• MANUAL method - This method involves maintaining registers, files, preserving invoices, bills, AMC and other documents pertaining to assets. Also, it requires checking and crossing checking all the documents once every month for keeping proper tracking of assets.
• SPREADSHEET based method - This method is similar to the above method. The only difference lies in the fact that all the details related to assets are stored in a SPREADSHEET. Thereby, the user or the person responsible for asset management, does not have to search any information in files or bills, instead he/she simply searches the information in the SPREADSHEET. Commonly tools available for SPREADSHEETS are MS Excel, LotusNotes, etc.

• The MANUAL method can work fine for companies having 100 or equivalent assets. As the number of assets increase in quantity, the manual approach becomes very time consuming and cumbersome.
• The SPREADSHEET based approach can solve majority of the problems faced by the manual method but it becomes very difficult again to prepare specialized reports e.g. List all items whose warranty expires within 15 days, etc.
• Both the above methods require a lot of time and effort to physically verify the presence of each asset in and out of the company.
• Current Scenario with any of the above methods - A person moves around the campus of the company, with a spreadsheet or a list of all the assets. As an asset is found, the man searches the respective asset in the big list and ticks the same asset in the list. This manual operation may result in errors, such as, ticking the wrong asset. Also, this operation of searching the asset’s entry in a big list is very time-consuming and cumbersome.
  (A Company having 5000 to 6000 assets requires approx. 1.5 to 2 man months for verifying the presence of each and every asset.)
• The SPREADSHEET based method becomes increasingly cumbersome and unwieldy, as more details have to be stored for every asset. (A very common asset like a PC can have approx. 25 to 30 fields of information.).
• There is no safeguard against entering incorrect formulae and numbers, which don’t balance, etc. (This is generally used for claiming the Income Tax benefits after evaluating the current value of the asset based on the depreciation rates applicable on each category of an asset, in a company.)
• In a company, an asset may change its location many times throughout its life span. For appropriate tracing of the assets, a proper track record of the asset should be kept by the company at any stage The SPREADSHEET based system is very cumbersome to store and retrieve the audit trails or the movement of an asset in and out of the company.

Benefit Accrued

• Item tracking in very easy.
• On scanning the barcode on any item complete information is available.
• As stocktaking is very fast it can be done frequently. This way the latest changes are available.
• Data collection work is greatly reduced
• Online data updation takes place, each time an item moves, its location is recorded.
• Data entry is done only once at the time of entry of an item. Henceforth tracked by merely scanning the barcode. Chances of error are thus greatly reduced.
• Helps in keep track of data needed for maintenance of equipment or for new purchases (manufacturer, model number, serial number, vendor, cost, etc.)
• Is useful for insurance and bookkeeping purposes, one can print a report showing a value total of items owned (non - fixed assets) for each location and department and a grand total
• It helps in keeping track of items (tables, chairs, etc.) loaned to other departments, organizations, persons, etc.
• A list may be printed of currently loaned items showing to whom they were loaned, the loan date, the location from which they were loaned, the quantity loaned, the quantity remaining, and the bar-coded ID of the item.
• Printed labels are apply under chairs, tables, and other assets so as to identify the item with the department and location to which it belongs
• Top management is in full control, vis - vis assets utilization failures/wastage

• It is a Visual Basic Ver.6.0 based software having Access relational database as back end.
• The software can handle multiple locations.
• Password security provided
• Authority levels for data manipulations
• Administrator Control Editing features
• Organizational name for reports
• Drop-down selection lists
• Departments wise recording of data
• Location wise recording of data
• Manufacturer details maintained
• Vendor data base
• Comparison criteria for each field
• Optional use of wild cards for locating asset.
• Browse by subject or other field
• View reports before printing to confirm search
• Optionally select default report printer
• Export data from reports into various formats for other databases, word processors, etc.
• Context sensitive help
• Button, mode, and status bars

• Item name and description
• Department (Drop - down selection list)
• Location (Drop - down selection list)
• Quantity
• Tag number
• Manufacturer (Drop - down selection list)
• Model number
• Serial number
• Vendor (Drop - down selection list)
• Purchase order number
• Value
• Date received
• Fiscal year

Inventory Reports

These predefined reports may be printed in any field order :

• All Inventory Data
• Items by Department
• Items by Location
• Items by bar-coded label number
• Value by Department
• Value by Location
• Items on Loan
• Torn labels
• Missing labels
• Moved items
• To identify items by Department, Location, and Asset ID.