Although spreadsheets have their downsides, they do have advantages and are useful for a number of uses. The main ones are that they can handle simple calculations, they can create graphics, create business forecasts to see how much money you will lose. They all tend to be useful for certain tasks. However, because they do have their downsides, they are not suitable for some tasks such as tracking your UK fixed assets.
Even though spreadsheets intially sound useful for managing asset data, they can’t compete against an asset tracking software UK package.
To a certain extent, a spreadsheet can prove to be useful for tracking assets, however, once you start wanting to store more data about more assets, the spreadsheet is no longer useful.
Here is a list of a few features that every asset management software package should contain.
- They are required to store enough in-depth data about your items. Although a spreadsheet can store alot of information, it may not be enough. The data that’s stored may not provide enough detail.
- They must be able to reflect the structure of the company. If the particular asset can be located in a number of sectors within a company, a basic spreadsheet cannot reflect this complex formation.
- They should be able to be restructured quite easily. Once a spreadsheet becomes very complex, it’s difficult to try and modify the data and especially the structure.
- They must be able to manage different price depreciation levels on seperate items. If a number of assets has been purchased all at different points in time, but they are linked together, like a computer, keyboard, mouse and monitor. The management software should be able to handle multiple depreciation levels.
- Must be able to handle re-lifeing of assets. If you are re-assessing assets and find that an item has now become useful, you should be able to alter the depreciation levels for that item.
- Must be able to create structured reports. It’s not easy to create a structured data report using a spreadsheet.
Those were just a few of the points that a specifically designed asset management software package must include. Also it’s the reason why a spreadsheet is not good for adding asset data to a fixed asset register.
