Greetings.
This only peripherally addresses your question, and goes against what you said about re-assigning computers, but I thought you'd find it interesting as a different approach.
The idea was synthesized from two facts: 1) the techs didn't like wasting time transferring a users data to a loaner and then back to their original machine when it returned from repair, and 2) someone said, "we are big enough that we could insure ourselves." [We purchased around 800 new computers to replace/supplement older ones last summer.]
We still billed an insurance fee on each computer, but instead of purchasing Apple Care for our computers, we decided to put the money into buying additional units (and attempted to standardize on just a couple of models)*, and have instituted what we call the exchange program. When a unit comes in that is malfunctioning, the user is given an identical unit. We transfer data when we can (or use mobile/ network accounts), but have told users that they are responsible for backing up their own data.
Then, the original unit can go for repair (or warranty work if it qualifies.) When it comes back, it is re-imaged and placed onto the exchange pile. We do not have to hunt down the user and get a loaner back.
We really need to formalize a policy for removing computers from workgroup manager and marking them as in for repairs in Casper, and, if you do an exchange program yourself, you need to keep the exchange units out or sight and out of mind, or risk politicians sabotaging your program by saying, "Why do we have twenty MacBooks just sitting here, when they could form a new lab?"
We are only six or seven months into our exchange program, but it seems to be working fairly well.
Cheers,
Clinton Blackmore
* We also took back the older computers we were replacing, and redistributed some while keeping spares ready for exchange purposes. [Well, except for the oldest ones, which we discarded.]
