Asset FAQ

This article contains answers to common questions about assets:

• What's the difference between v5 and v6 assets?
• What permissions do I need to access and use assets?
• What is the asset hierarchy?
• What is a parent or child asset?
• Can I delete an asset?
• Can I delete an asset event? 
• Can I convert asset categories?

What's the difference between v5 and v6 assets?

All asset functionality is available in the older version of Fiix (v5). 

For users with v6, only the Equipment module is available, and so only the Equipment page looks different. Otherwise, assets function the same. To learn more, see Which version of Equipment am I using?

What permissions do I need to access and use assets? 

To see the list of all permissions related to assets in v5, see Asset permissions. 

To see the list of permissions related to assets in v6 (currently only Equipment), see Equipment permissions. 

What is the asset hierarchy?

In the CMMS, locations and assets are arranged by their category into a hierarchy that shows where they're located and how they're related:

When you input your assets into the CMMS, you'll categorize them and then put them in their locations. The resulting cascading list, where assets live under locations, is called the asset hierarchy. 

Each CMMS's asset hierarchy looks different, depending on what locations you have, where your assets are located, and how you arrange your sub-assets (like parts and supplies). 

To learn more about the asset hierarchy, see About the asset hierarchy. 

What is a parent or child asset?

Assets are equipment, tools, and parts and supplies, but sometimes refers to facilities and sites as well. 

A parent asset is ordered above other assets in the asset hierarchy. Other assets are placed below it. 

A child asset is ordered under other assets in the asset hierarchy. Other assets or locations are above it.

When arranged into the hierarchy, all assets are ordered into parent/child relationships:

In this example, North America is a parent facility, with Toronto and Cambridge as its children. The Conveyor belt is a parent asset of the Conveyor belt motor, but also considered a child of Toronto. 

To learn more about the asset hierarchy, see About the asset hierarchy. 

Can I delete an asset? 

Assets associated with other records can't be deleted. 

To delete an asset, it must not have any associations to or appear in any BOM groups, scheduled maintenance records, open work orders, or have any children assets (assets below it in the asset hierarchy). 

You can see the list of associations an asset might have under the Log tab of the asset details page. From here, you can determine which associations need to be removed in order to delete the asset. 

Can I delete an asset event? 

Currently it is not possible to delete an asset event that has been recorded on an asset. Asset events create complex record associations between the asset, scheduled maintenance records, work orders, and the event triggers, and so deleting an associated event would cause some of these records to break. 

If you need to permanently delete an asset event from an asset, the only way to do this currently is to delete and re-create the asset. 

We recommend you carefully plan your asset events list using Lookup Tables (CMMS Settings > Lookup Tables tab > Asset event types header) and only add an event to an asset when it has occurred and is ready to be recorded.

Can I convert asset categories?

Building and location assets can be converted into an equipment asset or vice versa, but require the import feature. Users can re-import existing asset records, with the same asset code and asset name, to convert the category. To re-import a record for updating its information, see Updating asset data.