Asset Management in Public Sector

Core Asset Management Tasks

Follow these common procedures to see how the objects in the Asset Management data model work together across different use cases.

Create an Asset and Define its Attributes

Start by creating an asset record to represent the item you need to manage. This could be a police cruiser, a public housing unit, or a piece of scientific equipment. Then, create related asset attribute records to add key details. For example, for a police cruiser, you might add attributes for 'VIN' and 'In-Service Date'. For a housing unit, you could add 'Number of Bedrooms' and 'Last Safety Inspection Date'.

Establish Relationships Between Assets

For complex items, create separate asset records for major components and link them to the primary asset using asset relationship records. This creates a clear hierarchy for maintenance and tracking. For example, you can link an 'HVAC Unit' and a 'Water Heater' as child assets to their parent 'Housing Unit' asset. Similarly, for a deployable communications unit, you can track its antennas and power supplies as child assets.

Define Stakeholders and Ownership

To track who is involved with an asset, use participant and title objects. Asset account participant links an account (like a housing authority or a third-party inspection vendor) to the asset and defines its role. Asset contact participant links a contact (like an assigned police officer or a tenant) to the asset. Asset title and asset title party track legal ownership, such as a leasehold of a property and the parties involved.

Set Up Proactive Maintenance and Warranties

To move from reactive to proactive service, create a maintenance plan that defines a recurring service schedule. You can base the schedule on time (for example, an annual safety inspection for a playground) or usage (for example, service every 5,000 miles for a vehicle). Link the plan to a specific asset using a maintenance asset record. You can also track an asset’s warranty details using the asset warranty and warranty term objects.

Link the Asset to Other Agency Processes

Connect your asset to other workflows to create a truly 360-degree view. To allocate a resource to a constituent, create a benefit assignment asset record to link a specific asset (like a housing unit) to the constituent’s benefit assignment. To manage evidence, use the lookup field on the custody item object to link a piece of evidence directly to its corresponding asset record.