field was left blank for 110 of the 1,846 devices on the list. Without a serial number, it would be more difficult for District officials to identify a device with certainty, especially if it was lost or stolen. Furthermore, the device list did not include certain types of devices such as security cameras, copiers, servers and server parts, wireless access points, power backups, network switchgears, and computer monitors. We found that 16 of 30 District-owned items acquired during our audit period – six security cameras, five computer monitors, three computers, one interactive display, and one printer − were not included on the District’s IT device list. The IT Director told us that the list did not include security cameras or computer monitors because they were not portable or frequently moved items. He also told us that it was an 2 Of f ic e of t he New York State Comptroller