We’ve all used them, spreadsheets, whether it’s to do a simple list of items, or whether you are looking to create advanced sums for business forecasts. Even though they are not really advanced enough for some of our requirements, we still use them. This is mainly because the majority of people would put up with a free one that comes bundled in when you buy your pc, rather than forking out the cash for a decent package.

Even though spreadsheets come with a number of problems, they do have some useful features. The biggest pluses is that they can manage simple calculations, create graphs using the data, and create easy to manage business forecasts. These all come in handy for certain jobs. However, because of the amount of downsides they have, they aren’t useful for tasks like tracking your companies’ UK fixed assets.

Although spreadsheets sound like they would be good for storing company asset data, they are simply not as advanced as an asset tracking software UK package.

To a certain extent, a spreadsheet is useful for asset management, however, as you increase the amount of assets your company has and the amount of data you want to store, they become useless.

Here are just a few of the points that should be required by any asset management software.

• It must be able to store enough information for your use. Even though the amount of data a spreadsheet can store is enough for some tasks, in asset management it tends not to be. The information stored may also not be detailed enough.
• They must be able to reflect the structure of the company. If the particular asset can be located in a number of sectors within a company, a basic spreadsheet cannot reflect this complex formation.
• They should be flexible enough to restructure easily. As soon as a spreadsheet becomes complex, it’s hard to modifity and data and the structure of it.
• They should be able to calculate different depreciation rates on individual items. If a number of assets were linked together, however they had been bought at different times, such as a computer, keyboard and mouse. The software must be able to calculate different price depreciation levels.
• Must be able to handle re-lifeing of assets. If an asset is assessed and found to be useful, the depreciation level must be altered as the asset is now useful.
• It should be able to create structured data reports. It’s not easy to create a structured data report using a spreadsheet.

Those are just a few features that should be contained within any software package designed for asset management. Plus, it’s the main reason why a basic spreadsheet software suite would not be suiteable for storing asset data in a fixed asset register.