Where to start

Overview

In one minute

Asset Management is the register of the things in your buildings: machines, installations, furniture and the equipment people borrow. Each asset sits in an area, has a page and a QR code of its own, and keeps every fault reported on it.

The asset register at Northgate Group: the counters, the search and filters, then one card per asset.

Asset Management is part of the incident module and shares its areas, categories and team. It adds these screens:

Screen	Who uses it	What it is for
Assets	Administrators and reception	The register: every asset of the company, with its types, groups and templates on tabs of their own. Find, add and move assets.
An asset's page	Administrators and reception	Everything about one asset: its details and fields, documents, QR code, what can be reported on it, and its open and done incidents.
An asset type's page	Administrators and reception	What every asset of one type shares: what can be reported on it, and its documents.
Assign QR codes	Administrators and reception, on a phone	Link a printed QR sticker to the asset or area it is stuck on, and create the asset there and then if it is missing.
Equipment	Administrators and reception, where Equipment hand-out is on	Who holds which laptop, phone or key, and when it is due back.

Key idea

An area is a place: a building, a floor, a room. An asset is a thing in a place: the coffee machine in the canteen, the projector in a meeting room. Every asset sits in an area. Both have a QR code, and faults are reported on both. Areas are set up as the Incident Management guide describes under Areas. This guide is about the things in them.

Types, templates and groups

Every asset has a name and an area. Three labels, all optional, say more about it. Each answers its own question, and an asset can have all three:

Label	The question it answers	What it brings to the asset
Asset type	What kind of thing is it? For example Coffee machine or Fire extinguisher.	Its incident categories and its documents, on every asset of the type, including assets added later. This is the usual place to decide what people can report.
Template	Which fields does it have? For example Serial number, Installation date or Warranty expires.	The fields to fill in on the asset, and its icon.
Group	Which part of the organisation owns it? For example Facilities or IT.	Nothing. It is a label to filter the register by.

Tip

Make the types before you add many assets. What can be reported is set once on the type, so twelve coffee machines all offer the same categories without ticking each one.

Who does what

Role	What they do with assets
Company administrator	Switches Assets and Equipment hand-out on in Module settings. Uses the register for every location of the company they are administering that has the incident module. Creates, renames and deletes types, groups and templates, which are one list for the whole company.
Incident administrator	A host named under Incident administrators on the Incidents add-on page. Does what a company administrator does at that location, Module settings included.
Receptionist	Uses the register, Assign QR codes and Equipment at the locations where they are a receptionist. Cannot open Module settings, so cannot switch features on.
The incident team	Executors, managers and suppliers have no Assets in their menu. They meet assets through incidents: an incident on an asset carries the asset's name. The team is described under Team and roles in the Incident Management guide.
Everybody else	Reports a fault on an asset by scanning a QR code, with or without an account. Signed-in employees can also choose the asset when they report a problem.

How to get there

Assets is in the incident module's menu under Your site, between Areas and Categories, at a location where Assets is switched on.
Scan a QR code at the top of the register opens Assign QR codes. An area's page has the same button.
Equipment is a tab of the register. The Equipment pages have no menu item of their own.
Every area's page has an Assets section listing the assets placed in it.

Security

The register shows only the company you are currently administering, and every change is checked against the location the asset belongs to. An asset of another company does not open, not even with a direct link.

Setup

Switching Assets on

Asset Management is part of the Incidents add-on. First switch the add-on on for the location, as described in Turning it on in the Incident Management guide. Assets is then one of the module's optional features, switched per location in Module settings:

In the incident module's menu, open Module settings. If you configure several locations, choose the Location first.
Under Features, switch on Assets, and Equipment hand-out if people borrow things from you.
Press Save changes. The page reloads, and Assets is in the menu under Your site.

Company administrators and incident administrators can do this. Receptionists cannot open Module settings.

Switched on by itself

Adding an asset switches Assets on, for example in the setup guide's Assets step or with Assign QR codes. A feature in use cannot be switched off: while the location has assets, the line under the switch begins In use and Assets stays on. To give your other locations the same features, use Use these features at your other locations on the same page.

Assets

On / off

A register of the things in your areas, with types, templates and documents. Switched on, it adds Assets to the menu, an Assets section to every area's page and the asset categories to the Categories page. The setup guide and Assign QR codes switch it on by themselves when they add the first asset.

Equipment hand-out

On / off · needs Assets

For assets people borrow and return, such as laptops, phones and keys, with a record of who holds what. It adds the Equipment tab to the register, the People can borrow this asset switch to New asset, and the Equipment pages. While it is on, Assets stays on as well. See Equipment people borrow.

Coming: maintenance plans

Maintenance plans, with tasks created automatically on a schedule, are on the way. They are not yet available to switch on, so this guide does not cover them.

Asset types and groups

Asset types and groups are on the Types and groups tab of the register. Each is one list for the whole company: a type or group you create, rename or delete is created, renamed or deleted at every location.

New type asks for a name, such as Elevator or Fire extinguisher. Each type's row shows how many categories and documents it brings, and how many assets have it. Click the name to open the type's page, where you choose what can be reported on every asset of the type and add the documents they share. The pencil renames a type. The bin deletes it after asking: its assets keep their own categories and documents, but no longer get the type's.

Groups

A group is a label for the part of the organisation that owns an asset, such as Facilities or IT. It brings nothing to the asset: it is there to filter the register by.

The list starts with three standard groups: Building, Technical and Equipment. Rename or delete them like any other. A deleted standard group does not come back by itself.
New group adds one.
Drag a group by its handle, or use the arrows, to set the order the register's filter lists them in.
Group coverage shows how the assets are spread over the groups. Show them in the register lists the ones in no group.

Templates and their fields

A template decides which fields an asset has, such as a serial number, an installation date or a service contract number, and which icon it shows. Templates are on the Templates tab, with how many fields and assets each has. Like types and groups, they are one list for the whole company.

Press New template, or click a template's name to change it.
Give it a Name and choose an Icon: one of the six shown, one found under More icons, or a Font Awesome class typed in.
Under Fields, type a name in Name a new field, choose its Field type and press Add. Drag the fields, or use the arrows, to put them in order. Remove one with the button at the end of its row.
How it looks on an asset shows the result as you go. Press Save. Nothing is saved before that.

Field type	On the asset
Text	A one-line text box.
Number	A box that takes numbers only.
Date	A date picker.
Yes or no	A switch.
Longer text	A box for several lines.
Dropdown	A one-line text box. It has no list of choices to set up, so it works as Text.

The Standard Appliance template: five fields, and how they look on an asset.

Before you change a template

What is filled in on an asset is kept under the field's name. If you rename or remove a field, the assets show the renamed field empty, and what was filled in under the old name stays on each asset's page under Kept from earlier fields. There you can copy it into the new field and remove it with its cross. Renaming the field back shows the values in it again. A template is chosen when an asset is created and cannot be changed afterwards, and a template any asset uses cannot be deleted. The editor says how many assets use it.

What can be reported on an asset

When someone reports a fault on an asset, they choose from the asset's incident categories, and Other, which is always offered. These are categories of the type Asset, made on the Categories page like any other (see Categories in the Incident Management guide). An asset category has no sub-categories. Its SLA and default priority work as for every category.

You decide which assets offer a category in one of two ways:

On the Categories page, press Assets on the category's card. Tick single assets, or Whole type for every asset of a type, including those added later, and press Save.
On an asset type's page, or an asset's own page, press Add under Incident categories, tick the categories and add them.

An asset offers its own categories and its type's together. Setting them on the type is usually best.

Place each asset in the room people will be standing in when they report it. The report form offers the assets placed directly in the area chosen, not those in the areas below it.

How to

Adding assets

There are four ways in. Use the one that fits the job:

One at a time from the register, with New asset (below).
Several of the same kind at once, from an area's page (below).
On a phone while you put up QR stickers, with Assign QR codes.
In the setup guide's Assets step, which asks for just a name, an area and a type (see Setup guide in the Incident Management guide).

From the register

Open Assets and press New asset. If the button reads Create an area first, the location has no areas yet: create them first.
Under Where it is, choose the Area the asset is in. With several locations the areas are listed per location, and the location decides which templates, types and groups you can choose.
Under What it is, give it a Name, and choose a Template, an Asset type and a Group if you use them. A template's fields appear straight away. Fill in what you know.
Where Equipment hand-out is on, switch on People can borrow this asset for something people take with them (see Equipment people borrow).
Press Create asset.

The asset gets its own QR code at once. Everything about it except its template can be changed later on its page.

New asset: a coffee machine for the meeting kitchen, with the fields of the Standard Appliance template.

Several at once, from an area's page

An area's page has an Assets section with the assets placed directly in that area. Add assets there creates up to 100 at a time:

Choose a Template, give a Name and set How many. The number is added straight after the name, so Chair becomes Chair1, Chair2 and so on, and the form shows the names before you create them. Numbers already used in that area are skipped.
Choose a Type to give them all the same type, and fill in the template's Details, which all of them get.
Under a type's heading in the list, the plus adds more assets of that type.
Move assets here brings assets in from other areas of the location, with their QR codes and their history.

The Assets section of the canteen's page, with Add assets open for five chairs.

QR codes on assets

Every asset has a QR code of its own from the moment it is created. Scanning it with a phone opens the form to report a problem with that asset, with no app and no sign-in. There are two ways to get a code onto the asset:

Print it yourself. Print QR code on the asset's page, or under ⋯ on its card in the register, opens the code with the asset's name under it, ready to print. On the asset's page, Download saves it as a picture, and the address it opens can be copied. An area's page shows its assets' codes too, under Show.
Link a pre-printed sticker. If your company has pre-printed QR stickers that are not linked to anything yet, stick one on the asset and link it with Assign QR codes.

A sticker that is not linked yet opens a page saying This code isn't set up yet when it is scanned. If you are signed in as an administrator or receptionist of the company the sticker belongs to, that page offers Assign this code, which opens Assign QR codes with the code already read.

Rooms and other areas have codes of their own, made and printed on the area's page (see Area QR codes in the Incident Management guide). Scanning a room's code lets the reporter choose an asset in it.

Replacing a code

An asset has one code at a time. Linking a sticker to an asset that already has a code replaces it, and the old code stops working, printed copies included. Assign QR codes asks before it does so.

Registering assets on a phone

Assign QR codes is made for walking round the building with your stickers: stick one on, scan it, say where it is, next.

Open Assets and press Scan a QR code, or use the same button on an area's page, which starts in that area. With several locations, choose the location with the button at the top.
Press Start camera, allow the camera when the phone asks, and point it at the sticker. The code is read as soon as it is in view, and Turn the light on helps in a dark plant room. Or type the code under Or type the code on the sticker and press Use this code.
The code is checked, and the page shows what it is for: Area code, Asset code or Area or asset.
Tap through the areas to the room the sticker is in. Each area says how many areas and assets are inside it, and shows Has a QR code where it already has one. A missing room can be created on the spot, under New area inside.
For the room itself, press Link to followed by its name. For an asset, press Choose the asset in the room (Put it on an asset in for an Area or asset code). Tap the asset the sticker is on, or under Add the asset give it a name, such as Fire extinguisher 1, and a Type, and press Next.
Check the summary under Link the code here? and press Link the code, or Create the asset and link the code for a new one.
Code linked confirms it. Next asset in the room carries on with a new asset with the next number, Fire extinguisher 2, and the same type. Scan the next one starts again, in the areas where the last code went.

Assign QR codes on a phone: the code read, the asset chosen in the canteen, and the next one ready.

Stickers

A sticker belongs to one company and can be linked once. Assign QR codes says why when it refuses a code: it does not know the code, the code has not been given to your company yet, belongs to another company or is already linked, or it is an area code on an asset or an asset code on an area. Company administrators, receptionists at the location and incident administrators can use it.

Changing, moving and deleting

Changing. Everything about an asset is changed on its page, under Asset information. Each change saves as you make it.
Moving. When a thing moves to another room, move the asset so reports land in the right place. In the register, press the arrows on its card (Move to another area), choose the area under Move to and press Move asset. On its page, choose another Area and confirm. Its incidents, categories, documents and QR code go with it. An asset can only move within its location.
Deleting. An asset is deleted on its area's page, with the bin on its row in the Assets section, after a question. Assets that are part of it go with it, and incidents already reported on it are kept. The register and the asset's page have no delete button.

When someone reports a fault on an asset

Reporting works as described in Reporting a fault in the Incident Management guide. For an asset, this is what is different:

The reporter chooses from the asset's incident categories, and Other. Choosing Other makes a description required.
The incident is filed on the asset itself, so it appears on the asset's page. In the incident list it shows the asset's name and the category with a cube, and its area is the room the asset is in.
It gets the SLA and default priority of the category chosen, as every incident does.
When your team creates an incident in the incident list, the form has an Asset field once the chosen area holds assets. Leave it at No specific asset to file the incident on the area.

Scanning the room's code

On What's the issue?, the room's own categories come first, then the assets placed directly in the room, each with a chevron and its template's name. Tapping one asks What's the issue with the asset and lists its categories. From there the steps are the usual ones, including the check for an open report of the same thing.

Scanning the canteen's code: the canteen's categories and its assets, then the coffee machine's own list.

Scanning the asset's own code

Scanning the code on the asset itself opens the report form on that asset. It asks What's the issue with the asset and lists its categories straight away: the same list as tapping the asset after scanning the room's code, with Other. From there the steps are the usual ones, including the check for an open report of the same thing. The report lands on the asset, and its area is the room the asset is in. To report something else in that room, scan the room's code.

Reporting when signed in

Signed-in employees can use Report a problem instead of a QR code (see Report a problem in the Incident Management guide). Once the area is chosen, Item (optional) lists the assets in it, and choosing one swaps the categories for that asset's. Where Equipment hand-out is on, Or report something you are carrying lists the items the person holds, so a faulty laptop can be reported from anywhere. The form reached by QR code offers the same to a signed-in person who holds equipment.

Changing the asset on an incident

An incident's details have an Asset row under the area. It shows the asset, or No asset where the incident's area holds assets. Click it to move the incident onto another asset in that area, or back onto the area with No asset. If the incident's category is not offered at the new place, you choose one of its categories first. Tasks have Area and Asset rows of their own, so a task can be about a different asset than its incident. See Incident details in the Incident Management guide.

Equipment people borrow

For things people take with them, such as laptops, phones, keys and access cards: who has what, since when, and when it is due back. It needs Equipment hand-out switched on. The register then has an Equipment tab with the counters and four ways in: Open the equipment register, Hand out equipment, Hand-out history and Export as CSV.

Equipment is an asset that can be handed out. Switch on People can borrow this asset when you create it, or Can be issued to a person on its page. It then needs a Serial number that is unique in the register, and gets an ID such as AST-2026-0004 that never changes. New item on the Equipment page creates one directly and, with Hand it out right away, hands it out at once. Those items are kept in an area called Equipment store, made the first time, until you move them. Switching it off again on the asset's page keeps the serial number and ID, but you cannot do this while someone holds the item.

Handing out

On the Equipment page, press Hand out equipment, or Hand out on an item on the shelf. In the register, Hand out under ⋯ on a borrowable asset opens the same form with the item chosen.
Under Who, choose the Person: employees, hosts and externals on the location's roster.
Under Items, tick what they take. Only items on the shelf can be handed out. With many items, search, or narrow the list with the Type chips, which are worked out from the items' names.
Set Handed out on and Due back, or tick Permanent hand-out: no return date. A Comment such as bag and charger included goes on the record.
Press Hand out.

Print receipt on a hand-out, on the Equipment page, the person's page or in the history, opens an equipment receipt. While the item is out, the receipt has lines for signatures.

Returns and swaps

On the Equipment page or the person's page, Return opens Register return. Set Returned on, the Condition it came back in (As new, Good, Worn or Faulty) and a Comment, and press Register return. The condition becomes the item's condition and the item goes back on the shelf. An item returned Faulty goes to In service instead, and cannot be handed out until it is back in stock (below). On an asset's page, Register return takes you to the holder's page.

Swap for a replacement (Swap on the person's page) registers the return and then opens the hand-out form for the same person.

When an item in service is fixed, press Back in stock on its row under On the shelf, choose the Condition it is in now (As new, Good or Worn) and press Back in stock. The condition becomes the item's condition, and it can be handed out again. On the asset's page, Back in stock opens the same on the Equipment page.

The Equipment page

The counters, items in total, handed out, available, overdue and in service, filter the lists below them.
People with equipment lists everyone holding something, overdue first. Equipment and history opens a person's page: what they hold now, and every hand-out and return.
On the shelf lists the items nobody holds, available or in service. An item in service has Back in stock where the others have Hand out.
History opens Equipment history: every hand-out and return, newest first, each with Print receipt. Its Export as CSV downloads the hand-outs and returns it lists.
Export as CSV downloads the equipment register: every item, with who holds it and when it is due back.

Nobody is reminded

Equipment hand-out sends no e-mails. Nothing goes out when an item is handed out or passes its due date: overdue items are marked Overdue on the Equipment pages.

Reference

The asset register

Assets opens on the Register tab: every asset of the company you are administering, across its locations with the incident module. Searching, sorting, filtering and paging happen in the page, so it stays quick with thousands of assets.

Counter	Counts
assets in total	Every asset in the register.
with incidents	Assets with at least one incident reported on them, done ones included.
without a type	Assets with no asset type, which offer only their own categories.
not in a group	Assets in no group.
handed out now	Borrowable assets someone holds. Only while Equipment hand-out is on.

Click a counter to show only those assets. assets in total shows them all again.

The search box finds a word in the asset's name, area, template, type, group or ID, or the name of the person holding it.
Sort by Name A to Z, Area or Most incidents.
Filter by area (the areas below it included), asset type, group (Not in a group is a choice of its own) and, with Equipment hand-out on, whether it is handed out. The sort and the filters are remembered for your next visit; the search is not.
There are 25 assets to a page. A card shows the asset's icon, name, area and template, with badges for In maintenance, the number of incidents, its type and group, and who holds it. The arrows move it. ⋯ has Open the asset's page, Print QR code and, for equipment, Hand out or the holder's equipment. Click the card to open the asset's page.

An asset's page

The canteen coffee machine's page: the facts at the top, Asset information on the left, the QR code and its incident categories on the right.

The breadcrumb at the top leads back to Assets and to each area the asset sits in. Under the name are its status, group, template and place. Print QR code is at the top right and, for equipment, Hand out or Register return. Below that come the facts:

Fact	Shows
Area	The area the asset is in, and its location.
Open incidents	How many incidents on the asset are not done, and whether any is past its SLA.
Last serviced	The day the last incident on the asset was done.
Held by	For equipment only: who has it and when it is due back, or that it is not handed out or is out for service.

Asset information

Field	What it does
Name	Required. What reporters and your team see.
Asset type	The asset takes its type's incident categories and documents. No type for none.
Group	A label to filter the register by. Ungrouped for none.
Area	Where the asset is. Picking another area moves it, after a question.
Status	Active or In maintenance, which is marked in the register. It is a label only: people can still report faults on the asset. Left out when the template has a field called Status of its own.
Equipment	With Equipment hand-out on: Can be issued to a person, the Asset ID, Manufacturer or model, Serial number and Condition.
Template fields	Under the heading From the name template: the fields the template gives the asset. Values filled in under a field the template no longer has follow under Kept from earlier fields, each with a cross to remove it.

Documents, QR code and categories

Documents: Upload a document attaches a manual, a warranty or a service report of up to 50 MB. Web pages, SVG images and similar files are refused, so save them as a PDF first. A document on the asset is marked This asset. Those of its type are marked From the type and are managed on the type's page. Click a name to download it.
QR code: the asset's code, the Report address it opens with a button to copy it, Print and Download.
Incident categories: what people choose from when they report a fault on the asset, its own and its type's together, each with its SLA and default priority. Add lists the location's asset categories to tick. The cross takes one of the asset's own categories off it, and the category itself is kept. Categories that come from the type are marked From the type and have no cross: the arrow at the end of the row opens the type's page, where they are taken off.

Incidents and history

Open incidents lists the incidents on the asset that are not done, newest first, with their status, executor and deadline. Incident details opens one (see Incident details in the Incident Management guide).
Recently done shows the five most recently done.
Sub-assets appears when other assets are part of this one.
Hand-out history, for equipment, lists the item's hand-outs and returns, newest first, with receipts.

Open incidents and Recently done on the coffee machine: one open report and five done, the last a descaling visit.

An asset type's page

Click a type's name on the Types and groups tab, or the arrow next to a type's heading on an area's page. Everything on the type's page applies to every asset of the type, now and in future:

Type information: its name. Renaming it renames it everywhere.
The facts: how many assets have the type and where most of them are, its documents, and the open incidents on its assets.
Documents: shared with every asset of the type.
Incident categories: offered on every asset of the type.
Assets of this type: the first 200, by name.

Limits and quirks

Only assets placed directly in an area are offered when someone reports there, not those in the areas below it.
The template is fixed. It is chosen when the asset is created and cannot be changed, and a template in use cannot be deleted.
Renaming a template field does not carry the values over. What was filled in under the old name is kept, under Kept from earlier fields on the asset's page.
Dropdown fields have no list of choices. They work as text.
No sub-assets of your own. You cannot put one asset inside another. Where an asset already has assets that are part of it, its page lists them under Sub-assets.
Deleting is done on the area's page only. An asset can only move within its location.
No change history. Changes to an asset's name, type, area or fields are not logged. Its record is its incidents and, for equipment, its hand-outs.
No export of the asset register, and no reports on cost or lifecycle. Export as CSV downloads the equipment register on the Equipment page, and the hand-outs and returns on Equipment history.
QR codes print one at a time, from the asset's page or its card.
Status is a label. In maintenance does not stop anyone reporting a fault.
Types, groups and templates are company-wide, but categories are per location.
Equipment: no e-mails are sent, and putting an item back in stock is not recorded in its history.
The report form reached by QR code is in English only.

Help

Troubleshooting

Assets is not in my menu, or opening it takes me somewhere else.

Assets shows at a location where the feature is switched on, for company administrators, receptionists and incident administrators. It is not in the executors' and managers' menus. Switch it on in Module settings; the menu catches up within a minute. If Assets is off at every location you work at, opening the register takes you to Module settings, or to the incident list if you may not change it, with a line at the top naming the switch.

The register is empty, or New asset reads Create an area first.

Assets live in areas, so create the location's areas first (see Areas in the Incident Management guide), then add the assets. The register shows the company you are currently administering: if you administer several, switch company first.

An asset is missing when someone reports in its room.

Only assets placed directly in the area chosen are offered. Check the asset's Area on its page: it may sit in a sub-area, or in the area above. Move it to where people stand when they report.

Someone chose an asset, but the only category is Other.

Neither the asset nor its type has incident categories. Add some on the type's page or the asset's page, or tick the asset on the Categories page. See What can be reported on an asset.

Assign QR codes refuses a sticker.

It says why. This code isn't in the system: check what you typed. This code belongs to a different company, This code has been voided and can't be used or This code is already linked to an area or asset: use another sticker. This code has not been given to your company yet: ask BmyGuest support to add it to your company's codes. This is an area code, so it can't be linked to an asset, or the other way round: use a sticker of the right kind, or one the app shows as Area or asset.

The camera does not start in Assign QR codes.

The page says what went wrong: it needs a secure (https) connection, the camera may be blocked for the site in the browser's settings, or no camera was found. Typing the code on the sticker always works.

A template cannot be deleted.

Assets use it. A template cannot be taken off an asset, so it can only be deleted once no asset uses it. The template editor says how many do.

Values disappeared from assets after the template was changed.

A field was renamed or removed in the template. Values are kept under the field's name, so the assets show the renamed field empty. What was filled in under the old name is listed on each asset's page under Kept from earlier fields: copy it into the new field there, or rename the field back to its old name, which shows the values in it again.

A category on an asset's page has no cross.

It is marked From the type: it comes from the asset's type. Take it off on the type's page (the arrow at the end of its row), which takes it off every asset of the type, or give this asset another type.

An item is stuck In service.

It was returned Faulty. When it is fixed, find it under On the shelf on the Equipment page (the in service counter shows only those), press Back in stock, choose the condition it is in now and press Back in stock. It can then be handed out again.

A person is missing from the hand-out list, or there is no Equipment tab.

Only people on the location's roster can be given equipment: its hosts and the people on the incident team, externals included. Add them as a host, or to the team, first. If there is no Equipment tab and no borrow switch, Equipment hand-out is off at the location; an administrator switches it on in Module settings.

Button and screen names are given in English, as they appear in the screenshots. If you use BmyGuest in another language, the wording differs, but every screen and button is in the same place. The screenshots show a fictional company, Northgate Group.