Glossary & Legends

Introduction

Glossary & Legends

The reference page for the Assets (Safekeep) module: every term you will meet in the screens and in this guide, plus the exact status vocabularies with the colour each badge uses. When an unfamiliar word or a coloured chip shows up anywhere in the module, look it up here.

Glossary — A to C

Domain terms and screen labels, alphabetically. Quoted text is the exact English string the module displays.

Acceptance agreement

The EULA / terms box titled "Acceptance agreement" shown inside the Confirm-receipt modal when the asset's category requires acceptance. The assignee must tick "I have read and accept the terms above." and fill "Type your full name to sign"; the accepted text is frozen onto the event row (stored_eula) so later edits to the category's terms never rewrite what was signed. Caveat: there is no admin UI to turn this on — asset_categories.require_acceptance and eula_text can only be set directly in the database. See Checkout & Check-in and Categories.

Acknowledge / Confirm receipt

The step where the assignee confirms they physically received the endorsed asset. Button label: "Confirm receipt". Available to the current assignee (or an admin) while the asset is checked out and not yet acknowledged. On success the endorsement status becomes Acknowledged and the toast "Receipt confirmed." appears.

Archived

Two related things: (1) one of the four status-label deploy types — out of circulation, cannot be checked out; (2) the seeded status label named Archived (grey #777777). Archiving is a manual status change — it never auto-checks-in an asset. See Status Labels.

Asset Model

A catalog entry for a specific hardware model (e.g. a laptop model), managed on the Models tab of the Assets page. A model ties together a Category, Manufacturer, Fieldset, Depreciation profile, an EOL horizon in months, and a Requestable flag. Choosing an Asset Model on the asset form auto-fills Category and Brand when those are still blank. Distinct from the free-text "Model" field, which is a legacy text column. See Asset Models.

Asset Tag

The human-readable identifier of one physical asset (form label "Asset Tag") — typically what you print on the sticker. It is the sole dedupe key for CSV/XLSX import; rows imported without a tag get one auto-generated as AST- plus a zero-padded id (e.g. AST-000123). The tag is what the printed QR and barcode labels encode. See Import, Export & Labels.

Book value / Current value

What an asset is worth on paper after depreciation. Shown as "Current value" in the Depreciation schedule report, together with "Computed at". Computed by a monthly cron job (1st of the month) using straight-line depreciation, never below the profile's residual / minimum value. See Depreciations and Asset Reports.

Chain of custody

The permanent, append-only ledger of everything that happened to an asset: every checkout, receipt confirmation, return request, check-in, audit, and maintenance record writes one event row (table asset_events). Its rows appear inline in the Activity & comments feed on the asset detail page, interleaved with the comments and in the sort direction set on the module's own Settings page. See Asset Detail & Activity.

Checkout / Check-in

Handing an asset out and taking it back. "Check out asset" endorses the asset to a staff user (the only supported target — not locations or other assets); "Check in asset" takes it back, clears the assignment, and can update the Condition and status. Both actions need the asset_checkout permission ("Assets: Checkout / Endorse"). Checkout is blocked when the asset's status label is not Deployable: "This asset's status is not deployable, so it cannot be checked out." See Checkout & Check-in.

Clone / Duplicate

The admin-only "Clone" row action on the asset list, which opens the asset form in duplicate mode with an extra "Duplicate" count field (minimum 1). Saving creates that many fresh copies of the asset. See Adding & Editing Assets.

Condition

A free-text note on the asset's physical state (label "Condition"). There is no fixed vocabulary — type whatever fits ("Good", "Scratched lid", …). It can be set on the asset form and is offered again at check-in and at audit, where filling it overwrites the stored value. An audit note records it in the activity as "Condition: %s."

Custom field

A reusable extra field from the global Custom Fields catalog (eight types: Text, Textarea, Number, Date, Dropdown (select), Checkbox, Radio, Yes / No (boolean)). Fields never attach to assets directly — they are bundled into a Fieldset, the fieldset is bound to a Category, and the asset form then shows them under the "Additional fields" section. Values live in the asset's meta JSON. See Custom Fields & Fieldsets.

Glossary — D to L

Deployable

One of the four status-label deploy types (shown under the reused header "Field Type" on the Status Labels screen). An asset whose current status label is Deployable can be checked out; every other deploy type blocks checkout. This is the module's only status-driven rule — statuses never auto-transition, auto-check-in, or auto-assign. See the deploy-type legend.

Depreciation (straight-line)

A named write-down profile: "Useful life (months)" plus a "Residual / minimum value" floor (type "Amount" or "Percentage (%)"). A profile attaches to an Asset Model; assets inherit it through their model. Straight-line is the only method shipped. A monthly cron recomputes each asset's current value. See Depreciations.

Due / return by

The expected return date of a checked-out asset (label "Due / return by"). Set optionally at checkout (or on the asset form). From the due date onward, until a check-in, the asset counts as return-due: it appears in the "Assets needing attention" widget with a red "Return due" chip, and a reminder notifies the holder as the date approaches. See Automation & Reminders.

End-of-life Date

The label of the Asset Model field that stores the model's expected end-of-life horizon. Despite the "Date" wording it is a number of months (placeholder "Useful life (months)"). Assets also carry their own asset_eol_date column. See Asset Models.

Endorsement

Safekeep's word for the accountable hand-over of an asset to a staff member. Checkout endorses the asset ("Endorsed to" is the checkout modal's assignee field), and the endorsement then moves through the lifecycle Assigned → Acknowledged → Return requested → Returned (see the legend). The endorsement status is shown as a chip next to "Endorsed to" on the asset detail page.

Event kinds

The category of each row in the chain of custody. Ten kinds have labels — Endorsed, Acknowledged, Return requested, Returned, Audit, Maintenance, Checkout, Check-in, Note, Issue — but only the first six are ever written by the current screens; Checkout, Check-in, Note, and Issue are reserved vocabulary. Full mapping in the events legend.

Fieldset

An ordered, required-aware bundle of custom fields (e.g. "Laptop fields"). A Category binds exactly one fieldset; the system compiles it into a cached schema that drives the asset form's "Additional fields" block. Reached via the "Fieldsets" tab of the Custom Fields page — it is not a sidebar item of its own. See Custom Fields & Fieldsets.

Issued to / Issued at

"Issued to" is the staff member currently holding the asset; "Issued at" is the date it was handed over. Checkout fills both automatically. Both are also editable on the asset form — but editing "Issued to" there reassigns the asset without going through the lifecycle (no deployability check, no activity event, endorsement status untouched). Prefer Checkout for accountable hand-overs.

Labels (two different things!)

Do not confuse the two features that share this word:
1. Entry labels — coloured tag chips you attach to asset entries (and asset groups) for filtering, managed via the "Manage labels" toolbar button and gated by asset_manage_labels. They appear as chips beside titles and as a filter above the list. See The Asset Registry.
2. Printed asset labels — the "Print asset labels" toolbar button, which generates PDF sticker sheets carrying a QR code, a Code-128 barcode, the asset tag, and the company name. Gated by asset_export. See Import, Export & Labels.

Location

A physical place an asset lives (office, floor, room…), managed on the "Location" tab of the Assets page. Locations nest into a hierarchy shown as Parent > Child; nesting deeper than the limit is rejected with "Maximum of 3 layers parenting only". Used by assets and asset groups. See Locations.

Glossary — M to Z

Maintenance types

The six-value "Maintenance Type" dropdown on a maintenance record: Maintenance, Repair, Upgrade, Calibration, Hardware Support, Software Support (see the legend). Saving any maintenance record also writes a Maintenance event into the asset's activity. See Maintenance.

Manufacturer

The maker of a model (label "Manufacturer" on the Asset Model form). Manufacturers are not stored inside this module — the dropdown reads the shared company-wide Brands catalog (brands flagged for assets), managed at ams/brands with the core brand permission. Suppliers work the same way (see Supplier / Vendor).

Meta (JSON)

The single JSON column (asset_entries.meta) that stores an asset's custom-field values, keyed by each field's stable Field Key (e.g. serial_number). Because values live in one JSON blob, adding a custom field never alters the database table. Meta values are visible in the Edit modal ("Additional fields") and the XLSX export — the asset detail page does not display them. See Custom Fields & Fieldsets.

Order Number

The purchase-order reference of the asset (form label "Order Number"). Captured on the asset form, round-trips through import/export as "Order Number" — note it is shown in the Edit modal and the export, not on the asset detail page.

Pending

Two related things: (1) one of the four deploy types — the asset is awaiting something (delivery, setup, repair) and cannot be checked out; (2) the seeded status label named Pending (amber #f0ad4e). The seeded In Repair label is also of the Pending deploy type.

Residual / minimum value

The floor a depreciation profile never writes an asset's book value below (label "Residual / minimum value"; the profile's "Field Type" chooses whether it is an "Amount" or a "Percentage (%)"). See Depreciations.

Safekeep

The sidebar group name of the whole Assets module — the left menu shows Safekeep with six items: Assets, Categories, Depreciations, Custom Fields, Maintenance, and Asset Reports. (Models and Location are tabs of the Assets page; Groups and Status Labels are tabs of the Categories page; Fieldsets is a tab of the Custom Fields page.) It is also the module's category in Settings → Manage Modules ("Assets" under Safekeep). See Getting Started.

Serial no.

The manufacturer serial of the physical unit (column header "Serial no." on the asset list). Lives in its own column on the asset form; separately, the seeded Laptop and Monitor categories also carry a required, primary custom field named "Serial number" — two different storage places for similar data, so pick one convention for your tenant.

Status Label

A named, coloured state an asset carries (e.g. "Ready to Deploy", "In Repair"), managed on the "Status Labels" tab of the Categories page. Each label is classified into one of the four deploy types, carries a colour used for its chip, and one label can be flagged "Default". Seven labels are seeded on install (legend). See Status Labels.

Supplier / Vendor

The company an asset was bought from (asset form label "Vendor") or that performs maintenance work (the maintenance form's supplier). Vendors are the shared company-wide Vendors catalog reachable at ams/vendors with the core vendor permission — they are not owned by this module.

Undeployable

The deploy type of a status label whose deployable/pending/archived flags are all off — broken, lost, or otherwise out of service. Assets in an Undeployable status cannot be checked out. Seeded examples: Broken and Lost / Stolen.

Useful life (months)

How many months a depreciation profile spreads the purchase cost over (label "Useful life (months)"). With straight-line depreciation the asset loses cost ÷ months of value every month until it reaches the residual floor.

Warranty (months)

The length of the manufacturer's warranty (form label "Warranty (months)"), alongside the separate "Warranty expiry date" date field. The amber "Warranty expiring" chip and the warranty reminder read the "Warranty expiry date" field, not the month count — an asset with only "Warranty (months)" filled is never flagged. The widget's look-ahead window is the asset_warranty_reminder_days setting (default 30 days); the daily reminder notification always looks 30 days ahead. On import, a "Warranty" column accepts either a month count or a date.

Warranty work

The "Warranty work" checkbox on a maintenance record, marking that the work was covered by the warranty (typically at no cost). The Maintenance log report can be filtered by it. See Maintenance.

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Glossary — custody, service, audit and finance

The vocabulary the module gained when equipment stopped being something you simply “checked out” and became something with paperwork, faults, counts and a value. Every term here has its own page; this is the one-line version.

Custody record

The fact that a named holder has a particular asset right now. An asset has at most one open custody at a time, and the closed ones form its chain of custody. Distinct from the paperwork that created it — see Endorsement. Full detail: Custody, Transfers & Returns.

Holder (custody target)

Whoever, or whatever, currently has the asset. Not only a person: equipment can be held by an establishment (a branch or site), a department, a project, a room, another asset, or an outside party. Which of those your company allows is a setting.

Caretaker

The named human answerable for equipment whose holder is not a person — a branch, department, project or room cannot sign for a laptop, so somebody does it on their behalf. Being made a caretaker is normally a request the person must accept, and a caretaker who leaves the company raises a gap that has to be filled. See Caretakers & Establishments.

Endorsement (document)

The handover paperwork: drafted, optionally approved, released, then signed for. One endorsement can cover several assets at once, which is why it is a separate thing from the custody records it creates. See Endorsements & Acceptance.

Acceptance

The recipient confirming they physically received what was handed over. Until they do, the company claims somebody has equipment they have never acknowledged — the gap an auditor looks for first. Accepting needs no permission; accepting on somebody else's behalf does.

Transfer

Moving equipment from one holder to the next without it passing back through stock. The outgoing custody closes and the incoming one opens as one act, so the chain never has a hole in it.

Issue (fault report)

A record that something is wrong with a piece of equipment. Reporting one is deliberately the lowest bar in the module — a fault nobody could report is a fault nobody fixes — while everything that decides what happens next is gated separately. A severe issue can raise a Helpdesk ticket and take the asset out of service. See Issues & Helpdesk Tickets.

Verification

The holder confirming a repair actually worked. A closed ticket is the technician's opinion; this is the opinion of the person who has to use the thing. A failed verification can reopen the issue.

Work order

The record of maintenance to be done or already done, with its cost, its downtime and whether it was covered by warranty. Approving the spend is a separate permission from doing the work. See Maintenance & Work Orders.

Audit campaign

A planned physical count of a defined set of equipment, which can be certified when it is done. Runs draft → counting → in review → certified → closed. Freezing its scope is the point of no return. See Audit Campaigns.

Discrepancy

Something a count did not agree with. Three kinds are material — missing, damaged, serial mismatch — and block certification until a person settles them. “Missing” is not the same as “lost”: it means the count did not find it where it expected to.

Financial book

One set of depreciation figures for one asset — its cost, useful life, residual value, method and accumulated depreciation. A company can keep more than one book (for example a corporate and a tax view) over the same equipment. See Finance & Depreciation.

Depreciation run (period)

One period's charge across the whole book, moving through prepare → approve → post. The three steps are deliberately different permissions, and a posted period is eventually locked against further correction.

Impairment

Writing an asset down because its value has genuinely fallen, as opposed to the ordinary scheduled depreciation. A judgement about value, so it has its own permission.

Disposal

The record that ends an asset's life: requested, assessed, approved, its data destroyed, then completed — with whatever gain or loss that produced against its carrying value. See Disposal & Sanitization.

Sanitization

Certifying that equipment holding data had that data destroyed before it left the building. Whoever certifies the wipe is the person signing the asset out, because splitting those two would let somebody complete a disposal on evidence they never handled.

Data quality score

How complete and correct one asset's record is, out of 100. Missing fields cost points; five kinds of wrong data — a duplicate tag, serial or identifier, an invalid ownership type, a holder who has left — take it to zero outright. Refreshed nightly. See Data Quality Workbench.

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Legends & status colours

Every controlled vocabulary in the module, with the badge colour this guide uses for it. The colours are consistent across all pages of the guide:

Endorsement statuses

The lifecycle of one hand-over, stored on the asset (endorsement_status) and shown as a chip next to "Endorsed to" on the detail page. Checkout starts it; check-in ends it from any of the three active states.

Status-label deploy types

Every status label is classified into one of four deploy types (the Status Labels screen shows this under the reused header "Field Type"). The single behavioural rule: only Deployable assets can be checked out.

The 7 seeded status labels

Installing the module seeds seven ready-made status labels (existing labels with the same names are never overwritten). Each ships with a colour and a deploy type:

Activity event kinds (chain of custody)

Every event in the asset's Activity & comments feed carries one of these kinds. Ten kinds have labels; the current screens write seven of them (the mobile app writes Issue). The colours below match the badge colours on the asset detail page.

Maintenance types

The six values of the "Maintenance Type" dropdown. These are classifications, not workflow states — a record is "in progress" simply while its completion date is empty.

Each record can also carry the "Warranty work" flag, a supplier, a cost, and a work window (start and completion dates). See Maintenance.

Asset ownership types

The asset form's "Type" dropdown — how the company holds the asset. Informational only; no behaviour hangs off it. It shows as the "Type" column on the asset list and, when set, on the "Type:" line of the asset detail page's sub-title strip.

Widget & reminder chips

The "Assets needing attention" dashboard widget (and the matching cron reminders) tag each asset with the reason it needs attention:

See Automation & Reminders for the cron schedules and Audit Campaigns for how audit dates are stamped.

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