We’ve all used them, spreadsheets, whether it’s to do a simple list of items, or whether you are looking to create advanced sums for business forecasts. Even though they are not really advanced enough for some of our requirements, we still use them. No doubt the reason for this is because we would rather use a free package that came with our PC, instead of buying a new one that’s more suitable for the job.
Despite having their problems, spreadsheets do have some features that come in handy. The major ones are that they are able to create simple calculations, create graphics and manage your business forecasts. These all come in handy for certain jobs. However, due to the number of problems they are, they simply aren’t good enough for tracking your UK fixed assets.
Although it may sound appropriate for storing information about your company assets, it’s simply not as advanced as an asset tracking software UK package.
Up until a point, asset management can live with a spreadsheet, however, once you wish to start storing more assets and keeping more data about each item, the spreadsheet quickly becomes useless.
Here are just a few of the points that should be required by any asset management software.
- It should be able to hold enough data and in enough detail as you need it to. Despite being able to store massive amounts of data, a spreadsheet can’t store enough for asset management. The information stored might not be in enough detail as required.
- It must be able to reflect the structure of the company, no matter how complex. If the asset can be placed in a number of categories within the company, a simple spreadsheet cannot handle this complex structure.
- They should be able to be restructured quite easily. As soon as a spreadsheet becomes complex, it’s hard to modifity and data and the structure of it.
- They should be able to calculate different depreciation rates on individual items. If items were bought at different points in time, for example a computer and a monitor. The software should be capable enough to store individual price depreciation levels.
- Must be able to handle re-lifeing of assets. If one of your assets is assessed and found to be no longer useless, the levels of depreciation on the item should be changed.
- The software should be able to create structured data reports. It’s not easy to create a structured data report using a spreadsheet.
Those are just a few features that should be contained within any software package designed for asset management. Also, it’s the primary reason why a bog standard spreadsheet package is no good for storing asset data and managing it within a fixed asset register.