Cheqroom

Avantages

Cheqroom is easy to use and has a wide array of functionality. It has freed up so much of my time by putting the onus on my staff to share the load of managing our gear by reserving, checking out, and then checking back in what they use.

Inconvénients

The biggest hurdle is that I don't have full website functionality in the app. Would be nice to be able to add items in the app like you can on the website.

Avantages

The possibility to visually see the items in the inventory and that makes the preparation of the list very easy

Inconvénients

Just a couple of adjustments on the mobile app: the most important for us would be to give the reservation a name already from the mobile app while preparing the reservation. Now we need to save it and the change the name.

Alternatives envisagées 

Pourquoi passer à Cheqroom

Avantages

Multi-use sign out and accountability on equipment was the most direct advantage when first implemented. The planning and reserving equipment was also ideal when project planning and evaluating resources working with other leaders to accommodate changing project timelines and requirements. Desktop and App integration was a good feature.

Inconvénients

Found it difficult to get a hang of the check in and check out process. Could potentially be due to our implementation which I'm not sure how involved customer support was. We had in-house support from a engineering lab leader who led the sourcing and implementation.

I found enough barriers in the process that I avoided it if not necessary to the task. I never went out of my way to try to implement it for my workflow rather used it sparingly when I had a specific request.

Avantages

The design of the platform and all menu/table presented in the webapp.
Very easy to use also for user with a basic level of IT knowledge.

Inconvénients

The only thing improvable is the export generation of the excel.

Avantages

Cheqroom is a dynamic app. What I mean is that it updates instantly from anywhere in the world. This means that as long as you are using it correctly, it is reliable for keeping track of your gear.

Inconvénients

There is a small issue where a loaded page will show 10 lines by default, with the option to change that to 50 lines. You need to choose " Show 50 lines" for every page you load (first time only). I'd prefer a system-wide setting to "Show 50 rows" or even "Show all" (though that may be too many to load, I don't know).

Avantages

It's extremely helpful for students and professors to be able to see exactly what is currently available or checked out. The checkout and reservation processes are pretty intuitive, and was easy to learn.

Inconvénients

Like any software, it has bugs sometimes. It took a couple of months for us to get a specific fix, but once it's been fixed we've had no issues.

Avantages

The interface is very easy to use, the way we can connect to all the student with their accounts is faster and all the general settings is intuitive. Also the way we can upload the items is amazing!

Inconvénients

Can't change the time zone in different workspaces, and that I can't put individual restrictions for a specific item.

Avantages

The ease of checking in and out equipment with your phone.

Inconvénients

Needing to connect with fellow employees about checking equipment in.

Avantages

Flexibility of Software to Modify as per Our Use Cases

Inconvénients

Limited Number of Columns View in Items sections. I would suggest to Adjust UI Font size and allow More Columns to be
Visible

Avantages

Cheqroom really helped us solve the issue of equipment reservations on an organizational level.

Inconvénients

The users and groups functionality could use a little tweaking but honestly not a big deal.

Avantages

Integration with Active Directory
QR codes and mobile app make it easy for our staff to help customers
Dashboard tells you what you want to know about the status of equipment, reservations, and loans
Ability to create kits is a plus
Automated and customized notifications save a lot of time and work

Inconvénients

There's not much to not like. I do think being able to set up multiple business hours to take care of regular, summer, and break schedules would be nice so that teachers putting in early reservations for the semester would not be restricted by summer hours. Also, we sometimes have issues with duplicate usernames in CHEQROOM as a whole so that some of our users in AD will not update correctly. It's a small number, and we have workarounds.

Avantages

The most useful feature is using the software for gear inventory. Master online list of all equipment with serial numbers that you can sort through by different categories is a huge step up from a shared google document.

Inconvénients

My department shooters mostly use the software to reserve equipment. They can predict gear conflicts prior to their shoot dates and sort it out amongst themselves. But the system to convert these reservations to check outs is sketchy. Often times, items will be held up in progress and won't convert properly. Also, because the app experience is so clunky, my shooters just won't convert their reservations. I usually do it for them, but often I miss them and then I can't retroactively check them out and back in again.

Avantages

We have 40-50 different pieces of equipment and previously were using the equipment options in Microsoft Outlook; however, this became very sluggish with so much equipment. Cheqroom allows you to store and book out much more equipment and has organized it in a way that is user friendly and easy to see what equipment is available.

Inconvénients

One thing that I do think would be useful to have is the ability to edit previous bookings. My team is notorious for forgetting to check in equipment for sometimes weeks. So if the equipment was only used for a week, on Cheqroom it appears that the equipment is booked out for 2 weeks.

It would also be nice to be able to edit the start of the booking as sometime we forget to check the equipment out until days or weeks later. This would be a nice feature.

Avantages

Ability to track the equipment and then go back and look at records is a nice feature. Being able to put all of our equipment in and access it easily is also nice. Multiple equipment check outs has bceom easier too.

Inconvénients

Would like to see customizable due dates- when I check someone out right now, I have to change the due date time every single time. Our stuff is always due at the same time the next day, and having to go in and physically change the time something is due is a pain. Would like to set it for 8:30am no matter what day it's due.

Avantages

I like the user-friendly features. It is very straightforward when creating items and profiles. I like the option of creating and deleting fields as well.

Inconvénients

I wish to customize the emails that are sent out to customers. Often time they look like spam and I would like to change the message to suit our use and personnel.

Avantages

It has an extremely easy to use workplace. If you would like to track demo requirements, this is the best solution for it. It sends e-mail to the contact person about the check-out/check-in, you can schedule the units easily and it picks up the product image from the web. So you can clearly identify it. The mobile application is also easy to use. With the QR code support, we don't need any special hardware on field.

Inconvénients

Right now, they have no domain customization, so the partners gets Cheqroom's e-mail, instead of my organization (can be good, can be not - depending the business). I need some usage right customization/separation, but overall, I can't tell any cons.
Oh, I can. It doesn't supports Brother label printer. We have one from that brand, and it will be easier if I can print the labels directly. But I can live together with this...

Avantages

We were able to have every student who needs to reserve video equipment access Cheqroom. It was extremely easy for everyone to use. Students access Cheqroom on their smartphones. We also have set up an iPad reservation station where students can use Cheqroom near where the video equipment lies, for easy check-out and check-in. I especially like that students must use Cheqroom when they return the equipment.

Inconvénients

I've not had any problems with the software. It is extremely easy to use. We have around 70 students using Cheqroom, and -- so far -- no one has had any problems/issues with the program.

Avantages

Obviously, going through and tagging and entering every piece of equipment was going to be a chore. But, using Cheqroom to do so, was simple and easy. We were looking for a simple piece of software that also has enough features to be worth our time and money, and Cheqroom fulfils all our needs.

Inconvénients

There are features that our business could use that are missing from the Cheqroom software such as being able to delete an item and enforcing that users have to scan the barcode in order to check-out an item. However, I understand that there will always be features that would be useful to specific businesses and not all these can be fulfilled. The team at Cheqroom have been very satisfactorily answering any questions or requests I have had regarding the software.

Avantages

I Like the feature of the QR code scanning. It completely eliminates the need for paperwork. I can always get through cheqroom quickly versus the time I would spend working on a spreadsheet, otherwise. Plus, it keeps up with everything in realtime so you can not beat the accuracy.

Inconvénients

The mobile software does not always work as well as the desktop version works. It tends to be a little buggy and just randomly closes. Also, it tends to get irritating that the time on the due date always has to be reset.

Avantages

Getting my inventory setup was a breeze, and customer support has been super responsive.

Inconvénients

My organization is complex, with different internal locations, mixtures of students, faculty, etc. I would like more granular control over availability, hours and reservations by location.

Avantages

Ease of use. Very intuitive. Was a breeze to get it setup and runnIng right from the first day. Once all our equipment had been entered into the system we were on our way.

Inconvénients

Templates are difficult to create. Like a frustrating version of excel. It's just a little buggy at times. I think what would really help would be more in depth instructions.

Avantages

The ability to track the tools and have pictures so it is simple to select the tool for checkout

Inconvénients

It is a little cumbersome for the location where the tool is going. We had to do a workaround and create an "extra info" category to track this which works well. However, adding a new location to this category is not simple.

Avantages

New features and adjustments are implemented regularly, support team is excellent and the includes features I need at a reasonable cost

Inconvénients

You can't allocate equipment to different types of users - for example, we have undergraduate and postgraduate students and at times we need to restrict the use of certain equipment to postgrads only, for example.

Avantages

The app makes it easy to pick up and use. Tracking equipment is highly efficient when implemented. Tracking the whereabouts of inventory is a much easier process.

Inconvénients

More durable stickers. We've had stickers wear off or the QR code fade over a period of use. It would be useful to have a dedicated app that can be downloaded onto a desktop machine.