Smarthub Reviews

Pros

We've been using Smarthub since 2008 across our combined specialist media operations at Staffordshire University, encompassing several campuses. In that time, it's become ubiquitous across media resourcing within HE.
Our initial fact finding operation rated Smarthub comfortably the best tool for our end user requirements, and it's subsequently developed and grown to meet our emerging needs.
Smarthub represents the brain of a highly complex resourcing dynamic at our university and without it (and the capabilities of the team who administer it), we would be well and truly floored!
The fact that we've never once questioned moving away from Smarthub during the 16 years in which we've used it should speak volumes - it was our 'go-to' tool yesterday, is today, and all but certainly will be for years to come!

Cons

There's very little not to like about Smarthub, and even if gripes are identified, the team at Siso work extremely proactively to remedy them with the end user in mind.

Pros

The granularity of the system helps us to be confident that the assets are going out and coming back into the store in the right condition. The induction video feature with training that automatically applies following a questionnaire has been very valuable and I believe is quite unique to Smarthub.

Cons

Although improvements have been made, the UI is not as simple as we would like. Also, the check out functionality is not easy to navigate when you have more than one item to check out within the same family. Ideally, as someone at the front desk, you would want to be presented with Canon 5d x 10 (for example), rather than seeing Canon 5d ten times on the screen.

Pros

Scheduling Chart is considerably useful, helpful with planning the day ahead as I can see all of the studio bookings on one screen. The integrated Risk Assessments are excellent, which makes my job that much easier through the day.

Cons

The speed; it's incredibly (and, embarrassingly) slow. It feels like every week we encounter a period of no service due to a server going down or some other problem that means students cant login. Checking risk assessments, manage users, asset management, and adding photos to assets takes an unacceptably long time to do, and can be very frustrating when against time constraints.

Pros

It has drawn together so many of the separate systems that have been necessary for being able to deliver the courses and has increased turnover, accountability as well as portfolio management.

Cons

Some of the users were very resistant to change in old methods but this was overcome through perseverance and training.

Pros

very good at signing in and out equipment but it is slow and unresponsive most times when self hosting

Cons

not able to sign items out to rooms, just users
lots of different tabs to find what an asset has been doing rather than one comprehensive page which should show past present and future bookings, all asset details and users which you can click on to see what they have booked in the past

Pros

Multiple tabs of activity possible (Stores Desk, Asset Management etc) without crashing. Integration potential with necessary support materials such as Risk Assessments, although these need to be more fluid. Custom manage/edit booking criteria in the Manage Booking tab useful for upcoming/overdue counter activity. Streamlined fines system has been useful but frequent errors occur requiring additional work at the counter to remove and reset.

Cons

The system is unforgivably slow during the most basic and essential daily tasks we need it for- changing between pages, scanning assets, searching and creating bookings. As counter staff we have had to endure countless hours watching and waiting for the loading circle to finish and it has become a very vocal point of protest among the students we deal with on a daily basis. It is quite embarrassing having to wait at the counter in a room full of people expecting their equipment loans or returns all watching a circle going round and round for minutes at a time. The search feature is atrocious - if you type one keyword in the wrong order (it clearly functions by reading exclusively left to right with all info necessary in between as opposed to picking out keywords) the desired asset cannot be found. Searching between categories is again tedious and slow, particularly on the student facing Dashboard. We also now have a situation where particular rules have been put in place to prevent Siso overwriting or deleting timetabled bookings implemented by the Uni's timetabling system. When Siso was originally advertised to us, it's main selling point was the fact that the Uni timetabling system integrated perfectly with it. Now we have timetabled bookings that are imported in stages throughout the year, overwrite existing bookings and rules meaning we can't give out facility items unless it is within a 15 minute period of the booking starting as this will cause errors and faults with the timetabling system. It is a horrendous set of rules necessitated by two systems that do not speak to each other and leaves the capacity for human error and mistake as a very real possibility in causing massive issues with the bookings these systems are meant to streamline. There are also multiple tabs and pages within the system that are completely irrelevant to our daily operation and just clutter the overall user experience. On a daily operation front - any booking clashes and availability issues are not listed beyond a warning that assets 'are not available' without showing when and where the clash occurs. This should be a basic feature that is part of the system for both staff and students. Scheduling chart does not allow the quick editing of premade bookings for last minute alterations that are required on a frequent basis. As mentioned the most important aspect is the loading times which quite simply are not up to scratch for a modern booking system causing wait times for simple asset check ins and check outs extending to extreme lengths. Despite having enquired multiple times over these loading speeds we are yet to see any improvement since the system was first implemented. Additional small user issues include aspects such as the cursor/selection box de-selecting when attempting to scan assets and return times/renew times defaulting to 00:00 on any given date as opposed to refreshing to the current time or pre-agreed booking permission length. Again these should all be fairly straightforward to implement and programme. As counter facing staff we are also frequently questioned by students with complaints over their user experience, which is not fair considering our own daily tasks. While our team remains professional and sympathetic, there is no clear and defined reporting or feedback portal to Siso for students and they feel cut off from the process and their willingness to engage opinions for a better day to day user experience. A customer portal should be better implemented to user opinions and feedback can be submitted and acted upon.

Pros

Going away from paper forms and spreadsheets Smarthub manages everything in one place

Cons

It does take some time and training for both staff and student users to set up and use the system

Pros

Ease of use, ability to manage users, assets, rooms and locations. As well as issuing equipment.

Cons

Booking form customization and ability to embed booking forms for approval at the point of booking in a more effective manner.

Alternatives Considered

Matrix Booking

Reasons for Switching to Smarthub

Had been using it in my previous role and also had researched booking systems over 10 years ago and the approachability of Smarthub owners and staff was without fault

Pros

Centralised control of smarthub is a very useful feature, being able to arrange and organise all of our assets, inventory management and bookings all within one website makes it an almost essential tool for our loan store.

The customer service is also very highly rated, and the team is always quick to respond and resolve or attempt to resolve any issues.

Cons

A little more customisation could be a useful feature, being able to set up our own custom columns would help us with data tracking and number crunching.

Sometimes the performance seems to lag a bit, but this seems to have improved massively since reporting the issue to SISO

Pros

Smarthub provides a comprehensive selection of tools and functionality to meet the needs of any asset manager. Recent updates to improve user UI have enhanced experience and allowed a greater level of customisation to the service.

Cons

With its wide breath of functionality, some sections are underdeveloped and require further fine tuning. Recent addition of Power Bi integration has improved reporting for asset management, but reporting functionality needs to be expanded to include system wide reports.

Pros

One of the best features of Siso is that it allows us to manage our equipment and link it to the required training. This ensures that only those students who have completed the necessary training can book the equipment, which is a very useful tool for managing our resources.
Tracking and maintaining records for health and safety purposes has been made easier with Siso.

Cons

Navigating Siso's dropdown menu can be challenging due to the similarity of many categories, which makes it difficult to locate the required item while doing site administration.
Additionally, the mobile website could be more user-friendly as students often use their phones to book equipment and complete risk assessments.

Pros

The best part about Smarthub is that you can issue and return equipment in real-time, whilst making sure users have the adequate training and induction to make sure they are safe using the equipment.

Users booking equipment must have had training and induction in order for the system to allow them to pre-book it. We can also setup risk assessments against equipment or facilities bookings to monitor it's correct usage.

Cons

Smarthub can sometimes be a little complicated, this is mostly because it has so many functions and can be customised thoroughly.

Pros

The overall management of equipment and space bookings has made a dramatic and positive effect on workflow and resource management. The learning curve was steady and we've since found all the necessary techniques and processes to make the job easier and time-effective.

Cons

Early versions of the software took some time to tailor to our needs and certain features needed some adjustment to fit into our current workflow and stlye.

Pros

Smarthub gives us incredible oversight of our stock and room assets and allows us to manage them in a way that would be impossible without it. We take 100s of room bookings a week and Smarthub makes the process seamless. It allows us to track our stock and keep tabs on what conditions its in as well us giving us a place to promote and organise workshops and classes. It's invaluable to how we run our facilities.

Cons

There is very little I dislike about Smarthub. It can take some time to learn the ins and outs of it but once you're up and running, it becomes second nature. Maybe it would be nice to have a system for scheduling that allowed copy and pasting of bookings using a Month Calendar view, but that's being really nitpicky.

Pros

Store desk equipment collections, manage bookings for checking upcoming reservations, scheduling chart for visual kit reservation viewing - (however it would be good if that would display quantities of kit, we know that we have 5 cameras, but students don't know the quantities)

Cons

Every time we put in a feature request, we don't get a reply about it. When we end up raising a ticket about normal issue, we get told that this should have been done in feature request form and the update is already out. We have created quite a few feature requests but never got a response, just closed ticket.

Pros

Smarthub is a fantastic all-in-one package that lets covers bookings (of both rooms and equipment), maintenance scheduling, COSHH provision, training schedules and much more. The ease of use is very good too and it really isn't hard to learn and understand the bits that, on first look, don't seem to make sense. The support from the team is also marvellous.

Cons

The 'tokens' aspect could possibly be better, but I only say that as we have quite a complicated usage system here, with different tariffs for different days of the week and for different resources.

Pros

The customer facing interface is good. Most students are able to navigate the booking process with little intervention from Administrators. Students appreciate being able to browse/ book equipment, anytime 24/7.
Various tools enable Administrators to automate many tasks which were previously managed manually.

Cons

The single instance version is a lot slower than our separate instances were.
Some areas within the single instance are not separated so that data relevant to a store is only seen by that store. You have to sort through all UAL data to get to the info you require. The sheer volume of data seems to slow things down.
The image section loads very slowly. It would be great if each store were able to categorise images to make searching a particular store's images faster. At the moment, all images share a folder.

Pros

The visuals for the schedualing chart to see bookings currently and into the future. The integration of risk assessment, associating them with bookings and putting digital training in place to force users to interact with it before they book kit.

Cons

clunky, booking times can be strange, timings aren't always clear, issues can be caused by not booking at key times, scanning kit in and out is slow if you have lots of kit, it will randomly assign assets if you double scan one by accident.

Pros

Smarthub contains all the tools we need to successfully manage and track our large media equipment and facilities catalogue. The team at Siso are always keen to listen to feedback and implement suggestions for improvement where possible.

Cons

Some of the reporting tools are a little bit difficult to fine tune and get the information required out of them.

Pros

The organisation it has given my job. Everything is tracked and seamless with my work flow now. I have immediate access to the assets, their current software and where they have been. My annual reports have gotten far easier as it is simply an export now than weeks of paperwork.

Cons

The initial start up was a massive take on, at that point I was not made aware of the support services though.
It can be a learning curve for staff and students to get to grips with due to the amount on offer

Pros

UCL uses the Smarthub admin tool not student facing.
We use it to track our staff members so that we can respond to callouts quickly and efficiently. The tracking tool allows us to do this

Cons

Smarthub can be a little clunky. you are not always sure that the action you have just made has working or not (mobile tracking is the key feature).
Some asspects like asset set-up requires to many different steps to achieve, such as time availablility fixed location.

Pros

How easy it is to us, both as a user and from the admin side, Really easy to add new items and set rules for them. Being able to add user credits to spend on room bookins is invaluable for us.

Cons

In the Store Desk, after adding the users name, the field doesn't always jump down to asset, sometimes it goes to collected by, if you havn't noticed you can start scanning items which are then not added.

Pros

Smarthub’s features regarding room and asset booking, approvals, and training is key for the technical operation at Birmingham City University.

Cons

Mobile support is lacking for students. The system is feature rich but often requires a lot of time to get up to speed.

Pros

Smarthub is very flexible, with seemingly every field and option adjustable. It is easy to add reliable searchable tags/barcodes/assets quickly. Users quickly become familiar with it.

Cons

Possibly a simpler way to book multiple rooms.

Pros

It's ease of use for our students who can simply and easily find and book what they need.

Cons

I find the search function fairly innaccrate in so far as searching keywords often does not bring up the relevant asset, more often than not you need to search the exact title of the kit as entered in the system, or navigate to it using the menus.