About Assets

An asset describes such objects as meters, poles, pipes, transformers, components, or any other material item owned or managed by an organization. Stock items that are "Tracked" can be linked to the Asset record when the tracked stock item defined on the Specification record is associated with the Asset record. A tracked stock item defined as hazardous material will also display within the Maintenance tab on the asset record.

Key aspects of an asset are as follows:

  • Have monetary or functional value
  • Able to be inspected
  • Able to be serviced and maintained
  • Includes a disposition history
  • Could include one or more components
  • Includes a unique asset identifier

Both the Asset Number and Badge Number identified for a particular asset must be unique within the system. These numbers can be entered into the system manually or an administrator can configure individual asset types to automatically generate the asset number and/or badge number for an asset created from that asset type. Please refer to Understanding Asset Types for information on how to configure the system for automatic generation of asset and badge numbers.

Assets are always associated with a location. Refer to About Asset Locations for more information.

Assets typically exist within a structured hierarchy based on the relationship between the asset and its locations and organizations.

Fixed Assets

Fixed assets (or Capital assets) are generally company-owned long-term assets; having a record in the asset table with an asset ID. These assets are initially capitalized but then depreciate over time. All fixed assets must be associated with a cost since cost is part of the value of the fixed assets for depreciation purposes. Deprecation is currently not managed within Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management however, Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management can interface fixed assets, for example, property unit, quantity, in service date, value, and so on, to an external fixed asset management system. Fixed asset information is most often obtained during the receipt and accept process or through the construction work activity process however, there is an exception for plant based capital work. Plant based capital work is unique because it usually involves standalone assets that are very large and expensive and obtaining information on these assets fall outside of these processes, so a secured manual process can be used. This manual process enables users to populate specific fields on the Asset Performance tab, such as Member Asset, Fixed Asset Number, Additional Cost, ERP Project Number, and ERP Subproject Task Number, and send this information to the external fixed asset system using a secured Send Asset Information Update button.

To use this feature, implement the following:

  • Define your Property Units (Groupings of fixed assets).

  • Identify which Work and Asset Management assets are considered "Member Assets" (These are fixed assets that are not individually depreciated such as poles, conductors, or pipes).

  • Ensure the ERP Project and Task Numbers are known (This is needed if there is a Project Integration. Sends specific fixed Asset information to ERP Project instead of Fixed Assets system).

  • Add two new Access Modes to the appropriate User Groups (Update Fixed Asset Information (W1UF) and Send Fixed Asset Information (W1SF).

  • Ensure the application services for Fleet Asset, General Asset, Infrastructure Asset, and Smart Meter have these access modes (Users that need access to this feature must have these application services and access modes).

Linear Assets

Setting up your assets so that they are recognized as a “system” can help you to manage maintenance. If your organization uses GIS, this functionality can also help to position your assets on the mapping system that you have in use. Please consider the following when configuring linear assets:

  • The Asset Location Type and Asset Location determine where the linear asset is connected.

  • Linear assets include a “Connected to” field which allows you to define the connections between assets

    For example, a pipe system would consist of a pipe, connected to a manhole, connected to the next pipe, and so on.