Assets - an Introduction

You can use OpenCRM to track all manner of Assets that your organisation needs to manage. This could include equipment which has been entrusted to members of staff or pieces of kit that are on lease to clients.

Assets can be linked  to Support Tickets in the Helpdesk module, and by linking them to Contracts allowing you to manage individual products and services.

The Assets module can be accessed using the Jump To or Quick creates tools on the Sidebar:

You will be taken to the grid view of the Assets you have in your OpenCRM system. As with any of the modules in OpenCRM, you can set up different views within the Assets modules to show you specified sets of data, for example Staff Assets or Assets due for License Renewal:

For further details on how to set up a View, please refer to this FAQ: https://opencrm.co.uk/help/?kb=2997890&article=What-are-Custom-Views-and-how-can-I-set-these-up

How to Create An Asset

Use the New Asset button on the module itself, or select Asset from the Create tool on the sidebar to take you into the Asset Edit screen.

As with all other modules, the mandatory fields are indicated with an * Asterisk, you cannot save a record without filling in these fields.  It is possible that your Asset screen will differ slightly to the one shown above, as you may have (or need) Custom Fields added to your system enabling you to capture data unique to you.

For information on how to create and use Custom Fields please refer to this FAQ: https://opencrm.co.uk/crm-knowledgebase/kb1131928/How-do-I-create-custom-fields-in-OpenCRM.html

You can also create an Asset from a Product using the button on screen as shown

This allows you to copy details from the Product onto the Asset. In the screenshot below the Asset Name has been populated with the Product Name:

To set which information you wish to pull through from the Product to the new Asset, you need to access the Product - Asset field mapping Settings page - see this FAQ for details: https://opencrm.co.uk/help/?kb=3283023&article=How-can-I-map-fields-between-modules-to-set-fields-on-creation

Linking an Asset to Contracts and Helpdesk Tickets

For many of you using the Assets module, this will be an integral part of your business and CRM process and you will need to link the Assets that you supply and support to Contracts and to Helpdesk tickets. This allows you to determine and track the contracted period for each Asset so you can manage your support for this Asset

You can control this linking directly from the Asset itself, through the Helpdesk and Contracts sub-tabs which you will find below the record:

As the screenshot above suggests, you can either link the Asset to an existing Contract by clicking Select Contract, or create a New Contract to link the Asset to. 

With an Asset linked to a Contract, you can log Tickets and link them back to the Asset. On the Helpdesk/ Ticket edit screen, you can link the ticket to the Contract, and then the Asset selector field on the ticket will only display Assets relevant to that Contract.

Linking an Asset to a Company

You can link an Asset to a Company via the sub-tab, or by using the Company field on the Asset record itself: