I am a little lost on ideas for this...

I am trying to create some sort of data base that will track our true inventory out in the tool room. This seems pretty easy so far. The problem comes when I try to create a decent library inside of our programming software (Unigraphics/NX). I want to create a master list of all the tools used in the shop, but iniside the software, every machine uses different numbers for a specific tool. As of right now, it looks like I will have to create a tool library for every machine. I see this being more of a headache later when a tool becomes obsolete and needs to be replaced in multiple libraries. Are there any NX users that have a good system for keeping up with libraries and the tool room? Any ideas would be helpful. Even if you use another software, I wouldn't mind a little advice which is why I also posted here..