THE CHALLENGE
Extending Asset Management Beyond IT
As the Technology Operations Manager at Pioneer Central Schools, Ed Hausauer leads a ten‑person IT team managing nearly 17,000 technology assets across the district. In recent years, his team has faced a new challenge: requests from other departments struggling with inventory management. This revealed a broader need for streamlined inventory management for schools that could support materials owned by teams outside of IT.
The music department needed a way to track instruments across schools. Operations sought a system to manage thousands of non-serialized building keys, while the special education department required a centralized tool to track equipment purchases, usage, and funding sources. Each department operated independently, relying on outdated or different tools that led to visibility gaps, data inaccuracies, and a surge in out-of-scope support requests that stretched IT resources.
“We’re not the best team to manage music department inventory or thousands of keys for the district. But we wanted to give them a system that still had visibility and structure,” Hausauer said. “Each team knows their materials, where and how they are used or distributed.”
Already using iiQ Ticketing and iiQ Assets to manage technology operations, the IT team tried to fold other inventories into the system by creating new locations or limiting “agent” roles. However, they quickly ran into limitations with permissions, non‑serialized asset tracking, and check‑in and check‑out capabilities. As Hausauer put it, they were “trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.”
Pioneer wanted to empower each department to manage its own materials while maintaining districtwide consistency and transparency. Traditional asset systems were too rigid for non-serialized items and specialized department tools were too expensive or incompatible with existing workflows.
THE STRATEGY
A Flexible Solution with iiQ Resources
During a regular check-in with Incident IQ, Hausauer shared these challenges and learned about iiQ Resources, the newest solution to the Incident IQ suite of K‑12 products.
He saw a promising solution: “[ iiQ Resources] gave us exactly what we needed: a way to track unserialized items, hand off management to other departments, and still keep everything visible in Incident IQ.”
iiQ Resources provided the flexibility Pioneer needed to support multiple departments with different material types:
- Resource Groups would let districts assign asset management by department, budget, or other criteria so that teams gained autonomy over their inventories, while IT maintained complete visibility and governance across the system
- Support for non-serialized assets would expand tracking to include items like building keys and consumables.
- Check-in and check-out tools would make it easy to distribute and collect musical instruments and keys, improving accuracy and accountability.
These capabilities also supported Pioneer’s broader need for inventory management for schools as more departments looked to streamline how they tracked their materials.
With these flexible solutions in mind, Pioneer lived up to its name to become one of the first districts to implement iiQ Resources, beginning with the music department for the 2025‑2026 school year. Expansion plans are underway for operations and special education, where the system will streamline key management and track purchases tied to funding sources.
Hausauer’s team is taking a strategic, phased approach to build departmental ownership while maintaining IT oversight. Each departmental rollout will include training sessions, configuration tailored to the team’s needs, and their assigned resource groups.
“We build it, we support the setup, and then we hand it off,” Hausauer explained. “They manage it from there, but we’re still here if they have questions.”
This collaborative structure mirrors how Pioneer runs its IT operations: distributed accountability with centralized support. Hausauer’s leadership has ensured that this isn’t just a new software deployment; it is about empowering departments to manage their own resources responsibly, with IT as a supportive partner rather than a gatekeeper.
OUTCOME / IMPLEMENTATION
How Pioneer is Empowering Departments While Retaining Oversight
Though implementation is ongoing across the district, Pioneer is beginning to see the benefits: iiQ Resources has given the district a flexible, scalable system that extends far beyond traditional IT asset management. This shift is also strengthening inventory management for schools across the district by giving each department clearer visibility and consistency.
For the music department, tracking instruments is now accurate and transparent without workarounds or forcing the team to “fake” locations in the IT system. The operations team uses the platform to manage the tracking, distribution, and collection of thousands of keys. And, the Special Education department now has a centralized view of equipment purchases, funding sources, and audit requirements in one place with iiQ Resources. While Pioneer used to run into challenges with annual audits, Ed shares: “Now, we’re setting them up to succeed.”
The implementation has also strengthened morale and interdepartmental trust. “It lets the people who know the materials best manage them,” Ed explained. “IT doesn’t have to own everything anymore.” By aligning around a shared system and familiar workflows, Pioneer has improved collaboration across departments while easing the IT team’s workload.
As Pioneer continues its rollout through the rest of the 2025-2026 school year, the district is setting a precedent for how schools can use iiQ Resources to bridge departmental silos, empower teams, and strengthen operational efficiency. “We’re still learning,” Ed acknowledged, “but as we complete the rollout, the biggest impact is yet to come.”
Incident IQ will continue to follow Pioneer’s journey as it completes its first full school year with iiQ Resources. Stay tuned for a future update on their districtwide rollout.
To learn more about how Incident IQ can help your school district thrive, schedule your free demo today.