Assets configuration management overview

Assets within a housing organisation's portfolio rarely exist in isolation but rather are related in some way to other assets in the same locality. Defining a hierarchical structure to capture these inter-relationships informs the management and communication strategy appropriate for these assets, further improving the tenant experience. By way of example, a block of flats may be managed by geographical area (functional units) and then by street, with individual asset records created not just for the flats themselves but also for the lift, the communal areas, the reserved parking spaces, etc. Therefore, in hierarchical terms, the block will be defined as the parental asset for each of those elemental assets and will itself have an immediate parent of the street and ultimately the functional unit.

Civica Cx Housing allows these 'parent and child' asset relationships to be captured within a hierarchy, with each being linked to a top level - or root - asset. There is no limit to the number of hierarchies that can be maintained, the number of linked assets or the complexity of the inherent relationships. To aid understanding, a graphical view of each hierarchy is available to the end user, revealing instantly how assets coexist. New assets can be added to existing structures very easily, simply specifying the immediate parent will position them correctly within the structure.

Before new assets can be created on the system, a range of asset 'type' parameters must exist as general parameter lookups: a flat, a house, a block, a communal area are all valid examples. Once created, it is possible to assign attributes to each asset type such as 'lettable' (suitable for renting) and 'residential' (living accommodation). An end user can also create numerous custom status progression values pertinent to the management of an asset record, each linked to an overarching master code that serves to categorise its purpose and scope. These additional codes provide an extra layer of granularity in the overall resource status tracking process, and can be assigned manually to an individual asset record. The range of master classifications available to support the monitoring of asset resources are aligned to the conceivable standings within a property's management lifecycle, and are standardised as follows:

• Void - No rent agreement exists for the asset record, or the latest episode has expired.
• Under Agreement - The expiration date for the current rent agreement episode is either blank or set in the future.
• Disposed - The property and associated land has been sold or transferred to a third party.
• Out of Management - The responsibility for undertaking the management of the property has come to an end.
• Non-Lettable - The property is no longer suitable for renting or leasing out to tenants, or is classified as a non-residential entity.

The effective management of asset hierarchies ensures that incoming repair requests, the fulfilment of these repairs and all related customer engagement activities are handled in a sensible way. Configuration screens allow end users to link individual asset types to other related types for this purpose. So, for example, where a repair is required to a lift located in a block of flats, the linking of related asset types ensures that repairs are not fulfilled in isolation but rather take into full consideration the effect on the tenant accommodation.

Separate help articles have been created for each key aspect of asset configuration management, including:

• To define a custom asset status code
• To define the asset characteristic types
• To define the attributes of an asset type
• To define asset type links for a repair
• To create a new asset hierarchy
• To link an asset to a hierarchy
• To assign an alternative root asset to a hierarchy
• To view the assets within a hierarchy

In addition, separate help articles focus on the set-up of system parameters, specifically:

• System parameters overview
• To define a general lookup parameter value