Track equipment in a business asset register

Help center / Business operations

Open Assets from the sidebar or Business setup. Use this page for physical equipment your business uses, such as a receipt printer, ladder or refrigerator. Products for sale belong in Products. Fixtures used to draw layouts belong in Fixtures; recording equipment here does not create a shelf model.

1. Choose the action to add an asset.
2. Enter a name and a unique asset tag.
3. Add its category, location, status and condition.
4. Fill in the identification and date fields you know.
5. Save, then search for the tag to check the record.

The public workspace is coming soon. These instructions describe the implemented app; the equipment planning workbook is available now.

How to choose an equipment tag

Give each physical item its own identifier, even when several items share a model. Keep the tag stable when equipment moves. A location-based identifier can become misleading after a transfer, so put the current location in its own field instead.

An illustrative pair is PRINTER-001 and PRINTER-002. These are two records with separate serial numbers and service histories, rather than one record with a quantity of two. Search before creating a replacement record for an item you cannot immediately find.

Record manufacturer and serial details

Add the manufacturer, model and serial number from the item or its paperwork. A model identifies a product design; a serial number helps distinguish the physical item. Neither replaces your internal tag.

Use notes for useful operational context, such as where a manual is kept or which accessories belong with the equipment. Keep credentials and unnecessary personal information out of notes. Blank optional fields are preferable to invented dates or placeholder serial numbers that another person could mistake for confirmed information.

Assign an asset to a location

Choose a location when it is known and use the area field for a more precise description, such as the front counter. A location is optional, so equipment waiting for assignment can remain unassigned.

To move an item, edit the existing record and change its location or area. Check the tag against the physical item before saving. Do not duplicate the record at the destination. This keeps one current record for one item and avoids making the business appear to own extra equipment.

Update equipment status and condition

Use In use, In storage, Under maintenance or Retired to describe the item's current operational status. Condition is a separate observation about the item itself. Equipment can be in storage and still be in good condition.

After a repair, review both fields rather than changing only the notes. A record marked under maintenance remains in that status until someone updates it. Saving a record does not inspect the equipment, certify its safety or confirm that a technician completed a repair.

Track service and warranty dates

Enter purchase, warranty, last-service and next-maintenance dates where available. An optional purchase cost is recorded in USD. It is a reference amount, not a calculated current value.

Use the due filter to find equipment with maintenance due today or overdue; retired items are excluded. Dates do not create automatic reminders or work assignments. If a person needs to arrange service, create a separate work item with an owner and due date, then update the equipment record after the work is checked.

Search and filter equipment records

Search by name, tag, serial number, manufacturer, model, area or notes. Combine the search with category, location and status filters to narrow a large list. If an item seems missing, clear the filters before adding it again.

For a location review, choose that location and compare the visible list with the equipment physically present. Investigate any mismatch. A missing item might have moved without an update, while an unexpected item might already have a record under a different area description.

Export a filtered asset list

Choose Export CSV after setting the filters you need. The export follows the current filtered list, so clear filters first when you want the full register. People with read access can export the records they can view.

Check the exported rows before sharing them. The file can contain serial numbers, purchase costs and internal notes. For spreadsheet handling, Microsoft's text and CSV import guidance explains how to open delimited data without treating it as a native workbook.

Retire and delete business equipment

Mark equipment Retired when it is no longer part of active operations. Keeping the record can help answer later questions about an old tag or purchase. Permanent deletion is available only for retired records.

Confirm you selected the correct tag before deleting. Removing a record is different from recording disposal paperwork or confirming an item has physically left the site. Keep any supporting documents in the appropriate business records. The register holds up to 2,000 assets per business.

Control access to asset management

The Assets screen grant controls visibility, and Manage assets controls changes. Review those settings through People and roles. NIST's least-privilege definition provides useful background for granting only the access a job needs.

Assets are included in operational JSON backups and are preserved when the catalog is cleared. If another person changes the records while your edit is open, refresh and review the current version instead of assuming your older draft should overwrite it. The register does not calculate depreciation or accounting valuations.

Coming soon

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