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City accountant saves time and money with automated disc management system
Lost discs don't have to be “a fact of life” as chartered accounting firm BKR Rosenbergs recently discovered when it installed an Imation Disc Stakka.
Based in Queen Street, Melbourne, with more than 35 employees, BKR Rosenbergs is an independent member of BKR International and BKR Walker Wayland National Association Inc.
Justin Kelly, the company's IT manager, is responsible for the safe storage and management of BKR Rosenbergs' entire complement of CDs, which contain proprietary software and data files.
“The range of software we use across all levels of the business is vitally important. A day doesn't go by when I have to locate a software CD and use it on one of our PCs,” said Kelly.
“We've got hundreds of CDs and finding the one I wanted often took 15 to 20 minutes each time. Now, with the Imation Disc Stakka, it only takes a few seconds.”
The Imation Disc Stakka holds up to one hundred 12 cm discs, such as CDs and DVDs, and is linked to a PC or Mac computer via a single USB connection supplying both power and data. Units can be stacked up to five high to create a tower that holds 500 discs without needing additional cables or desk space. The system can be expanded so that more than 50,000 discs are managed from the one computer.
Until recently, Kelly's method of storing CDs involved keeping the CDs in their hard plastic cases or in soft plastic covers and placing them, not in any particular order, in CD holders and wallets. They would then be placed in a cupboard, where anyone could gain access to them.
The new disc management system implemented at BKR Rosenbergs has seen existing discs added to the Disc Stakka unit, taking advantage of the OpdiTracker software that automatically updates a database as new CDs are added.
The intuitive OpdiTracker database and search engine work by automatically recognising that a new CD or DVD has been inserted into the computer. It gives the user the option to add a title, comments and capture the disc's contents in the database.
“Retrieving a CD from the unit is so easy,” said Kelly. “I just go to Windows Explorer and click through to find the disc or file I want. I double click on it, and out pops the required disc from the unit that is sitting on my desk.”
The database of stored discs can be searched by title, keyword, directory or file name.
“A useful feature of the system is that it can provide me with a report on every disc title on the database, identifying the ones in the unit and those that have been ejected,” he said.
“This is an excellent record because when I file the software CDs, I also include the serial numbers, so this extra information is at my fingertips should it be needed.
“Not only is it saving me so much time in looking for discs, but they are kept in a secure environment and can't get damaged in storage. It is a very handy and useful little unit,” he added.
The OpdiTracker software also provides a password protection system, which enables users to control access to each Disc Stakka unit and allows users to record the name of the person who borrows a disc.
To further enhance Disc Stakka's functionality, optional OpdiTracker Pro software provides additional search criteria, password protection for individual discs and advanced reporting capabilities.