Guides
Asset tags: how to number and track a school’s assets
Notebooks, Chromebooks, projectors, furniture: every permanent asset of a school has to be found again at the yearly inventory. This guide shows how numbering with asset tags works, what school networks usually ask for and how to handle it day to day without spreadsheets.
What an asset tag is
The asset tag (plaqueta de patrimônio) is the label on the device with the number that identifies it in the asset register. Depending on the network it is called asset number, asset registration or número de tombamento. It stays with the item from intake to disposal.
It does not replace the serial number from the manufacturer. Both have their job: the asset number for the school’s records, the serial number for warranty, repairs and device management.
Who assigns the number
In public schools the number usually comes from the asset department of the municipality, the state or the education department, and the school attaches the tag it receives. Private schools and their own networks set the sequence themselves.
The rules of your network always apply. If there is an official number, it is the asset number in Inventaris. If the network uses one sequence and the school another, the second goes into a custom field.
Good numbering practice
- One number per item, for good. A disposed device keeps its number; the next item gets the next number.
- Nothing that changes goes into the number. Room, class and person stay out of it: the device moves, the number stays.
- Always the same length. With leading zeros, such as 000123 or NB-0042, lists sort correctly.
- Tags for permanent assets. Paper, cartridges and batteries are consumables and get no tag; in Inventaris they are kept as consumables with stock levels.
Custody forms and the yearly inventory
Many networks ask for a custody form (termo de responsabilidade) for the items in the care of a person or department, and a yearly inventory that checks the register against what is really in the school. Deadlines and templates differ from network to network.
In Inventaris every device can be assigned permanently to a person or a room. The list per person or room can be printed or exported as CSV to go with your network’s form. During stocktaking you scan the tags room by room, and the record shows what was found, what is missing and what is somewhere else.
Asset tags with Inventaris
- Add devices one by one or import your existing spreadsheet as CSV. The numbers already on the devices stay exactly as they are.
- Create custom fields for what your network tracks, such as the education department’s registration number, the invoice or the funding source.
- Print asset labels with a QR code and the number in large type: 24 per sheet (70 × 37 mm, Avery Zweckform 3474) or 27 silver labels (63.5 × 29.6 mm, Avery L6011-20).
- At the desk, at returns and during stocktaking you simply scan. Inventaris recognises the asset number, the serial number and the set code by itself.
If your network already supplies tags with a barcode, they keep working: any handheld scanner that types like a keyboard will do, as long as the code contains the asset number.
In the manual: recording units and printing labels Everything about inventory in Inventaris Inventaris for schools
Frequently asked questions
Are the asset number and the número de tombamento the same thing?
In many networks, yes: both names mean the number that identifies the item in the register. If your network uses a separate registration number, it goes into a custom field in Inventaris, next to the asset number.
Our school already has tags on the devices. Do we need new ones?
No. Import the list with the existing numbers; they stay as they are. New labels are only needed for items that have no tag yet.
Where should the tag go?
Somewhere visible, easy to scan and rarely handled: underneath a notebook, on the side of a projector, on the side of a cabinet or inside its door. Avoid removable covers and surfaces that get hot.
Does Inventaris replace the municipality’s asset system?
It does not have to. Many schools use Inventaris day to day, for loans and stocktaking, and keep the network’s official register. As the asset number is the same in both, lists go back and forth as CSV.
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