Asset lifecycle stages
Every asset in UniAsset moves through the same five stages. Each one writes to the asset's timeline, which is append-only — nothing in it is ever edited or deleted.
create ──► assign ──► operate ──► maintain ──► dispose
1. Create
An asset enters UniAsset in one of four ways:
- Manually, from Dashboard → Assets (Individual) → New Asset
- By CSV import for an existing inventory
- By duplication of a near-identical record
- Through the integration API (Odyssey and above)
A QR tag identity is generated automatically, and a creation event is written.
See How to create assets.
2. Assign
Assets are placed along three independent axes, each answering a different question:
| Axis | Question |
|---|---|
| Person | Who is responsible for it? |
| Location | Where does it live? |
| Department | Which unit's cost centre owns it? |
All three can be set at once, each is managed independently, and every change writes an event naming the old and new values.
Assignment is durable — the long-term answer to "whose is this?". It is deliberately different from check-out, which is temporary custody. See Assignment, location and check-out.
3. Operate
The working life of the asset. During this stage:
- Documents attach — warranties, insurance, certificates, invoices, manuals — each with an optional expiry date that gets monitored
- Photos attach, with one designated as the primary image
- Scans of the QR, NFC or RFID tag are recorded with the scanning user and device, building a chain-of-custody trail
- Custom fields capture whatever your organization needs (Orbit and above)
- Check-outs record temporary custody (Orbit and above)
- Telemetry arrives from connected systems (Odyssey and above)
- Geo-positions are pushed in by external tracking systems
Everything lands on the asset's timeline in order.
4. Maintain
Maintenance reaches the asset two ways, and both require Orbit or above:
- Service records — maintenance that has been performed, with date, cost and vendor. Entered directly, or written automatically when a work order is closed.
- Preventive maintenance rules — a recurring schedule that warns ahead of the due date, escalates to overdue when it passes, and raises a work order automatically.
This is where the financial layer gets its input. Cumulative maintenance cost is what turns a purchase price into a total cost of ownership, and what drives cost risk analysis — the signal that replacement may beat continued repair.
See Preventive maintenance rules and Understanding work orders.
5. Dispose
The terminal stage. A disposal records the date, the method — sold, scrapped, donated, written off, transferred or lost — any proceeds, notes, and the computed gain or loss against net book value.
Recording a disposal atomically archives the asset, so there is no window in which a disposed asset is still generating alerts. Its full history is preserved, and it remains available to the Fixed Asset Register for audit.
There is one disposal per asset.
Disposal accounting requires Odyssey or above. Organizations on Nova and Orbit archive assets instead.
See How to record an asset disposal.
Archive — available at any stage
Archiving is the user-facing delete. At any point in the lifecycle you can archive an asset:
- It leaves active lists, reporting and alert evaluation
- Its storage quota is released
- Its complete history survives intact
- The action is reversible
UniAsset does not hard-delete assets. History stays attributable, and a mistake is always recoverable. See How to archive and restore assets.
Why the history matters
Every stage writes an event, and events are never updated and never deleted. That is a deliberate commitment, not an implementation detail: the value of an operational record is proportional to how much it can be trusted, and trust requires that history cannot be quietly rewritten.
When an audit happens, an insurance claim is filed, or a post-incident review runs, the record reflects what happened.
See How to view an asset's history.
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