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Overview

The Resources File in Music Monitor records department resources including music and books, audio visual equipment, instruments, lockers, rooms and other equipment. This file links to the Loans & Hire file to record who borrows items.

The Resources button opens the Resources Menu.

All of these items are recorded in the same file, but they have their own layouts to display the fields that are relevant to each type of item.

Set Up Resources

Simply create the records for the resources you wish to have listed in this file. If you have an existing list, we can also help you import it.

Add One Record

In the Resources menu, select the type of resource you wish to add. That will open the file on a list showing all your existing records of that type of resource.

Select the green + button to add a new record.

Fill in the fields as described below. Most are optional, but a good amount of information is helpful.

Category: This is pre-filled based on the list you were viewing when you selected the button.
Department: Optional, but it can be helpful if you have a lot of resources - especially if one department has resources of different types that you wish to search for.
Category 2: This will give an example of what kind of data is expected here, which varies depending on the resource type.
Category 3: This may give an example of what kind of data is expected here, depending on the resource type.
Description: This will give an example of what kind of data is expected here, which varies depending on the resource type.
Size: The drop-down is populated with options drawn from the entries in this field in other records.
- Note: This draws from the whole file, so if you have instrument sizes and also costume sizes entered, for example, you will see all these options in the drop-down.
Location: This is for you to record where the item should be stored. The drop-down is populated with options drawn from the entries in this field in other records.
Reference Number: This is optional, but will be necessary to keep track of loans and hire.
- Select the Show existing ref nos. button to see your existing records, for example to see the latest number in use or check the format your school has adopted.
Image: You have the option to upload an image here.
Alternative Reference Number: If you use barcodes or other long text strings for reference numbers, you may have an alternative that is more human-friendly to enter in here.

Import Records

It is possible to import Resources records from a spreadsheet to this file. Contact us for guidance.

Loans and Hire

All the resources (except Rooms) are set up to be loaned out, and have a unique Reference Number to identify them by. Where relevant, they also have a Storage Location, a Serial Number, and an Alternative Reference Number.

See Manage Loans & Hire for guidance.

Resources Not For Hire

If you wish to record resources in Music Monitor but not make them available for hire, there are two main ways to achieve this.

Item Status

You can mark an item as "On Hold" in the Item Status field. That will automatically change its Availability Status to "Unavailable".

You can add a note in the Reason/Note field explaining why it's not available, if you wish. Items with this setting can not be loaned or hired through Music Monitor.

Changing the Item Status back to "Current" will make it available again.

Category Settings

If you wish to make it less likely that anyone will loan out the item, you can categorise it differently from the other items.

For example, in an Instrument record, the type of instrument would normally go in Category 2. Instead, you can enter "Not For Hire" in that field, and enter the instrument type in Category 3.

Someone wishing to hire the instrument would then clearly see "Not For Hire" as part of the instrument's setup data.

Stocktake

The stocktake function is very simple. It just has a field that can have a date entered. The value of it is that you can check off the items on your inventory, and then easily pull up a list of those that are checked off, or those that are not.

See Instrument Stocktake for detail.