Linear Clinical Research is a renowned clinical trials facility operating out of Perth, Australia. Established in 2010 and rapidly growing since then, they have conducted over 350 clinical trials to date.
Currently employing over 260 employees, Linear is continuously working to raise the standards of excellence in phase I and II human clinical trials through accuracy and efficiency to achieve the highest quality of output for its clients.
Leaving the legacy system behind
As the company’s operations steadily expanded over the past 10 years, they realized that their fragmented asset tracking methods were becoming inefficient and could not keep pace with the company’s growth. They were using an asset register kept on SharePoint but as the operations expanded, the technical team identified that the implementation of a centralized, automated asset tracking software was critical.
Tracking IT, laboratory and clinical assets was becoming a labor-intensive and time-consuming process for Linear. They had to manually trace and consolidate data, along with manual tracking of every asset’s servicing schedule. In 2016, while the company was already deciding on moving their entire IT infrastructure to the cloud, they were seeking a way to manage this complex asset tracking on the cloud as well.
Scott Thompson, head of corporate operations at Linear, is responsible for IT and facility management, administration, and support. He did an exhaustive evaluation of EZOfficeInventory on a trial basis and decided that it was the perfect fit for their needs and could easily grow and scale with their organization.
Shifting to an automated centralized system
Linear uses a broad range of EZOfficeInventory functionalities and features to store and track asset data including its location, lifecycle, servicing schedules and more. The system enables them to securely track and streamlines asset data and propagates it to all the relevant users.
This means asset information is consolidated and available in one place and follows a consistent tracking and servicing model.
“Now whenever we need to know something about a certain asset, all the information is there.”, says Scott.
This is especially useful for professionals conducting clinical trials who require accurate, up-to date asset information at all times to facilitate and streamline their work. They are already tackling complex procedures and data collection and having all asset information available at a centralized platform means they can spend more time on research and conducting trials and less time tracking down equipment.
Here are the most notable features that helped Linear streamline their asset tracking, according to Scott.
Maintenance and Servicing
Linear’s critical assets include lab equipment, freezers, fridges, biological safety cabinets, ECG machines, vital signs machines along with their high-tech IT equipment. Therefore, one of the core features the company required was the ability to automate maintenance and servicing schedules.
With EZOfficeInventory, Linear can not only track the servicing history of a particular asset, but team members can also check the calendar for upcoming servicing events and add specific checklists to ensure that the job is being done properly.
The service date against an asset indicates when the service is due, and the system automatically generates an alert. This has helped streamline and automate schedules and ensured prolonged life cycles for lab equipment as they are reliably serviced, and special instructions are easy to incorporate.
Access Management
A major requirement was the ability to assign a unique ID to every asset so user access could be managed depending upon user role, relevance and access clearance. Now with EZOfficeInventory, Linear’s management team can split assets and users into groups according to their operational relevance.
During the time of onboarding, Linear used EZOfficeInventory to track just its laboratory assets but over time, they have expanded the use of asset management software to track its clinical and facility assets as well.
Being a clinical research center, being in compliance with data governance and security policies is paramount for Linear. Using EZOfficeInventory enables the management to implement the right controls regarding asset usage and give or revoke access permissions for specific individuals or teams.
Streamlined Check-in/Checkout
During the COVID-19 pandemic, while 80% of Linear’s workforce was working remotely, EZOfficeInventory’s quick and easy check-in/checkout feature proved to be incredibly useful especially while checking out the IT equipment. The management can assign the assets to specific users and only grant those individuals the access to check out the assigned items. According to Scott, the real time visibility into which assets are checked in and out, is especially useful for the organization.
Optimized Purchasing Decisions
EZOfficeInventory has also contributed to cost savings as Linear optimizes purchase decisions based on the information available within the system. Instead of adding a request to buy new equipment, users can just look into the software to see what they already have or can even borrow assets from other departments that are not currently in use. This means the company can get maximum use out of their existing assets and avoid over purchasing.
The Value in EZOfficeInventory
Linear Clinical Research needed a solution that could cater to the unique technology needs of a rapidly expanding clinical research company. The organization-wide visibility into the asset landscape, automated service, and lifecycle management has proven itself valuable for both the business and the end users. As Linear is growing exponentially, EZOfficeInventory will scale with the company’s growth so as to empower it with streamlined asset management.
