(Newswire.net— September 26, 2020) — We interviewed Jami Oster, CEO of Fulcrum Technologies to hear the expert view of creating a perfect asset database of record. Jami outlined a 3 step process, which Fulcrum is pioneering with some big brands you all know:
Step 1: Get the damn data. (All of it).
If you want to harness the power of your collective IoT, implement a mobile solution front end to track and manage your critical assets, infrastructure, and equipment. This (and/or any modern scanning hardware)has a few “must-have” features.
First, you should have a mobility solution for your IoT devices that can be configured to let any front-line or field worker in ANY environment scan 1D, 2D, or Micro PDF barcodes. Whether your people are in the field, the warehouse, or back office, they will need a reliable, consistent method of capturing ALL transactional data to feed your fixed asset database. (Side note: from an ergonomic perspective, you want that worker to perform asset scans with the absolute least amount of attempts required, capturing asset data as it flows organically throughout its lifecycle.)
As every role throughout the supply chain workflow is unique, you want to use a unique set of customfunctionality. Because of this, you want a solution that has multiple-step processes which can be configured for all different types of users. And, when tracking assets to the tops of snowy mountains and into rattlesnake infested cell sites in the desert (it’s happened), your solution needs to work perfectly online, and can perfectly collect data in a ‘batch mode’ when offline. And in this era where intellectual property as a competitive advantage in the enterprise, having enterprise-grade security from end-to-end for your mobile solution is invaluable. This level of security ensures your collected proprietary data remains uncompromised. It requires having a secure log-on, user limited permissions, and encrypted password protection. It should also allow you to connect in real-time and through a secure transport layer behind your own firewall.
Step 2: Purify the data with reconciliation.
So you used mobile scanning solutions to amass a huge amount of data about your physical inventory, assets, and critical infrastructure in the field. Then what do you do with that data? The first step in making the data transform into actionable data is through reconciling that data to create an accurate, real-time fixed asset accounting database. Traditional ledgers are often years out of date with various capitalization limits and accounting approaches. The best practice is to correct these deficiencies and create asset records that can be easily maintained and audited in the short, medium, and long-term future.
An in depth review of the accounting records will often present the structure, paradigm, and path that needs to be followed. The assets attributes like age, type and available detail will populate the field data requirements and show how you should conduct the reconciliation.
Automated processes can connect your field data with your “books”. In many cases, the reconciliation can be completed with this single step, but often it’s more complex. If necessary, you can physically match material assets between the two data sets that were not connected electronically so that any material discrepancies can be resolved.
Step 3: Connect your enterprise systems. (Everybody wins!)
This central reconciliation database of record should be connected to enterprise systems so itcan take (and verify) inputs from any connected system, whether it is OSS, BSS, ERP, or Legacy. Pulling the existing data centrally, if you will. Then the new asset database of record can push out the best possible data to those same connected systems, so companies can maintain and act upon accurate records at every possible location. Effectively managing these three steps can give you that much desired, competitively advantageous asset database of record – improving companywide CAPEX, OPEX, and business efficiencies.