Inventory & internal licences
Overview
This area answers two questions: who has what? and what does it cost us? It manages devices (inventory) and internal software subscriptions (licences) — both with assignment to staff, terms and costs.
An important distinction: this is about your own equipment, not about goods. What you sell lives in the product and stock areas.
Core tasks
Record and assign a device. In the inventory you create the device and assign it to a person. The assignment can be withdrawn later — the history remains.
Track licences and subscriptions. A licence has a term, costs and a number of seats. Seats are assigned like devices, so occupied and free seats are always visible.
Watch deadlines. The renewals view shows what has to be renewed soon or can be cancelled. Reminders can be set up so that a notice period does not pass unnoticed.
Analyse costs. The costs view totals the running amounts; controlling shows the trend and the distribution.
Costs without a brand are distributed. A server, domain or licence without a brand belongs to everyone — so its amount counts proportionally in every brand of the brand view, by headcount per brand. The shares add up without remainder, and controlling shows the distributed part separately as "of which distributed" — it is an assumption, not an assignment. The distribution is purely analytical and books nothing between brands. To switch it off, set the setting assets.cost.unbranded_allocation to none.
Fields in detail
Asset
| Field | Required | Values / format | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
Asset tag assetTag | no | text, max. 60 characters | Your number, usually a sticker on the device. It links what stands on the shelf with what stands in the system. |
Name name | yes | text, max. 200 characters | What the asset is called. |
Type type | yes | hardware, domain, hosting, server, other | What it is. Not only devices: a domain with an expiry date belongs here just as much — it costs money and it runs out. |
Category category | no | text, max. 60 characters | Finer classification. |
Serial number serialNumber | no | text, max. 120 characters | The manufacturer's number. In a warranty case the first question. |
Manufacturer manufacturer / model model | no | text, max. 120 characters | What exactly it is. |
Purchased on purchasedAt / price purchasePriceAmount | no | date, amount | Acquisition and value. The basis for depreciation and replacement planning. |
Warranty until warrantyUntil | no | date | When the warranty ends. Flagged in good time — this is the point of the whole mask: a fault three days after warranty end is expensive and avoidable. |
Location location | no | text, max. 120 characters | Where it is. |
Supplier supplierRef | no | text, max. 60 characters | Where it was bought. |
Cost centre costCenterNumber | no | number from the cost centre directory | Who bears the cost. The NUMBER is stored, not an id: it stays readable and is what goes into the DATEV batch. Without the accounting module this is a free text field; with accounting active an unknown number is rejected. |
Contract contractId | no | an existing contract | Which contract hangs on it — maintenance, hosting, support. |
Brand brandId | no | one of your brands | For which brand. |
Notes notes | no | text | Free text. |
Assignment
| Field | Values / format | What it does |
|---|---|---|
Employee employeeId | an employee | Who has it. On return the assignment is ended, not deleted — so it stays traceable who had what and when. |
Condition condition | new, used, defective | In what condition it was handed over or taken back. When a colleague leaves, the entry that avoids the argument. |
Note note | text | What is to be recorded about the handover. |
Interface and automation only
| Field | Values / format | What it does |
|---|---|---|
expenseRef | text, max. 100 characters | Reference to the booking in accounting. |
Settings & permissions
- View:
assets.asset.view, licencesassets.license.view, costsassets.cost.view - Maintain:
assets.asset.manage,assets.license.manage,assets.cost.manage - Assign and withdraw:
assets.assignment.manage - Reminders:
assets.reminder.manage - Cross-brand view:
assets.brand.all - Status catalogue under Settings → Assets:
assets.config.manage
Module flag: module.assets.
FAQ & troubleshooting
A device cannot be assigned. Check the status — retired devices no longer accept assignments.
A licence shows more occupied seats than issued. Then an assignment is still open whose person has left. Withdraw the seat in the licence detail view.
Costs appear twice. Check whether the same item is tracked both on the licence and as a separate cost line.