What do you use for props inventory?

 I'm afraid that the answer from Milwaukee Rep is that, being seasonal employees as are most in the Production Dept., we do not have the manpower or time during the contract season to do a digital inventory, nor the money to hire someone to do it for us.  If we could afford to hire someone (or two people for furniture moving) to inventory, move,  photograph, measure and write descriptions of all our major pieces -and there are hundreds- then the question becomes who we could find with the knowledge of prop, fabric and furniture period styles to be able to do the project inependently of the prop staff?  If we couldn't find someone with that body of  knowledge, it would again become a matter of someone in the Prop Dept. being able to find the time to advise on the project. As we're usually working on 2 to 3 shows while 3 are running, that would be a squeeze.   Almost every Prop Dept. that I know of that has an on line inventory has 1 or 2 people on contract year round who have non-production/shop maintenance time to spend on such a venture.  Such is not the case at MRT.  My staff comes on contract the week before rehearsals begin and are laid off after the last opening of the season. Some of the inventories of which I am aware are Filemaker based, some are on Flickr.  I'll try to get the name of the progrm that Dan Tracy in Kansas City presented to the annual conference of the Society of Properties Artisan Managers at Actors Theatre Louisville a couple of years ago.  It was pretty well received by the S*P*A*M members who have the time to deal with it.  Our method here is to find out what the designer is looking for, take photos and measurements of the pieces we have in stock  that are appropriate and available and then send them to the designer as attachments. This also helps us be selective in what stock pieces we offer to a designer for painting, alteration, etc.  One of the last things we want is to give a designer free access to our entire stock so they can pick one part of a matched set of deco chairs to paint vermillion and saw the legs off.

 I'm afraid that the answer from Milwaukee Rep is that, being seasonal employees as are most in the Production Dept., we do not have the manpower or time during the contract season to do a digital inventory, nor the money to hire someone to do it for us.  If we could afford to hire someone (or two people for furniture moving) to inventory, move,  photograph, measure and write descriptions of all our major pieces -and there are hundreds- then the question becomes who we could find with the knowledge of prop, fabric and furniture period styles to be able to do the project inependently of the prop staff?  If we couldn't find someone with that body of  knowledge, it would again become a matter of someone in the Prop Dept. being able to find the time to advise on the project. As we're usually working on 2 to 3 shows while 3 are running, that would be a squeeze.   Almost every Prop Dept. that I know of that has an on line inventory has 1 or 2 people on contract year round who have non-production/shop maintenance time to spend on such a venture.  Such is not the case at MRT.  My staff comes on contract the week before rehearsals begin and are laid off after the last opening of the season. Some of the inventories of which I am aware are Filemaker based, some are on Flickr.  I'll try to get the name of the progrm that Dan Tracy in Kansas City presented to the annual conference of the Society of Properties Artisan Managers at Actors Theatre Louisville a couple of years ago.  It was pretty well received by the S*P*A*M members who have the time to deal with it.  Our method here is to find out what the designer is looking for, take photos and measurements of the pieces we have in stock  that are appropriate and available and then send them to the designer as attachments. This also helps us be selective in what stock pieces we offer to a designer for painting, alteration, etc.  One of the last things we want is to give a designer free access to our entire stock so they can pick one part of a matched set of deco chairs to paint vermillion and saw the legs off.