Assets
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Introduction
CommitCRM's Asset Management feature lets you easily track and manage customer equipment, PC inventory and software licenses/subscriptions.
Asset management in CommitCRM is designed to help IT managers and service providers to quickly and efficiently get to the root of problems with the help of the Asset service history feature, and the Asset management overview of customer hardware and software inventory.
Each Asset can be linked to a specific customer, and it represents their equipment (hardware) or software. Once an Asset is linked to an Account, and service Tickets are opened for it, this link to the Account becomes permanent (i.e. you cannot link it to any other Account).
Each Asset can be one of the following types: Hardware, Software or Other. For each of the types, you can manage slightly different information which is relevant to the Asset type, and track the relevant activity.
Asset Fields
Hardware Assets can be used to track Servers, Desktops, Laptops, Printers, Routers, Etc. For every Hardware Asset item you can manage details which are specific to that Asset, such as Code and Serial Numbers, Warranty expiration date, Vendor and Manufacturer information, license keys and codes, and more.
Software Assets can be used to track Customer Software Assets such as: Windows® Server and Desktop Licenses, Anti-Virus software licenses and subscription information, Microsoft® Office® licenses, Accounting package licenses (i.e. QuickBooks), etc.
See the Asset details window below:
Asset Details Window
The following are the fields that are available for every Asset :
Field List
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Asset Name
(mandatory) |
Every Asset is given its own name so you will be able to easily identify it when viewing the Assets list. For example, when you wish to link an Asset to a new Ticket, you can click the Asset selection list, and only Assets which are relevant to that customer will be displayed. Using the Asset Name you can easily find the Asset in the list. Note that you can have multiple Assets with the same name. |
| Asset Code | The Asset code field is optional. If you choose to use it, it must have a unique identifier that is not used for any other Asset. For example, you may have several Assets with the same name (e.g. "HP Workstation Z50"), but each Asset should have its own unique identifier (e.g. "HP-Z50-001", "HP-Z50-002", etc.). Note that you can also use the Asset code for scanning-in barcodes (see Barcodes and Assets). |
| Serial No. | This field is located in the Asset's Details tab. Use this field to store serial numbers. You can also use the barcode scanner to scan a barcode number into the Serial Number fields (see Barcodes and Assets). |
| Warranty / License expiration dates | You can set the expiration dates for Warranties (for Hardware) or Licenses (for Software) in the "Wrnty./Lic. Exp." field and use it to track expiration dates. When the due date is reached, this date turns red to indicate that this Asset's warranty or license is overdue. You can also filter results by expiration date to see which Assets are about to expire so that you can notify users of warranties or licenses which should be renewed. For more details see Asset Warranties. |
| Purchase information | For each Asset you can store purchase information, such as purchase date, delivery date, price, PO, and Invoice #. |
| Purchased From Us | You can also store whether the Asset was purchased from you using the Purchased From Us flag in the Details tab. Note that when converting a won Sales Opportunity into an Asset, this flag will be automatically be set to true. |
| Vendor and Manufacturer information (tab) | Use this section to store Vendor and Manufacturer information and terms, such as the vendor serial number, manufacturer serial number, vendor PO and Invoice #, vendor warranty expiration and more. |
| License Keys and Codes (tab) | Store licenses and keys in this section to easily access equipment. You can also store special notes and instructions, such as "Need to login as admin in order to modify..." |
Adding New Assets
New Assets can be added from the Account window, Ticket window, or Asset window. You can also import Assets from Excel® files, CSV files, or other tabular formats into CommitCRM. You can read more about importing Assets in Importing Assets. When you click the New button, the New Asset window opens:
In this window, you can set the Asset Name (mandatory), Asset Code, Quantity, Location and Description. You can also link the Asset to the Account who is the customer that owns the Asset.
For quick creation of Assets for specific Accounts, you can also add the Asset directly from the Account window:
Linking Assets to Tickets
Each Asset can be linked to an Account as well as to a specific Ticket. Linking an Asset to a Ticket helps you track the Asset's service history (see Tracking an Asset's).
When creating a new Ticket, you can select the relevant Asset which should be linked to this Ticket by clicking the drop-down menu and selecting the relevant Asset. If you want to add a new Asset to the Ticket, you can do so from within the New Ticket window by clicking the "+" button and adding the new Asset on-the-fly. This new Asset will be automatically linked to the Ticket and to the Account.
Searching for Assets
You can search for Assets by information stored in the various fields of the Asset.
The most common searches for Assets are based on Asset Name, Asset Code, Asset Description or the Asset's Serial Numbers. To find an Asset based on information stored in one of these fields, click on the drop-down menu next to Find to select the field where the requested information is stored:
Tracking an Asset's Service History
When an Asset is reported to have a problem, you can open a Ticket and Link it to the Asset so you will have a history record of all service Tickets opened for this Asset. This helps you track recurring problems for the Asset, etc. Before fixing an Asset, you can easily view the Asset's service history to help you decide how to handle the problem.
You can view an Asset's entire Service History in the Asset window under the Tickets tab
Importing Assets
You can import Assets from Excel® files, CSV files, or other table formats into CommitCRM. When importing an Assets file, you should select the Asset type (Hardware, Software or Other), and optionally link all the imported Assets to a specific Account. If no Account is selected, the newly created Assets will not be linked to any Account, and you will be able to link them at a later stage.
To import Assets, on the Main menu select Tools > Import and Export > Import Assets:
- Select the file format.
- Select the type of Assets you want to import: Hardware, Software, or Other.
- Select whether to link all imported Assets to a selected Account or import them without assigning an Account to the newly created Assets.
- Map the imported data with the equivalent CommitCRM fields.
- Make sure you have all the mandatory fields in your input file. Specifically, make sure to map the Asset name as this is a mandatory field (see Field List).
You can also import Assets from the Assets tab in the Accounts window by right-clicking and selecting Import Assets... In this case all the imported Assets will be linked to the current Account).
Transferring Assets between customers
Note that once an Asset is linked to an Account, and service Tickets are opened for it, this link to the Account becomes permanent (i.e. you cannot link it to any other Account). If you wish to transfer the Asset (the equipment or software license) to a different customer/Account, you should copy the Asset (right-click the Asset and select Copy...), and select the new customer for the Asset.
You can keep a link to the old Asset in the newly created Asset so you will be able to track its history later on. This can be done by adding a note which indicates that this is a new Asset, and that lists the old Asset's name/code.
Customizing Assets
Each Asset includes many fields which help you store information for tracking the current status of equipment, as well as an Asset's service history so you can have a complete overview of an Asset's history next time you need to handle it.
In addition, you can also customize the Asset to contain any additional information using the following:
- Predefined user-defined fields (see Field1, Field2, etc. in the Details tab). Each customized field can be renamed (right-click the field name and select Field Settings), and you can set a list of values that will be available for this field in the drop-down menu (select the Edit List option). You can read more about customizing CommitCRM in the Setup Guide, under the Customization section.
- Add new user-defined fields. You can add new tabs and fields to reflect the information you want to keep for each Asset. See Customization.
- Asset Configuration Note. An easy way to define a customized data entry for an Asset. See Asset Configuration Note below.
Asset Configuration Note
The Asset Configuration Note provides an easy way to define a customized data entry for an Asset. The Configuration Note is a structured field, which provides an easy way to enter data which is displayed as separate fields and gives a convenient view of the details.
The purpose of the Configuration Note is to keep Asset configuration details, depending on the Asset type. You can define various templates which hold different data according to the Asset type, and use the templates to conveniently enter the configuration details.
Each Asset can hold multiple notes, allowing you to enter various types of data for the Asset.
See more details and usage instructions in Asset Configuration Note.
Web Access
In addition to managing Assets using the CommitCRM client software, the Commit Web Interface allows technicians to access all Asset details from anywhere using a web browser. Technicians at customer sites can easily view Asset details together with all the previous activity and service Tickets related to a selected Asset. They can also add new Assets, update Asset details or add new Tickets for existing Assets.
In addition, customers with web access can optionally have access to their Assets online. (Note that you can select not to show Assets to customers.)
For each Asset, you can view the full Asset details, and edit it to modify Asset details.
You can also open new Tickets for an Asset while on-site, directly from the Asset details window:
