Setting up your asset register

Assets & equipment is your register of plant, tools, PPE, trailers, IT kit and consumables, each carrying its certificates, checks and custody history. Vehicles have their own register under Fleet.

The page

• The header has Requests, Audits, Import and Add asset, and the gear (Asset settings). On a phone, Requests and Audits sit in the Asset forms menu.
• Register lists everything. Stock lists only the counted lines; see Stock and reorder levels. Each tab shows its count. With Service levels on, the register tab reads Ours, and a Client equipment tab holds the machines you service for clients; see Client equipment.
• The tiles along the top count what needs attention: Expired, Expiring, On loan, Overdue, Inspections, Work orders, Low stock, Requests, Defects and In repair. Expired, Expiring, Overdue, Low stock and Defects narrow the register when you click them, with a banner such as "Showing Asset compliance expired · 2". Show all clears it.

Adding an asset

Choose Add asset and fill in the record:

• Name (required).
• Category: one of 24, each with its own icon, from Plant, Machinery, Attachment, Tool, Access equipment and Lifting equipment, through Test & measurement, Traffic management, Safety equipment, PPE and Workwear, to Welfare unit, Container & storage, Trailer, IT equipment, Software licence, Furniture, Key & access device, Consumable, Material, Spare part, Substance, Equipment and Other.
• Tracking, the key choice:
  • Serialised (one item): a single, individually tracked thing, such as a specific generator or laptop.
  • Stock (quantity): a countable pool, such as gloves or connectors. It adds Unit (each, box, pair…), Reorder level and On hand. Stock lines are on the Crew plan and above.
• Asset tag (barcode, QR or plate), Reference, Manufacturer, Model and Serial number (optional).
• Ownership: Owned, Hired or Leased. Hired and leased add Hire / lease company. Then Supplier (optional).
• Assigned to and Base site: the asset's home, which isn't the same as who has it now. That's custody; see Compliance, checks and custody.

On the Stock tab the button reads Add stock line and the form opens in stock mode.

Choose the tracking carefully when you add an asset. It decides what the record can do: custody and requests for a serialised item, counts and reorder alerts for a stock line.

Fields, statuses and views

Set these up from the gear, Asset settings:

• Fields: add columns of your own — text, number, date, dropdown, checkbox, file or link. They appear in the register, where you can click a cell to fill it in.
• Compliance types: the certificates your assets carry. See Compliance, checks and custody.
• Statuses: "The four built-in statuses anchor the dashboard; you can rename and recolour them and add your own. Phase controls how a status counts (under repair, retired…)." The built-ins are Available, In use, Under repair and Retired. A status you add picks a phase — Available, In use, Off / repair or Retired — so a custom Awaiting PAT under Off / repair counts as out of use.
• Kits: bundles of assets for a job. See Compliance, checks and custody.

Above the register, use Search assets, Group by (Category or Status), Category and Status. Save view keeps the current search, filters, grouping and sort under a name, just for you or for the office, and can make it the view Assets opens on. Saved views appear in View: at the head of the toolbar, with Manage views… to change or delete your own. See Saved views.

The register shows Name, Tag / ref, Category, Make / model, Status, Holder, Compliance, On hand and Defects, then your own fields.

Changing many at once

Tick assets to bring up the selection bar: Set status, Set category and Delete. Clear drops the selection.

Importing in bulk

Import opens Import assets: "Upload an Excel or CSV file, or paste rows below. Keep your header row on top — it names your columns and is not imported. Only Name is required." Copy header row gives you a template.

• Match your key columns: choose which column is the Name, and optionally Category, Status and Asset tag.
• Untick a column to skip it. "Unknown columns become new custom fields when you import."
• The preview lists every row and flags any with a problem, so you can fix them before you import. Up to 2,000 rows go at once, and the import is all or nothing.

Category and status wording is matched loosely; anything unrecognised becomes Equipment and Available. A row with an on-hand quantity comes in as a stock line, and everything else as serialised. Below the Crew plan, a sheet with any on-hand quantity is refused as a whole. You'll see "Imported 12 assets."

Managing the register needs Manage assets, and so does opening an asset's record with its compliance, checks, custody and work orders. For people who also hold Manage bills & expenses, the record's Costs lists the bills and approved expenses put against it. What its work orders say they cost is shown beside that and never added to it, because the same repair can have a work order and a garage bill. Without it, the asset list leaves out cost, hire, supplier, compliance and your own fields: it's there so people can pick an asset, for a check. Anyone can still submit a check.