The Global Stockroom Audit (NBCUniversal)

Transforming 80 disconnected stockrooms into one story of collaboration, creativity, and clarity.

When I joined NBCUniversal’s TechEx and Local IT team, I discovered 80+ stockrooms; each running its own system, each convinced its way was best. My task was to connect them, clean the data, and report to executives on the health of every asset across the organization. But the real challenge wasn’t technical; it was human.

No one wanted to be audited. Managers had their own methods and weren’t eager to change. So I treated the project like a creative campaign instead of a compliance exercise. I reached out to managers one by one, listened to their routines, learned their logic, and reframed the audit as a way to help them tell their own story better.

I designed a living reporting system in Smartsheet; not just a static sheet, but a narrative tool. Each tab became a scene in the story: active stockrooms, overdue disposals, aging assets, and untouched inventory. I used color, flow, and hierarchy to make every number feel intuitive; green meant healthy, yellow meant caution, red meant immediate action.

I set up office hours, built a follow-up team, and shared weekly visual reports with executives to track progress and momentum. Slowly, participation turned into pride. Stockroom managers started competing to improve their “scene” in the story.

By the end, we had connected all 80+ stockrooms, standardized asset practices across the organization, and uncovered over $180,000 in credits through disposals and vendor returns.

What started as resistance became engagement; proof that storytelling and creativity can transform even the most operational challenge into a shared success.