Equipment

Equipment is the register of hardware installed in your buildings: air handling units, lifts, hydrants, generators. Every item has its own card holding technical data, documents and a history of tickets. This article covers how to build that register and how to keep it up to date.

The full list opens from the side menu, under Equipment. It covers every building you have access to.

The same equipment appears on the building card, on its Equipment tab. The list there is narrowed to that one building, and you can add further equipment straight from it.

The equipment module is optional. If the menu entry is missing, the module has not been switched on for your instance. Ask Singu support to enable it.

The Add button sits above the equipment list. It opens a New equipment window with four tabs: Basic, Dates, Costs and Companies.

Four fields are mandatory, each marked with a red asterisk: Name, Complex, Building and Category. Category is the same list the tickets use. Everything else can be filled in later, and the Add button closes the window.

Two application settings add further mandatory fields. EquipmentModelAndSerialRequired makes Model and serial number mandatory, and EquipmentManufacturerRequired does the same for Producer. Both apply equally to the form and to the import, and Singu support switches them on.

The import creates many pieces of equipment at once from an Excel sheet. Above the list, next to Add, there are two buttons: Equipment - template and Attributes/Parameters - template.

The first one opens the Import Excel template: Equipment window, which walks through five steps.

Choosing columns and sheets in the second step matters in practice. The template can run to a dozen or more sheets, and ticking only what you need gives you a file you can actually work in.

The mandatory columns are No., Building, Category and Name. Asset type is optional, but it has to belong to the category entered in the same row. You can set the owner in the file too, provided that company is assigned to that building.

The file has to be an XLSX; anything else is rejected outright. One sheet holds roughly a thousand pieces of equipment.

The import creates new equipment and does not check whether it already exists. Uploading the same file twice produces a second set of records, which is why the import is not a way of updating data.

Instances running Space Management are the exception. When the equipment number column is filled in, the import overwrites the record carrying that number. Equipment edited by hand earlier is skipped, and you will find it listed among the warnings.

The import buttons are visible only to people holding Building / ImportExportAssetTemplate and only in instances with the AssetImportByAllUsers setting switched on.

You open the card by clicking the name of the equipment on the list. Three buttons sit at the top, Edit, New ticket and Cost report, with the data tabs underneath.

There are eight tabs, and which of them you get depends on the modules enabled for your instance.

The Edit button opens the Edit equipment data window with five tabs. The window for adding new equipment carries the same tabs except the last one. Here is what each of them holds.

The inventory number has a privilege of its own. Without Building / AssetInventoryNumberEdit the field is visible but locked for editing.

The warranty is described by two fields on the Dates tab: Warranty start date and Warranty expiry date. The warrantor is named separately, on the Companies tab, in the Warrantor / contractor field. The same tab holds the recommendations from the warrantor on how often the equipment should be inspected.

On a helpdesk ticket, the list of linked equipment shows the warrantor and the number of days left on the warranty. The date itself appears only once the warranty has lapsed. All of this is reserved for people holding Building / AssetCompanyEdit.

Approaching warranty and UDT deadlines are announced by e-mail. How many days in advance the reminder goes out is set by AssetExpiryNotifications.

A component is a part that belongs to a piece of equipment, such as the compressor in a chiller. Components live on the Components tab of the equipment card, and a new one is created with New component.

A component carries a full set of data of its own: code, name, serial number, factory number, inventory number, UDT number and date, warranty expiry, producer, year of manufacture and notes. It can also carry its own NFC tag.

Building and category are inherited from the parent equipment, and the component is active or inactive along with it.

A component, unlike the equipment itself, can be deleted, using the button in its row. Components can also be loaded from a file, on a separate sheet of the import template.

The register has several levels: complex, building, location, category, asset type, equipment, component. Two of them cause most of the confusion: category and asset type.

Category is the same list the tickets use, such as HVAC & Ventilation or Compliance & Safety. It is mandatory, and it decides among other things which asset types you can pick alongside it.

Asset type is a newer dictionary, built as a tree. You open it from the Buildings menu, under Asset types, and editing it requires Asset / AssetTypeEdit.

A new type is created with the Add asset type button. The window takes a name and a category, both mandatory, plus an optional parent asset type and acronym. The parent decides where the type sits in the tree, which is how further levels are built.

The order of types on one level is set by dragging them by the handle on the left. Expand all opens the whole tree at once, and the Search box filters it by name.

An asset type is never deleted, only deactivated, and inactive types drop out of forms and lists. The type itself is shown on the card and on the equipment list, where it is a column and a filter of its own. It also reaches the export and has its own sheet in the import template.

Technical documentation, warranty cards and protocols are gathered on the Files tab of the equipment card. A new document is added with the New file button, and in the window you either point at it with Add file(s) or drag it from your computer onto the drop area.

The file format is not restricted to a fixed list of extensions. Every file still goes through a virus scan and the general block on dangerous extensions, and the maximum size follows from your instance configuration.

The equipment photo is marked elsewhere: in the equipment edit window, on the Basic tab, the file being added carries a Mark as equipment photo tick box. A file marked that way becomes the photo shown on the card and has to be a JPG, PNG or GIF image. The New file window does not offer that tick box.

The Equipment history tab collects the tickets raised for that piece of equipment. Helpdesk tickets and inspections appear together on one list, finished ones included.

The list applies ticket privileges, and it does so separately for each type. Helpdesk tickets are governed by Ticket / ShowOtherPeopleCases, inspections by Inspection / ShowOtherPeopleCases.

Without those privileges you see only the cases connected to you: the ones where you are the responsible person, the reporter or the coordinator, and the ones assigned to your department. For inspections, being an observer counts as well. That is why two people can see a different number of entries on the same card.

The inspection schedule is kept separately, on the Inspection definitions tab. That one shows the plan ahead, not what has been carried out.

The card does not keep a change history of individual fields. The Changes history tab appears only in instances running Space Management.

Equipment cannot be deleted. There is no such button on the list or on the equipment card.

Instead of deleting it, you give the equipment a status marked as inactive in the dictionary. The record stays in the database with its full history, but it drops out of day-to-day work.

Deactivation changes four things:

The decision is reversible. Giving the equipment an active status again brings it back.

The equipment list has tick boxes in its first column. Once you select rows, a For selected bar appears under the list with buttons for bulk actions.

Instances running Space Management get a location change on top of that, and equipment with consumption registration gets a reading.

No other field can be changed in bulk. In particular, the bar does not offer a change of equipment owner.

The mobile app shows the equipment list with a search box and filters: by category, catalogue number, inventory number and equipment number. The search box looks at the name and the serial number.

The equipment card on a phone shows parameters, attributes and history. The history depends on privileges: helpdesk tickets need Building / Ticket and inspections need Inspection / List.

An NFC tag is assigned by holding the phone against the tag. The button appears only when the phone supports NFC, you hold Building / AssetNfcEdit, and the equipment has no tag yet. The tag number can also be typed by hand, in the NFC tag field on the equipment edit form. One tag can belong to one piece of equipment or one component.

A QR code is assigned by scanning it with the camera. Assigning it requires Building / AssetQrCodeEdit, and the code has to be unique.

Note

Equipment QR codes are not the same thing as the codes from the Tag manager module. Tag manager codes raise a ticket when scanned and have privileges of their own. An equipment QR code is an ordinary field on the equipment card and raises nothing.

NFC tags can also be loaded from a file, through a column in the import template, in instances running Space Management. With the InspectionAssetNfcScanning setting on, scanning the tag becomes part of the inspection and the scan date is printed on the protocol.

A tenant sees only the equipment owned by their company, and only in buildings assigned to that company. Access comes from Building / AssetView granted on the tenant role.

The card is leaner in that case. There is no button for raising a ticket for the equipment, no cost report and no inspection definitions, and the history shows helpdesk tickets alone. A tenant can, however, add a file to their own equipment.

The Cost report opens from a button on the equipment card. It totals the costs booked against that piece of equipment and requires Building / AssetCostReport.

On the report page you narrow the result by date range and ticket type, and the Equipment button adds further equipment to the same listing. The Show button returns the figures.

The equipment list is exported with the Export XLS link above the table. The export covers the columns visible on the list, so you set the scope beforehand by choosing columns and filters.

Singu FM also has reports built to order. These are not a ready-made equipment listing: an administrator writes each one against a specific question, and equipment parameters can be used among the report parameters.

There are over a dozen equipment privileges, because the individual areas of the card are unlocked separately. The first column gives the privilege, the second explains what it grants.

Part of how the module behaves depends on settings that Singu support switches on. The ones below are visible in everyday work.

Can I delete a piece of equipment?

Equipment cannot be deleted. Equipment taken out of use is given a status marked as inactive in the dictionary; it then drops off current lists while its history stays. A component, on the other hand, can be deleted, using the button in its row on the equipment card.

A tenant has changed. How do I move all their equipment over?

The owner is changed on the equipment card, on the Companies tab, in the Owner field. You change it one piece at a time, because the bulk action bar does not cover the owner. The import is not a way round it either, since it creates new equipment instead of replacing data on existing records.

For larger numbers of records, write to Singu support. We then carry the owner change out in bulk on our side.

Why can I not see the import buttons?

The import buttons need two things at once: the Building / ImportExportAssetTemplate privilege and the AssetImportByAllUsers setting switched on. The privilege is granted by whoever manages privileges at your organisation, and the setting is switched on by Singu support.

The import stopped on an error. Did some of the equipment get saved?

No, the import saves everything or nothing. One bad row aborts the whole operation and not a single record from that file reaches the database. The message names the sheet and the row number, so you correct the file and upload it again.

A tenant cannot see their equipment. Where do I look?

A tenant sees equipment when two conditions are met: their company has to be named in the Owner field on the Companies tab, and that same company has to be assigned to the building the equipment stands in. Check both before looking any further.

Why can I not fill in the inventory number?

The inventory number has a separate privilege, Building / AssetInventoryNumberEdit. Without it the field is visible on the form but locked, even if you hold the ordinary equipment editing privilege.

Where does the warranty information on a ticket come from?

For equipment linked to a ticket, the application shows the warrantor and the number of days left on the warranty, calculated from the dates on the Dates tab. Once the warranty has lapsed, the expiry date appears in that spot instead. Without Building / AssetCompanyEdit the spot stays empty.

Can a piece of equipment carry several NFC tags?

No, there is one NFC tag and it has to be unique across the instance. Trying to assign a tag already used elsewhere ends with an error message. The same rule covers components: the tag belongs either to the equipment or to one of its components.

Why do I see fewer tickets in the equipment history than other people?

Equipment history filters tickets for whoever is looking at it. Without Ticket / ShowOtherPeopleCases, the helpdesk tickets left on the list are the ones where you are the responsible person, the reporter or the coordinator, plus the ones assigned to your department.

Inspections run on a separate privilege, Inspection / ShowOtherPeopleCases, and there being an observer counts too. The complete history is therefore visible only to someone holding both privileges. Ask whoever manages privileges at your organisation to grant them.