What Quartermaster Software Can Do and How to Find the Right One

By The MCM Team

“If I had this tool earlier, that problem would never have lasted as long as it did.”
True story relayed to us at a recent tradeshow — names and details are changed: Alicia’s EMT company services four counties with multiple emergency vehicles. One of her more frequent re-order items was the portable AED. This was frustrating because they are not cheap, however, given the stressful situations in which they are used she understood there could be some loss. Plus, the company historically experienced small equipment losses since long before she got there. When Alicia’s teammate wanted to buy a personal AED for his own car, he found one on an online marketplace. To his surprise, the seller was a familiar face — selling a familiar AED. Turns out, this driver had rotated through different vehicles and routes stealing equipment and selling it. “If I had this tool earlier, that problem would never have lasted as long as it did.”

Quartermaster software helps public safety and government agencies manage, assign, distribute and track all their serialized assets and consumable inventory.
Effectively and efficiently distributing, tracking and maintaining equipment and supplies is difficult for organizations who manage many types of assets and inventories for multiple users in multiple spaces. These organizations have the most to gain from a quality quartermaster software.

While it’s still a small niche, there are a handful of solutions to choose from, and some are better than others. Below are the most important features that the best quartermaster solutions provide. See which features are most important to you, then use that as a checklist when considering your options.

Key Quartermaster Software Features

• A n accurate and robust asset and inventory management system that tracks equipment from purchase to disposal, ensuring items are accounted for throughout their lifecycle and notifying team members when inventory is low
• A user-friendly request/fulfillment system that allows users to request and fulfill all the serialized assets and consumable inventory they need in a single transaction
• Configurable user access levels to customize levels of access across different user groups, from basic review privileges to full admin rights, as well as customized views of what assets and inventory can be requested for their role/department/specialty
• An easy check-in/check-out process that tracks equipment and supplies issued to individuals, departments and locations, ensuring accountability and reducing loss
• Maintenance management tools to track, schedule, and record proactive and reactive service, reducing equipment downtime, or worse, in-the-field failure
• Scanning technology such as barcode reading to facilitate quick issuance, returns, and audits
• Notifications and automated workflows to reduce workloads for both the requestor and the fulfiller
• A full historical record maintained for all assets, inventory, users and locations, as well as complete change histories
• Intuitive, attractive interface that is straight-forward, welcoming and easy to use regardless of your team’s tech savviness
• System integrations to further streamline and automate functions in cooperation with your other software tools
• Reports, dashboards and filterable data to help analyze item details, usage, history, personnel, budgeting, and more for data-driven decisions and planning
• Accessible training and support from real people working at the actual company developing the software rather than outsourcing it
• Adaptability and scalability to meet your organization’s current unique needs and to be able to adjust and evolve with your organization without losing meaningful data

Benefits of Using a Quartermaster Software

Here are the most-commonly stated benefits you want to be sure your solution provides:

• Increased efficiency: less time spent manually record-keeping, reduced redundancies, streamlined distribution processes and quick access to data
• Increased accuracy: standardized data, elimination of duplicate info, and complete change histories to minimize or eliminate data errors
• Cost savings: prevent loss, avoid premature replacements, and minimize costly breakdowns by tracking lifecycles and maintenance
• Transparency + accountability: identify patterns of heavy use, faulty equipment, loss or misuse with detailed issuance and return logs
• Informed future planning: plan purchases and budgets more effectively with insights based on actual historical data
• Bonus! fixing problems you didn’t know you had: a robust quartermaster software adds accountability across the board which can reveal and address hidden issues

You’re Ready to Begin Your Search

For agencies managing mission-critical items, quartermaster software is not just helpful, it’s essential. Here’s how you can begin your search.

1. Make a list of your biggest challenges you want to fix with a quartermaster solution. It’s important to keep in mind why you started this journey so you end up with a solution to meet your needs, not just the one someone wanted to sell you.
2. Make a list of all the features you want your software to include. You can use the bullets at the top as a checklist.
3. Talk to your peers to see what they’re using and what they think of it.
4. Research online. Start by looking for quartermaster software that specializes in your industry.
5. Select at least 3 software candidates and request personal demos.
6. During the demo: (1) Share your challenges you captured in number 1, and see how their solution would solve your problems. (2) Use the checklist you created from the bullets at the top to make sure the solution includes all the features important to you. Add other important features you learn about to your list. (3) Confirm that you’ll be able to communicate with the software engineers before finalizing the purchase. They are your allies in making sure it can do what you need. If the company provider doesn’t allow communication between customers and software engineers, keep looking.

While there may be a small number of providers in this niche, there are certainly excellent options, depending on your unique needs. Happy hunting and best of luck!

Still have questions? The MCM team would be happy to speak with you about your quartermaster needs.