Understanding Asset Location Tracking
You can track physical asset movements and perform asset relocations. You also can review planned, current, and historical asset locations.
For example, if you want to know where an asset is scheduled to be on a certain date, you can review all the location information for the asset. You can also make any necessary changes to an asset location record or enter new location records. Finally, you can enter details about any of the revisions by entering location-tracking text for the location information.
You enter equipment location information into the system so you can track equipment locations as you physically transfer equipment from one job site or business unit to another. If you have multiple quantities of an equipment item, such as scaffolding, you can also:
Relocate quantities of the same equipment item to more than one current location.
Relocate quantities of the same equipment item to a single location from more than one current location.
When you update the location information for an asset, the system automatically updates these fields in the F1201 table:
Equipment Status.
Location and Start Date (if the current transfer beginning date is greater than the existing location start date and you have only one current location).
You can assign beginning location and start dates to assets only when you create master records or relocate the asset.
When you relocate an asset, consider these system features:
- Location dates
When you specify the dates for location information, note these guidelines:
The system prevents you from entering location information if the relocation date is after the asset disposal date.
Any location information that you enter with a date after the system date must have a location code of Planned (P).
- Multiple current locations
When the asset has multiple current locations, the Location and Start Date fields in the master record are blank. The system displays the message Multiple Current Locations in the location description line.
- Consolidating assets in one location
The system automatically consolidates location records when you enter location information for multiple assets with identical billing information. For example, if you enter location information with identical relocation dates, times, and billing information for assets that are currently in multiple locations, the system creates one location record for all of the assets.
- Relocating partial quantities
When you relocate partial quantities of an asset, the system modifies the original location record to a history record for the full quantity. The system also creates a new current record to display the quantity that remains at the original location and a new current record for the quantity that you relocated.
- Entering location information out of sequence
You enter location information out-of-sequence when you record the relocation of an asset from a location where it does not currently reside. The system issues a warning message. If you do not change the From Location field, the system sorts out the location records by date, and determines whether to create a new location tracking line or to update an existing location record.
For example, you might need to create location records out-of-sequence if the paperwork for the asset relocation is delayed. In this case, the paperwork might be entered after the asset is actually moved to the most current location.
If you enter the new location information for the truck indicating the relocation from job site B to job site C, the system creates a history location for job site B and a current location for job site C. The history location for job site B indicates a duration of zero because you have not indicated when the truck was relocated from the yard to job site B.
When you enter the relocation information regarding the transfer from the yard to job site B, the system revises the location dates for yard and job site B. The system also updates the duration that the equipment was actually at job site B.
- Parent and component relationships
When you enter location information for an asset that is the parent of components, the system automatically relocates all of the components that are at the same location as the parent to the new location.