An asset inventory can be vital for your business regarding tax, insurance, and maintenance purposes.
Monarch can help you create or update an accurate, efficient, and valuable asset inventory, and here’s how.
How Our Asset Inventories Work
Most often when we do asset inventories, we capture photos of the actual items as we place an asset tag on each. We use these photos as a reference for our data entry team to transcribe all relevant data. Usually data includes the asset number, physical location, make, model, and serial number. Once compiled, we are able to provide this database of information to our clients, usually in Excel format.
We include the photos along with the database, so our customers have all the necessary information about their assets. This process limits the time the team has to spend on site and allows for an easy visual reference if any questions come up.
Our Process
As we prepare for an asset inventory, we will tailor our process to meet your specific situation and needs.
- Set Locations: If it is necessary to break down this detail past a room level, we will work with you to specify smaller location identifications. This is important in large environments so that assets are easy to locate.
- Capture Images: This is how the data is collected for each item. It’s much more efficient and accurate to enter data from a stationary keyboard rather than keying in on a touchscreen tablet.
- Collect Data: Photos will capture the relevant details for each asset. This often includes manufacturer tags and serial numbers, which can be handy for tracking repairs or warranty purposes.
Ways We Help Minimize Operational Disruption
Our goal is always to provide our customers with an accurate asset inventory count with minimal disruption to daily operations.
When possible, we try to schedule our asset capture over a weekend when there is often limited amount of operational activity. If that’s not an option, we’ll coordinate with your leadership to determine the best strategy.
Sometimes this will be piecing together our asset audit by taking on certain areas of the building at different times. This allows us to move across different areas but not impact the overall operation. It also means that operations don’t need to completely shut down. If we are capturing office assets, our team is able to move through relatively quickly which also minimizes any disruptions.
We don’t want to take up too much of our customers’ time.
Challenges During Asset Inventories
Asset inventories are not without their challenges.
It is important to have a comprehensive planning phase before the project starts to mitigate some of the issues we might run into.
One is whether the information we received matches what we see on site. If we are working within an existing asset system, it is likely that some items are not entered that should be. It is important to establish a solid list of assets to be included prior to, so that questions during can be limited. This is also where pictures become very helpful because the customer can review after and ensure that only necessary assets are added.
We often encounter surprises that our team has to work through. Our teams are used to being flexible and pivoting as needed. But keep in mind that changes in the middle of an audit can affect the timing and ultimately, the cost. This is why comprehensive planning phases are key.
Data Collection and Reports
Usually, when we do an asset count, we have a dedicated staff member to handle the incoming data. This data entry technician will look at the information as it comes through our system and enters it into the database.
This allows them to:
- Start stripping out excess information.
- Check for inaccurate information.
- Look for redundancies.
- Look for missteps in the data collection.
This team member streamlines the data and makes sure that everything lines up. They are solely dedicated to cleaning up the information from the asset inventory so that we can present clean and accurate data to our customers.
Trust Monarch with Your Asset Counts
At Monarch, we don’t just come in and do a count. Instead, we assess your whole system.
We spend many hours planning your project with you. While we are on-site and even after the data is imported, we’ll be available for questions.
We are committed to providing a comprehensive service to our customers to get the best results from their asset inventory count.
So, if you have a building or warehouse that needs to be properly accounted for, contact us today, and let’s talk about asset inventories for your business.
