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How to Create Your First Asset in UniAsset

5 min•Beginner•Last updated: January 2, 2026

How to create your first asset

An Asset is an individually identified item your organization owns and is accountable for — one laptop, one forklift, one microscope.

Overview

Use this article the first time you create an asset. It explains every field on the form and what each one is used for later.

If you are tracking something by quantity instead — spare parts, toner, ten identical spare laptops — you want a different module. See Understanding the four asset types first.

Requirements

  • Available on: Nova, Orbit, Odyssey, Cosmos — assets are unlimited on every plan
  • Roles: Owner, Admin, Manager

Steps

  1. Go to Dashboard → Assets (Individual).
  2. Click New Asset.
  3. Fill in the Name — this is the only required field. Use something descriptive and consistent, such as "Dell Latitude 5520", not "Jane's laptop".
  4. Add a Description if the name alone is not enough.
  5. Enter the Serial Number if the item has one. Use it exactly as printed on the label.
  6. Pick a Category. This is what makes filtering and depreciation work.
  7. Pick a Status. New assets default to Active.
  8. Set Asset Criticality — Critical, High, Medium or Low. This is not decorative: on Odyssey and above it adjusts SLA response windows on work orders.
  9. Set Assigned Person and Assigned Location if you already know them. Both are optional and both can be changed later.
  10. Fill in Manufacturer, Model and Vendor / Supplier if you have them.
  11. Enter Purchase Cost and Purchase Date. Do not skip these — see the tip below.
  12. Enter Warranty Expiry so UniAsset can warn you before it lapses.
  13. Enter Salvage Value if the asset has a floor below which its book value should not fall.
  14. Complete any custom fields your organization has defined (Orbit and above).
  15. Click Create Asset.

Important: Purchase cost and purchase date drive depreciation, net book value, total cost of ownership and the Fixed Asset Register. An approximate date is far more useful than a blank one. For a donated asset, enter fair market value.

What happens next

  • The asset gets a QR tag identity automatically. Open the asset and use the tag card to print a label.
  • A creation event is written to the asset's timeline. Every later change appends to it and nothing is ever overwritten.
  • The asset appears in lists, filters, reports and alert evaluation.
  • You can now attach documents and photos, record service, and check the item out.

From the asset detail page you can also:

Common mistakes

Naming assets after people. "Jane's laptop" becomes wrong the day Jane changes desks. Name the thing, then assign it to Jane.

Leaving the category blank. Depreciation configuration lives on the category. Without one, the asset has no financial treatment.

Inventing a serial number. If the item has no manufacturer serial, use a consistent internal tag format instead, and put a physical label on it.

Troubleshooting

I can't find the New Asset button. Creating assets needs the Manager role or above. Employees and Viewers cannot create assets.

My category is not in the dropdown. Create it first at Dashboard → Categories, then return to the form.

The custom fields section is missing or locked. Custom fields require Orbit or above. See How to create custom fields.

"Your subscription has expired." An expired subscription blocks creating new records while leaving all existing data fully readable. Renew from Settings → Billing.

The asset saved but shows no depreciation. Depreciation requires Orbit or above, a purchase cost, a purchase date, and depreciation settings on the category.

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