College Inventory Management System: A Full-Stack Web-Based Solution for Automated Asset Tracking, Stock Control, and Resource Analytics

The administration of physical assets, laboratory equipment, library resources, stationery, and departmental consumables in Indian engineering colleges continues to rely on fragmented, paper-based processes that are error-prone, opaque to decision-makers, and incapable of providing real-time visibility into stock levels or asset lifecycle. This paper presents a College Inventory Management System (CIMS), a full-stack web application engineered to digitise, automate, and centralise all inventory operations across an engineering institution. The system is built on a React 18 + Vite frontend, an Express.js + Node.js REST API backend, a MySQL relational database, and integrates machine-learning–driven demand forecasting using a Random Forest regression model trained on two years of historical consumption data. Core modules encompass multi-role access control (Admin, HOD, Faculty, Lab Assistant, Librarian), QR-code–based asset tracking, automated low-stock alerts via email and in-app notifications, procurement workflow with digital approval chains, equipment maintenance scheduling with fault history, and a Power BI–compatible analytics dashboard presenting department-wise utilisation heat maps, expenditure trends, and predictive reorder timelines. Piloted across five departments and three laboratories at Shri Sai College of Engineering and Technology (SSCET), Chandrapur, over one complete academic semester, CIMS demonstrated a 74% reduction in stock discrepancy incidents, a 61% decrease in procurement processing time, a 68% improvement in asset location resolution speed, and a Lighthouse performance score of 92/100 on mobile, establishing it as a viable, scalable, and cost-effective alternative to commercial ERP solutions for resource-constrained technical institutions.