A Definition of Asset Identification

Asset identification is a critical process for any business because knowing which equipment you have is essential to being able to track it. If your assets are labeled incorrectly, or if you have duplicate labels, you risk facing compliance issues, falling behind with preventive maintenance, and putting your assets at risk of being stolen or lost. Utilizing asset identification best practices with fixed and movable physical assets is the foundation of efficient asset tracking for your business.

The asset code structure hierarchy is the backbone and most critical aspect of the database build. Considerable effort must be channelled to this function with the SmartAsset solution.

Asset Code Structures

Asset Codes

The asset code file is a table used to record information relating to all assets that require maintenance.

The asset code file is hierarchically structured such that nomination of a parent facility enables establishment of parent/child relationships between assets. Thus the organisational chart may be defined in maintenance terms consisting of major asset groupings such as production/process lines through items of plant and down to assemblies and components.

A 30 character code (alphabetic and/or numeric) used to identify an asset for which maintenance activities may be required.

Asset Codes are generally created by the Asset Manager and their specific naming convention is a major consideration during design.

While SmartAsset imposes no specific structure for the asset code, it should be noted that if a structured approach is adopted, asset code copying is possible from generic items to specific items such that all components of a nominated generic asset may be automatically copied as components of the new asset including related reference data, descriptive text, parent coordinates and standard activity linkages.

Considerations;

• Do not include spaces in the asset code
• Design of the asset code with or without delimiters;
  • Delimiters such as hyphens between levels of the asset code makes the visual viewing of the asset more depictive but lengthens the asset code
  • CTR01WRZ12CAM01
  • CTR01-WR-Z12-CAM01
• Limited to a maximum of 30-charcters
• Limited to 30 levels deep in the parent/child relationship

Asset Hierarchy Logic Rules

When the asset parent/child relationship is created, the solution requires a set of rules to be followed to ensure the consistency of the database structural level is correct to maximise worklist and planning functionality.

Asset Status

Asset Status is used to identify the current status of an asset.

When asset codes are defined, they must be assigned a Status code that identifies their current disposition:

-  A   …Active

-  D   …Detached

-  I   …Inactive

-  O  …Obsolete

-  R   …Reference Only

-  UN  …Unavailable

Active

An asset code will normally have a status of 'Active' which allows maintenance activities such as job requests, jobs and/or standard activities/preventative maintenance to be created.

Detached

Assets that are deemed trackable by serial number, are flagged as ‘Detached’ which is system generated.  If the serial number has been rotated out of an asset and a new serial number has not been rotated back in, the asset is automatically set to ‘Detached’.

Inactive

Assets that are flagged as offline are set to ‘Inactive’ which is system generated.  When an asset has been flagged as Online, it is set back to Active.

Obsolete

Assets that are no longer in general use or have been removed from operation are set to ‘Obsolete’. Obsolete assets are generally moved to an obsolete asset folder for reporting purposes.

Reference

Asset codes may also be raised with a status of 'Reference Only' to indicate that the item may not be referenced as the subject of a maintenance job. This may be useful for group level asset codes or functional locations.

Unavailable

An asset code which is in-active will have its status set to 'Unavailable' meaning that no maintenance activities such as job requests or jobs can be created. However, standard activities are allowed to be raised against this item but not converted into maintenance tasks.

For example, you may be creating a suite of new assets that are not yet commissioned but you want to setup its preventative maintenance regime in advance but you do not want users to create job requests and/or breakdown/corrective type maintenance. When the new assets are commissioned, the asset status can be updated to active.

Another example, is that you may mothball an asset/s for an extended time period and during this period you do not want unwanted maintenance tasks created.

Asset Level

Asset Level is used to identify the structural level of an asset within the defined organisational hierarchy/taxonomy.

When asset codes are defined, they must be assigned an Asset Level code that identifies their current structural level:

-  GR   …Group of Assets (functional location)

-  UN   …Specific Asset Unit

-  CO   …Component/Assembly of an asset

-  RO    …Rotable asset for serial number tracking

Group

Assets with an asset level of ‘Group’, is used to group assets to enable a logical structure to be created in a parent/child relationship to enable navigation of assets to achieve an organisations maintenance planning, costs and reporting strategies.

The asset hierarchy/taxonomy can be viewed as per a family tree.

• A group can be child of a group.
• A group cannot be a child of a unit or component.

Unit

An asset with an asset level of ‘Unit’, means that this is your maintainable unit asset. This is the asset that you isolate are require to be scheduled for maintenance.

• A unit can be a child of a group
• All children assets of a unit must be a Component.
• A unit cannot be a child of unit
• A unit cannot be a child of a component.

For example:                 A mobile piece of plant/equipment will always be a ‘Unit’. i.e Haul Trucks, Dozers, Cranes, Excavators, Welders, Compressors, Fork Trucks, Vehicles and Hagglunds etc.

Another example:          Fixed assets such as Conveyors, Pump Sets, Elevators, Lifts, and HVAC’s etc. would also be maintainable ‘Units’ as these assets require isolation to perform maintenance.

Component

An asset with an asset level of ‘Component’ means that it is an assembly or a component of a maintainable unit asset.

• A component can be a child of a unit.
• A component can be a child of a component.
• A component cannot be a child of a group

Rotable

Assets that are required to be rotated from one location to another for serial number tracking purposes are set to Rotable. Rotable assets are associated with specific parent and rotable assets.

Asset Code Master File

Generic Assets

A 30-character code (alphabetic and/or numeric) to identify an existing asset code to be used as a template for building a new asset code.

The generic asset concept allows nomination of one asset that is common to several identical items. When the identical items are being built, the information defined for the generic item is automatically copied into the new item. This is particularly useful in relation to the multitude of standard maintenance activities that may be defined for an item.

It should be noted that generic assets must adopt a structured approach to achieve maximum benefits. The asset code copying is possible from generic items to specific items such that all components of a nominated generic asset may be automatically copied as components of the new asset including related reference data, descriptive text, parent coordinates and standard activity linkages. For example, if a pump has been defined as follows:

                        Unit:     ZPUMP

             Component:    ZPUMP-SA      ...Seal Assembly

                                      ZPUMP-SA-S        ...Seal

                                      ZPUMP-EM      ...Electric Motor

         ....then using the copy function from ZPUMP to PMP001would create the following:

                        Unit:     PMP001

             Component:    PMP001-SA      ...Seal Assembly

                                      PMP001-SA-S        ...Seal

                                      PMP001-EM      ...Electric Motor

Asset Types

Asset Types identifies a general category or class to which the asset code belongs to.

Asset Types are a critical aspect of the database because it provides an organisation with a means of analysing, interrogating and reporting on the database.

An Asset Type is an 8 character code (alphabetic and/or numeric).

Asset types can be assigned attributes known as Prompts such as Make, Model, Manufacturer, Year of Manufacture, Size, kW and Serial Number etc. for database interrogation and reporting.

Asset ‘Reference Data’ relative to the asset type prompts can be assigned to each individual asset for more detailed database interrogation and reporting.

Asset Type Reference Data

Asset types can be assigned attributes known as Prompts such as Make, Model, Manufacturer, Year of Manufacture, Size, kW and Serial Number etc. for database interrogation and reporting.

Asset ‘Reference Data’ relative to the asset type prompts can be assigned to each individual asset for more detailed database interrogation and reporting.

Reference data is a string of up to 40 characters (Alphabetic and Numeric) that is retained as reference information for an asset code.

Standard Activities

An 8 character code (1 alphabetic followed by 7 digits) that identifies a specific standard activity.

Standard Activities are definitions of maintenance tasks that may be used to set up a preventative maintenance schedule and to provide templates to be used when raising maintenance jobs.

Standard Activities is your preventative maintenance library allowing organisations to trigger maintenance activities by Periodic, Interval or Ranges based triggers.

Standard Activity Linking (asset standards)

The asset standard activities table is used to identify how a standard activities are linked to an asset.

Standard Activities enable the user to set up preventative maintenance schedules for an asset and also provide a template to be used when raising jobs for an asset, thereby reducing job preparation time.

Trigger Action

• Manual Job
  • A user must manually convert yellow book standard activities into actual maintenance jobs.
• Auto Job
  • The application (SmartAsset) automatically builds the next job during the job completion process. For interval and range based standard activities, the job will be automatically built once the next due reading is equalled to or breached.
• Flexible Reset
  • Resets the next standard activity occurrence using the actual end date.
• Static Reset
  • Resets the next standard activity occurrence using the estimated start/initiation date.

Jobs Management

Job Management provides an organisation with a computerised means of recording, scheduling and managing work requests and maintenance activities (Jobs) within an organisation for recording actual maintenance making it easy to ensure that all of the jobs are completed on time and that the customer is satisfied with the work.

Job Request

An 8 character code (1 alphabetic followed by 7 digits) that identifies a specific job request.

Job Requests are, as their name implies, requests for maintenance activity to be performed. They are usually allowed to be raised by anyone within an organisation and may optionally contain a request title, asset code, shop id and originator.

Job Requests may be reviewed by authorised users at any time.  Request contents may be altered and progress of a request may be monitored.

Jobs

An 8 character code (1 alphabetic followed by 7 digits) that identifies a specific maintenance job.

Maintenance Jobs are actual instances of maintenance activity. They are usually allowed to be raised by maintenance personnel including Planners, Workshop Supervisors and tradesmen and may optionally contain a job title, asset code, shop id, originator and other relevant information,

Once raised, they will be reviewed at regular intervals and completed with all relevant data as required. At this point, the job will be written to job history for further reporting, enquiries and analysis.

The job number is usually automatically allocated by SmartAsset from 1 of 4 series of Job Numbers.

All maintenance activity is carried out with reference to a job number. Maintenance costs are collected at job level. Completed jobs are copied to a job history table which is subsequently made available to analytical and diagnostic functions.