How to Take Inventory of Your Building and Facilities’ Assets and Locations
August 21, 2020
It’s important for any Facility Manager, building owner, or electrician to be aware of the building’s assets and the exact location of each one. Failure to do so can lead to potentially disastrous situations – an unexpected electrical shutdown, delays in maintenance work, or having to pay costly OSHA fines due to noncompliance because a routine safety check-up slipped through the cracks. Having an organized and complete inventory of your building’s assets and their locations will help your building function efficiently, smoothly, and most importantly, safely.
With a clear and concise picture of your electrical infrastructure, you’ll be able to make better management decisions, address a power issue instantly, or ensure that a contractor or electrician is working efficiently. And, using CriticalAsset, you’ll be able to digitally track all of your assets once you map out their locations.
Here’s how to take an effective inventory of your building’s assets and their locations.
1. Map out assets by location
- Map assets by geographical location; building, floor, room, field site, etc.
- Determine the asset’s:
- Location
- Purpose
- Current state/condition (and if any immediate repairs/maintenance are necessary)
- Importance (list the most critical assets first)
2. Map out assets by type
- Categorize your building’s assets by function and type, including electrical, technical, etc.
- Each category can be further broken down into subsystems or sub-elements.
- Use existing documents for references:
- As-builts
- Design drawings
- Manufacturers’ manuals
- Bid documents
- Your staff — both current and previous
- Photos and videos
3. Create an asset register using CriticalAsset
- Our revolutionary software enables you to digitally recreate your building’s electrical infrastructure, including asset locations, panel locations, and more.
- Once everything has been located and inventoried, you’ll be able to access your entire building’s infrastructure with just a few clicks from your smartphone or tablet.
- Whenever the data is modified on floor plans/3D models, the changes are reflected in the database.
4. Identify and label every asset in your inventory with a QR code for tracking
- Once you’ve identified and inventoried your building’s assets, tracking them digitally is the single most efficient way to stay up-to-date with their maintenance, ongoing work, and who has performed that work.
- QR codes allow you and your employees to easily refer back to each asset to make notes, schedule maintenance, see what work has recently be done, and more – all from your smartphone or tablet.
- QR codes essentially allow you to keep a ‘history’ of each asset; this makes for a much easier transfer of knowledge later down the line when the building changes hands or owners.
5. Why it’s important to have an updated, accurate inventory of your assets
- Easier to keep your building up to code and OSHA compliant (avoid fines!)
- Maintains a safe workplace
- Helps keep track of maintenance and makes scheduling it easier
- In the case of a necessary emergency shutdown or an unplanned outage, you can instantly and easily identify the source of the problem (and where it’s located). This helps you get the lights back on and the problem solved quickly, while mitigating the damages
CriticalAsset eliminates the hassles of facilities asset management, allowing you to effortlessly manage and track all your infrastructure assets and devices in one place, saving you time and money. Sign up for a free trial.
