6 Best Practices for Fixed Asset Tracking

Published on January 27, 2020 • 3 min read

If you've just decided to start tracking your fixed assets, you may not know where to begin.

Creating a great fixed asset tracking and management system might, at least at first, seem like a daunting task.

It doesn't have to be this way, however. Following these six best practices for fixed asset tracking will have you set up and saving money in no time.

Choose Your Fixed Asset Tracking Software 

First things first, you'll need to choose your fixed asset tracking software.

There is a lot of bespoke, exciting, and customisable fixed asset tracking software out there, but it all comes down to what your needs are and what your budget is.

Make sure you investigate and look into the features a software has to offer. If you're looking for something specific, such as if you're integrating fixed asset tracking with facilities management, make sure the software can give you what you need.

Don't Use Inventory Management Processes

Inventory management seems similar at a glance but is a parallel system to fixed asset tracking.

Make sure during your search you don't mix up the two.

Inventory management is more for stock-taking and usually specific to assets that are going to be sold or distributed. Fixed asset tracking is the tracking of your more permanent fixtures that your business isn't going to sell.

This way, there is a necessity that the processes to track both these types of assets is kept separate.

Assign the Work

When you've found the right software for you and have ensured it's effective at tracking and managing fixed assets, the next step is to assign the work.

Who you assign the work to or how many people will be working on your fixed asset tracking efforts will depend on the amount and type of jobs it will require.

If you have thousands of assets, you'll want to optimise the tagging process by using multiple people. At the same time, you'll want someone trained with finances handling reports regarding financial information.

The best-fixed asset tracking software will be sharable amongst your team, making this a much faster and more straightforward process.

Identify Your Fixed Assets

Before you start tagging, it's essential to know what your fixed assets are.

You can find out more here about fixed assets, but generally, they'll be the permanent structures in your building that aren't monetised through sales or trading, but still provide a monetary value to your business.

Therefore, they can be your laptops, staplers, furniture, and so on, as they help the day to day running of a business, but create an indirect profit.

You may already have a spreadsheet listing out your fixed assets, in which case identification will be faster.

Create a Fixed Asset Register

The next step is to create a fixed asset register.

If you're using the best-fixed asset tracking software, a fixed asset register will be automatically created and updated as you go.

So, whenever you create an asset profile in your system and populate it with financial, maintenance, and location information, this will automatically be added to a fixed asset register.

You'll then be able to export your fixed asset register with ease.

Monitor your fixed assets

The final step is to monitor your fixed assets.

The fastest way to do this is by using an asset management system that has a fully integrated reporting feature. This way, every small tweak or update, such as if an asset changes hands or locations, will be tracked and viewable in a report.

You can then use these reports to ensure the fixed assets you're using are both accounted for and economical.

To find out more about how you can implement an effective fixed asset tracking process, you can contact us or fill in the form below.

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