Fixed Asset Management

Earlier this year there was a strong discussion on the inclusion of Fixed Asset management into the xTuple product (forum discussion here). Many people contributed ideas and support. This interest lead to the development of a Specification which in turn generated more ideas and interest. The original intention of the discussion was to determine what additional functionality was needed by the xTuple community. Well after many months, the first release of xTuple Fixed Asset Management is here. I am proud to announce the release of the Fixed Asset extension package for xTuple.

Fixed Asset Register

The first release (currently in Beta status) is aimed squarely at development of a Fixed Asset register. It's primary purpose is the recording of Fixed Assets and the asset's various attributes and serves as the foundation for further extension packages. The package allows you to define different Asset Types (Classes) and the current status of those assets. Information about the asset cost, asset expected life, purchasing, and installation dates can be recorded. In addition you can record warranty information and use that to track expiry dates of warranties. Basic Asset reporting is also included. The Fixed Asset register is the foundation for future developments. It allows the recording of basic information that is intended for use in depreciation calculations and maintenance planning.

The Fixed Asset package requires xTuple version 3.6 as a minimum. As mentioned earlier this is currently a Beta release. The Fixed Asset package is available free of charge on the xChange.

Fixed Asset Depreciation

The Fixed Asset Depreciation extension package builds on the free Fixed Asset register package and brings integration with the General Ledger. This package is designed to automate the calculation and posting of depreciation and give you much greater visibility over the value of your Fixed Assets. Rather than having a few G/L accounts holding a summarised asset value, now you can report on the specific make up of your asset value by each asset.

In particular, the Depreciation package allows you to purchase Fixed Assets that results in creation of the Fixed Asset as well as the correct entries in the Accounting modules. Purchase of an asset can be made either directly from a Bank Account or via Vendor Accounts Payable.

Selling or scrapping the Asset also results in the appropriate financial entries being made. These features greatly reduce time and effort as well as reduce potential errors being made.

The primary function of the Fixed Asset Depreciation package is of course Depreciation. This package takes information you have entered about the depreciation method, life of the asset, depreciation percentages, and calculates monthly depreciation on assets for you. After a review you can easily post these transactions directly into your General Ledger. For asset intensive companies, this will save huge amounts of manual calculation and re-keying of data into your xTuple system. The results of transactions are then clearly visible in the Asset screen.

In addition, the Depreciation module brings a number of additional reports that further assist your business in understanding the value of its Fixed Assets.

The Fixed Asset Depreciation module is available on the xChange. This package is currently in Beta testing phase. During the Beta phase we are offering a special promotional price to those companies that purchase the Depreciation module during this period. Full support will be available during this period as will a free upgrade to the final release version.