From: Professor M.X. Huang, Head of Department
To: All academic Staff, GO Staff, Technical Staff,
Administration Assistant, Engineering Manager
Re: Inventory Administration
This document details the practices on administrating inventory items in the Department and contains the following sections:
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1. Departmental Inventory System (DIS)
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The practices rely much on the DIS of the Financial & Enterprises Office (FEO). Based on their purchased values, inventory items are categorized into Fixed Asset (FA, value > $15k), Small Asset (SA, $15k > value > $5k) and Other Asset (OA, value < $5k) items. Not all low value items would be recorded. However, AV and other attractive items such as mobile communication device, laptop/tablet computer, printer, scanner, monitor, and camera are often recorded into DIS by FEO.
In DIS, there are four types of access rights (roles) which are Administrator, Approver, Super User and General User. It is possible to assign a staff with multiple types of access rights.
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The HoD and the Administrative Assistant hold the Administrator right which allows them to change the user rights of other staff.
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Ms. Cobe CHONG is inventory manager of the department for A02 (computer and computer-related) items and non-A02 items. She is assigned with the Approver right which allows her to propose disposal of inventory items, approve disposal of non-A02 OA items, etc.
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All technical staff and Edward Lam are inventory keepers. They are assigned with the Super User right which allows them to update some of the fields in DIS.
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All academic staff are assigned with the General User right which allows them to enquire our inventory.
The searchable fields which can be changed/updated by inventory keepers in the DIS include Dept Item No, Dept Analysis Fields and Dept Remarks Fields. Among them, the most crucial one is the Dept Item No.
2. Departmental Inventory Number (DIN)
It is the responsible of the inventory keeper to assign a valid DIN for the item kept by him/her. A valid DIN should start with a location code such as CBLGx, HWx and YPx where x denotes room number. The following table lists the DIN and the inventory keeper for each departmental premise.
3. Items Loaned to ME Staff and ME RPG Students
Items loaned for less than three months are considered to be short-term loan. Borrower should complete the Short-term Loan Form (http://me.hku.hk/eform/igshortloanme.docx) with all necessary signature and filed by the inventory keeper. This loan record should renew after three months. Items recorded in this form is not limited to those DIS.
4. Computer and Monitor loaned to Research Staff/ RPG Students
Computer and monitor assigned to research staff and RPGs are considered to be loaned-out items. Inventory keeper should make sure the PC&Mon Loan Form (http://me.hku.hk/eform/igpcandmonloan.docx) is duly completed before these computers and monitors are hand over to the borrower. These computers and monitors should be locked properly after setting up in offices or in laboratories. This loan record should be updated every two years.
5. Items Regularly Kept by Academic Staff
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Items regularly kept by academic staff are considered to be loaned items and the standard ME Loan Form (http://me.hku.hk/eform/igloanrecme.docx) for this purpose should be filed by the inventory keeper and signed by the academic staff. Keeping of departmental equipment items at home/outside campus premises is not recommended by Finance & Enterprise Office. This load record should be updated every two years or on demand. The arrangement must also be reflected in the DIN as listed below:
in which the bracketed technical staff is the inventory keeper for the preceding academic staff. The bracket as well as its content is not part of the DIN. The original copy of the loan form should be kept by the responsible technical staff. A soft copy of the form should be uploaded to the destinated workspace folder for record. Mentioned by the internal audit office in December 2018, keeping of departmental equipment items at home/outside campus premises is not recommended.
6. Items Loaned to non-HKUME Personnel
The standard Non-ME Loan Form (http://me.hku.hk/eform/igloanrecnonme.docx) for this purpose should be filed by the inventory keeper and signed by the staff-in-charge. Approval from the HoD is also required if the borrower is a non-HKU personnel. Inventory keeper should not loan any item to students from other HKU department. The loan record should be updated within the loan period.
7. Duties of the Inventory Manager
Within the first half of each alternate month,
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download and archive Record Details of all inventory items, including furniture
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identify the items without DIN; inform the inventory keeper(s) to enter a valid DIN for the new item(s); for incorrect item record, contact FEO for rectification
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check for each item with a DIN whether the DIN matches with the last modified person according to the pairing in Section 2; if not, seek way to match them
Other duties:
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to ensure that all new items are assigned with valid DINs within TWO months
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to propose and coordinate disposals upon request of the technical/academic staff (see Section 11)
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to scan and email to all technical staff the approved list of disposal items from FEO (for non-A02 items) and Computer Centre (for A02 items)
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to file the afore-mentioned approved list of disposal items
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to inform the relevant inventory keeper(s) with the names of the departing staff received from the General Office (see Section 10)
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to coordinate the biennial inventory check(see Section 9)
8. Duties of the Inventory Keeper
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to, after noticed by the Inventory Manager, assign a valid DIN and supplement the item record with make (brand name), model no. and serial no., if necessary.
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to arrange barcode labels (mandatory) and ME inventory labels (optional, see here)
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to ensure items are disposed by following the proper procedure (see Section 11)
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to keep the log book and loan records on loaned items.
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to check the loan items physcially annually and renew the loan form annually
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to report cases of stolen/lost/unfound items to the staff-in-charge as soon as possible
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to conduct the inventory clearance for departing staff/students
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to conduct the biennial inventory check(see Section 9)
9. Biennial Inventory Check
Inventory keepers are required to conduct inventory checking every two years, which is to confirm the locations of inventory items. Inventory keepers are also required to perform cross-checking about 10% of the inventory items among each other in this exercise.
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10. Inventory Clearance for Departing Staff/Students
Inventory clearance must be conducted before staff/students leave the Department. The General Office would give the list of departing staff to the Inventory Manager on a monthly basis.
11. Disposal of Inventory Items
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Disposal of all A02 (FA, SA and OA) items, whose value is over $30,000 each and over 5 years old, must be approved by ITS & FEO.
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Disposal of non-A02 FA and SA items must be approved by FEO.
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Disposal of non-A02 OA items can be done directly by the Department. However, For AV and other attractive items, proper records showing methods and reasons of disposal should be retained for no less than two years (including the current financial year) for audit purposes.
Technical staff should duly-complete the Blank collection form. Please consult the inventory manager to ensure the procedure is excuted in accordance with the latest practise in Departmental Financial Administration.
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12. Disposal of Items which cannot be located in DIS
Technical staff should duly-complete the Blank disposal form and submit to the premise supervisor and HoD for endorsement. Please consult the inventory manager to ensure that the latest practice in Departmental Financial Administration is followed.
13. Old Computers and Computer-related Items
To keep computers & computer-related items (A01: Audio Visual and A02: Computer & Related) which are over 8years, Inventory keeper should declare the reason in "REMARK 2" of the pertinent DIS record with:
either [yyyy] driver for other equipment,
or [yyyy] loaned to academic staff,
or [yyyy] state your reason,
where [yyyy] is the year when the declaration is made. Otherwise, please obsolete them asap to clear the space.
14. Lost of Inventory Items
In the case that an inventory item is lost or found missing, the responsible inventory keeper should contact the inventory manager and Engineering Manager immediately. A lost report should be submitted to HoD within fourteen days of the incident. In the case of suspected theft, the staff/Department should also report to the Hong Kong Police immediately.
Revised in July 2022.