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Posts Tagged ‘asset tracking’

We’ve all used them, spreadsheets, whether it’s to do a simple list of items, or whether you are looking to create advanced sums for business forecasts. Even though they are not really advanced enough for some of our requirements, we still use them. No doubt this is because they come free with our operating systems and the majority of people prefer to put up with a free one instead of buying a new one.

Even though spreadsheets come with a number of problems, they do have some useful features. The main ones are that they can handle simple calculations, they can create graphics, create business forecasts to see how much money you will lose. These all come in handy for certain jobs. However, due to the large number of problems spreadsheets have, they simply are not appropriate for tasks like tracking your UK fixed assets.

Even though spreadsheets intially sound useful for managing asset data, they can’t compete against an asset tracking software UK package.

Up until a certain point, a spreadsheet would prove to be useful for asset management, however, as obtain more and more assets and you wish to store more data about the assets, the spreadsheet becomes redundant.

Here is a list of a few features that every asset management software package should contain.

• It must be able to store enough information for your use. Despite being able to store massive amounts of data, a spreadsheet can’t store enough for asset management. The data that’s stored may not provide enough detail.
• They must be able to match the structure of the company. If the particular asset can be located in a number of sectors within a company, a basic spreadsheet cannot reflect this complex formation.
• It should be flexible enough to be restructed quickly a easily. Once a spreadsheet becomes very complex, it’s difficult to try and modify the data and especially the structure.
• They should be able to calculate different depreciation rates on individual items. If items were bought at different points in time, for example a computer and a monitor. The software should be capable enough to store individual price depreciation levels.
• It should be able to cope with re-lifeing of assets. If an asset is assessed and found to be useful, the depreciation level must be altered as the asset is now useful.
• They must be able to export the data into structured reports. It’s not easy to create a structured data report using a spreadsheet.

Those are just a few features that should be contained within any software package designed for asset management. Also it’s the reason why a spreadsheet is not good for adding asset data to a fixed asset register.

Worldwide, companies are being pressed by the current recession, so managing your fixed assets UK and using them to get the most money out of them is being more imporant than ever before. A great deal of companies are finding that asset management is more of a competitive edge as they try and get the most money from their assets that they own.

This need for efficiently managing asset tracking UK has led to more companies using real time solutions to manage their assets. By getting real time information as to how much your assets are worth, you can make business decisions based on real time data. It has also led to more companies using asset management services like reliability centered maintenance (RCM) or condition based maintenance (CBM).

RCM is a way of assessing your assets and trying to ensure that equipment failure that could damage the business does not happen. RCM finds out how the item is used within the company. It then looks at how a failure of that equipment occurs and how it effects the business. Finally, it then looks at how these failures can be avoided.

A study has been carried out by the Aberdeen Group called “Asset Performance Management: Driving Excellence Though a Reliability Approach in Real Time”. The study looked into companies and ranked them based on a number of different factors, overall equipment effectiveness, unscheduled asset downtime and finally complete and on-time product shipments. The study found that the best companies managed a 89% equipment effectiveness, 97% complete and on time shipments, and finally only 2% unscheduled asset downtime.

The study also found that the top performing companies are more likely to use a range of techniques to ensure that they can retrieve the best possible data about their assets. There are a number of different technologies that are used by the best companies. It was discovered that many of the top performers would happily invest money in more advanced methods of asset managment, such as remote asset monitoring.

These different technologies allow the companies to keep the information about their assets up to date for their employees and maintenance staff. This means that the companies can make decisions based on the information from their assets. It also aids companies to see how their financial earnings are effected by the performance of their assets.

The worldwide need for asset tracking has resulted in a number of companies offering different types of asset accounting UK software to try and help you sort the data you received from the assets.

Asset tracking is an absolutely vital component of any asset management function. Assets need to be managed both financially and physically. To do that requires knowledge of exactly where all your assets are, even if they are fixed. Many companies rely on a conventional spreadsheet approach to try to keep track of all their various assets, but that can prove problematic without the use of fixed asset software applicable and compliant with international regulations.

That’s especially important with IT asset tracking. IT equipment can often change during its operational lifetime. Components may be switched, replaced or upgraded. Software is constantly installed, uninstalled or upgraded. Many of these changes are internal and therefore invisible and even the use of an asset tracking system to control bar code-tagged assets will not keep track here. The fact that many IT systems are so desirable and useful can also contribute to their tendency to “disappear”.

Central to any asset tracking software system should be a powerful, centralised database which provides controlled access for all parties that require it, thus preventing discrepancies that may otherwise arise between departments. This system should also have the capacity to include information about those invisible software assets sitting on your IT network – how many programs and whether they are licenced or not? A single audit should be able to cover multiple locations and thousands of assets. It should also be fully compatible with inventory management systems, so that hand-held scanning devices typically employed to read barcode labels can integrate with both accounting and tracking modules to provide an accurate, validated, and consistently current database. This will enable users to comply fully and confidently with auditor requirements relating to accurately accounting for and tracking their asset base.

The features of the best fixed asset accounting software should include the use of portable scanners or more durable PDAs to input information and update the status of items on-site and in real time, including data such as make, model or serial number. Assets and inventory items can then be flagged as transferred, disposed of or missing.

Once the audit data has been uploaded into the asset or inventory register, users are able to run a report displaying not only the details of, but also the suggested actions (disposable, relocation, upgrade etc) for each of the assets located in the audit. In doing so, users are notified of any discrepancies in location or status of the asset prior to updating them on the fixed asset/inventory register.

If further analysis is needed, the asset tracking software can be used to produce a range of additional reports to provide a comprehensive account of all the changes that have been made to the registers. Reports can be sorted and sequenced as is appropriate to the individual organisation and can be viewed in a range of different mediums, including spreadsheets and MS Word documents.