Top Fixed Asset Management Software Features And Requirements

Every company with fixed assets, such as machines and equipment, needs to ensure these assets operate correctly. But managing fixed assets without a reliable system in place can have dire consequences. If you don’t manage assets correctly, they can go missing or sustain damage. Fortunately, fixed asset software (also known as EAM software) offers a dependable system that helps you avoid unexpected asset damage or misplacement.

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Tracking, monitoring and maintaining equipment, computers, cars and other physical assets are part of fixed asset management.

We’ve compiled a comprehensive fixed asset management features list to help you understand this software’s purpose and choose the right system confidently.

In this article, we cover:

• What is a Fixed Asset?
• What is Fixed Asset Management Software?
• Benefits
• Key Requirements
• Best of Fixed Asset Software
  • IBM Maximo
  • SAP EAM
  • Infor EAM
  • AssetWorks
  • eMaint
• Do You Need Fixed Asset Management Software?
• Final Thoughts

Before getting into fixed asset software, we must first understand what’s considered a fixed asset.

What is a Fixed Asset?

A fixed asset is an asset that a company doesn’t plan on selling or otherwise converting into monetary value within the upcoming year after purchase. They usually relate to infrastructures such as buildings, lands or machinery, meaning that they’re not assets sold directly to customers.

These assets bring a long-term profit to the company due to their function. At the same time, they have a finite life span because their usefulness usually declines over the years due to wear and usage.

To get the most out of these assets over their life span, companies must accurately track the depreciation of value that these assets bring and manage preventive maintenance. That’s where fixed asset management software features shine.

What is Fixed Asset Management Software?

Since tracking multiple locations, conditions and maintenance requirements for assets can be difficult and time-consuming, a tried and trusted solution could help businesses quickly implement an efficient, serial-code-based asset management system that makes the entire process easier to handle.

That’s where fixed asset software comes in. Using fixed asset management software, users can easily:

• Manage fixed assets with end-to-end visibility into the management process, from acquisition to disposition.
• Keep track of asset movements around the company and conduct frequent audits to verify compliance.
• Use a central document management repository to digitize, store and retain asset details and pertinent documents, eliminating physical records.
• Generate asset status reports, particularly those related to aging and depreciation, and receive status updates with rule-based alerts.

Numerous software vendors offer fixed asset management solutions to businesses of all types and sizes, although these systems don’t always fall under the same software category. Software solutions that often have comprehensive fixed asset management functionality include enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), which can help organizations effectively track, manage and maintain their fixed assets.

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Primary Benefits

Without a reliable way to manage your fixed assets, it’s almost impossible to track maintenance requirements and depreciation. These tasks are crucial to ensure that all assets function properly and serve the company for as long as possible. Early breakdown and unplanned repairs can become costly for your enterprise, so it’s obvious why routine upkeep is so essential.

Don’t believe me? Here are some stats:

• 88% of industrial facilities follow a preventive maintenance strategy.
• The asset management market is expected to value more than $27 billion by 2025.
• Senseye’s “The True Cost of Downtime,” found that large facilities lose 27 hours a month to machine failures, on average, at the cost of $532,000 for each hour of unplanned downtime. You can download the report here.

Companies that adopted EAM technology gained a significant advantage over most competitors in the past. These days, those without asset management system software aren’t even on the same playing field.

With a comprehensive system to manage buildings and machinery, companies can use software to maximize their efficiency and get the most out of their assets. Organizations will find that fixed asset management solutions offer a robust array of features that are useful features for various industries.

Benefits of Fixed Asset Management Software

So what can EAM/FAM/CMMS software offer your business? First, here are some of the benefits that you can expect from fixed asset management software solutions:

Improved Security

Since companies in industries (like nuclear power, for example) face increased scrutiny from regulatory bodies and government agencies, being able to provide a transparent view into your operations is crucial.

With the help of asset tracking systems such as FAM, it becomes easier to store and track data accurately. Users can mitigate the likelihood of human error or record it for future reference. FAM makes it easy to record every action logged by users, and role-based access permissions ensure that only authorized personnel can access sensitive data.

Budgeting, ROI and Cost Reduction

Organizations should always look for ways to make operations more efficient — that’s just good business. An asset management system allows you to ensure that your assets are maintained cost-effectively.

Buying unnecessary inventory (a.k.a procurement) is a problem for many organizations: keeping track of stock levels and materials by spreadsheet is tedious and often inaccurate. A reliable storing and tracking system for this data is essential. It gives companies total control over their current stock and potential purchasing decisions.

Several features help with budgeting and management operations. By defining asset traits like asset depreciation, users can predict individual asset life spans. This potentially saves you money by providing a warning when an asset is reaching the end of its profitable life, allowing you to replace or retire it.

Efficient and Accurate Reporting

Business intelligence features like reporting offer companies real-time data on how each asset functions. It can measure MTBF, performance and average downtime to evaluate the life cycle of assets. This information allows users to make data-driven decisions based on concrete facts about individual assets.

It also streamlines the management process, improving the overall profitability of your organization. Additionally, FAM helps reduce human errors in asset performance monitoring. Even minor errors can result from inaccurate depreciation calculations, which, at best, waste time and money. At worst, they can be life-threatening errors if assets like machines become dangerous as they age.

Reduced Maintenance Expenses

Mismanagement of assets results in unnecessary maintenance costs and a decreased asset life span.

Fixed asset software stores essential information about assets. It also aids in maintenance task scheduling and alert generation for you. It facilitates the expansion of your business by identifying ineffective items.

Streamlined Audit Operations

Auditing is critical for determining which assets your organization owns and their location.

You can schedule your audit time frame and receive status updates on the process using fixed asset software. It eliminates unnecessary steps from daily operations, making them more efficient and faster.

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Key Requirements

Fixed asset management software brings several functional capabilities to businesses, making it an increasingly popular tool among companies that want to make sure they get the most out of every asset in their possession. It allows you to track and actively manage assets across multiple business locations, enabling maintenance managers to access relevant information from any device.

And since fixed assets are vital to both day-to-day operations and achieving long-term goals, having a reliable way to ensure that the assets are always secure and maintained is a top priority.

But how exactly can fixed asset software help make the process more efficient? Well, here are some key asset management system features that make this software a wise investment:

1. Asset Life Cycle Management

Asset tracking is a huge feature of asset management and with FAM systems, the entire process is made simpler. With the help of barcoding technology, managers can get real-time data about all of their items, including tracking costs, identifying potential issues and making timely adjustments to maintenance schedules according to both immediate and long-term needs.

• Asset Management
• Asset Accounting
• Asset Tracking
• Asset Performance Management
• Asset Transactions
• Life Cycle Monitoring
• Contract Management
• Asset Monitoring
• Item Classification
• Material Allocations
• Part Reservation
• Status Updates

2. Inventory Management

The best asset management software also accounts for parts, tools and other supplies that leave the warehouse. This seamlessly manages all of the billing associated with it with the help of barcoding, all in one system.

• Supplier Information Management
• Stock Level Metrics
• Automated Reorder
• Inventory Allocation
• Inventory Transfers
• Inventory Substitutions
• Bill of Materials (BOM)
• Cycle Counting
• Lot Control and Serialization
• Multi-Site Inventory Management

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3. Preventive and Predictive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance is all about ensuring that the fixed assets function properly and have a prolonged life span. It eases scheduling, procedure tracking and setting up maintenance routines. It automatically notifies managers about any necessary actions to take on maintenance jobs.

The predictive maintenance market size is expected to grow from $4.2 billion in 2021 to $15.9 billion by 2026.

These statistics mean that a significant number of companies understand the importance of getting ahead of any potential problems because it can help reduce maintenance-related expenses while maximizing the value of each asset.

Bigfoot CMMS offers preventative maintenance scheduling to help users stay on top of maintenance activities

• Regulatory Compliance Management
• Template Creation
• Fault Management
• Warranties
• Preventive Maintenance
• Vehicle Maintenance Repair Standards (VMRS)
• Asset Consumption and Condition Maintenance
• Component Management
• Pooled Inventory
• Reverse Logistics
• Parts Management

4. Mobile Access and Software Integrations

Implementing mobile devices into business operations is no longer optional, as their widespread use and application have made them an absolute requirement for businesses that want to operate efficiently. Since issues with your fixed assets can occur at any time, it’s paramount to have real-time data on all of them and be able to access the data at any time and from any device.

Since sometimes even minutes can make a huge difference in fixing problems, having mobile access to fixed asset software can be a valuable feature. That’s why most of the leading vendors provide mobile access and are continuously working to make accessing the software easy and seamless from all devices.

• Mobile Integration
• Data Import/Export
• Human Capital Management (HCM)
• Workflow and Business Process Integrations

5. Work Order Management

Work order management aids in the centralization of work requests and provides visibility to the entire maintenance team. It also contributes to increased labor efficiency and significantly improves response times. A facility manager can use work order management to determine which engineer is geographically closest to a new job and assign it to that person.

• Work Order Creation
• Maintenance Scheduling
• Maintenance Job Assignment
• Work Order Completion and Follow-up

6. Analytics and Reporting

Fixed asset software offers a complete overview of maintenance activities in the organization. It tracks various KPIs to measure asset performance and discover the root cause of any significant problems. They also leave a clear trail of maintenance costs regarding parts, assets, tasks, labor and repair.

This variety of data allows fixed asset management software to prepare comprehensive reports about the overall health of your facility and assets. Analytics and insights provide timely clues to facility managers to identify and rectify asset-related issues.

• Asset and Team Performance KPIs
• Maintenance Cost Tracking
• Data Collection and Analysis
• Data Visualization and Representation

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Best of Fixed Asset Software

Now that we know the features to look for in a fixed asset software, let’s take a look at the top five fixed asset systems on the market.

IBM Maximo

Maximo assists in managing physical assets such as facilities, vehicles, equipment and machinery. Space management, storeroom management, integrations, inventory management, task management and other features are available. It increases asset life span and availability while lowering risk through preventive maintenance and life cycle management.

Top Benefits

• Energy and Utility Specialization: Gain access to pre-built data models and customized dashboards for energy and utilities. Analyze operational data to visualize asset health and look at scoring models to identify risk factors. Keep an eye on critical assets, their health and failure predictions.
• Simplify Scheduling: View a graphical representation of work orders and project management schedules. Oversee shutdowns, outages, maintenance and other large projects across multiple sites. You can see the status and plans of various projects on the dashboard, allowing you to manage them from start to finish.
• Improve Safety: Manage safety, dependability and environmental performance while adhering to regulations. Prepare for audits and surveys, detect flaws, investigate incidents, and define lockout and tagout procedures.
• Achieve Data Visibility: With IBM Maximo Registry, which stores a subset of transaction data entered on the blockchain, you can ensure that data is visible to all parties. Save IoT data for 30 days and get a complete picture of all assets. Access sensor, consumer, enterprise and industrial entities with alerts to detect when asset data exceeds or falls below predefined thresholds.
• Mobility: Numerous mobile apps support role-specific tasks in the work management process on Android and iOS. They are accessible online and offline and provide flexible access to work orders, inventory, asset data management, work approvals, barcode capabilities and other features.

Primary Features

• Asset management: Oversee asset operations, conditions, work centers, applications and inventory. Allow only limited access to the system and menu options. Enjoy asset life cycle management features like:
  • Save information such as asset number, location, parent and vendor.
  • Track asset location and organize it in a logical hierarchy.
  • Generate requests for asset configuration, asset change and equipment repair
  • Request display status and correspondence to improve visibility.
• System Administration: Establish a framework for sharing items and data and managing communication templates. Include:
  • Site and organization setup
  • Bulletin boards
  • Asset location
  • Work order classification hierarchies
  • Query tickets
  • Item type configuration
  • Calendar to track labor, activities and equipment working time
• Asset Life Cycle Management: Save information such as asset number, location, parent and vendor. Track asset location and organize it in a logical hierarchy.
• Analytics: View scheduled reports and KPIs to analyze asset maintenance and life cycle.
• Contract Management: Manage contracts for labor, purchases, leases, pricing, warranties, rental, service and software. Define and set currency codes and exchange rates, create general ledger account fields, and track project costs to determine the resources required for project completion.
• Purchase Management: Keep track of purchase processing, quotation requests and invoices. Store information about companies that make purchases, allow materials purchases from suppliers and vendors, and match invoices to POs and receipts.

Limitations

• Can’t view planned jobs in a preferred order.
• Steep learning curve.
• Delay in alert notifications.

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SAP EAM

SAP EAM, a fully-featured suite, assists in maintaining facilities, machines, equipment, vehicles and everything in between. It enables facility managers to better coordinate asset maintenance, monitor asset life cycles, maintain their facilities and run reports. Users can leverage it to manage asset information, improve performance, create assessment templates, assess risk and criticality, and more.

Top Benefits

• Enhance Operational Efficiency: Reduce costs, increase asset utilization and manage capital expenditures across asset life cycles. Technicians will be able to work more efficiently, increasing overall productivity.
• Maintain Security and Compliance: Only authorized users can access sensor data, engineering insights and important alerts via the SAP Asset Intelligence Network. Each asset element on the SAP cloud platform has a unique ID to permit publication and subscription.
• Improve Asset Utilization: Reduce asset downtime (particularly unplanned downtime) and boost asset utilization through centralized monitoring and control. Improve resiliency, efficiency and performance while reducing downtime.
• Boost ROI: Maximize the return on your IT investments by increasing asset uptime and extending asset lifetime.
• Minimize Failures: Schedule preventative maintenance to restore assets as soon as possible to avert catastrophic failure. With alerts, you can stay on top of routine maintenance activities.

Primary Features

• Asset Information Management: Integrate technical data, asset history, maintenance strategies, financial data and real-time data into a single platform using models, methods and templates.
• Performance Management: Get advice and solutions on how to improve equipment performance. Create, review and submit requests for improvements.
• Mobile Apps: Native apps for iPad, iPhone and Android provide back-end flexibility for users’ convenience.
• Asset & Maintenance Management: Establish a framework for managing equipment, facilities, vehicles and other assets based on industry standards. Keep track of individual assets and schedule, assign and record maintenance work.
• Failure Modes and Effects Analysis: Prioritize the severity of an impact by using failure modes based on probability. Enable the detection, appraisal and prevention of potential problems.

Limitations

• Doesn’t offer a user-friendly interface.
• Frequent performance issues.
• Steep learning curve.

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Infor EAM

Infor EAM is a software solution that enables enterprises of all sizes to track, organize and simplify maintenance work. It keeps track of KPIs and creates reports to aid with data-driven decision-making. On-premise, cloud and hybrid deployment options are available.

Create and assign work orders with Infor EAM’s Work Order Management

Top Benefits

• Manage Costs: Track and manage costs across the enterprise, including materials, maintenance expenditures, forecasts and project management. Service cost tracking for client work, equipment rental management and reports that immediately include invoice costs simplify financial administration.
• Extend Asset Life: Schedule preventative maintenance and routine repair chores with ease to keep assets performing at their best. Predict equipment failure by recording maintenance histories, anticipating end-of-life timings and closely monitoring asset health and reliability.
• Ensure Regulatory Compliance: Manage hazardous materials, lockout/tagout procedures, permit storage and contract management to create a safe and compliant workplace. Make periodic inspections a priority, and streamline and manage the auditing process.

Primary Features

• Asset Management: Record information on an asset’s identity, configuration, location and maintenance history. Keep track of asset depreciation, store warranty information, and handle technical and commercial aspects.
• Materials Management: Maintain an acceptable amount of spare parts and equipment supplies without overstocking. Automate supply shipments and purchase orders. Store receipts and records in an organized manner.
• Budgeting: Automate cost capture and analysis for jobs and projects to simplify budgeting. Calculate financial performance and forecasts based on numerous KPIs, and create reports.
• Inspection Management: Simplify inspections by collecting required measures automatically. Risk and safety management aid in identifying dangerous items and circumstances to protect site employees.

Limitations

• The mobile app doesn’t support offline mode.
• Bulk activities planning is cumbersome.
• Difficult to create custom reports.

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AssetWorks

AssetWorks helps users manage assets like vehicles, buildings, infrastructure, facilities and more. Its services include fleet and fuel management, enterprise risk and asset management, surplus assets, and more. It enhances operations by streamlining procedures, facility staffing, machinery management and workflows.

Maintain a record of asset details and PM histories with AssetWorks PM feature.

Top Benefits

• Centralize Data: Instead of keeping documents in a filing cabinet, labor hours on a timecard and asset profiles in a computer, keep everything in one centralized resource library.
• Mobile Access: Asset management on the go is possible thanks to web browser, native mobile app and desktop interface access.
• Extend Asset Life Spans: Increase the longevity of your assets by using asset monitoring, preventative maintenance and depreciation strategies.
• Improve Efficiency: Increase efficiency by organizing and assigning work from a single interface, reducing asset downtime and forecasting for the future.

Primary Features

• Inventory Management: Assign barcodes to objects, monitor stockroom levels, automate procurement processes and handle spare parts.
• Maintenance Management: Schedule preventative maintenance, receive warnings when repetitive maintenance tasks are due and streamline the repair process.
• Work Order Management: Simplifies creating, assigning, completing and recording work orders. Assign specific responsibilities to individual technicians and limit work order closure to administrative roles.
• Reporting: Reporting software aids in making data-driven decisions and extracting insights from asset data.
• Property Management: Oversee the purchase, ownership, leasing, upkeep and disposition of real estate. Measure and track space usage, increase quality assurance and regulatory compliance, and manage reports using graphical query tools.

Limitations

• When printing an invoice, the date changes to the date of printing.
• Difficult and complex to import data.
• Need to manage multiple systems, as it doesn’t offer integrations.

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eMaint

eMaint is a well-known and widely-used maintenance management software offered by Fluke Reliability, a branch of the Fluke Corporation. It provides a robust, flexible and simple-to-use interface that saves time and money by coordinating team-based asset management and maintenance planning operations.

Top Benefits

• Increase Productivity: Preventative maintenance plans and work order management assist technicians in streamlining processes like repairs and job requests, resulting in increased productivity. Both management and technicians can prepare write-ups or work orders without being confined to a desktop.
• Improve Visibility: Condition monitoring, reports and work order management all serve to increase visibility into the organization’s day-to-day operations and workflow transparency.
• Boost ROA: Businesses may optimize their return on assets by maximizing asset uptime, extending asset life spans and decreasing unexpected failures through periodic maintenance activities.
• Streamline Organizational Tasks: Interactive floor layouts and inventory management make it easy to complete organizational tasks. Users can scan barcodes to track inventory, designate equipment that has been moved on floor plans and create asset hierarchies.

Primary Features

• Asset Management: Keep track of asset health, analyze risk and manage asset performance over time.
• Work Order Management: Use mobile devices to create job requests, increase work completion rates, assign tasks, prioritize work orders, track due dates and retrieve work orders.
• Maintenance Management: Schedule maintenance jobs, allocate them to professionals, create preventative maintenance plans and simplify repair work using maintenance management capabilities.
• Predictive Maintenance: Monitor the state of individual asset pieces such as noise, temperature, lubrication, vibration, wear, corrosion, and flow and pressure.
• Mobile Maintenance: Carry out maintenance tasks on the go using native mobile apps and browser formats, working offline as needed and avoiding paper use.

Limitations

• Reporting is limited to the number of tables that can simultaneously join.
• Drag-and-drop functionality within the scheduler module is missing.
• Only one task is allowed per PM/WO.

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Do You Need This Software?

Even though it’s evident that a fixed asset system can be beneficial, does your company need it? Well, the short answer is yes — at least if you have multiple fixed assets to monitor. The easiest way to figure out if EAM software could be useful for your company is to think about a few primary considerations:

First off, a great indicator that an EAM system could be helpful is if your company owns multiple fixed assets that need to be monitored and maintained. Since the software brings numerous benefits that make the entire process much more accessible, it’s definitely worth an investment.

However, even if the number of fixed assets you currently own is limited, your company may have plans to add new assets in the coming year. If so, it might be wise to start looking for an EAM solution because it’s better to be ready once the need arises.

If these areas are part of your operations, FAM software could make them much easier and more efficient.

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Final Thoughts

EAM offers numerous benefits to organizations of all sizes and specialties. Now that you understand the features that typical asset management systems offer, you can match them with your organization’s unique requirements to begin your software selection journey. No single system is the objective best in the industry, so matching your needs to the features different products specialize in is the best way to ensure you get the right software for you.

What questions about fixed asset management software do you still have? Ask us in the comments!