Discipline: Computer Sciences and Information Management
Subcategory: Computer Science & Information Systems
Zaire Husband - University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Co-Author(s): Tom Coffin, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR
Managing inventory is a difficult and important task for any business or organization. ‘Snipe It’ is a database program that allows users to track inventory and usage. Snipe It is an open-source inventory management system that operates on the web, primarily through the script language Hyper Preprocessor (PHP) and Structured Query Language (SQL). When I started, the inventory of the Emerging Analytical Center (EAC) at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock was completely unorganized, with many computer parts scattered across the lab area. My project was to set up and program Snipe It to organize the EAC inventory. I originally tried to create the program environment on a Windows operating system, but found it difficult to run Snipe It on Windows. I found an alternate operating system called Ubuntu that allowed me to directly send commands from the terminal into Snipe It. In order to use Snipe It in Ubuntu, I first downloaded several mini-PHP programs and an SQL program. I then modified the SQL security key so that I could use MySQL to create the database. Once I got the pre-flight and set up working properly, I inputted all of the EAC’s assets into the system. This process required researching acquisition information for over 50 EAC assets. I then added information such as license, purchase date, location, and categories for these assets into the database system. My program resulted in a user interface that was simple to use and easy to understand. Since Snipe It is an open-source software, any user with a bit of knowledge about PHP and SQL can add and improve the system for better management and faster service. A future improvement on this software could be to design it to work on a mobile platform.
References: Snipe-It, Grokability, Inc, snipeitapp.com, v3.0, 2016
Funder Acknowledgement(s): Arkansas Economic Development Commission (Science and Technology Division).
Faculty Advisor: Janet Lanza, jxlanza@ualr.edu
Role: I implemented the entire program from start to finish. I reprogrammed the security key and inputted data for the program's assets. I also tested different features during the pre-flight to ensure there were no bugs.