Create an Equipment Tracker In 3 Steps
How to Build an Equipment Tracker
An equipment tracker is a web-based tool that provides teams and organizations with a centralized view of key equipment metrics, helping them track inventory, manage assets, and ensure efficient utilization.
It serves as a real-time hub for monitoring equipment, from availability and location to maintenance schedules and usage logs.
Essential Features for an Equipment Tracker
These features form the core of a functional equipment tracker, but you can always expand based on your organization’s needs.
An equipment tracker should include key features that enable effective tracking and management of assets.
One of the most important features is user authentication and profile management. A secure login system with multi-factor authentication ensures that your tracker is protected from unauthorized access.
Users should be able to create and manage profiles, reset passwords, and update personal details.
The tracker should also provide tools for tracking equipment status and availability. This includes features for assigning equipment, logging usage, scheduling maintenance, and managing downtime.
Users should have access to visual tools, such as timelines or charts, to monitor equipment usage and maintenance schedules.
Resource allocation tools are essential for optimizing equipment utilization, while calendar integration helps teams stay organized and on top of maintenance tasks.
Additionally, the tracker should support file sharing and collaboration, allowing team members to access shared maintenance logs, reports, and equipment manuals. Integration with tools like Slack, Trello, or Microsoft Teams enhances communication and improves collaboration.
Build or Buy Your Equipment Tracker
When it comes to implementing an equipment tracker, organizations often face the decision of whether to build a custom solution or purchase an off-the-shelf product.
Building a custom tracker using Five gives you the flexibility to tailor the system to your organization’s specific needs without the unnecessary complexity of commercial software. You can integrate the tracker with your existing IT infrastructure, ensuring consistency across systems.
Building also gives you full control over your data, eliminating concerns about data security that can arise with third-party solutions.
This level of control can be crucial for organizations managing sensitive equipment information.
On the other hand, buying an off-the-shelf tracker may seem faster, but it often comes with limitations, such as high licensing fees and restricted customization options.
These costs can quickly add up, making it less cost-effective in the long term.
With Five, you can build an equipment tracker that’s affordable, fast to implement, and fully customized to your needs.
Creating an Equipment Tracker Made Easy
In the past, creating a custom equipment tracker required extensive coding skills and hiring developers, leading to higher costs and time-consuming processes.
Today, tracker builders like Five make this process easier.
With Five, you don’t need advanced coding knowledge or months of development time. You can create and launch a fully functional equipment tracker within a single afternoon.
Five provides an intuitive interface for setting up trackers, allowing you to focus on equipment management rather than technical details.
With Five, you can:
- Set up your tracker in minutes.
- Create a user-friendly, login-protected web interface for managing your equipment.
- Easily import your existing equipment data, so you can get started immediately.
Get free access to Five here and start building your equipment tracking system today.
How to Create an Equipment Tracker Using Five
So, how can you create an equipment tracker from scratch using Five, and what are some prerequisites you should consider.
Step 1: Access Five
If you haven’t already, sign up for free access to Five. Five offers a free 14-day trial with no credit card required. Depending on the complexity of your equipment tracker and the amount of data you need to store, you will eventually need a paid plan.
Step 2: List Out Tracker Attributes
Start by compiling a complete list of all the attributes relevant to your equipment tracker. Consider what matters most to your team and organization: equipment availability, locations, maintenance schedules, and usage logs. Your tracker should serve as the “single source of truth,” so ensure it’s comprehensive and well-organized.
Here are some essential attributes typically included in an equipment tracker:
- User authentication and profile management
- Equipment assignment and availability tracking
- Maintenance schedules and logs
- Equipment locations
- File sharing for manuals or maintenance reports
- Usage history tracking
- Alerts for upcoming maintenance or low stock
- Equipment dashboards and visual data
Follow our YouTube tutorial for a step-by-step guide, covering everything from database modeling to previewing your completed equipment tracker.
The first step explains how to create a database table in Five. This quick four-and-a-half-minute video is highly recommended if your main goal is developing an equipment tracker.
The video also shows how to assign different SQL data types to your table fields and use Five’s database modeler to visualize your schema. Five automatically adds primary keys to all your tables, simplifying the setup process.
Once you have added your database tables, it’s time to incorporate forms for data entry, updates, or presenting equipment information.
At first glance, forms may seem simple, but anyone who has designed forms for an equipment tracker knows it takes time and care to create an effective form.
Forms are the primary method for users to input data into your equipment tracker. Whether it’s adding new equipment, updating maintenance logs, or submitting usage reports, forms allow users to interact with the system efficiently.
Without forms, collecting equipment data from team members would be cumbersome and inefficient.
Five includes an intuitive form builder that quickly turns your database tables into functional forms with just a few clicks.
You can rapidly create equipment assignment forms, maintenance update forms, or any other custom forms specific to your equipment tracking system.
Step 3: Launch Your Equipment Tracker Online
Once your equipment tracker’s database is set up and defined, you can begin adding the necessary data.
With Five, you can easily upload CSV files into your SQL database. Just make sure the columns in your CSV file match the fields in your database, then import the data directly into your tables.
You can also create a user-friendly, web-based graphical interface for your tracker using Five. This interface can feature forms for adding or editing equipment details, charts for visualizing maintenance schedules, and tools to generate PDF reports based on your data.
When you’re ready to deploy your equipment tracker, consider signing up for one of our paid plans, starting at $29.99 per month per application. This includes unlimited end-users and a custom URL to access your tracker online.
For more in-depth guidance, check out one of our step-by-step code-along guides.
Conclusion: Building an Equipment Tracker
A well-designed equipment tracker is crucial for any organization aiming to improve efficiency and ensure optimal asset management.
With modern tools like Five, building a custom tracker has become simpler and more accessible than ever.
Teams no longer need to rely on expensive developers or settle for generic solutions. Instead, they can quickly create and deploy a tracker tailored to their unique equipment management needs.
