How do researchers find equipment and facilities for their research projects? And how do institutions keep track of their assets? In this session, we will demonstrate how you can use and contribute to the national equipment portal equipment.data.ac.uk; and how you can set up and use an open source local database to store and record your assets, such as via Kit Catalogue.

1. Making the most of your research
equipment and facilities
How to use the national equipment portal

2. In this session
»The management of equipment and facilities
»Two workflow examples: Cambridge and Strathclyde
»Kit catalogue – a tailored database to manage your equipment,
being piloted as a potential Jisc service
»University of Southampton and how the national portal
equipment.data works
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3. Key facts
»Wakeham and Diamond reviews – cost savings and efficiencies
from sharing equipment
»EPSRC – publish equipment over OJEU threshold
»HEFCE and BIS – push for metrics to support increased sharing
and realising efficiencies
»Universities – house cleaning benefits
So what is the technical approach to sharing?
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4. The workflow
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5. Case studies
Cambridge University Strathclyde University
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Asset register
ORACLE based database lists
all equipment >£10k and
newer than 2006
SES regional database
Asset register
PURE – current
research information
system
ULAB – equipment
booking system

6. Kit catalogue
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7. Kit Catalogue
See jisc.ac.uk/research/projects/equipment-sharing
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8. Kit catalogue
See jisc.ac.uk/research/projects/equipment-sharing
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9. Kit Catalogue
Pilot institutions
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10. Asset management lifecycle review
University of Southampton use case
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11. University of Southampton asset workflow
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12. University of Southampton
“Research equipment asset lifecycle” staff guide
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14. equipment.data –
“The national research equipment portal”
» Linked open data approach enables
low entry requirement
» Simple keyword and distance
based searches
» Automatically generates institutional
search page to share with your
colleagues
» Data and technology is exploited by
wider developments e.g. NCUB
“Konfer” intelligent brokerage tool 12,115 items from 45 organisations
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15. equipment.data - Discovered datasets
»12,115 items from
45 organisations
»Typically valued
at £20K or above
Dataset providers
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16. equipment.data - Discovered datasets
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17. equipment.data
»What do you need to contribute?
› Published facilities and equipment data
http://equipment.data.ac.uk/uniquip
› An Organisation Profile Document (OPD)
http://opd.data.ac.uk
› Embedded link in you home page header
http://opd.data.ac.uk/docs/auto
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18. jisc.ac.uk
Questions?
Daniela Duca, Jisc
Martin Hamilton, Jisc
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Adrian Cox, University of Southampton