Archive for General News

The process of implementing a fixed asset management system.

There are multiple stages involved in researching and implementing a fixed asset system.  It is essential to set strategic goals and identify what your organization aims to achieve upon implementation.  Here are the 5 steps from planning through implementation:

1. Planning – select a project coordinator who will be available to manage the whole project; review your current system and pinpoint its strengths and weaknesses to establish a ‘wish list’ for your new system; and identify your time lines.
2. Create your project timeline – include time for planning, background information research, in-depth analysis, implementation and post-implementation.
3. Gather background information – get as much information as possible on each system you are evaluating.  This should include customer service and rough initial quotes.
4. In-depth analysis – review all the information you gathered in detail, ask for client references and verify what type of technical support will be offered.
5. Implementation – define your project deliverables with the solutions provider; execute the installation which will involve data conversions/collection and data loading, testing and training; and upon completion of training, check that all items in the definition stage are complete.

Hosted solutions at a glance

A customized, managed, hosted service  for your fixed asset management offers benefits for organizations of all sizes from small to large businesses to enterprise corporations.  The benefits include:

• Elimination of up-front capital expenditure
• 100% uptime
• Uncompromised security
• Hassle free & reduction of internal maintenance and support costs
• Data is stored on dedicated servers
• Security for all information relating to your assets

Top 8 Reasons to Implement a Fixed Asset Register

A specialized fixed asset register can help many aspects of your business, here are the top 8 reasons to consider implementing a new system.

Top 8 Reasons to Implement a Fixed Asset Register:

1. Comply with all the latest accounting regulations including IFRS, IAS, US GAAP, Sarbanes-Oxley and Bill 198.
2. Multi-book and multi-currency.
3. Carries out asset revaluations, asset splits, transfers, relifes and retirements.
4. Produces detailed analyses and reports quickly and easily.
5. Provides a complete audit trail.
6. Commitment accounting facility for capital project control.
7. Generate Section 179 charges and bonus depreciation for applicable assets.
8. Ability to interface with most 3rd party applications including General Ledger and ERP solutions.

Can valuation services benefit your fixed asset management?

One of the more important elements associated with implementing a fixed asset management system is having accurate, supportable inventory data.  One of the ways to do this is to use a valuation service.  We recommend considering the benefits of a valuation service when preparing to launch a new fixed asset management system.  Valuation services can include:

• Automated physical inventories
• Barcode tagging
• Useful life determinations
• Insurable value determinations
• Market value determinations
• Original cost determinations
• Property insurance valuations

 All of the above information may  then be included in your fixed asset management system, allowing your business to have the most accurate information available for reporting and decision making.

User benefits of a lessee management tool

A lessee management tool will provide complete control of both finance and operating leases and can benefit your finance team, management accountant and asset manager. 

The finance team gets a complete analysis of all lease obligations and contracts.  Also, they benefits from analysis of all repayment and interest expenditure, historical and future.

Your management accountant benefits from detailed schedules of all payments and from flexible schedule creation and maintenance.

The asset manager on your team will receive accurate logs of all assets attached to leases as well as benefit from easy maintenance of assets and their leases, and storage of lease inventory items not declared assets.

A lessee management tool will prove invaluable to all companies that incorporate a leasing policy for asset purchases or require better controls on asset rentals.

Reduce the workload associated with depot invoices by up to 75%

One of the most time consuming jobs for intermodal leasing companies is to manually verify depot and vendor invoices against internal data.  Time spent on each invoice can vary from anything between 15 to 30 minutes during the lifecycle of checking and resolving issues.

Real Asset Management has released a Depot4000 module to dramatically reduce this administration time to an average of 5 minutes per invoice or even less, saving $$$s in administration costs.  This module is being welcomed by customers as a crucial time saving tool.

Also by using this module, leasing companies no longer have to estimate accruals and wait up to 2-3 months for depots and vendors to send final invoices for verification.  An accurate calculation of costs per unit is always obtainable and information is ready to be exported to the accounts system.

By self billing and producing pro-forma invoicing, companies can anticipate costs more accurately and calculate precise accruals with ease.  Over time, users can build up operational data to be analysed such as cost per location, cost per customer, etc.

Depot4000 works as an add-on module to RAM’s core Rental4000 solution, designed to help container leasing companies of all sizes manage their daily business activities.

How paperless maintenance solutions benefit organizations

A mobile handheld tool with either a maintenance management system batch update or real time wireless connection can allow engineers to view up-to-date work orders and stock information remotely, regardless of information, thereby providing organizations with a truly paperless solution.

A remote solution allows organizations to:

• Create ad-hoc work orders for immediate completion and receive emergency job information on the spot without the need to return to the office
• Access an up-to-date list of work order schedules
• Remotely access maintenance history, costs, stock levels, meter readings and asset details
• Record signatures, digital images and labor used against work orders

Viewing work orders on portable, handheld technology allows employees to easily access needed information and make changes that can be fed directly into a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS).  This ensures both effective resource utilization and increased time-savings.  A handheld system allows users the freedom to manage all planned and preventative maintenance and asset tracking without having to return to the office to retrieve information or to print documentation.

Managing Maintenance by Employees and Contracted Work

Knowing that the right person for the job is available at the right time is key to the fluidity of your business processes.  When searching for a maintenance management system, check to see if it includes an employee calendar.  For example, our Maintenance4000 software displays a color-coded chart highlighting the availability, proximity to the job and the daily/hourly charges associated with each operative.  What’s more, the ‘qualifications’ tab allows people to be associated with particular trades, thus ensuring that you always choose the right person for the job.

Because most organizations meet their maintenance requirements through a combination of both in-house resources and external contractors, a facility that serves as a repository for all work order information associated with contracts can be very helpful.  The information kept should include date of initiation, date of completion, costs, contract codes and descriptions.

Is your GL or ERP system robust enough for fixed asset management?

6 signs you may need something more robust than your GL or ERP for fixed asset management:

1. It doesn’t meet group requirements
2. New workload requires changes to current e-business solutions
3. There is no centralized system
4. You must reconcile individual systems throughout your group
5. Lacks a cost effect fixed asset solution
6. Built-in basic asset register lacks the necessary functionality

If your organization is experience all or any of the above 6 issues, it may be time to consider a more robust fixed asset management system.   

To evaluate your current system further, request our Fixed Asset Management Evaluation Guide.

What forecasting tools can do for you

Accurate forecasting is an essential part of business decisions.  In order to plan more accurately, some organizations will use financial software, which can use existing asset information to run ‘what-if’ scenarios for future capital expenditure and asset disposals.  Forecasting software can help you to plan and forecast for any range of future accounting periods or years and produce precise budgets for the immediate future year and additional future years.

Because forecasting software is able to analyze the effect of depreciation charges against individual assets and asset groups, it can help the finance team make decisions about fixed assets and what is the best course of action, thus helping make your job easier.