Advanced: Asset Management

For users who already know the basics — this guide covers custom field schema design, maintenance scheduling patterns, the full asset lifecycle, statistics and reporting, and best practices for asset numbering.

Custom Field Schema Design

Custom fields are defined at the asset type level and inherited by every asset of that type. Getting the schema right on day one matters because changing it later does not automatically migrate existing assets' data.

Field Types Available

Schema Design Guidelines

Be specific to the type. Laptops need CPU, RAM, and storage. Vehicles need license plate, mileage, and fuel type. Don't add generic fields ("Notes") that would be useful on every type — there's already a notes field on the base asset.

Use select for anything with a fixed option set. Free-text fields for values like "colour" or "condition" produce inconsistent data (Red vs. red vs. Rot) that's hard to filter later. Define a select field with the canonical options.

Limit schemas to 8–12 fields. More than that makes the asset creation form unwieldy. Move truly rare fields to the base notes field instead.

Versioning schemas. There is no schema version history. When you add a new field to a type, existing assets of that type will show the new field as blank. When you remove a field, the data stored in removed fields becomes inaccessible (not deleted, just not surfaced in the UI). Plan schema changes carefully and communicate to your team.

Maintenance Scheduling Patterns

There are four maintenance types, each suited to different operational patterns:

Scheduling in Advance

You can create multiple maintenance records on a single asset simultaneously. This is useful for lining up a full year of scheduled work:

1. Open the asset.
2. Create a Service entry for the 3-month mark.
3. Create an Inspection entry for the 6-month mark.
4. Create a second Service entry for the 9-month mark.

All appear in the maintenance history as scheduled. The next maintenance indicator on the asset card shows the nearest upcoming scheduled date.

Recurring maintenance: There is no auto-repeat feature. When you complete a maintenance record, create the next scheduled entry manually at that point. Some operations teams create all maintenance records for the year in January and work through them over the year.

Overdue Maintenance

A scheduled maintenance record whose date has passed does not automatically change status. You must open it and set it to overdue manually. Tip: Filter Assets → Maintenance → All by scheduled date older than today to find overdue records quickly.

Asset Lifecycle Management

Assets move through six statuses:

available → in_use → repair → available (loop)
                    ↓
                  retired
                  lost

available — in inventory, ready to be assigned. in_use — assigned to an employee. Status changes automatically when you assign. repair — out of service for maintenance. Set manually; the asset is returned to available after repair. retired — no longer in service. The asset is preserved for history but won't appear in the available pool. lost — reported missing. Retained for insurance and audit records.

Transition Rules

• Assigning an available asset moves it to in_use automatically.
• Unassigning moves it back to available automatically.
• Repair, retired, lost must be set manually via Change Status.
• A retired or lost asset cannot be assigned. Change the status back to available first if the asset is recovered.
• Deleting an employee who has assets assigned is blocked. Unassign all assets first.

Tracking the History

Every status change, assignment, unassignment, maintenance event, and note is written to the AssetHistory log. Access it via Asset Show → History. This log is immutable — you cannot delete history entries. It serves as the audit trail for insurance claims, HR disputes about company equipment, and lease returns.

Statistics and Reporting

The Assets → Statistics view provides a live summary for the entire tenant:

• Total assets — count by status (available, in use, repair, retired, lost).
• Total purchase value — sum of purchase_value across all active assets.
• Maintenance overview — count of scheduled, completed, and overdue maintenance records.
• Assets by type — breakdown per asset type.

Limitations of the built-in statistics:

• No depreciation calculation — purchase value is entered as-is and never auto-adjusted.
• No per-employee asset summary on the statistics page — you'll need to filter Assets → All by assigned employee.
• No export from the statistics view directly — export from the main assets list with filters applied.

Building your own reports: Export the full asset list to CSV and pivot by type, status, or assigned employee in your preferred spreadsheet tool. The export includes all custom field values as additional columns.

Best Practices for Asset Numbering

Assets are auto-numbered as AST-00001, AST-00002, etc. — sequential per tenant, not per type. You cannot change the format or restart the sequence.

Internal tagging: Many organisations use a physical asset tag (barcode, QR code, or engraved number) on hardware. The system's asset_tag field is separate from the auto-number — use it for your physical label. This lets you scan the physical tag and look it up in the system.

Serial number vs. asset tag: Use serial_number for the manufacturer's serial (important for warranty claims) and asset_tag for your internal label. Keep both. A laptop might be SN: MXK12345678 (manufacturer serial) with your tag AST-00047 — both stored.

Multi-location organisations: If you have multiple offices and want to distinguish where assets live, prefix your asset tag with the location code (e.g., ZH-047, GE-012). The system's location field handles the formal link, but the tag prefix makes physical audits faster.

Related Guides

• Modules-Anlagen — basic setup and daily workflow