If you've ever spent hours tracking down missing instruments, chasing overdue equipment rentals, or manually updating spreadsheets to know what's available in your music storeroom or sports equipment cage, you'll understand why we're so excited about the completely revamped Resources Module in Clipboard.
It’s the most significant update to Resources we've ever released, and it's designed to save you countless admin hours while giving you unprecedented visibility into every asset your school manages.
What is the Resources Module?
Before we dive into what's new, let's establish the basics. The Resources Module in Clipboard is your central database for tracking assets across your school. These could be musical instruments, sheet music and scores, sports equipment like balls and cones, AV equipment, drama costumes and props, or even library materials. Essentially, if it's something you need to track (where it is, who has it, whether it's available or needs maintenance), the Clipboard Resources Module handles it.
Why This Update Matters
We heard consistent feedback from schools along the lines of: "Clipboard has the right idea, but we need more flexibility. Every department is different, and we can't track the specific information we need." Fair point. No two schools manage their resources the same way, and even within a school, the music department's needs differ vastly from the requirements of other areas within the school.
That's exactly what this update addresses: total flexibility to track what matters to your school, your way.
Unlimited Customisation
A foundational element of what makes the new Resources Module so powerful is what we call Additional Fields (or Custom Fields). Think of these as the building blocks that make Clipboard adapt to your exact needs.
Here's how it works: as an admin user, you can browse a library of pre-built fields that we've created based on common tracking needs across schools. Want to track the composer and lyricist of your sheet music? The genre and grade level? Which locker an instrument is stored in? Simply select the fields you need from the library, and they're instantly available in your Resources database.
Can't find exactly what you need? No problem. You can request custom fields directly from our team, and we'll create them for your specific requirements. This isn't a rigid, one-size-fits-all system. It's genuinely flexible.
A Practical Example: Music Department
Let's say you're managing a music department with an extensive instrument hire programme and a substantial sheet music library. Here's how the new Resources Module transforms your workflow:
Setting Up Your View
When you open the Resources page, you'll see a sleek, condensed table of all your resources. But here's where it gets interesting: you can completely customise this view.
- Drag and drop columns to prioritise what matters most
- Resize columns to give more space to important information while shrinking less critical fields
- Add custom columns to track literally any fields you want, like composer, arranger, editor, artist, conductor, duration, genre, grade level…
- Reorder everything to match your workflow. The system remembers your preferences
For sheet music specifically, you might want to display composer and author right next to the title. Simply drag those columns into position, and Clipboard remembers this layout every time you return.
Finding What You Need, Fast
Clipboard’s Resources Search is comprehensive and intelligent:
- Universal search looks across every single field you’re tracking. Search for "Bach" and it'll find matches in composer, title, description, or any custom field
- Advanced filtering lets you drill down precisely. Want to see all Grade 1 sheet music in the Classical subcategory that's currently available in the music storeroom? Done in seconds
- Status filtering shows you what's available, on loan, in maintenance, or (crucially) overdue for return
That last one is a game-changer. Resources that are overdue appear with a subtle red highlight, making it immediately obvious which items need follow-up.
Managing Rentals and Invoices
The rental workflow is now seamless. When a student returns their hired violin, you simply click "Mark as Returned," confirm the date and condition, and you're done. Need to rent it out to another student? Select the student, set the return date, add the rental cost (if applicable), and generate an invoice. All from one screen.
Speaking of invoices, Clipboard pre-fills the invoice generation form with relevant details (student name, resource name, rental description), so you're not typing the same information repeatedly. For schools charging rental fees, this alone saves significant time.
Chasing Overdue Equipment
Here's a workflow that used to take forever: identifying all overdue instruments and contacting the families responsible. We’ve made this easy in the Clipboard Resources Module.
Maintenance Tracking
Beyond rentals, you can also maintain a complete maintenance history for each resource. When that saxophone needs repair, log the maintenance event with details about where it went, what was done, and the cost. This creates an audit trail for each piece of equipment, helping you make informed decisions about when to repair versus replace.
A Practical Example: Sport Department
The flexibility that serves music departments equally transforms sports equipment management, just with different priorities.
Equipment Categories
Set up your categories to match your needs: Ball Sports, Cricket, Athletics, Training Equipment. Within each category, create subcategories that make sense (e.g., under Ball Sports: footballs, basketballs, netballs).
Custom Fields for Sport
While music tracks things like composers and grade levels, sport might track:
- Equipment condition ratings
- Jersey numbers
- Size specifications
- Brands
Add exactly the fields your sport department needs from the library.
Managing Equipment Loans
Sports equipment often gets loaned to students, like sports jerseys and balls. The new rental log shows you:
- Who has what equipment/uniform
- When it's due back
- Whether it's overdue (with that helpful red highlight)
- The full history of loans for each item
Location Management
With multiple storage areas (main sports shed, gymnasium equipment room, athletics cage), location tracking becomes critical. The location field helps you answer the perennial question: "Where did we put those cricket stumps?"
Filter by location to quickly see everything in a specific storage area, making stocktakes straightforward and identifying misplaced equipment easy.
Rental Logs on Student and Staff Profiles
Resources aren't just tracked centrally. They're visible on individual profiles too. Click through to any student's profile, and you'll see a "Rentals" tab showing their complete rental history across all resource types. The same applies to staff members who borrow equipment.
Getting Started Today
If you're not currently using the Resources Module, there's no barrier to entry. Simply:
- Click "Resources" in your Clipboard sidebar
- Import your inventory
- Customise your fields and view
- Begin tracking loans, maintenance, and availability
Existing Clipboard schools can read about how to get started here.
Support When You Need It
We've created comprehensive help articles in our knowledge base to guide you through every aspect of the new Resources Module. Click the Help button in Clipboard or visit support.clipboard.app to access detailed documentation.
The Bigger Picture
The Resources Module exemplifies our broader philosophy at Clipboard: your extracurricular programme is unique, and your management system should adapt to you, not the other way around.
Whether you're managing 50 instruments or 5,000 pieces of equipment across multiple departments, the new Resources Module scales to your needs while remaining intuitive to use. It's the same principle we apply to Activity Selection, scheduling, and every other part of Clipboard: one place to manage everything, with information flowing seamlessly to the systems and people who need it.
What's Next?
We're not done. The Resources Module will continue evolving based on your feedback and needs. If there's functionality you'd love to see, we want to hear about it.
For now, we'd encourage you to explore what's already there. Set up those custom fields, create a view that works for your workflow, and experience how much easier resource management becomes when you have the right tools.
Because ultimately, the less time you spend tracking down equipment and chasing overdue items, the more time you can dedicate to what actually matters: running excellent extracurricular programmes that enrich your students' lives.
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