What is an asset in UniAsset?
An Asset is something your organization owns and is accountable for, tracked as one record per physical thing.
One laptop is one asset. One forklift is one asset. One microscope is one asset. Each has its own history, its own documents, its own service record, and its own financial position.
What an asset record holds
| Group | Fields |
|---|---|
| Identity | Name, description, serial number, manufacturer, model, vendor |
| Commercial | Purchase cost, purchase date, warranty expiry, salvage value |
| Operational | Status, criticality, custom status |
| Placement | Category, location, department, assigned person |
| Physical tags | QR tag ID, NFC tag ID, RFID EPC |
| Your own fields | Any custom fields your organization defines (Orbit and above) |
The decision: is this an Asset?
Track something as an Asset when all of these are true:
- It is individually identifiable — you can point at this one and distinguish it from its twin.
- You care about its own history — who has it, what happened to it, what it cost.
- It is durable — it is not used up in the course of work.
If any of those is false, one of the other three modules fits better:
| If it is… | Use |
|---|---|
| Used up in the course of work — filters, toner, fasteners | Consumables |
| Held in quantity but still capital — ten spare laptops in the store room | Asset Stock |
| A document that is the thing you track — a licence, permit, certificate | Documents |
See Understanding the four asset types for the full comparison.
Choosing a value threshold
UniAsset does not impose one, and assets are unlimited on every plan, so cost is not the constraint. Effort is. Every asset you create is something someone has to keep accurate.
Reasonable rules of thumb:
- Track anything that carries compliance obligations — a certificate, an inspection interval, a calibration record — regardless of value.
- Track anything with a maintenance schedule.
- Track anything assigned to a person or lent out, so custody is provable.
- Track anything above the value at which your finance team wants it in the Fixed Asset Register.
- Do not create individual records for interchangeable low-value items. Twenty identical office chairs are better handled as one stock item than twenty asset records.
What is not an asset
- Software licences and subscriptions — track the licence document as a Document Asset if the expiry matters.
- People — people are Person records. See People and users.
- Buildings and rooms — those are Locations.
- Suppliers and purchase orders — UniAsset is not an ERP and does not hold procurement records.
What happens once something is an asset
- It gets a QR tag automatically, ready to print and attach.
- Every meaningful change appends to its timeline, which is never edited or deleted.
- It enters reports, alert evaluation and the financial layer.
- It can be assigned, checked out, serviced, inspected, and eventually disposed of.
Common mistakes
Creating an asset per unit for interchangeable items. If you would never care which one you handed out, use Asset Stock.
Using Consumables for spare capital items. A spare laptop issued from the store room is still an asset you own — that is Asset Stock, not a consumable.
Tracking everything. A register nobody maintains is worse than a smaller one that is accurate.
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