Overview

A premier national museum and research complex responsible for preserving cultural heritage, historical artifacts, and educational collections required a more efficient way to manage inventory and material operations across multiple facilities.

Within its Facilities Management and Reliability division, teams oversee custodial services, building engineering, recycling operations, and emergency maintenance activities across high-traffic public facilities. As inventory demands increased, existing manual processes limited visibility, accountability, and operational efficiency.

To modernize inventory management while adhering to strict institutional security requirements, the organization partnered with Tollanis Solutions to design and deploy a standalone Smartsheet-based inventory management platform.

A Challenge Rooted in Visibility and Operational Control

Managing consumables and maintenance materials across a large, multi-building environment presented several operational challenges.

The organization relied heavily on manual inventory tracking processes that created fragmented data sources and delayed reporting. Supervisors lacked immediate visibility into stock levels, making it difficult to make informed purchasing and operational decisions.

Additional challenges included:

• Manual inventory tracking across multiple facilities
• Disconnected spreadsheets and localized data silos
• Limited visibility into current inventory levels
• Frequent risk of material shortages
• Inefficient shift handoffs between operational teams
• Difficulty maintaining audit-ready inventory records
• Strict IT policies prohibiting external integrations, APIs, and third-party databases

Without a centralized inventory ecosystem, maintaining accurate inventory records and operational accountability became increasingly difficult.

Tollanis Brings Structure, Visibility, and Accountability

Tollanis designed and deployed a secure, standalone Smartsheet Inventory Management Platform built specifically to operate within the institution's security constraints.

Unified Inventory Visibility

A centralized inventory repository was established to serve as a single source of truth across participating facilities.

Key capabilities included:

• Centralized inventory records
• Automated transaction logging
• Inventory movement tracking
• Real-time inventory visibility

The platform eliminated fragmented inventory records and provided supervisors with a consistent operational view across locations.

Mobile Barcode Scanning

To simplify inventory management for frontline teams, Tollanis implemented a barcode-enabled workflow using native Smartsheet mobile functionality.

Key enhancements included:

• Code 128 barcode support
• Real-time mobile scanning
• Immediate inventory updates
• Reduced manual entry requirements

Operational teams could quickly record inventory transactions directly from the field.

Multi-Line Inventory Processing

Custom intake and checkout forms were developed to streamline inventory transactions.

The solution enabled:

• Multiple inventory items per submission
• Automated quantity calculations
• Standardized data collection
• Reduced processing complexity

This significantly improved efficiency for teams managing high volumes of recurring consumables.

Governance and User Accountability

To strengthen operational control, Tollanis implemented secure user authentication and role-based permissions.

Capabilities included:

• Mandatory user identification
• Activity-based reporting
• Role-based access controls
• Comprehensive transaction history

Every inventory action could be traced to a specific user, creating a transparent and accountable operational framework.

Proactive Inventory Monitoring

The platform continuously monitors inventory levels against predefined thresholds.

When quantities fall below designated par levels, automated alerts are generated and routed to inventory managers for immediate action.

This proactive approach helps ensure inventory availability while supporting more informed procurement planning.

The Results: Improved Visibility, Accountability, and Inventory Control

The solution was delivered as a fixed-price engagement within a four-week implementation timeline and introduced a measurable improvement in how inventory activity is captured, monitored, and reported.

100% Security Compliance

The platform was designed to operate entirely within the Smartsheet ecosystem, without reliance on external APIs, third-party databases, or external system connectors. This allowed the solution to align with strict institutional technology and security requirements while still delivering a centralized inventory operating model.

100% Transaction-Level Accountability

All inventory intake, checkout, and adjustment activity is captured through a centralized transaction log. Each transaction records key details such as user, timestamp, action type, item barcode, quantity, building, location, and validation status, creating a clear audit trail for inventory movement.

Real-Time Inventory Visibility

Supervisors and managers have a consistent view of current stock levels, inventory movement, recent activity, and material consumption trends across participating facility areas.

Automated Low-Stock Monitoring

Automated threshold-based monitoring helps identify low-stock or no-stock conditions without requiring manual spreadsheet checks. Inventory managers receive alerts when tracked items fall below defined replenishment thresholds, enabling more proactive restocking decisions.

Data-Driven Procurement Planning

Operational dashboards provide visibility into inventory usage trends, helping leadership make more informed purchasing decisions and support procurement planning with historical consumption data.

Complete Ownership Transfer

Tollanis delivered a full knowledge transfer package, including administrative documentation, training materials, and system ownership handoff, enabling internal teams to independently manage and scale the solution.

The Bottom Line

By partnering with Tollanis, the organization transformed inventory management from a fragmented, manually intensive process into a centralized, barcode-enabled operational platform.

The new solution delivers secure inventory visibility, automated monitoring, stronger accountability, and audit-ready transaction tracking—all while complying with stringent institutional security requirements.

With centralized oversight, proactive inventory controls, and complete operational transparency, the organization is now better equipped to support facility operations efficiently and at scale.