What this module does
In the Inventory menu you record company assets such as computers, phones and furniture by type, assign them to employees and take them back. On every assignment change the employee receives an email; the employee approves the current debit form digitally with SMS verification and the form is stored with a timestamp. On the Vehicle Management screen in the same menu you record company vehicles and assign them to employees for a date range.
Roles and permissions
Role | Permission | What they can do |
Admin | Inventory Module Permission Management (INVENTORY_MANAGE) | Assigns module permissions on Configuration > Assets and vehicles > Responsibilities. |
Manager / HR specialist | Inventory Module Management (INVENTORY_MANAGER) | Adds, edits and deletes inventory types and items on Inventory Management; assigns items and changes their status; uses bulk Excel upload and list download; sees an employee's items from the Employees list and unassigns them; sets up reminder emails. |
Manager / HR specialist | Vehicle Module Management (CAR_MANAGER) | Adds, edits and deletes vehicles on Vehicle Management and assigns them. |
Employee | (company user or company admin) | Sees their items on the My assets tab of My profile, downloads and approves the debit form. No separate permission is needed. |
How to grant permissions is explained in Responsibility Management.
Before you start
Give INVENTORY_MANAGER to the people who manage assets and CAR_MANAGER to those who manage vehicles.
Employees' email addresses and phone numbers must be up to date. Assignment emails go to the email address; the SMS verification code for approving the debit form goes to the phone.
Approving a debit form uses your company's digital credits; check your credit balance.
Initial setup
On People > Assets, create your types (e.g. Laptop, Phone) with Add Inventory Type.
Add items one by one with Add Inventory or from Excel with Actions > Bulk Add Inventory (Add inventory).
Assign items to employees (Assign and unassign).
Optionally, set up reminder emails to employees with assigned items in chosen months (Reminder emails).
If you use company vehicles, add them on People > Vehicles (Vehicles and vehicle assignment).
Daily workflows
Inventory manager (INVENTORY_MANAGER)
Record a new item: Add inventory types and items.
Give an item to an employee, take it back, or mark it as in maintenance, broken or lost: Assign and unassign.
Follow the employee's signed debit form: Debit form.
Vehicle manager (CAR_MANAGER)
Record a vehicle and assign it to an employee: Vehicles and vehicle assignment.
Employee
When an assignment email arrives, open Debit Form on My Info > Inventories and approve it: Debit form.
Statuses and what they mean
Item status (as shown in the list)
Status | Meaning |
Assigned | The item is assigned to an employee, shown in the Assigned To column. |
Idle | Not assigned to anyone; available. |
In Maintenance | Under maintenance or repair. |
Broken | Out of order. |
Lost | Marked as lost. |
Common Usage | Given for shared use rather than to one person. |
Vehicle assignment: Active (end date not reached and vehicle not returned) or Passive (end date passed or vehicle returned).
Notifications
When | To whom | Channel |
An item is assigned to an employee, or moves to another person or status | The new and the previous holder | |
An employee approves the debit form | The manager of the user who approved the form | |
On the 1st of a reminder month at 09:00 | Active employees who have assigned items |
Vehicle assignments send no email or notification.
Mobile differences
The inventory and vehicle screens also open in a phone browser. For the mobile app, see Mobile app.
Common mistakes and FAQ
I cannot edit or delete an item.
While an item is assigned to an employee, Edit and Delete are not shown. Unassign it first.
When I deactivate an employee, an "Assets" step comes first.
Assets are assigned to the employee. In the Assets step of the Deactivate employee window, select the assets, click Unassign and confirm; when all of them are unassigned, the window moves to the Departure step.
I cannot edit a vehicle.
If a vehicle has ever been assigned, its details cannot be edited and it cannot be deleted (Vehicles).