Check-in/out

Go to Assets › Check-in/out to hand devices out to students and staff and take them back, one scan at a time. It works with a barcode scanner, a webcam, a phone camera or the keyboard.

To open it you need Open Check-in/out (check_in_out.use) and access to Assets. To check devices in and out you also need Check assets in and out (check_in_out.perform). That's all: you don't need permission to edit assets.

Choose an action#

The page opens on Check In / Check Out with three choices:

• Check Out. Assign an asset to a student or end user.
• Check In. Return a device from a student or end user.
• Audit. Verify devices present at a location. Opens Audit. Shown when your plan includes audits.

At the top right, Monthly Logs opens the history, and Back to Assets returns to the list. Once you're checking in or out, Change Action takes you back to this choice.

Without Check assets in and out, you see You can view check-in/out history instead, with See history.

Check out a device#

1. Choose Check Out.
2. Scan or type into the scan box. It works out whether you scanned a person (their email or user ID) or a device (its asset tag, serial number or external ID, whichever your labels carry). Suggestions appear as you type: select one to use it.
3. Scan the other one. If you scanned the device first, scan the person, and the other way around.
4. The device is checked out. The result shows for two seconds, then the box clears for the next device.

The device's details and the person's details show side by side, each marked Confirmed once found. The reset button in the scan box starts over.

To add a note, type it in Note under the scan box before the last scan, like "Charger included". It's saved with that check-out and then clears, so the next device starts without one. Notes can be up to 500 characters. Leave it empty and no note is saved.

A device that's already assigned to someone can be checked out to someone else: it moves to the new person, and the log keeps who had it before. If the person is outside the device's reach, you see "Selected user cannot be assigned to this device".

To check devices out to a room instead of a person, like a cart of Chromebooks going to Room 204, pick the room in Check out to above the scan box. Each device you scan is then checked out to that room and placed there. Choose Scan a person instead to go back. See Assign a device to a room.

Check in a device#

1. Choose Check In.
2. Scan or type the device's asset tag, serial number or external ID.
3. The device is checked in.

A device with no assignee, person or room, can't be checked in: you see "This device is already checked in and has no assignee." Checking in a device assigned to a room ends that assignment.

Linked devices and parts#

When the device has linked devices (a charger, a case, the members of a kit) or parts installed, the scan pauses and asks What came back with it? Each one starts as Present; mark the ones that didn't come back Missing, then select Check in. Cancel check-in leaves the device as it was.

• A present item changes nothing. The device's timeline notes it came back with them.
• A missing linked device is unlinked from the device and set to your status that means Missing, lost or stolen (asset statuses), with an entry on its own timeline. Without such a status it is only unlinked.
• A missing part is taken off the device. It doesn't go back to stock, since it isn't there.

With Return Receipts, the question comes after the last scan, before the receipt.

Note works the same way as for check-outs: type it before you scan the device (or, with Return Receipts, before the last scan), and it's saved with that check-in. Use it for things like "Cracked screen" or "Missing case".

Check-in options#

The bar above the scan box has these options for Check In:

• Location: Pick a location, and every device you check in moves there. Leave it on Keep current location and devices stay where they are. With Storage tracking on, it's also recorded as where the storage is.
• Use webcam. Shows a camera view that reads barcodes. On a computer only: on a phone, use the scan button at the bottom of the screen.
• Storage tracking. For putting devices away in numbered boxes or carts. Enter the Unit / Box # and how many slots each unit has. Each device checked in takes the next slot, starting at 1 and stopping at the last slot. Turn it on when you're boxing devices for summer; leave it off for everyday returns.
• Set status to In Storage. Shown with Storage tracking on, and on by default: each device goes to your In storage status instead of Available. Turn it off to record the box and slot but keep the device Available, like a loaner cart that stays in use.
• Return Receipts. Also scan the person returning the device. Their name is recorded with the check-in. Turn it on when you need proof of who handed a device back.

Use webcam is on Check Out too. The other options are for Check In only.

Which options should I use?#

| Situation | Location | Storage tracking | Return Receipts | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Everyday returns at a school's help desk | Keep current location | Off | Off | | End-of-year collection, boxed for summer | The building the boxes go to | On | On, if families may dispute a return | | Devices sent back to the district warehouse | The warehouse | On, if they're shelved by box | Off |

For example, on the last week of school a high school tech collects Chromebooks at the library. They pick the high school under Location, turn on Storage tracking with Unit / Box # 12 and 10 slots, and turn on Return Receipts. Each scan pair records who handed the device back, puts it in the next slot of box 12, and the built-in workflow sets it to In storage. In August, each device's Timeline says which box and slot it went into.

Check Out, or change the assignee on Assets?#

Both give a device to a person, but only a check-out is a check-out:

• Check Out here sets your Assigned status, clears the room, and is written to the check-in/out log, the monthly logs and the check-out reports. Filters like Checked out more than N days count from it. Use it for devices handed across a desk: a 1:1 Chromebook, or a spare lent without a ticket. A spare that's out on a ticket can't be checked out or in here: it's taken back on that ticket, so the ticket waits for it (see Lend a spare from a ticket).
• Change assignee... on Assets changes only who has it. The status stays as it is, and nothing goes in the check-in/out log. Use it to correct a record, like fixing whose name a teacher's laptop is under.

What a scan changes#

| | Check Out | Check In | | --- | --- | --- | | Assignee | The person you scanned | Nobody | | Status | Your Assigned status | Your Available status, or In storage with Set status to In Storage on | | Room | Cleared | Cleared | | Location | Unchanged | The one you picked, or unchanged if you picked none | | Cart or kit it sits in | Unchanged | Unchanged | | Devices and parts linked to it | Unchanged | Unchanged when present; a missing one is unlinked (see Linked devices and parts) |

The status changes are built-in workflows (Set the status to Assigned when a device is checked out, and the two check-in ones), so an admin can change which status a scan sets, add a filter, or turn one off. They run as part of the scan, before it answers, so the device comes back with its new status and the log shows it at once; the change is on the device's timeline, signed with the workflow's name. The statuses are the ones your account marks as Assigned, Available and In storage in asset statuses. With one missing, or a status the device can't move to, the scan still goes through and says Status unchanged with the reason, and the workflow's run says the same. A workflow that's turned off changes nothing, and the scan says nothing about it.

A scan matches the whole asset tag, serial number or external ID, in any capitalization. When more than one device carries the scanned value, the scan stops and says so rather than picking one: search for the device instead, and fix the duplicate. A check-in or check-out changes only the assignee, status, room and location, so an asset field marked Required when updating an asset never blocks it.

Every check-out and check-in is written to the device's timeline and to the log, with its note if you wrote one. If the log entry can't be written, the change still happens, and the message says "Activity log could not be recorded." The note isn't saved then either.

History and monthly logs#

History (This month), under the scan box, lists this month's check-ins and check-outs: Date/Time, Asset Tag, Action, Previous Assignee, New Assignee, Actor (who scanned it) and Note. Note shows the notes written on that check-in or check-out; with none, it shows what the scan recorded, like the storage unit and slot.

Monthly Logs opens Check-In/Out Logs, one row per month:

• Month, Checked out, Checked in and Total events.
• View lists that month's events. Download CSV saves them.
• CSV downloads the month without opening it.

Back to Check-In/Out returns to scanning. The logs count only devices your role reaches. A month's events show their notes under Notes, in the CSV too.

A device's own Timeline shows each note as a Check-in/out note, and its Check-in/out filter includes them.

Bulk Check Out and Bulk Check In, in Actions on Assets, open the two scanning screens directly. They're also Quick links in your avatar menu, at the top right, for admins and agents who can add assets. Change your quick links in Settings on your profile.

Who can do what#

| Permission | Lets them | | --- | --- | | Open Check-in/out | Open this page and the monthly logs, for devices in their reach. | | Check assets in and out | Scan devices in and out. |

Set these on Admin › People › Roles under Check-in/out: View gives the first, Edit gives both.