MSI Fixed Assets Inventory Version 4.0 User s Guide Municipal Software, Inc. 1850 W. Winchester Road, Ste 209 Libertyville, IL 60048 Phone: (847) 362-2803 Fax: (847) 362-3347 Contents are the exclusive property of Municipal Software, Inc. Copyright 2003. All Rights Reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS PURPOSE...3 REQUIREMENTS...3 OVERVIEW: HOW TO TRACK YOUR ASSETS VIA MSI-FIXED ASSETS INVENTORY...4 0.00 LOGIN SCREEN...5 0.10 ACCESSING FIXED ASSET INVENTORY VIA MSI-FIXED ASSETS...6 1.00 PRINT LABELS...8 2.00 CREATE WORK FILE...10 2.10 IMPORT WORK FILE INTO ACCESS...11 2.20 SYNCHRONIZE THE WORK FILE WITH THE HAND HELD...15 2.30 INVENTORY ASSETS WITH THE HAND HELD SCANNER...21 2.40 SYNCHRONIZE THE INVENTORY RESULTS WITH ACCESS...29 3.00 EXPORT...30 4.00 MAINTENANCE...31 5.00 VIEWING INVENTORY DETAIL VIA FIXED ASSET ENTRY...33 APPENDIX A SAMPLE REPORTS...35 A.10 FIXED ASSET DEPARTMENT SUMMARY REPORT:...35 A.20 FIXED ASSETS DEPARTMENT EXCEPTION REPORT...36 APPENDIX B WORK FILE LAYOUT (FI100000.CSV)...37 APPENDIX C EXPORT FILE LAYOUT (FI300000.CSV)...38 2
PURPOSE The Fixed Assets Inventory module overlays the existing MSI-Fixed Assets module. The purpose of the module is to provide a means to better track & inventory the municipality s assets. REQUIREMENTS In order run this module the following items are required: 1. MSI Fixed Assets 4.0 or higher with a WOW Cobol Runtime 2. Windows XP Operating System 3. Microsoft Access 2003 4. Symbol SPT 1550 Hand held with build in scanner (cradle included) 5. Palm OS Developer 4.0 or higher with HotSync Manager 6. Zebra TLP-2844 Label Printer 7. LLT 3 x 1 inch gloss polyester labels 8. Zebra resin ribbon 9. Zebra label dispenser 10. Pendragon Forms 5.0 Starter Kit Prior to running the Fixed Assets Inventory module, the Fixed Assets database must already be built. This can be accomplished by either hand keying the assets into the database (time) or by requesting a customized conversion where MSI will import your existing data into the MSI database (money). VS. 3
OVERVIEW: HOW TO TRACK YOUR ASSETS VIA MSI-FIXED ASSETS INVENTORY Below is a high level step-by-step of how to inventory your assets: Note: Bad: 1. Build your asset database via the MSI-Fixed Assets application. When building your asset database, it is important not to use quotes in your Asset Descriptions. This will cause issues when using with the Fixed Assets Inventory add-on module. Good: 2. Print labels via the MSI-Fixed Assets Inventory application and tag the assets 3. Periodically inventory assets (i.e. on an annual basis) using the Symbol SPT 1550 Hand held scanner a. Create the Inventory Work File and Print the Inventory Listing via the MSI-Fixed Assets Inventory application b. Import the Inventory Work File into Access via Pendragon Forms c. Synchronize the Inventory Work File with the Hand held Device via Pendragon Forms d. Scan assets in the field via the Symbol SPT 1550 Hand held scanner e. Synchronize the scanned results from the Hand held to Access via Pendragon Forms f. Export the scanned results from Access into MSI-Fixed Assets via the MSI-Fixed Assets Inventory application 4. Reset printed flag to print new labels for labeling previously tagged assets, as necessary NOTE. As a future enhancement the Export of scanned results (from 3f above) will also have the capability to write detail to the MSI-Fixed Assets module, instead of just reporting what was found during inventory. 4
0.00 LOGIN SCREEN Since the MSI-Fixed Assets Inventory module overlays the existing MSI-Fixed Assets module, you will need to login to Fixed Assets in order to access the new Inventory processing screens. Enter your assigned password for the Fixed Asset module and click OK. 5
0.10 ACCESSING FIXED ASSET INVENTORY VIA MSI-FIXED ASSETS After logging into the Fixed Asset module, you will see a factory icon appear below the File menu. Click that icon to launch the FI Fixed Asset Inventory Main Menu (see example below): The following menu options are available: Print Labels This option is used to print labels to tag assets for tracking purposes. The labels include a bar code representation of the Fixed Asset ID so that the asset can be scanned via the Symbol SPT 1550 Hand held. Create Work File This program will read through all of the municipality s active assets in order to create a new file called FI100000.CSV. This file can then be imported into the Pendragon software and transmitted over to the Symbol SPT 1550 Hand held to inventory assets. This program will also print a report that totals the number of assets in the FI100000.CSV file along with a breakdown of asset quantities by department. Export This program will compare what was found during inventory to the detail in the Fixed Asset database. It will print a report that details (1) assets scanned during inventory and any detail that doesn t match 6
what is in the MSI database, (2) any assets that were not found during inventory, and (3) any new assets found during inventory that do not exist in the database. Maintenance Use this feature to reset the flag on an asset or group of assets so that the system will include the asset in the next run of labels to print and tag assets. System Icons This icon will save the information that currently displays on screen. It functions the same as the OK button at the bottom of the screen. This icon will allow the user to exit the screen in which they are currently working, and return to the previous program or the main menu. It functions the same as the Exit button at the bottom of the screens. This icon appears in the toolbar when a printed report of the on-screen information is available to the user. Clicking on the icon brings up the user s print dialog box. This icon provides the user with information needed to contact the MSI support staff. It also provides a form that can be printed and faxed to MSI customer support. 7
1.00 PRINT LABELS WHAT IS PRINT LABELS? This option is used to print labels to tag assets for tracking purposes. The labels include a bar code representation of the Fixed Asset ID so that the asset can be scanned via the Symbol SPT 1550 hand held device. Tags are printed to the Zebra TLP-2844 Label Printer onto the LLT 3 x 1 inch gloss polyester label stock. Note: The asset tags have to be printed from the PC where the Zebra label printer is physically attached. So, if the printer is connected to Margie s PC, only that PC can run this function. This means that that George could not print labels from his PC. HOW DO I PRINT LABELS? From the Fixed Asset System Main Menu click the factory icon ( ), this will take you to the FI Fixed Asset Inventory Main Menu. From here you can either select the Print Labels button or menu option to open a screen similar to the one below: The following list boxes will appear: All Assets Any asset that has yet to have a label tag printed will appear in this box. If you need to reprint a tag for an asset, utilize the FI Reset Printed Flag (see Section 4.00) Maintenance option to reset the flag so that it will again appear in the All Assets display box. 8
Assets to Print Any asset in the All Assets display box can be moved down to the Assets to Print box. All assets in the bottom box are the assets that will be printed to label stock. A count of how many assets tags will be printed is kept in the field at the bottom of the screen labeled Total Number of Labels to be Printed. Note: If you need to print a tag for an asset, and that asset is not listed in either display box, then you will need to utilize the Maintenance feature to reset the print flag on the asset (see section 4.00). Users have various options when selecting which asset tags to print: 1. The user may click the Add All button to the right of the All Assets list box to drop all asset records into the Assets to Print list box. All assets in the bottom box are the assets that will be printed to label stock. 2. The user may double-click a record in the top All Assets list box to move it into the bottom Assets to Print list box. All assets in the bottom box are the assets that will be printed on label tags. 3. The user may also highlight multiple records in the top All Assets list box and click the Add button to the right of the box to move it into the bottom Assets to Print list box. To highlight multiple consecutive records: (1) click the first record, (2) press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard, (3) click the last record, and (4) let go of the Shift key. This will highlight all records between the first and last record. To highlight non-consecutive records: (1) press the Ctrl key on your keyboard and (2) click each record to be added. This will highlight all selected records so that they may be added to the bottom list box and therefore printed on label tags. Once the Assets to Print list box has records in it, the printer icon ( to print the labels out onto the Zebra printer. ) on the toolbar should be used Example of Asset Tag Label: When all tags are printed, simply select Exit to close out of the Print Labels screen. 9
2.00 CREATE WORK FILE WHAT IS CREATE INVENTORY WORK FILE? This program will read through all of the municipality s assets (both active and retired) in order to create a file called FI100000.CSV that can then be imported into the Pendragon software and transmitted over to the hand held for inventorying assets. This process also prints a report for comparison purposes. HOW DO I CREATE THE WORK FILE? From the Fixed Asset System Main Menu click the factory icon ( ), this will take you to the FI Fixed Asset Inventory Main Menu. From here you can either select the Create Inventory Work File button or Create Work File menu option to open a screen similar to the one below: By clicking OK you accomplish two things. Firstly, the work file named FI100000.CSV will be created so that the detail can be imported into Pendragon for synchronization with the hand held device. And a Fixed Asset Department Summary report is generated. This report will total the number of assets in each department with a Grand Total of all departments displayed at the end of the report. If you receive an Error 90,05 while processing (see sample below), this means that the file is locked by another user. To get past this issue, ask the other user to exist out of the FI100000.CSV file. 10
2.10 IMPORT WORK FILE INTO ACCESS WHAT IS IMPORT WORK FILE? In order to move the detail from the MSI-Fixed Asset system into the hand held device for scanning/ inventorying the municipality s assets, the FI100000.CSV work file created in section 2.00 must be imported into a software program that can communicate with the scanning device. That s where the Pendragon forms program steps in. Use Pendragon to import the file generated via MSI-Fixed Assets Inventory prior to synchronizing it with the hand held. HOW DO I IMPORT THE WORK FILE INTO ACCESS? 1. Open Pendragon Forms Manager. Use the option to delete all records under the "Edit/View" button. 2. Click the From ASCII button 3. Enter the username of the hand held device 11
Note: To obtain the username of your hand held device click the Hot Sync icon on the palm and the name will appear in the upper right hand corner (see sample below). Hand Held Name 4. Browse to file location of FI100000.CSV. This file should be in the CUSTOM folder under the MSI directory on your network. 12
5. Once the FI100000.CSV file has been imported, the user receives a completed message similar to the one shown below: Note: If you do not receive this message contact MSI Support before attempting to transfer data into your hand held. 6. It is recommended to view the data that will be going into your hand held before proceeding to the synchronization step. To do this, highlight the Inventory Asset Tracking form and then click the Edit/View button in Pendragon Forms Manager: 13
7. Displayed in the bottom left corner is the total number of records going into the hand held. Make sure the total number from the Asset Summary Report matches the total number of records: 14
2.20 SYNCHRONIZE THE WORK FILE WITH THE HAND HELD WHAT IS SYNCHRONIZING WITH HAND HELD? Once the FI100000.CSV file is imported into Pendragon, that file can then be transferred over to the hand held scanner so that inventory may be taken. This process is known as synchronizing. HOW DO I SYNCHRONIZE THE WORK FILE WITH THE HAND HELD? 1. To transfer data from Pendragon Forms into the hand held highlight the Inventory Asset Tracking form and click the Distribute button in Pendragon Forms Manager. 2. When the process is complete, you will receive message similar to the one below. 15
3. On the next Hot Sync operation (performed on the palm pilot) the form and data will be sent to the hand held. Note: The Hot Sync operation will transfer approximately 400 records per minute. Click HotSync 16
4. After the Hot Sync is performed you can go into the Forms 4.0 icon on your hand held. Click Forms 4.0 17
5. Clicking the Forms 4.0 icon once will open the Pendragon Forms box with all the forms that have been hot synced into your hand held device. Highlight the Inventory Asset Tracking form and click on the Review button to see all assets in your hand held. 18
6. In order to make sure the correct amount of records were transferred during the Hot Sync operation you may click on the Inventory Asset Tracking title bar. The two menus shown below will be available (Record and View). Click on the Column Total option under the View menu to obtain the number of records that are in the hand held. 19
7. The count field should match the department summary report and the total from the records viewed via Pendragon forms. Once the above steps are completed, you have successfully synchronized the Fixed Assets Inventory Work File with your hand held device. Click on the OK button shown above to return to previous screen and proceed with taking inventory via the scanner. 20
2.30 INVENTORY ASSETS WITH THE HAND HELD SCANNER WHAT IS INVENTORYING ASSETS? This is the process where the hand held is taken out into the field to scan, track, and update asset information. HOW DO I INVENTORY ASSETS WITH THE HAND HELD? 1. After completing all of the steps above, your hand held screen should now look similar to the picture below. Notice the bottom portion of the screen where you can input a value. The title says All Fields with a down arrow next to it. 21
2. Click the arrow to select the field name to input. 22
3. Since you will be scanning in the Asset ID, select that option from the down arrow. 4. Your hand held screen should now look similar to the picture above with Asset ID in the input line. From here you can proceed to scan the printed bar code for each asset. When the scanner has made contact with the bar code the Asset ID number will display in the input line. For most consistent results, hold the scanner approximately 9 inches from the bar code. 23
5. The Asset ID number scanned, in the example below, is 205352070004. By using the magnifying glass you can find this record in the work file. Highlight the record, if not already highlighted, and click on it to view this record in your hand held. 24
6. This record will be retrieved and appear in an individual field layout for Asset ID. To access all fields related to this asset, click on the Record View button shown below. 25
7. The record will now be displayed with all fields visible. The Scanned Yes/No field will need to be populated by the user who is scanning the asset. By clicking on the box the check mark will appear. To enter the date in the Scanned Date field the user must click on the calendar icon next to this field. You may choose a specific date or use the Today button to fill in the date with today s date. After filling in these two fields (and any other fields that may need updating, i.e. Location ) the user may click the End button to return to the first input screen. 26
8. Notice that the input line still has the same Asset ID number in it. To remove this number, click on the X to the right of the input line. This will clear the value and allow the user the scan the next bar code. 27
9. The screen shown below is ready for the user to scan the next asset they find into the input line. 28
2.40 SYNCHRONIZE THE INVENTORY RESULTS WITH ACCESS WHAT IS SYNCHRONIZING WITH ACCESS? Once the inventory is complete, the results obtained and stored in the hand held need to be loaded back over to the PC so that those results can be compared to the data into the MSI-Fixed Assets database. Once the comparison is run, you will receive an exception report detailing the inventory results. HOW DO I SYNCHRONIZE WITH ACCESS? 1. Make sure the palm s cradle is connected to your PC via the serial port. 2. Place the hand held device in the cradle. 3. Locate the synchronize button in the lower right hand corner of the cradle. Or there is also an icon on the menu of the hand held device called HotSync both these options will execute your synchronization. Click HotSync 4. When asked where to save the FI300000.CSV file, select the CUSTOM folder under the MSI directory on your server and press the "To ASCII" button in the Pendragon software. 29
3.00 EXPORT WHAT IS EXPORT FROM HAND HELD? Through the synchronization process (section 2.40) the FI300000.CSV file was transferred back to your PC. The export process will read the FI300000.CSV file and compare it to your Fixed Assets database. Essentially this program will compare what was found during inventory to the detail in the Fixed Asset database. It will then print an exception report that details (1) assets scanned during inventory with discrepancies, (2) any assets that were not scanned during inventory, and (3) any new assets found during inventory that do not exist in the database. NOTE. As a future enhancement the Export of scanned results will also have the capability to write detail to the MSI-Fixed Assets module, instead of just reporting what was found during inventory. HOW DO I EXPORT FROM HAND HELD? From the Fixed Asset System Main Menu click the factory icon ( ), this will take you to the FI Fixed Asset Inventory Main Menu. From here you can either select the Export from Hand Held button or Export menu option to open a screen similar to the one below: By clicking OK you accomplish two things. Firstly, the file named FI300000.CSV will be read and compared to the data in the MSI-Fixed Assets database. And an Exception report is generated. This report will detail (1) assets scanned during inventory with discrepancies, (2) any assets that were not scanned during inventory, and (3) any new assets found during inventory that do not exist in the database. 30
4.00 MAINTENANCE WHAT IS MAINTENANCE? Use this feature to reset the flag on an asset or group of assets so that the system will include the asset in the next run of labels to print and tag assets. HOW DO I RESET THE LABEL PRINTED FLAG? From the Fixed Asset System Main Menu click the factory icon ( ), this will take you to the FI Fixed Asset Inventory Main Menu. From here you can select the Maintenance menu option to open a screen similar to the one below: The following list boxes will appear: All Assets Any asset that already has a label tag printed will appear in this box. Assets to Reset Any asset in the All Assets display box can be moved down to the Assets to Reset box. All assets in the bottom box are the assets that will be reset so that a new label tag may be printed via the Print Labels option (Section 1.00). A count of how many assets are going to be reset is kept in the field at the bottom of the screen labeled Total Number of Labels to be Reset. 31
Users have various options when selecting which assets to reset: 1. The user may click the Add All button to the right of the All Assets list box to drop all asset records into the Assets to Reset list box. All assets in the bottom box are the assets that will have their printed flag reset so that new asset labels may be printed. 2. The user may double-click a record in the top All Assets list box to move it into the bottom Assets to Reset list box. 3. The user may also highlight multiple records in the top All Assets list box and click the Add button to the right of the box to move it into the bottom Assets to Reset list box. To highlight multiple consecutive records: (1) click the first record, (2) press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard, (3) click the last record, and (4) let go of the Shift key. This will highlight all records between the first and last record. To highlight non-consecutive records: (1) press the Ctrl key on your keyboard and (2) click each record to be added. This will highlight all selected records so that they may be added to the bottom list box. Once the Assets to Reset list box has records in it, click OK to run the process that will reset these assets s printed y/n flag back to N. When the process has completed, the screen will close and you will be back at the FI Fixed Asset Inventory Main Menu. 32
5.00 VIEWING INVENTORY DETAIL VIA FIXED ASSET ENTRY WHAT IS THE HAND HELD ICON ( ) IN FIXED ASSET ENTRY? This icon will open a window that displays inventoried information about the asset. From the pop-up display you can see whether or not an asset tag has been printed for the specified and whether or not the asset has ever been scanned and, if so, on what date. HOW DO I USE THE HAND HELD ICON? From the Fixed Asset System Main Menu click the Entry menu to open a screen similar to the one below. Enter the Asset ID of the asset whose inventory detail needs to be viewed, and then tab. 33
Select the hand held icon (next to the Cost Basis and Salvage Value fields) to launch a screen similar to the one below: The following fields are available. After each field is input, press tab to accept the information and proceed to the next field. Asset ID This is the ID of the Asset whose inventory information is being displayed on the screen. Scanned Y/N If this field displays a Y then the asset has been scanned during a periodic field inventory. If this field displays an N, then the asset has yet to be tracked in the field. Scan Date If the Scanned Y/N field has a Y, then the most recent date the asset was scanned will be displayed here. Printed Y/N This is the only editable field on this screen. You may change the flag that notes whether or not an asset label has been printed for this asset. If it says N, then a label has not yet been printed (or the asset has been reset so another label can be printed). If it says Y, then the asset should already be labeled out in the field. 34
APPENDIX A SAMPLE REPORTS A.10 FIXED ASSET DEPARTMENT SUMMARY REPORT: 35
A.20 FIXED ASSETS DEPARTMENT EXCEPTION REPORT 36
APPENDIX B WORK FILE LAYOUT (FI100000.CSV) The inventory work file contains the following fields: AssetID - This is the number of the asset being defined. The number will be defined in 3 parts: A fund component, a department component, and an asset number. AssetDescriptionOne - This is the field which describes the asset is. AssetDescriptionTwo This is an extension, if needed, of Description one. DepartmentDescription This is the department description for the asset being defined. DepartmentCode This is the department code for the asset being defined. LocationCode This code will define where the asset is located. LocationDescription This is the description where the asset is located. Model This field defines the manufacturer s model, if any. SerialNumber This is the manufacturer s serial number identifying the asset. Custodian This is the person responsible for the asset. Note: Not only is this file comma separated but it also has double quotes before and after each field. 37
APPENDIX C EXPORT FILE LAYOUT (FI300000.CSV) The export file contains the following fields: RecordID Internal ID number used by the hand held device. This is not used by the FI system. UnitID Internal record number used by the hand held device. This is not used by the FI system. UserName The username stored on the hand held device. This is not used by the FI system. TimeStamp The timestamp of the record creation. This is not used by the FI system. AssetID - This is the number of the asset being defined. The number will be defined in 3 parts. A fund component, a department component, and an asset number. AssetDescriptionOne - This is the field which describes the asset is. AssetDescriptionTwo This is an extension, if needed, of Description one. DepartmentDescription This is the department description for the asset being defined. DepartmentCode This is the department code for the asset being defined. LocationCode This code will define where the asset is located. LocationDescription This is the description where the asset is located. Model This field defines the manufacturer s model, if any. SerialNumber This is the manufacturer s serial number identifying the asset. Custodian This is the person responsible for the asset. ScannedYesNo This is to determine whether or not the hand held device physically scanned the item. Values are: If not scanned, the field will be spaces. If scanned, the field will be Y for Yes. Purpose of the field is to help compare the number of assets scanned to the original number of assets in the file. This helps determine the number of assets lost for inventory control. ScannedDate This is to determine the date the hand held scanned the asset. The date is stored as CCYYMMDD (Example: 20050102). The purpose of the field is to determine the last date the asset was scanned to help the user find where it is, who had it last, and where it may be found now. Note: Not only is this file comma separated but it also has double quotes before and after each field. 38