Costpoint Online Help

FAQs for the Manage Asset Description Information Screen

This section contains frequently asked questions when setting up fixed asset records or templates.

Which screens should I set up during initialization and in which order?

The following items should be set up in the order listed, as applicable, before you begin to add data for an Asset Master or Asset Template record.

We also recommend that you refer to the more extensive documentation pertaining to each of the Fixed Assets setup items for additional information.

  • Property Types: Set up required property types on the Manage Property Types screen. Property types are user-designated property categories, such as personal, real, government, and so on, that are assigned to each asset record.
  • Classification Codes: Set up required classification codes on the Manage Classification Codes screen. Classification codes are user-designated classifications, such as automobiles, computers, equipment, and so on, that are assigned to each asset record.
  • Subclass Codes: Set up optional subclass codes on the Manage Subclass Codes screen. Subclass codes are user-designated sub-categories that can be used to give more descriptive information. For example, you had defined "Vehicles" as a classification code, you might define subclass codes as "Trucks", "Automobiles", "Vans", and so on, to enhance the sorting potential for your asset records.
  • Depreciation Methods: Set up required depreciation methods on the Manage Depreciation Methods screen if you plan to enter data for depreciable assets. The Depr Method Code field is a system-required validated entry for depreciable records in the G/L book Info tab in an Asset Master record and/or in an Asset Template if you use this optional feature.
  • Asset Master Field Labels: Set up optional location code and government labels on the Manage Asset Master Field Labels screen. Use the location code and government label and data entry functionality to record additional information that may be specific to your company but for which there are no system-defined standard fields available. Three location labels are available in which to establish user-defined categories, such as "Building", "Room No", "Bin No", and so on. Fifteen government labels are available in which to establish user-defined categories, such as "Contract #", "Funding Source", and so on. You can use the corresponding optional data fields on this screen and Asset Template screens without first establishing labels for these fields. You may find, however, that screen inquiries and reports that use this data are more meaningful when appropriate labels have been designated for these fields.
  • Location 1, 2 and/or Codes: Set up optional location codes on the Manage Location 1, Location 2, and/or Location 3 Codes screens. Use the location code data entry functionality to record additional location information that may be specific to your company but for which there are no system-defined standard fields with the desired terminology (such as "Building", "Room No.", "Bin No", and so on.).
  • Location Groups: Set up optional location groups on the Manage Location Groups screen. Use the location group functionality to identify and establish sets of location data that you can summarize into location "templates" (such as sites or other specific physical locations). Because many assets often share basic location data, the location group template makes location data entry more efficient on this screen and on the Asset Template records.
  • Asset Master User-Defined Labels: Set up optional user-defined field labels on the Manage Asset Master User-Defined Labels screen. Use the user-defined label and data entry functionality to record additional information that may be specific to your company but for which there are no system-defined standard fields available. You can establish labels for four types of user-defined fields: Date, Number, Text, and Validated Text and set up a virtually unlimited number of labels. Unless you have designed a user-defined label as "Required" for data entry on this and on the Asset Template screens, user-defined data is normally optional. The use of validated text user-defined fields requires that you either specify the acceptable text options in advance via the Validated Text subtask link on the Manage Asset Master User-Defined Labels screen or that the validation occur against a user-specified selection from a pre-defined list of Costpoint tables and fields.
  • Validated Text for User-Defined Fields: If you want to use optional user-defined validated text values, set these up in the Validated Text subtask link on the Manage Asset Master User-Defined Labels screen. Use validated text values to control the allowed (validated) data that can be entered. You can alternately bypass this subtask link and instead specify that validation occur against a defined Costpoint table and field.
  • Asset, Depreciation, Expense, Accumulated Depreciation and Gain/Loss Accounts: In your Costpoint Chart of Accounts, set up and link the account combinations on the General Ledger (G/L) screens that you will use in your asset master and asset template records. If you use reference numbers, set these up as well. The four types of G/L accounts used in Fixed Assets include:

    • Asset Accounts: The Acct-Org-Proj-Ref1-Ref2 combinations assigned as Asset accounts represent property "ownership." Asset accounts can include balance sheet combinations (for company-owned property), project combinations (for property that should be identified with a contract), and/or expense account combinations (for tracking items not capitalized). A valid asset account combination that consists of both an account and an organization (at a minimum) is system-required in both an asset master and asset template record for all types of depreciable and non-depreciable property.

    • Depreciation Expense Accounts: The Acct-Org-Proj-Ref1-Ref2 combinations set up as Depreciation Expense accounts specify where depreciation expense will be posted for depreciable assets. You can allocate depreciation expense for a single asset record to multiple depreciation expense account combinations. As a result, you must set up one or more depreciation expense account allocation codes that define the account combinations and allocation percentages for depreciation expense. Once you have established your "catalog" of depreciation expense account allocation codes, you can assign them to depreciable assets on a record-by-record basis, as desired. The item for Depreciation Expense and Allocation Codes in this initialization list refers to the setup of depreciation expense account allocation codes. A valid depreciation expense account allocation code that maps to at least one combination consisting of both an account and an organization (at a minimum) is system-required in both an Asset Master and Asset Template record for depreciable property.

    • Accumulated Depreciation Accounts: The Acct-Org-Proj-Ref1-Ref2 combinations set up as Accumulated Depreciation accounts specify where the offset to depreciation expense will be posted for depreciable assets. (These accounts are normally set up as offsets to the balance sheet asset accounts). You must set up an accumulated depreciation account code to represent each Acct-Org-Proj-Ref1-Ref2 combination to which you will post accumulated depreciation to. Because many asset records share the same accumulated depreciation account number combination, the ability to identify each combination with a code enhances the efficiency of data entry. The Accumulated Depreciation Account Codes in this initialization list refers to the setup of accumulated depreciation account codes. A valid accumulated depreciation account code that maps to a combination which consists of an account and an organization (at a minimum) is system-required in both an Asset Master and Asset Template record for depreciable property.

    • Gain/Loss Accounts: The Acct-Org-Proj-Ref1-Ref2 combinations set up as Gain/Loss accounts specify where gain or loss on the disposition of depreciable assets will be posted. A gain/loss account combination is required when you enter disposal data on the Manage Disposal Transactions screen. You can designate a default Gain/Loss account on the Configure Fixed Assets Settings screen.

  • Accumulated Depreciation Account Codes: Set up accumulated depreciation account codes on the Manage Accumulated Depreciation Account Codes screen if you plan to enter data for depreciable assets. Each Accumulated Depreciation Account Code specifies an Acct-Org-Proj-Ref1-Ref2 combination to which the offset to depreciation expense will be posted for depreciable assets. The Code field in the Accumulated Depreciation Account group box is a system-required validated entry for depreciable assets in an Asset Master record and/or in an Asset Template.
  • Depreciation Expense Account Allocation Codes: Set up depreciation expense account allocation codes on the Manage Depreciation Expense Acct Allocation Codes screen if you plan to enter data for depreciable assets. You can allocate depreciation expense from a single asset record to multiple depreciation expense account combinations, based on percentages. Each Depreciation Expense Account Allocation Code specifies the Acct-Org-Proj-Ref1-Ref2 combinations and allocation percentages to which depreciation expense will be posted for depreciable assets. Once you have established your "catalog" of depreciation expense account allocation codes, you can assign them to depreciable assets on a record-by-record basis, as desired. The Depr Expense Acct Alloc Code field is a system-required validated entry for depreciable assets in an Asset Master record and/or in an Asset Template.
  • Disposal Types: Set up optional disposal types on the Manage Disposal Types screen to define disposal type codes to link with your asset records when you enter disposal data. For example, set up codes for disposal types such as "Scrapped", "Obsolete", "Stolen", and so on, to enhance the sorting potential for your asset records. The Disposal Type field is an optional validated entry on the Manage Disposal Transactions screen.
  • Manage Fixed Assets Fiscal Years and Manage Fixed Assets Accounting Periods: Regardless of the date of purchase or Fiscal Year basis assigned to your depreciation methods, you must establish your accounting periods and fiscal years in Fixed Assets. The system refers to this data when computing current period or projected depreciation. Three separate screens are available to enable the setup of Fixed Assets Fiscal Year/period data, as follows:

    1. Manage Fixed Assets Fiscal Years

    2. Manage Fixed Assets Accounting Periods

    3. Update FA FY/Pd Information from GL FY/Pd Information

      You should, at a minimum, enter data for the current fiscal year and data for the next two future fiscal years in Fixed Assets. If you do not set up this information before you compute depreciation, incorrect data may display in your Asset Master records after the system has computed depreciation.

      You can manually enter data on the Manage Fixed Assets Fiscal Years and the Manage Fixed Assets Accounting Periods screens or you can use the optional Update FA FY/Pd Information from GL FY/Pd Information screen to automatically populate these screens with fiscal year/period data that already exists in your General Ledger.

      You need not set up future fiscal years and periods in the General Ledger for Fixed Assets use, because functionality for both current and future fiscal year/period data resides in its entirety in Fixed Assets to accommodate the computation of current period and projected depreciation expense.

      Fiscal year/period data in Fixed Assets is not validated against data in the General Ledger. Although the system permits Fiscal Year/Period data in Fixed Assets that is inconsistent with G/L data, use extreme caution when entering different data or editing existing data. To avoid potential Fixed Assets calculation, posting, and closing problems, Fiscal Years/Period data in Fixed Assets should be identical to existing data set up for comparable fiscal years/periods in your General Ledger. The system will verify that the current fiscal year and periods from Fixed Assets are consistent with G/L data and will display a message if this is not true.

      When posting depreciation/disposal data from Fixed Assets, however, the system will always use the fiscal year/period data from the General Ledger.

      Special Circumstances:

      • Date of Purchase Basis Depreciation Methodology and the 'Catch-Up' Calculation Option

        If you have assigned a Date of Purchase basis to one or more depreciation methods on the Manage Depreciation Methods screen and you have also selected the Added to Current Period option in the depreciation 'Catch-Up' calculation for prior periods in the current depreciation (PY or FY) on the Configure Fixed Assets Settings screen, a warning message will display that will inform you that historical fiscal year and period data on the Manage Fixed Assets Fiscal Years and Manage Fixed Assets Accounting Periods screens must be set up.

        You should set up the historical and period data on a one-time basis for each year specified in the depreciation start date assigned to your Asset Master records for which there is remaining book value. (Make sure that you insert the earlier fiscal years into the Manage Fixed Assets Fiscal Years screen instead of using the New Record function.)

        Alternately, if you do not want to add historical fiscal year and period data on the Manage Fixed Assets Fiscal Years and Manage Fixed Assets Accounting Periods screens, you can change the 'Catch-Up' calculation option on the Configure Fixed Assets Settings screen to Spread among remaining periods in PY or FY.

      • Compute/Update Depreciation Computation Data Utility

        Blanks will display (in the Curr Depr Yr and Days/Pds Remaining fields) in the report produced by running the Compute/Update Depreciation Computation Data utility for any record for which no corresponding FY/Pd data is found on the Manage Fixed Assets Fiscal Years and Manage Fixed Assets Accounting Periods screens for the fiscal year indicated in the Depr Start Date field(s) from Asset Master records.

        If you plan to use the Compute/Update Depreciation Computation Data utility to verify (and optionally update) data in the Depr Start Date, Current Depr Yr, and Days/Pds Remaining fields for your historical assets, you must also set up FY/Pd data in Fixed Assets for the historical fiscal years that correspond to the Depr Start Date field(s) from Asset Master records, as applicable.

    4. Project Depreciation Calculations

      To compute projected depreciation expense, you must add Fixed Assets fiscal year/accounting period data for each future year for which you will compute projected depreciation expense.

    5. Close Fixed Assets Accounting Period and Fixed Assets Fiscal Years/Fixed Assets Accounting Periods screens

      The process run from the Close Fixed Assets Accounting Period screen can automatically update the Manage Fixed Assets Fiscal Years and Manage Fixed Assets Accounting Periods screens under certain conditions.

      If the period being closed is the last period of the current Fixed Assets fiscal year (see the Configure Posting Settings screen) and the next fiscal year and accounting periods are already set up in your General Ledger, the system will automatically import the next fiscal year data from the G/L to the Manage Fixed Assets Fiscal Years screen.

      Additionally, the system will also automatically import the G/L accounting periods and period ending dates for that fiscal year from the G/L to the Manage Fixed Assets Accounting Periods screen.

  • Configure Fixed Assets Settings - Enter control information in the following critical fields:

    1. Total Number of Books Utilized in the Books Setup group box

    2. No. and Book Name in Books Detail group box

    3. Length of Asset Number field

    4. Enable automatic numbering for Asset Master records check box

    5. System-Wide Configuration for Depreciation Calculations group box

    6. System-Wide Configuration for DP Basis Depreciation Methods group box

    For more information, please refer to the documentation for the Configure Fixed Assets Settings screen.

    Because these critical fields establish your system configuration for depreciation calculation rules and in many data entry screens, make certain that you first read the documentation for these fields before you finalize your selections. Decide on your configuration options carefully during your initialization planning. In most cases, once you have selected the configuration and have begun depreciating in the system, you cannot change your selection without extensively editing the asset data.

    If you want to set up a default Gain/Loss account for the G/L Book and/or a default Asset Template at this time, you may do so. Alternately, you can safely add this optional data at any time after initialization.

  • Configure Posting Settings: Specify the current Fixed Assets fiscal year, period, and subperiod to which depreciation and disposal data will be posted to the General Ledger on the Configure Posting Settings. Unlike the rest of Costpoint, there can only be one fiscal year, period, and subperiod designated as current in Fixed Assets.

    Decisions relative to the field entries in this screen are very important to system processing, and you should be very careful to initialize these fields correctly. You cannot change the data in the Current Fiscal Year and Current Period fields after you have posted depreciation and/or disposal entries to the General Ledger for the first time. You can, however, change the Current Subperiod field at any time, because it relates only to the posting timing.

    Once you have entered data in these fields and posted to the G/L for the first time, you will need to run a special process to close the Fixed Assets accounting period on the Close Fixed Assets Accounting Period screen. When you close the Fixed Assets period, the process will automatically populate the Current Fiscal Year and Current Period fields with the next sequential data. The system will automatically populate the Current Subperiod field in this screen with "1" as the default subperiod. If you have set up more than one subperiod, you can always edit this field to specify in which of your subperiods Fixed Assets postings should take place.

    The system validates the fiscal year, period, and subperiod on this screen against existing data in the General Ledger only during the posting process to the G/L. Although we recommend that the data on the Manage Fixed Assets Fiscal Years and Manage Fixed Assets Accounting Periods screens should be consistent with the Fiscal Year/period data in your G/L, if there is a discrepancy the system will validate against your G/L data.

    Historical depreciation is usually entered based on a pre-determined "live" date that corresponds with the date that balance sheet amounts were "frozen" for data entry. If your initialization date slips, which is often the case, you should make certain that you adjust the Current Fiscal Year and Current Period fields on this screen (as well as your historical data) before the first posting to the G/L takes place.

  • Tracking Field Labels: Set up optional labels in the Manage Tracking Field Labels screen, as desired.

    Use the tracking field label and data entry functionality to optionally enter additional inventory, maintenance, and transfer tracking data for your property records. You can enter optional tracking data on the following screens:

    • Manage Asset Inventory Transactions

    • Manage Asset Maintenance Information

    • Manage Asset Transfer Information

    Although you can establish the labels at any time, you cannot enter the actual inventory, maintenance, and transfer data for a record until you have added the Asset Master for the record.

    You can set up inventory tracking labels for up to eight additional user-defined inventory categories, such as "Counted By", "Condition", and so on.

    You can set up maintenance field labels for up to nine additional user-defined maintenance categories, such as "Type", "Vendor", "Cost", and so on.

    You can set up transfer tracking labels for up to eight additional user-defined transfer categories, such as "Fld Chngd", "From", "To", "Reason", and so on.

    You can use the corresponding optional inventory, maintenance, and transfer data fields without first establishing labels for these fields. You may find, however, that screen inquiries and reports that use this data are more meaningful when appropriate labels have been designated for these fields.

    You will most likely find that the new change/audit trail functions available for transfers in Fixed Assets are more powerful and flexible than the older transfer functions available from the Transfer Records menu. Make sure that you read the item, Enable Audit Trail Functionality in this initialization list to determine the capability that will work best for you.

  • Enable Audit Trail Functionality: You can use the Configure Asset/Template Change Settings screen to select specific actions to be performed by the system when you capture and store change data for fields/columns in the Asset Master and/or Asset Template records.

    You must first decide if you want the system to capture change data at all and, if so, whether you want to capture change data for Asset Master records, Asset Template records, or both. The system can capture the:

    • Asset/template record identifier
    • The name of each changed field
    • The old data as it existed before the change
    • The new data after the change
    • Information on the user who performed the change
    • The date and time of the change

    In order for the system to capture change details, you must select the desired fields/columns in the Asset/Template Field/Column Names subtask of the Configure Asset/Template Change Settings screen before you make changes to Asset Master and/or Asset Template records.

    Each check box that you select in the Asset/Template Field/Column Names subtask signifies that you want to capture data for that field for an Asset Master and/or Asset Template record each time you make a change to that data, regardless of the screen in which the change was made.

    Special Circumstances:

    • Table Sizes

      The tables that store the change data have the potential to become very large, depending on how many fields you select and how many changes you make to Asset Master/Template records. As a result, the default status for all check boxes for all rows in the Asset/Template Field/Column Names subtask have all been initially set as cleared.

      To limit the size of the audit log tables, you will probably select specific check boxes rather than all check boxes. You should capture change data for the fields you consider most significant, such as depreciation method, current period depreciation expense amount, location, and so on. You may decide not to capture change data for more insignificant data changes, such as spelling corrections made to description fields, and so on.

      Once the change details have been captured, use the View Asset Change History screen to view change data from the Asset Audit Log and the View Template Change History screen to view data from the Template Audit Log. Use the Print Asset/Template Change History Report screen to print change data reports from the Asset Audit Log or the Template Audit Log.

      If the change storage tables become too large, you can perform a selective purge from the Purge Asset/Template Change History screen.

    • Transfer Functionality

      You can also use the Configure Asset/Template Change Settings screen to create G/L transfer entries for posting to the General Ledger. With the proper advance setup, the system can generate transfer entries automatically when you make changes to the asset (ownership) account, organization, and project fields and/or in the accumulated depreciation account code in an Asset Master record.

  • Enable Autocreation Functionality: You can use the autocreation screens in Fixed Assets to manage the setup and functions of the optional autocreation feature. This feature can automatically create Asset Master records by importing data from Purchasing, Receiving, and/or Accounts Payable, thus reducing the need for duplicate data entry in Fixed Assets.

    To use the autocreation feature, you must perform the following initialization steps:

    1. If you are licensed for Purchasing and Receiving, select the preferred asset/item numbering configuration from the Configure Default Autocreation Asset Numbering screen and the preferred defaults in the Configure Autocreation Settings screen.

    2. On the Manage Autocreation Accounts screen, enter the Account/Organization/Project/Ref1/Ref2 combinations and/or wild card combinations for which it is permissible to create Asset Master records. You must assign a Receipt or Posting Timing Code to each row to signify whether data should be captured at time of Receipt or at time of A/P Posting.

    3. On the Configure Fixed Assets Settings screen, select the Enable automatic numbering for Asset Master records check box and enter the appropriate data in the Last Asset Number field.

    Once initialization is complete, you will perform the additional operational steps for autocreation functionality.

  • Asset Templates: Use the optional template functionality to establish sets of default data for property that shares common characteristics by entering this data on the Manage Asset Template Information screen.

    A template functions only as the mechanism by which template data can be automatically imported into an Asset Master record. Once the data displays in the Asset Master record (after import), you can edit it on a field-by-field basis, if necessary, and there is no additional functionality for the template.

    The primary role for the Asset Template is to reduce the amount of repetitive manual data entry in Asset Master records that share mutual attributes. Another important advantage in the Asset Template functionality lies in the ability to incorporate consistent descriptions and data across property records, thus enhancing the quality of tracking and reporting functions within the system.

What are Asset Templates?

Asset templates contain up to 60 standard fields, in addition to other books and user-defined fields, in which you can optionally establish sets of default data for property that shares common characteristics.

The primary role for a template is to reduce the amount of repetitive manual data entry in Asset Master records that share mutual attributes. Another important advantage in the Asset Template functionality lies in the ability to incorporate consistent descriptions and data across property records, thus enhancing the quality of Fixed Assets tracking and reporting functions.

The template functions as the mechanism by which default data can be automatically imported into an Asset Master record. Once the data displays in the Asset Master record (after import), you can edit the data on a field-by-field basis, if necessary, and there is no additional functionality for the template.

You can use the asset template functionality when you add new records (either via manual entry or via autocreation).

On which Fixed Assets screens can I enter, edit or view the Asset Master data?

  • Manage Asset Master Information
  • Manage Asset Description Information
  • Manage Asset Purchase Information
  • Manage Asset Cost Information
  • Manage Asset Location Information
  • Manage Asset Account Information
  • Manage Asset General Ledger Book Information
  • Manage Asset Disposal Information
  • Manage Asset Government Information
  • Manage Asset Master Global Changes

Can I print Asset Master data from standard system reports?

The following reports are used most frequently to print Asset Master data:

  • Print Asset Master List
  • Print Asset Master Detail Report

    Many other Fixed Assets reports print specialized data segments (for example, depreciation, location information, and so on) from your Asset Master records, including:

  • Print Current Period Depreciation Report
  • Print Depreciation Component Information by Book Report
  • Print Posted Transactions Detail Report
  • Print Sequential Posted Depreciation History Report
  • Print Sequential Other Books Depreciation History Rpt
  • Print Comparative Book Data Report
  • Print Asset Book Value Report
  • Print Fixed Assets/General Ledger Reconciliation Report
  • Print Schedule of Asset Activity Report
  • Print Schedule of Accumulated Depr Activity Report
  • Print Asset Location Report