LabDisplay: bringing computer lab management into the new millennium

Managing computer labs in an educational environment can be a daunting task - at the best of times - not only from a technical standpoint but from an auditing and planning perspective as well. Integrated Technology Services (ITS), at the University of New Brunswick, faced this problem in 2002. With over 1100 computers in public and private labs, we were unable to efficiently maintain our cyclic four year computer renewal plan without adequate and reliable information on lab usage. This paper will examine a web-based application called LabDisplay1 we created to address this need.Historically, when looking at lab statistics the only method for determining lab occupancy would be to visually see how busy a lab was. The common answer was "it looks busy and is usually full of students." When justifying where money was being spent, this answer was not sufficient. We needed a tool that could generate statistics based on a number of usage factors and assist us with this process.LabDisplay has morphed into something larger than life and has addressed many of our needs. It now provides a service to students as a lab availability tool, a lab management tool for Lab Managers, a security tool for our IT support staff, and an auditing tool for software and hardware in the lab environment.