---
title: Build an asset register from the jobs you have already done
description: Stratum Track builds a register of the machines and vessels you work on from the jobs you already have, keeps each asset's details such as its install date, and shows them on the steps you choose, on every job for that asset.
published: 2026-09-25
updated: 2026-09-25
---

# Build an asset register from the jobs you have already done

A gearbox comes back into the workshop for its third overhaul in five years. The job sheet
asks when it was installed and which drawing it was built to.

The install date is on a report from 2022, filed under that year's job number. The drawing
number was typed on the last two jobs, once with its revision letter and once without,
because each job asked for it from scratch. The customer's reliability engineer keeps the
fleet list in a spreadsheet and sends it on request.

So the fitter waits while someone in the office opens old reports one at a time, looking
for a serial number the filing system was never sorted by.

## What it costs

On a good day the search takes twenty minutes a job. The larger cost comes when the
customer asks how many times that gearbox has been through your shop and what you found
each time. The answer is spread across a dozen job numbers, and assembling it takes an
afternoon nobody quoted for.

A changed detail costs more. After a shaft is replaced to a new drawing, the next job still
starts from whichever old report somebody found first, and the superseded drawing number
can reach a report your customer relies on.

## What good looks like

Keep one record for each asset, found by the number your jobs already carry, usually the
serial number. Keep the machine's own details on that record, once, rather than on every
visit: the date it was installed, the drawing it was built to, the oil it takes. Show them
on every job for that asset, and list every job on the record.

When a detail changes on the bench, the person who changed it should record it where the
next job will read it, with their name, the date and the job it came from. The register
itself should be built from the jobs you already have, which hold most of those details.

## How Stratum Track does it

Managers have an **Assets** tab, and Stratum Track builds the register from the jobs you
have already done. You choose the job field that names an asset, usually **Serial Number**,
and Stratum Track makes one asset for every different answer in it. It fills each asset's
customer and site from the newest job that carries them, and its description from the
newest job's **Designation**. It never makes an asset from a blank, N/A, NA, a single dash
or 0.

![The Assets tab, with each asset's code, description, type and site, the number of jobs it has had, and its most recent job](/assets/screens/assets-02-register.webp)

Every asset can have built-in details such as Make, Model and Date installed, plus Drawing
number when your jobs record one, and you add your own. Open an asset and Stratum Track
lists **Jobs on this asset**, newest first, and **Changes**: the latest changes to its
details, who made each one, and whether it came from the register, a spreadsheet import or
a job.

On the job, you decide which details your technician sees by placing them on a step. Each
one shows the asset's value, marked **From asset** with the asset's code, so the technician
reads it instead of typing it again.

![A step showing the gearbox's install date, drawing number, oil grade and oil capacity, each marked From asset GB-40731](/assets/screens/assets-03-on-the-step.webp)

When your technician replaces a part and a detail changes, they choose **I am updating this
asset today** from the menu above the details, correct the value, and Stratum Track saves it
to the asset when they save the step. Every later job for that asset shows the new value,
and the asset's **Changes** list records it against the job.

Stratum Track adds a new serial number to the register the first time a job is saved with
it, and suggests assets from the register on the job form as the serial number is typed.
Your report document prints any detail by its report name, such as
`{{ system.asset.installed_on }}` for the install date.

## Setting it up

You need a manager login, because the **Assets** tab is only on a manager's menu.

### Step 1: Choose the field that names an asset

Open the **Assets** tab. Under **Which job field names the asset?**, Stratum Track lists each
job field that can name an asset, with how many assets a build would make and a few example
codes. Choose the one your team fills in with the asset's own number: **Serial Number**,
**Drawing number**, **Material Number**, **Designation** or a one-line text field of your
own.

![Setting up the register with Serial Number chosen, which would make 214 assets from 603 jobs](/assets/screens/assets-01-set-up-from-your-jobs.webp)

Once you build the register, the choice is fixed and you cannot switch that job field off.

### Step 2: Check the details you keep

Press **Asset fields**. Switch off any built-in detail you do not keep, and press **Add
field** for each of your own, such as an oil grade or an installed clearance. Each field
takes a **Report name**, which your report document uses to print it.

### Step 3: Build the register

Press **Build register**, then **Build register** again to confirm. The build can take a
couple of minutes and keeps running if you leave the page.

### Step 4: Add what the jobs did not record

Old jobs rarely record an install date. Open an asset to type its details, or press
**Import** and upload an Excel file or a CSV with one row per asset and an **Asset code**
column. Stratum Track updates the asset whose code is already in the register, adds an
asset for a new code, and never deletes anything on import. If any row cannot be read,
Stratum Track saves nothing from the file and names the row to fix.

### Step 5: Show the details on a step

Go to **Manage Templates**, press **Actions** on your form, then **Review**. The form opens
on the **Preview** tab. Add a text, number, measurement, date or dropdown field where the
detail belongs, open its **Report name** and choose the detail from the list, such as
**Asset: Date installed**. You can place the field on its own or in a table, but not in a
table your technician adds rows to, and not in a repeating section.

On a form that already has jobs, Stratum Track saves the new field as a draft, and nothing
changes on the tablet until you press **Activate Template**.

## Questions people ask

#### Do I have to type my asset register in by hand?

No. Stratum Track builds it from the jobs you already have, one asset for every different
serial number, or every different answer in the job field you choose. It fills the customer
and site from the newest job that records them, and the description from the newest job's
**Designation**. You add the details your old jobs never recorded, such as install dates,
once, either on the asset itself or in a spreadsheet you import.

#### What happens to old reports when an asset's details change?

A report prints the asset's current value, so any report generated after the change carries
the new one, including a report for an older job. Job Details shows the current value in the
same way. A report you have already sent does not change. The asset's **Changes** list keeps
the old value beside the new one, with who changed it, when, and on which job.

#### Can a technician change an asset's details?

Yes, from any step that shows them. Once they choose **I am updating this asset today**, they
can edit the details, and Stratum Track saves what they change to the asset when they save
the step, with their name and the job number on the asset's **Changes** list. Stratum Track
does not update a detail behind a hold point that has not been signed. Only a manager can
open the **Assets** tab to add, edit, import or delete assets.

#### Is this the same as the equipment register?

No. The **Equipment Register**, under **Settings**, holds your own test instruments and their
calibration dates, and your technician picks the instrument they used on a step. The
**Assets** tab holds the machines and vessels you inspect or repair for your customers,
matched to each job by its serial number or the field you chose. One job can record both.

#### Do I need to ask you to switch this on?

No. The **Assets** tab is on every manager's menu today, and nothing reaches your jobs until
you build the register. If you would rather we set it up with you, send us your fleet list
and a few recent reports. We will choose the field that names your assets, load the details
your jobs never recorded, and check the register with you before your team relies on it.