Understanding Adding and Maintaining Assets

Adding Assets

After you establish PeopleSoft Asset Management foundation tables, you can add assets. This section discusses the different ways to add assets. The approach that you use depends on the needs of your organization and how much information is available when the assets are added.

To add assets, you can:

• Use Express Add to add assets using an asset profile for default book and depreciation information.

  When assets are capitalized, most of the critical information is derived from the asset profile by default, and detailed physical information can be entered later.

• Use Basic Add when much of the physical information is readily available at the start.

  You can capitalize the asset immediately or later using the appropriate asset profile.

• Use Define Asset Operational Info to add nonfinancial assets.

• Use Excel to CI to add assets by uploading asset information from PeopleSoft's integrated Excel spreadsheet component interface.

  This process enables you to add multiple assets to generate PeopleSoft-formatted data from a predefined Excel asset template.

The PeopleSoft system enables asset receiving when you use PeopleSoft Purchasing, PeopleSoft Payables, or PeopleSoft Project Costing. You can initially add an asset with only its physical information and then capitalize the asset when you receive financial information from the invoice. Conversely, you can initially add the asset's financial information when you order it and then add the physical information once it is received; or you can enter all of the information at once.

You can also add assets through PeopleSoft Project Costing, along with all of the pertinent project information.

See Setting Up and Using Express Capitalization.

PeopleSoft Asset Management allows you to use transaction currencies for multinational transactions. This enables you to maintain a base or local currency and conduct transactions with foreign entities by selecting a transaction currency for individual transactions. By establishing an exchange rate to convert the currencies, you can complete transactions in multiple currencies and convert them back to the base currency as needed.

Capitalization Threshold

PeopleSoft Asset Management can determine capitalization status of an asset based on its cost according to limits that you define. When adding new assets, either online or batch, the system automatically classifies them according to their cost into one of the following categories:

• Capital Assets - The system generates an asset ID and stores physical and financial information. Financial information is stored in the cost table. The system also stores acquisition details. Therefore, these assets are trackable from both a physical and financial standpoint. This term is interchangeable with Financial Assets.

• Noncapital Assets - The system generates an asset ID and stores physical but not financial information on the cost table (COST). The cost information is stored in the Non-capitalized cost table. The system also stores acquisition details. Therefore, these assets are trackable from a physical standpoint only. This term is synonymous with Trackable Assets or Nonfinancial Assets.

• Expense Assets - The system does not generate an asset ID. If an asset is entered online that does not meet the capitalization threshold, an error message appears saying that the asset has been catalogued as an expense due to its cost amount and could not be considered as an asset. If the asset is entered in batch, the system stores a message in an audit table that explains why that interface line was not processed. Because of their low cost, these assets are considered an expense when acquired and there is no interest to track them within the Asset Repository.

The Capitalization Threshold functionality is optional and can be enabled at the installation and business unit levels. Define the actual capitalization thresholds at the asset profile level. PeopleSoft Asset Management automatically catalogues the capitalization status for batch and online asset additions, provides processes to deal with adjustments to the original cost, balances out any potential clearing account with other feeder systems, and provides reports and audit trails to facilitate control of these transactions.

See Capitalization Thresholds Page.

Document Sequencing

Statutory requirements in some countries require that all financial transactions (documents) be classified into different transaction types, and that within each transaction type, all documents entered be numbered sequentially. The document sequencing feature helps you maintain established business practices by meeting both of these requirements.

Document sequencing is available for transactions that you create either online or through background (batch) processing. When you activate document sequencing, the system automatically assigns a sequence number to each document (invoice, voucher, journal, and so on) that you create. You can also enter sequence numbers manually. When you delete, change, or unpost a document, the system may generate additional document sequence numbers, as appropriate.

The document sequence page (AM_DOC_SEQ) is used throughout the PeopleSoft Asset Management application where a financial transaction occurs: Express Add, Basic Add, Cost Adjustment and Transfer, Leases, Copy Assets, Adjust Accumulated Depreciation, Update/Delete Pending Transactions, Impairment, and Retirement. Each page displays a document sequencing tab for the entry and enables you to view, enter, or override document sequence information.

See Defining Document Sequencing.

Financials Audit Framework (Audit Logging)

The introduction of the Financial Audit Framework (audit logging) enables improved audits and controls for transactions related to the AM_ASSET document. You can enable Asset Management to create audit trails for events ranging from asset adds, cost adjustments and transfers, depreciation, retirements and reinstatements, interunit transfers, recategorizations, asset copy, and revaluation. You can enable audit logging for Asset Management using the Enable Audit Logging page.

See Setting Up Financials Audit Framework (Audit Logging).

Once you have enabled audit logging for Asset Management and selected the events that you want to track, you can access the audit log for a given asset by clicking the Audit Logs link on the corresponding transaction pages, such as the Basic Add - General Information page.

Component Changeout

When you integrate PeopleSoft Asset Management with PeopleSoft Maintenance Management, component changeout functionality (swapping of older or broken components for newer replacement components) is enabled. The component changeout feature enables you to manage asset component swapping when failure or replacement is required to maintain an asset. A component is replaced with a "like-component" and the characteristics and attributes of the new component are associated with the overall larger asset. A component can be removed from one asset and marked for reuse in another asset. A component can also be served by parts. PeopleSoft Asset Management enables you to maintain an equipment parts list and associate it with an asset.

The Asset Repository manages the complete setup for component changeout functionality with predefined defaulting component hierarchy, and makes this information available to the work order operator to facilitate completion of the tasks associated with component changeout transactions.

The component changeout transaction installs, replaces, removes, and disposes component assets within the Asset Repository. The process allows asset transfer and disposal transactions, which are then passed to PeopleSoft Asset Management through the Transaction Loader process.

When the option to remove assets for reuse is selected, you map the ChartField accounts to be used for the transfer by entering the information on the Warehouse Mapping page through the Transaction Loader process. When the option to replace assets is selected, the transferred assets are updated with new replacement asset information through the Transaction Loader.

Meters and Warranties

Some assets are delivered with warranties or other maintenance contracts. As well, some assets may be insured where replacement of parts or service is covered under the insurance contract. PeopleSoft Asset Management enables you to track warranty, maintenance, and insurance information associated with assets.

Some assets make use of meters to track usage for maintenance or billing purposes. Asset Management provides meter types and meter reading pages to monitor asset usage for these purposes.

See Understanding Asset Maintenance, Repair, Warranties, and Insurance.