Fixed Asset Communicator Upload Asset Records

Upload Option Overview

The Fixed Assets Communicator provides upload capabilities for processing files in conjunction with third-party systems. The upload moves the pipe-delimited ASCII text file from the third-party system to a temporary table, the Asset Upload table. Once uploaded, assets records can be reviewed in Fixed Assets Communicator before being posted to Fixed Assets. The upload can be used to:

Load new data from an appraisal.
Load converted data from another system.
Load from scanned data to update the asset inventory.

Prerequisites

Prior to using the Upload in Fixed Assets Communicator, a number of steps need to be completed, as outlined in the sections below.

Fixed Assets Profile

Check with your system administrator to ensure that the following changes have been made to your Fixed Assets Profile in System Administration:

User-defined Field 1 must be titled Room #. Third-party systems require this field for tracking an asset’s room number.
User Defined Field 5 must be titled Old Asset ID to track the former ID numbers of certain assets.

Fixed Assets Tables

To use Fixed Assets Communicator, a record with the identifying code 99999999 must be added to each of the following reference tables in the Fixed Assets system. The 99999999 code is used as the default value for fields that reference these tables in the new asset records created with Fixed Assets Communicator.

Activity table (activtbl)
Category table (category)
Department table (department)
Function table (functbl)
Fund Source table (source)
Location table (fix_locn)

After you post to the Fixed Assets system, you should update the corresponding fields in the new asset records by replacing their 99999999 defaults with the codes that apply. For a list of the fields in posted records, refer to the Upload Fields section in Upload (page 13). The fields affected have the 99999999 value listed in the Default column.

Lock Out for Users

Before running an upload, you must make sure all other users are logged out of Fixed Assets and Fixed Assets Communicator.

Upload Options

Use this option to load pipe-delimited ASCII text files provided by a third-party system into a temporary

table in the Fixed Assets system. The upload into the Asset Upload table can be in one of the following forms:

Upload Form	Details
Straight Upload	Can originate from either an appraisal or a conversion from another system. All fields are required, as defined in the Download Interface File section. At posting, the system assigns default values to any required fields that are blank.
Change Upload	Can be compiled from a physical inventory of your assets. For new records, the system assigns defaults to any required fields that are blank. For changed records, blank fields are filled with data from the Assets table when records are posted. In addition, if the Asset ID was changed, the asset’s old ID number must be recorded in User Field 5 (Old Asset ID).You can run the upload as often as needed. However, each subsequent upload that uses the same Control Number overwrites the previous file.This can be avoided by assigning unique names to each file. Records uploaded to the Asset Upload table can be reviewed and modified before you post them to the Assets table in Fixed Assets.

Upload Form

Details

Straight Upload

Can originate from either an appraisal or a conversion from another system.

All fields are required, as defined in the Download Interface File section. At posting, the system assigns default values to any required fields that are blank.

Change Upload

Can be compiled from a physical inventory of your assets.

For new records, the system assigns defaults to any required fields that are blank.

For changed records, blank fields are filled with data from the Assets table when records are posted.

In addition, if the Asset ID was changed, the asset’s old ID number must be recorded in User Field 5 (Old Asset ID).You can run the upload as often as needed. However, each subsequent upload that uses the same Control Number overwrites the previous file.This can be avoided by assigning unique names to each file. Records uploaded to the Asset Upload table can be reviewed and modified before you post them to the Assets table in Fixed Assets.

Menu Path: Fixed Assets > Entry & Processing > Communicator > Upload

Upload Fields

Following is the format of the fields in the upload file. The file produced by a third-party system must include fields in this order and format.

All fields may be changed, except Asset ID and Record Type, which are key fields in identifying an asset record.
Yes* in the Required on Add column indicates that the field is required if the Depreciation Flag (Field 31) is set to Y.

# Field	Format	Required on Add	Default	Reference
Asset ID	Character/10	Yes	None	assets
Record Type	Character/1	Yes	None	See note
Date Acquired	MM/DD/YYYY	Yes	None
Description	Character/30	Yes	Asset ID
Fund Source	Character/30	Yes	99999999	source
Vendor	Character/8	No	Blank
Insurer	Character/30	No	Blank
Manufacturer	Character/30	No	Blank
Model	Character/30	No	Blank
Serial Number	Character/20	No	Blank
Department	Character/8	No	Blank	department
Location Code	Character/8	Yes	99999999	fix-locn
Grant	Character/8	No	Blank
Category Code	Character/8	Yes	99999999	category
Condition	Character/8	No	Blank
Number of Units	Integer/5	Yes	0
Unit Cost	Decimal/12,2	Yes	0
Initial Cost	Decimal/12,2	Yes	0
Salvage Value	Decimal/12,2	Yes	0
Insurance Value	Decimal/12,2	Yes	0
Sale Amount	Decimal/12,2	Yes	0
Last Inventory Date	MM/DD/YYYY	No	Blank
Last Maintenance Date	MM/DD/YYYY	No	Blank
Disposal Date	MM/DD/YYYY	No	Blank
Status	Character/8	No	Blank	Defined a
User Field 1	Character/25	No	Blank
User Field 2	Character/25	No	Blank
User Field 3	Character/25	No	Blank
User Field 4	Character/25	No	Blank
User Field 5	Character/25	No	Blank	Defined a
Depreciation Flag	Character/1	Yes	N	Y=Yes or
Depreciation Method	Character/3	Yes*	Blank	See note
Estimated Life	Decimal/5,2	Yes	0
Depreciable Life	Decimal/5,2	Yes*	0
Depreciation Cost Center	Character/16	Yes*	Blank	orgn
Depreciation Cost Account	Character/8	Yes*	Blank	account
Accumulated Depreciation	Decimal/12,2	Yes*	0
Current Depreciation	Decimal/12,2	Yes*	0
Depreciation Basis	Decimal/12,2	Yes*	0
Last Post Date	MM/DD/YYYY	No	Blank
Post Depreciation to GL	Character/1	Yes*	N	Y=Yes or
Fund Type Flag	Character/1	Yes	G	See note
Capital Asset Flag	Character/1	Yes	Y	See note 4
Function	Character/8	Yes	99999999	functbl
Activity	Character/8	No	99999999	activtbl
Field Not Used
Purchase Order	Character/9	No	Blank
Check Number	Character/10	No	Blank

Notes

Record Type: N=New, C=Change, M=Missing, or R=Renumbered
Depreciation Method: SL=Straight Line, DDB=Double Declining Balance, or 150=150% Declining Balance Rate
Fund Type Flag: B=Business Activity or G=Governmental Activity
Capital Asset Flag: Y=Capital Asset or N=Asset Tracked for Other Purposes

Uploading fixed asset records

Select Fixed Assets.
Select Entry & Processing.
Select Communicator.
Select Upload.
In the Upload Interface File page, enter a control number in the Enter Upload Control Number field using up to eight characters.

For ease of identification, we recommend using the date, such as 091019 for September 10, 2019. If you are uploading multiple files for the same date, you can add a numbering sequence to each file name, such as 01, 02, and so forth.

Select OK.
If you entered a control number that has already been used, the following message displays:
1. PURGE ALL EXISTING RECORDS WITH THIS CONTROL NUMBER AND RUN UPLOAD? Y OR N.
  - Enter Y to purge all records in the Asset Upload table that have this control number and replace them with the records you are about to upload.
  - Enter N to return to the Enter Update Control Number field and enter a different control number.
In the Name of File to Load field, you may accept the default or enter a different file name.
Select OK to run the upload.
- The system displays the upload results and indicates whether errors were found during processing.
- If errors are found, the system generates the log upload_err.log and displays its location.

Error Messages

If the upload_err.log is generated, the following error messages can appear in the log:

Error Message	Details
THE CONTROL NUMBER MUST BE ENTERED	A control number was not entered on the upload page.
DUPLICATE ASSET ID - ONLY FIRST RECORD IN FILE WITH THIS ID WILL BE UPLOADED	Two records in the upload file exist with the same ID. The first record will upload, but all subsequent records with the same ID will not.
DUPLICATE ASSET ID - RECORD EXISTS FROM A PREVIOUS BATCH AND CANNOT BE UPLOADED AGAIN	A record has been uploaded in a previous batch that contains the same asset ID as a record in the current upload file. Since the asset ID already exists, the record from the current batch will not upload.