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Up-to-date equipment data supporting the technical operations of Helsinki City Theatre

"Trail’s functionalities were superior compared to the competition" says Henri Sneck, Technical Manager at Helsinki City Theatre.

The largest professional theater in Finland, the Helsinki City Theater creates unforgettable theater productions on five different stages around Helsinki. Approximately 240 theater professionals create approximately 1,000 performances every year.

The technical operations of large-scale theatre productions and simultaneous shows require precise planning and process know-how. Up-to-date and reliable equipment information is an essential factor in the theatre’s technical production.

What does the Helsinki City Theater use Trail for?

Technical Manager Henri Sneck notes that before the introduction of Trail, information about existing equipment was fragmented and unreliable. Now, equipment details, including purchase information, are easily accessible. For example, vendor details, purchase dates, prices, and warranty periods can be retrieved in seconds. Trail’s investment planning feature has significantly improved the process of planning future equipment purchases.

With Trail, equipment status is always up-to-date, providing reliable information on location, condition, maintenance status, and availability—all crucial for planning technical production for upcoming shows. Sneck also highlights the "device audited" functionality, calling it a "handy feature that conveniently confirms the device's location information."

Trail’s maintenance management module is essential for overseeing and ensuring equipment compliance. User manuals for lifting aids and devices, inspection protocols, and other device-specific information are readily available in the item cards. The asset reservation feature in Trail further ensures equipment availability at the specified time.

Achieved benefits:

• Up-to-date information on equipment condition, availability, and location is readily accessible

• Enhanced visibility into equipment purchase details

• More informed investment planning with detailed equipment data

• Equipment compliance guaranteed through Trail’s maintenance management

Detailed overall picture of the equipment usage

“Trail is very easy and simple to use. We have been very satisfied with it" states Juha Hirvonen, Sound production unit, Riveria

Riveria is one of the largest vocational education and training providers in Finland. Each year, 17,000 students study at Riveria, which offers over 130 different degrees.

In the media and communications department, students use AV equipment owned by the institution daily for various projects. Managing equipment usage and reservations was very time-consuming and challenging without an adequate system.

The sound production unit was the first to adopt Trail at Riveria. Previously, the unit used paper forms to track equipment reservations, which were unreliable and frequently outdated. Much time was spent searching for equipment and reservation information.

AssetOps improves monitoring and saves time

With the AssetOps culture enabled by Trail, the sound production unit has significantly improved its equipment management. Thanks to Trail's reservation feature, students can book devices anytime and from anywhere via a web-based interface. As a result, the overall view of equipment reservations is continuously updated, making it easy to monitor equipment usage.

Trail also helps Riveria ensure that equipment is returned to its proper place after a student’s reservation ends. With booking history readily available, locating equipment has become faster. Since introducing Trail, no equipment has been lost, and the time spent searching for equipment has been significantly reduced.

Building on the positive experiences of the sound production unit, Trail's use at Riveria has expanded. Today, the Radio and TV, Photography, and Graphic Design units also manage their equipment with Trail.

Achieved benefits:

• Reduction of time spent searching for equipment

• Reduced equipment loss

• Easily available devices

• Improved tracking of equipment reservations and returns

The British Museum relies on Trail in AV equipment management

The British Museum in London is perhaps the most famous museum in the world. Its permanent collection is one of the largest, and it was the first public national museum in history.

It is also one of the largest museums in the world, covering over 92,000 m² of area, including 21,600 m² of on-site storage space and 9,400 m² of off-site storage space.

Since 1753, the British Museum has educated and fascinated countless people worldwide. In recent years, presentation technology and AV equipment have become increasingly important in creating unforgettable exhibitions. Managing the AV technology in such an enormous facility requires strict processes and a reliable equipment management system.

The British Museum implemented Trail in 2021 to manage its AV and presentation technology. We interviewed the museum’s A/V Team Lead, Clark Henry-Brown, who was kind enough to share his experiences.

Mr. Henry-Brown, could you tell us what you do at the British Museum?

"The AV team manages multiple exhibitions, conferences and building systems across the British Museum. I manage the team and resources to ensure we consistently meet the highest standards for AV excellence throughout the museum."

What were your main equipment management challenges before you implemented Trail?

"The AV department at the museum is responsible for a vast inventory of AV resources, ranging from projectors and screens to portable sound systems across various store rooms in the museum.

With the AV team managing multiple exhibitions, conferences, and building systems simultaneously, keeping track of these resources museum-wide was a challenging task on a day-to-day basis. Often losing track of where AV equipment was, and not having a notable inventory or what equipment was available for future events and exhibitions was a common occurrence.

Moreover, having AV in multiple galleries across the museum, there was no way in noting maintenance schedules or logging technical faults - meaning that any reported issues were easily forgotten."

What is the main use of Trail at the British Museum?

"Trail works fantastically as a multi-faceted asset management system for the AV team at the museum. From a management perspective, it allows us to budget appropriately when a piece of kit is approach it’s expected lifetime - with such a vast inventory it was previously very hard to keep track of everything. Within the team, AV techs can use the system to reserve equipment for upcoming events and exhibitions they may be working on."

What made you choose Trail as your equipment management solution?

"Having previously used various asset management systems, Trail had stood out as an intuitive and easy to use interface. Most importantly, the Trail team were very helpful and eager to customise our Trail site to suit our fairly diverse needs specifically."

What are the most important benefits Trail brings you?

"As a project management tool, Trail makes my job much easier. The exhibitions calendar is planned years in advance, with earmarking of equipment for multiple exhibitions starting as early as a year before. Keeping track of what equipment is available, becomes hugely laborious within a spreadsheet and the hours of work it has saved using Trail to do this is priceless."

What best practices of equipment management in your field you would like to share?

"Being web-based means you can run Trail from virtually any device. We plan to use Raspberry Pi as an inexpensive way to have scanning stations across our multiple stock rooms."

Anything else you would like to add?

"The team at Trail are one of the happiest support teams I’ve had the pleasure of working with!"

Achieved benefits:

• Improved visibility in equipment and its locations

• Budget equipment purchases better than before by utilizing the life-cycle data in Trail

• Plan equipment usage better in the upcoming exhibitions and events with Trail’s equipment reservations

• An intuitive and user-friendly user interface makes day-to-day work easier

Effective solution for tracking equipment reservations

Pop & Jazz Conservatory is one of the most revered music schools specialising in rhythm music in Europe.

In many conservatories and music schools, students and staff frequently use the institution's equipment. The Pop & Jazz Conservatoire in Finland is no exception. They offer music education to people of all ages, and students frequently borrow a significant amount of equipment.

For Ossi Pelttari at the Pop & Jazz Conservatoire, managing equipment reservations had become a burden. “It was difficult to keep track of who was using what and whether everything had been returned,” Pelttari explains. Paper lists and Excel sheets did not provide adequate control, and equipment loss was a significant problem.

“We knew that our partner school, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, was using the Trail equipment management system for their equipment and reservations, and they were very satisfied with it. So, we decided to explore Trail as well,” Pelttari continues. “We have labeled our equipment with Trail asset tags and now have an effective system for managing it.”

“Trail allows us to easily make reservations and scan equipment out on those reservations, giving us better control over our assets,” states Pelttari. “Now that we use Trail, we have a clearer understanding of which equipment people currently have. Equipment loss has decreased, and we spend less time searching for equipment and reservation information. Of course, the system’s benefits depend on how actively people use it,” Pelttari continues. “Trail also provides the Pop & Jazz Conservatoire with better control over equipment maintenance. People now have an easy way to report defects,” Pelttari adds. “And we finally have a clear view of what we actually have and where everything is.”

Achieved benefits:

• An improved process for equipment reservations

• Decreased equipment loss

• An intuitive system and efficiency with having all information available in Trail

• A comprehensive view of all equipment and its lifecycle

• An easy method for reporting defects allows faster repair times

Rescue services supported by Trail

Rescue services for Central Finland use Trail to manage their rescue equipment. Trail provides a reliable system to log maintenance activities and ensure the usability of critical equipment and vehicles used in rescue missions.

Trail supports the management of rescue service equipment by providing reliable and timely information, which is crucial for supporting rescue operations. In rescue services, the most important factor is ensuring that all equipment dispatched on missions is properly maintained and available.

Defect reports are used in the field whenever equipment fails during a mission. These reports utilise equipment information such as location, purchase price, maintenance history, user and maintenance manuals, and remaining lifetime, all of which are included in the defect report.

Trail enables the systematic management of preventive maintenance activities for rescue services. The equipment used in rescue missions must be maintained frequently and cannot fail during use. Maintenance notifications play a critical role in ensuring the serviceability of all rescue equipment. Trail also facilitates smooth information flow and data visibility for everyone who needs it.

Achieved benefits:

• Equipment continuously in good serviceable condition

• Ensured user safety in all operations

• Full transparency into equipment status

• Increased efficiency in equipment-related operations

• Mobile access to information in the field

• Improved usability of the equipment management system