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Asset hierarchy

What is an asset hierarchy?

An asset hierarchy is an important part of asset management. It helps you organize your assets and keep them working properly. To create an asset hierarchy, you need to understand the different levels at which you can classify items. You can use these classifications as a guide for organizing your inventory data and creating reports about your assets.

Why is an asset hierarchy important to use?

An asset hierarchy is essential for maintenance teams to use because it’s a way of organizing your assets so that you can identify and prioritize maintenance tasks, replacement parts, preventive maintenance (opens in new tab), corrective maintenance (opens in new tab), and other steps needed to keep an asset in good working condition. An effective asset hierarchy also helps you determine what needs to be done first when multiple repairs or replacements are required simultaneously.

Who uses an asset hierarchy?

Many different industries and personnel use asset hierarchies. If you're hoping to improve how your business operates, consider implementing an asset management solution that allows you to track every asset in real-time with hierarchies. Asset hierarchies are often used by: Facility managers, operations managers, and technicians, to name a few.

What are the benefits of creating an asset hierarchy?

Asset hierarchies provide:

  • Organizational benefits, such as improving employee productivity and increasing collaboration.
  • Better asset data storage. If you have a lot of data around your assets that are stored in multiple places, you'll be able to access your asset data easily with a hierarchy. If you store everything in one place using software like a CMMS, your team can access the data from anywhere at any time. This means you can also find information quickly when it's needed (i.e., identify all the assets that need servicing right away).
  • Data analysis benefits. You can perform data analysis on your asset hierarchy without worrying about what part of the hierarchy contains which information—you'll be able to work with all aspects of the hierarchy simultaneously. This will save time because you won't have to jump between different systems looking for the relevant data, instead, it's right there at your fingertips.
  • Data sharing. Since an asset hierarchy holds all your assets together as one unit, when someone else wants access to them, they'll know exactly what assets are available thanks to this feature alone.
  • A better understanding of where costs are incurred (i.e., what costs are incurred by each asset).
  • Better decision-making regarding which assets need attention first (i.e., if one meter on an asset fails, what other meters have failed recently?).

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What are some tips for creating an asset hierarchy?

  • Use a team of people to create the hierarchy. This can be a great way to get buy-in from your organization. A team can represent different areas of the company, including management and operations.
  • Use a CMMS to create and organize your asset hierarchy. CMMSs’ are easy to learn and some are even free to use. This makes them an excellent choice if you don't have much experience creating hierarchies.
  • Use an online asset management system when creating an asset hierarchy. Online tools might require some time to learn how they work, but they're powerful once you've mastered them.
  • Use a free asset hierarchy template (opens in new tab) that you can populate with your team.

Creating an asset hierarchy helps you organize your assets and their data, and can help you keep your facility running smoothly

Asset hierarchies are an important tool for managing your assets, and they can help you make better decisions about which assets to use and how to use them. It’s also useful for tracking the maintenance of your equipment, which will help keep everything running smoothly.

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