Assets & Maintenance

An asset register with meters, preventive maintenance, opening balances, transfers and disposals, and depreciation you preview and post each period.

The Asset Register

The asset register lists every fixed asset a company owns with its cost, accumulated depreciation and net book value. The Asset Register console is where you register and capitalise assets, run depreciation, and record transfers, impairments, revaluations and disposals; each of those posts to the general ledger through the asset engine.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → ERP - Operations:

Asset Register — the console; its badge counts assets needing attention: an unposted depreciation charge, or only one of the two depreciation accounts set
Asset Meters — the meters on each asset
Maintenance Schedules — preventive maintenance schedules
Depreciation — opens the console on its Depreciation run tab

Architect Panel → ERP - Reference Data:

Asset Classes — classes and their default life, method, rate and accounts
Depreciation Methods — the methods an asset can use

Admin Panel → Fixed Assets:

Fixed Assets — the same console for finance staff who are not architects

The old generic Assets tile has been retired: assets created there skipped numbering, class defaults and account checks. Always register through the console.

Who can use it

ERP: Fixed Assets can change the register; ERP: Reporting opens it read-only and can still preview depreciation. Registering needs write access to the company; impairing, revaluing, disposing, reposting, posting depreciation and capitalising need post access.

Setting up classes first

On the Books & classes tab, give each asset class its default useful life, method, annual rate, first-month and disposal-month conventions, and the accounts: cost, depreciation expense, accumulated depreciation, gain or loss on disposal, impairment, revaluation reserve, disposal proceeds and capitalisation clearing. The shipped classes (Plant and machinery, Motor vehicles, IT equipment, Fixtures and fittings, Buildings, Land) have lives and methods but no accounts. A class is shared by every company, so changing one needs ERP: Finance or ERP: Administration.

Registering an asset

Open the console, choose the Company and click Register an asset.
Enter the Name and choose the Class; its defaults appear as placeholders.
Enter Acquired on, Cost and any Residual value.
Override the Method, Useful life (months), Annual rate %, Units meter code or Total units expected only where this asset differs from its class.
Enter the Custodian and choose the Location.
Leave the accounts blank to use the class's, or pick from the chart. Leave Asset number blank for automatic numbering.
Click Register. The asset's card opens.

Registering posts nothing: the cost is already in the ledger from the purchase. To bring the cost across from a supplier invoice, use Capitalise instead.

Capitalising a supplier invoice line

On the Capitalise tab, choose the Document type; lines of posted purchase documents are listed, with lines already on a class's cost account first. Click Capitalise on a line, choose the Asset class, check the name, cost, acquisition date and life, and the Expensed to (clearing) account. It registers the asset and posts Dr the class cost account / Cr the clearing account. A line already coded to the cost account posts nothing.

Reading the register

The Register tab shows Assets in service, cost, accumulated depreciation, net book value, Need attention and Unposted charges, and a list filtered by Status, Class and Search. Click Open for an asset's card: its figures, details, Depreciation schedule (posted charges and twelve months of forecast), History, and Meters and maintenance. Edit changes life, method, rate, residual, custodian and accounts from the next run; periods already charged are not restated. The Register report tab gives the register as at a date.

What goes wrong

"The … 'X' is not in this company's chart of accounts": pick a postable account from the list.
"Set both depreciation accounts (expense AND accumulated), or neither." With only one set, charges are held as unposted.
"Residual value must be between 0 and the cost."
"Only a posted document's lines can be capitalised" or "That line is already capitalised".

Worked example

A company buys a delivery van for 32,000 on a posted supplier invoice coded to vehicle cost. Finance opens Capitalise, picks the line, chooses Motor vehicles and names it "Van LK74 ABC". Nothing posts because the line is already on the cost account. On the card they set the custodian to the driver's code and the location to the depot, and the schedule shows the first month's charge at the class's 25% reducing balance.

Recommendations

Set up class accounts before registering anything.
Capitalise from invoices where you can, so cost and register tie.
Name a custodian and location on everything portable.
Clear the Need attention count before each month end.

Meters and Preventive Maintenance

Meters record usage: hours run, miles driven, cycles completed. They drive two things: units-of-production depreciation, and maintenance schedules that fall due at a reading. A schedule can also fall due on a date, or on whichever comes first. The Maintenance due tab lists what is due, and a scheduled task can start a workflow for each one.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → ERP - Operations:

Asset Register — the console: Meters and maintenance on each asset's card, and the Maintenance due tab
Asset Meters — the meters datastore
Maintenance Schedules — the schedules datastore, where the workflow a schedule raises is set

Admin Panel → Fixed Assets:

Fixed Assets — the same console

Adding a meter and recording readings

Open the asset's card and, under Meters and maintenance, click Add a meter.
Enter a short Meter code (ODO, HRS), a Name and the Unit.
Set Rolls over at if the meter wraps (a six-digit odometer rolls over at 999999; 0 means never).
Enter the Reading at set-up and the Date of that reading, and click Add meter.
To record a reading, type it in New reading on the meter's row, set the date, and click Record.

A reading below the last one is accepted only if the meter has a rollover point, and is then read as continued usage. Readings must be in date order and not in the future. Each reading re-checks meter-based maintenance.

Scheduling maintenance

On the card, click Add a schedule.
Describe the Work and choose Due by: A date, A meter reading, or Date or meter, whichever comes first.
For a date, enter Every (days) (365 is yearly). For a meter, choose the Meter and Every (units).
Optionally set Next due on and Next due at reading; blank works them out from acquisition or the current reading plus the interval.
Click Save schedule.

Working the due list

On Maintenance due, set Due as at. Each due schedule shows the asset, the work, the trigger and Why it is due (a date passed, or a meter reading reached). When the work is done, enter the date and, for a meter schedule, the reading it was done at, and click Done. The schedule is rescheduled from that date and reading plus its intervals. Assets in use, impaired or held for sale all appear; disposed assets do not.

Raising the work automatically

The scheduled task Asset Preventive Maintenance (raise due work) runs daily and starts a workflow run for each due schedule that names a workflow, once per occurrence. It ships disabled and in preview; the hosting administrator or an architect switches it on in the platform's scheduled tasks (see Scheduling). The workflow is set in the schedule's Workflow field on the Maintenance Schedules datastore, as the workflow's ID number; the console does not offer it. A due schedule with no workflow is only listed on Maintenance due. Build the workflow itself in the Workflow Builder.

What goes wrong

"Reading X is below the previous Y and this meter has no rollover point."
"This meter was last read on DATE … a new one must be dated on or after that."
"Enter the meter reading the work was done at": a meter schedule needs the reading when you mark it done.
"No next due point was set" after Done: the schedule has no interval, so it will never come round again. Edit it.
Nothing is raised: the task is off, still in preview, or the schedule has no workflow.

Worked example

A plant hire firm services each excavator every 250 hours or yearly. Each machine has an HRS meter and a schedule due by Date or meter, whichever comes first, every 365 days or 250 units, with a "Service request" workflow set on the Maintenance Schedules datastore. Operators record hours weekly. When one passes 250 hours, the daily task starts the workflow, the workshop does the service, and the supervisor marks it Done at 1,262 hours, so the next service falls due at 1,512 or in a year.

Recommendations

Read meters on a fixed cadence, including the reading after a rollover.
Use "whichever comes first" for anything that ages as well as wears.
Attach a workflow to schedules you want raised automatically, then switch the task on.
Review Maintenance due weekly as a forward plan.

Depreciation

Depreciation spreads an asset's cost over its useful life. Each month's charge is worked out, shown to you, and then written and posted as a journal; it is never recalculated afterwards, so a change to an estimate affects future months only. A month already charged is never charged twice.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → ERP - Operations:

Depreciation — opens the Asset Register on its Depreciation run tab: preview, post, catch up missed months and repost unposted charges
Asset Register — the console, with each asset's depreciation schedule

Architect Panel → ERP - Reference Data:

Depreciation Methods — the methods available

Admin Panel → Fixed Assets:

Fixed Assets — the same console

The methods

Straight line: cost less residual, divided by the useful life in months. After an impairment, revaluation or opening balance, the remaining amount is spread over the remaining life.
Reducing balance (annual rate): net book value times the annual rate, divided by twelve. Needs a rate on the asset or its class.
Double-declining balance (2 / life): net book value times two divided by the life, switching to straight line when that is larger.
Units of production (meter): the depreciable amount times the usage recorded on the asset's meter in the month, divided by the units still expected.
Not depreciated: land, for example.

No charge takes an asset below its residual value. Each class sets a Month of acquisition convention (Full month, No charge in that month, Half a month, or Pro rata by days) and a Month of disposal convention. Only assets In use or Impaired depreciate; an asset held for sale stops until it is returned to use.

Running a month

Open the Depreciation run tab and choose the Month (it defaults to last month) and the Book (every book the company keeps, or one).
Click Preview. Each line shows the asset, book, month, method, opening NBV, charge, closing NBV, a result (Will charge, Already charged, Skipped, Not depreciated, Behind - catch up) and what it Posts to.
If earlier months were never charged, the preview holds those assets back. Tick Catch up missed months and preview again; each missed month is journalled at its own month end, or in the month you are running if its own period is not open.
Click Post depreciation and confirm. It posts exactly what the preview showed.

Each charge posts Dr depreciation expense / Cr accumulated depreciation, dated the last day of its month. An asset with neither account set is charged in the register only; with only one set, its charge is held as unposted. Charges so far lists the last runs by month and book.

Unposted charges

A charge that cannot post (a closed or missing period, a missing account) is held, not lost, and a banner says how many. Fix the cause and click Repost all, or Repost on one. If the month is closed, enter Book into month to journal them on a later month's last day; each stays the charge for its own month. Transfers, impairments, revaluations and disposals of an asset are refused while it has unposted charges.

Running it automatically

The scheduled task Asset Depreciation charges the previous month for every company, in every book, with catch-up on, and reports a failure if anything is unposted or still behind. It ships disabled and in preview mode; the hosting administrator or an architect switches it on in the platform's scheduled tasks (see Scheduling).

What goes wrong

"Preview this month first - the post button posts exactly what the preview showed."
"reducing balance needs an annual rate - set one on the asset or its class" (a skip reason).
"a later period … is already charged": you cannot charge an earlier month after a later one; catch up instead.
"… is not a book this company keeps": add the book on Books & classes first.

Worked example

A company goes live in October and forgets to run September. On 2 November the finance controller previews October: twelve assets show Behind - catch up. They tick Catch up missed months, preview again, see September and October charges for each, and post. September's period is already closed, so the run books those catch-up charges in October instead and says so on each line; each still counts as September's charge. They then ask for the Asset Depreciation task to be switched on so a month is never missed again.

Recommendations

Hold method, life and conventions at class level, not per asset.
Always preview before posting, and read the Posts to column.
Run depreciation before closing the period.
Switch the task on once a manual month has posted cleanly.

Opening Balances for Existing Assets

When you move to ActiveManage from another system, your existing assets already have accumulated depreciation. An opening balance records that figure, and the months already charged, on each asset so depreciation continues from where the old system stopped instead of starting again from full cost.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → ERP - Operations:

Asset Register — the console: the Opening balance button on each asset's card

Admin Panel → Fixed Assets:

Fixed Assets — the same console

Each opening balance is recorded in the asset's History as an Opening balance event.

What an opening balance does, and does not do

It records the accumulated depreciation brought forward and the last month charged, in every book the asset depreciates in.
It posts no journal. The cost and accumulated depreciation reach the ledger with your opening trial balance, which finance loads separately.
Depreciation then continues from the month after, over the remaining life. Straight line spreads what is left over the life less the months already charged.

When the button appears

The Opening balance button is shown on an asset's card only when all of these are true:

you hold ERP: Finance or ERP: Administration (or are an architect), and can write to the register;
no depreciation has been charged on the asset in ActiveManage yet;
the asset was not capitalised from a document here, has no journals posted here, and was acquired before the company's first journal.

In other words, it is for assets that existed before go-live, entered before the first depreciation run.

Loading opening balances

Register each existing asset with its original Acquired on date and Cost, its class, method and life (see Assets & Maintenance).
Open the asset's card and click Opening balance.
Enter the Accumulated depreciation brought forward (at most the cost).
Enter the Months already charged and the Last month charged. Depreciation here starts the month after.
Add a Narrative, for example "migrated from Sage, register at 31/08/2026".
Click Record opening balance. The message gives the resulting net book value and the month depreciation continues from.

To correct one before the first run, open it again and tick Replace the opening balance already recorded.

What goes wrong

The button is missing: depreciation has already been charged here, the asset came from a document, or you lack ERP: Finance or ERP: Administration.
"… already has depreciation charged here in X: an opening balance comes before the first charge."
"N months charged is more than the useful life of M months in X."
"The last month charged cannot be in the future."
"X already has an opening balance in BOOK - replace it instead."
The register and ledger disagree after go-live: the opening trial balance used different figures from the opening balances. Reconcile them before the first run.

Worked example

A company goes live on 1 September. Its old system shows a machine bought in March 2023 for 48,000, straight line over 120 months, with 12,000 accumulated after 30 months charged to August 2026. Finance registers the machine with cost 48,000 and acquired March 2023, then records an opening balance of 12,000, 30 months, last month charged August 2026. Net book value is 36,000, and September's run charges 36,000 over the remaining 90 months: 400.00, the same as the old system.

Recommendations

Load all opening balances before the first depreciation run.
Use the old system's register at the go-live date as the single source.
Reconcile the register to the opening trial balance by class.
Record where the figures came from in the narrative.

Transfers, Impairments and Disposals

After an asset is registered, its life is a series of events: it moves, it is impaired or revalued, it is held for sale, and finally it is disposed of or written off. Each event is a button on the asset's card, is recorded in its History, and posts its own journal where the ledger needs one.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → ERP - Operations:

Asset Register — the console: Transfer, Impair, Revalue, Hold for sale, Dispose and Write off on each asset's card

Architect Panel → ERP - Finance:

Intercompany Rules — the due-to and due-from accounts a transfer between companies posts through

Admin Panel → Fixed Assets:

Fixed Assets — the same console

Before you start

These events need ERP: Fixed Assets. Impairing, revaluing and disposing need post access to the company. Set the class's Impairment Account, Revaluation Reserve Account, Gain / Loss on Disposal Account and Disposal Proceeds Account on the Books & classes tab. Repost any unposted depreciation first: each event is refused while the asset has unposted charges.

Transfer

Click Transfer, choose the Company, Transfer date, Location, Custodian and Reason, then click Transfer.

Within the company: the location and custodian change. Nothing posts.
To another company: the asset leaves at net book value through the intercompany accounts, with a journal in each company. The sending company credits cost and debits accumulated depreciation and due-from; the receiving company debits cost and credits accumulated depreciation and due-to.

Impair and revalue

Impair: enter the Impairment amount (at most the net book value), Date and Reason. It posts Dr impairment / Cr accumulated depreciation and marks the asset Impaired. Depreciation continues over the remaining life on the lower value.
Revalue: enter the Fair value, Date and Reason. Accumulated depreciation is eliminated and the cost restated to the fair value. A surplus goes to the revaluation reserve; a deficit first reverses this asset's reserve and then goes to the impairment account. An impaired asset returns to In use.

Both act on the asset's own book only.

Hold for sale

Hold for sale stops depreciation until the asset is disposed of or returned with Return to use. No journal is posted.

Dispose or write off

Click Dispose (or Write off for no proceeds).
Enter the Proceeds, the Proceeds account (the bank or receivable debited; blank uses the class's), the Disposal date and a Narrative. The form shows the gain or loss as you type.
Click Dispose. This cannot be undone.

The disposal month's depreciation is charged first, under the class's disposal-month convention (which, unless set, is no charge in that month). Then one journal removes cost and accumulated depreciation, debits the proceeds, and posts the difference to the gain or loss account. The asset becomes Disposed or Written off and is never depreciated again.

What goes wrong

"This asset has unposted depreciation charges. Repost them …": repost on the Depreciation run tab first.
"There is no intercompany rule from A to B with due-to and due-from accounts.": add one under Intercompany Rules (see General Ledger).
"An impairment cannot exceed the net book value".
"X has N months before the disposal that were never depreciated …": run depreciation with catch-up first, so the gain or loss is right.
"Depreciation is already charged up to YYYY-MM … Date the disposal in YYYY-MM or later."
"X cannot be derecognised in the ledger: set …": the listed accounts are missing.

Worked example

A laptop bought for 1,800, three-year straight line, is sold to an employee for 300 in month 26. Its net book value before the month's charge is 550. Finance clicks Dispose, enters 300 to the bank account, and the form shows a loss. Its class's Month of disposal convention is Full month, so on posting the disposal month's charge of 50 is taken first, bringing net book value to 500, so the journal removes cost of 1,800 and accumulated depreciation of 1,300, debits 300 to the bank and 200 to loss on disposal.

Recommendations

Record moves as transfers, never by editing the location.
Set up intercompany rules before moving assets between companies.
Run depreciation up to date before a disposal.
Dispose, never delete: the history is what the year-end accounts need.