The Asset That Fails Because Nobody Knew How Old It Was
Building mechanical and electrical equipment has defined service life expectations that directly inform maintenance scheduling, capital replacement planning, and insurance valuation. A UPS system installed in 2009 with a manufacturer-stated design life of 15 years is due for serious evaluation or replacement before its 2024 anniversary. A fire detection alarm panel whose installation year is "Estimate" in the records, and whose last service date is blank, is a compliance liability that nobody has been able to quantify because the data was never captured at installation and has been passed over in every subsequent facilities review.
The Year of Manufacture paired with Year of Installation, each with a Source field (Label, Records, Estimate), creates an honest record of the data quality behind each asset's age information. An aircon unit where Year of Manufacture source is "Label" and Year of Installation source is "Records" is a well-documented asset. An asset where both sources are "Estimate" is a candidate for physical verification work — find the nameplate, pull the commissioning documentation, or accept that the age data is approximate and plan maintenance intervals conservatively.
What a Complete Asset Record Captures
The category taxonomy — Aircon, UPS/Inverter, Generator, BMS, Fire Detection Alarm, Fire Suppression, Lifts, Mechanical Equipment, Security Systems, Extraction Systems, Lightning Protection — covers the critical infrastructure systems of a commercial or multi-use building. These are not equivalent maintenance categories. Lifts require certification by an approved inspection body on a defined schedule. Fire suppression systems have mandatory test and certification requirements. UPS battery banks have finite service life regardless of whether they've been exercised.
Manufacturer, Model, and Size/Capacity are the procurement reference fields. When a generator needs a replacement exciter or a cooling tower fan motor fails, the manufacturer and model determine parts sourcing and whether the unit can be repaired or requires replacement. Size and Capacity — for an aircon unit, it's the kW rating; for a UPS, it's the kVA — determines whether a replacement unit has adequate capacity for the current load.
Serial number is the warranty and service registration anchor. An asset without a serial number on the record cannot have its warranty status verified, cannot be registered for an OEM service program, and cannot be correctly identified for a parts order when the model has been revised since installation.
The Tsebo # barcode field captures the facilities management company's internal asset tag — the identifier that ties the database record to the physical label on the equipment, which is what a field technician scans when they're conducting a service visit and need to update the last service date for a specific unit rather than the entire category.
The Condition Assessment as a Capital Planning Input
Condition rated Good/Fair/Poor per asset, recorded by the assessor who physically viewed the equipment, is the field that drives capital expenditure conversations. A generator rated Poor with a current value still on the books at a meaningful figure is a capital replacement candidate. The same generator rated Good with a recent service date from a named service provider is properly maintained and likely to serve for its remaining design life.
Current Value as a currency field updates the asset register for insurance purposes and for financial reporting that requires current asset valuations rather than historical purchase price. The spread between original cost (not tracked here, which is a deliberate simplicity in the template) and current value reflects depreciation and condition.
Service Provider per asset — not just a maintenance contractor, but the specific firm responsible for this category — creates accountability at the asset level. A building with 12 categories of asset and three different service providers maintaining them needs a record that shows, per asset, who is responsible. When the last BMS service date is 14 months ago and the contract requires annual visits, the Service Provider field tells you who to call to establish whether a visit was missed or the record wasn't updated.
Last Service date per asset, filtered across the full inventory for records older than 12 months, produces the delinquent maintenance report without any manual cross-referencing.