How to edit an asset
Assets change. They get repaired, reassigned, moved, revalued and relabelled. Editing keeps the record honest, and every change is recorded.
Requirements
- Available on: Nova, Orbit, Odyssey, Cosmos
- Roles: Owner, Admin, Manager and Employee can update assets. Viewers cannot.
Steps
- Go to Dashboard → Assets (Individual).
- Open the asset — search by name or serial number if the list is long.
- Click Edit.
- Change what needs changing.
- Save.
What you change where
Not everything is on the edit form. Some things have their own control on the detail page, because they write different kinds of record.
| To change | Use |
|---|---|
| Name, description, serial, manufacturer, model, vendor | Edit form |
| Purchase cost, purchase date, warranty expiry, salvage value | Edit form |
| Category, criticality, custom fields | Edit form |
| Status | The status control on the detail page |
| Assigned person or location | The assignment panel |
| Department | The department panel |
| Documents and images | Their own panels |
| NFC and RFID tag identities | The asset tag card (Odyssey and above) |
| Disposal | Record disposal (Odyssey and above) — never by setting status to Disposed |
What happens next
Every meaningful change writes an event to the asset's timeline, recording what changed, the old and new values, who did it, and when.
Events are never updated and never deleted. If you make a mistake, correct it with a second edit — the record will show both changes, which is the point. See How to view an asset's history.
Changes take effect everywhere immediately: lists, filters, reports and alert evaluation all read live data.
Editing many assets at once
For the same change across many assets, do not edit them one by one. See How to update many assets at once.
Common mistakes
Setting status to Disposed by hand. Use Record disposal instead (Odyssey and above). That computes gain or loss against net book value, writes the disposal record, and archives the asset in one operation. Below Odyssey, archive the asset. See How to record an asset disposal.
Changing assignment when someone borrows an asset. Use check-out for temporary custody. Assignment is the long-term answer. See Assignment, location and check-out.
Overwriting a serial number to correct a typo. Fine — but do it once and deliberately. The change is recorded, so an auditor can see the correction.
Blanking a purchase cost because it looks wrong. A wrong figure is a problem; a blank figure is a bigger one, because depreciation and TCO stop working. Correct it instead.
Troubleshooting
The Edit button is missing. Editing needs Employee or above. Viewers have read-only access.
Some fields are greyed out. Custom fields require Orbit or above. NFC and RFID require Odyssey or above.
"Your subscription has expired." An expired subscription blocks creating new records. Editing existing ones still works, and all your data stays readable.
My change is not reflected in a report. Reports are derived at read time, so they cannot be stale. Check whether the asset is archived or disposed — those are excluded from active reporting.
I edited a category and every asset changed. Expected. Category settings, including depreciation configuration, apply to every asset in that category.
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