Inventory Control (was Re: "No name" S-100 computer)

From: Frank McConnell <fmc_at_reanimators.org>
Date: Sat Jun 27 00:20:54 1998

Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com> wrote:
> I'm pretty new to the collecting game, but I'm already having trouble
> keeping machines, parts, software, manuals, and releated stuff tractable.
> I've picked-up some barcode reading equipment with the idea that one day
> I'll encode the contents of all of my boxes, and tie it to all together
> with a database that include historical info, condition info, and other
> notes.

Doug, you live in a part of California that has a dry climate. How do
you propose to affix barcodes to boxes? Are they sticky labels? Have
you noticed that the sticky stuff turns brittle after a while (like,
say, three years or so), and the labels become susceptible to falling
off?

Not that I want to discourage you, you understand. Besides, the
inventory number is precious little of what I want to log, it
just wouldn't save me that much typing.

OK, that said, the schema of my database looks something like this
at present:

Number: an inventory item number.
Type: a one-word description of just what sort of object is
      described by this record; types thus far are:
        Ad (advertisement or marketing materials)
        Article (magazine article or photocopy thereof)
        Book (includes manuals)
        HW (hardware)
        LST (listing)
        Papers
        Part
        Periodical (really should be "serial")
        Pkg (package - generally packaging material or a complete
             boxed package)
        Refcard
        Supplies
        SW (software)
Title: title or brief description of object
Author: the author
Manufacturer: the manufacturer or publisher of the object.
Manufacture Date: manufacture or publishing date
ISBN: ISBN number
LCCN: Library of Congress Catalog Number
Model: model name/number
Part Number: manufacturer's part number
Version: version
Volume#Number: Volume#number for serials
Serial: manufacturer's serial number
Acquisition Date: date when I got it
Source: where I got it from
Location: where it is now (box ID or shelf location)
Home Location: where it normally lives
ToDo: flag: does this need work? (see notes)
Notes: free-form text notes, containing additional description,
       relationship to other items, work that needs to be done

Dates are actually text fields, because most database software
has really Procrustean date handling that wants to make everything
fit its idea of a datestamp. The syntax I use goes like this:

     yyyy[/mm[/dd]][~]

where [] surrounds optional text, yyyy is year, mm is month, dd
is day-of-month, and ~ means "approximate".

People's names are always in "Last, First" format.

...

I say the schema is "something like this" because it is changing,
again. I'm fooling around with New Software, actually several New
Softwares that are all several-years-old dBase-alikes that run on my
HP200LX palmtop. Prior to that it's been through several iterations,
most of which are still there because I haven't re-inventoried stuff,
done with Lotus 1-2-3 (one row per item) and the HP 100/200LX ROM'd
database software (which has a limit of 5000 records per database that
is past being a looming problem, hence me looking for new software).
And yes, some of the ways I do things (like having only one note field)
is due to architectural limitations of the previous software.

...

Oh yeah, and how do I label boxes? Well, I use those hinged-lid
plastic containers that you can get at Costco. They're sort of
transparent, so I just write the box numbers on 5x8" index cards with
a broad felt-tip marker and drop them in so I can see them through
the sides. No worries about labels falling off.

-Frank McConnell
Received on Sat Jun 27 1998 - 00:20:54 BST