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Asset Classifications

Most asset records represent physical pieces of equipment, such as motors, assembly lines, and fans. An asset can be a single piece of equipment (such as a tank) or an assembly (a group of equipment that works together, such as a pumping system). When an asset is made up of other pieces of equipment, each of the pieces is called a component. For example, a pumping system could have a pump and a motor as components. Assemblies have more than one asset record: they have a record for the overall assembly and records for the component locations and components.

In APM, asset records can also represent other things. For example, you can set up departments as organization assets and add them to your asset hierarchy. Or you can create asset groups that represent assets of a particular type. Assets can also be grouped into systems and subsystems.

APM comes with seven classifications of assets: Maintainable Asset, Component, Component Location, System, Subsystem, Organization, and Asset Group. Each classification has distinct characteristics (described below). When you create an asset, you must create it under one of these classifications. Selecting the correct classification is important, as it affects how APM treats the asset.

Maintainable Assets

A maintainable asset is an asset that you perform work on. For example, tanks and pumping systems are maintainable assets. Measurement devices can also be defined in APM so that you can track testing, calibration, and repair activities for them, as well as the indicator readings where they are used to gather data.

Users can write work requests and work orders for maintainable assets. You can also charge costs to maintainable assets. A maintainable asset can have a parts list associated with it so that users can easily find the proper parts for the asset.

Maintainable assets can have any number of asset lives. Each life has a system-assigned number, a start date, and an end date. Indicator, costs, and manufacturer information about the asset are tracked by asset life.

Components

Components are pieces of larger assets. For example, a pumping system could have a pump and a motor as component assets. Components can be worked on: users can write work requests and work orders for components.

You can charge costs directly to components. Those costs are shared with the component’s location and its parent asset in the hierarchy. A component can also have a parts list associated with it so that users can easily find the proper parts.

Components can be moved from one piece of equipment to another (swapped). If your organization treats components as resources, you can include a resource number on the component as a cross-reference. A component is usually installed in a component location. You can define the location when you create the asset, or you can install the component in the proper location later.

In most cases, you will not add components directly into the asset hierarchy. Instead you will install them in component locations. If a component is a spare and not installed anywhere, but you still want to see it in the hierarchy, you can use a “spare” asset group as the parent asset.

Component Locations

Component locations indicate where a component is located on a maintainable asset or in an asset group. For example, the location of the pump (component) on the pumping system (maintainable asset or asset group) is the component location. Component locations can be worked on: users can write work requests and work orders for component location assets. Component locations are also often the assets that you charge the costs for the work to. Those costs are shared with the installed component, the parallel location (if it exists), and its parent asset in the hierarchy.

Organizations

Assets with this classification represent organizational units (for example the Packing Department). You might use assets with this classification to represent departments in an asset hierarchy. Organization assets group other types of assets so that you can view costs at appropriate levels.

Organization type assets cannot have parts lists, purchase and warranty information, or detailed descriptions. They cannot be treated as resources.

Asset Groups

You can use asset groups to collect similar assets together to make it easier to search them or to compare data on similar assets. For example, you might wish to group all 100hp motors together.

If your organization uses assemblies with components and component locations, you might want to set up an asset group for spare component assets. The “Spare” asset group provides a parent asset for components that are not currently installed in a component location.

Asset groups cannot have parts lists, purchase and warranty information, or detailed descriptions. They cannot be treated as resources.

Summary of Asset Information Allowed by Classification

	Organizational	Asset Group	Maintainable	System	Subsystem	Component	Component Location
Extended Description	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Has a Parent	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	Only if not installed. Parent is usually an Asset Group.	YES
Can be a Parent	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO	YES (if an assembly, should only have children locations)
Parts List	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Standard Documents	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Manufacturer info/ Warranties	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO
Purchase info	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO
Indicators	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Can be a resource	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO
Defaults	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES

Summary of Functionality Allowed by Asset Classification

	Organizational	Asset Group	Maintainable	System	Subsystem	Component	Component Location
Can be installed/ removed (moves from location to location).	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO
Can have multiple lives	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO
Can write Work Requests	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Can write Work Orders	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Can charge costs directly	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Standard Tasks	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Standard Job - triggering asset	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Can be transferred	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO