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Key Concepts
AssetBuddy is built around a handful of core concepts. Understanding how they relate to each other will help you get the most out of the system.
Organisation
Your organisation is the top-level container. Everything — sites, assets, users, templates — belongs to a single organisation. Each user belongs to one organisation.
Sites
A site is a physical location your organisation manages (e.g. a warehouse, office, or construction site). Sites have an address, contact information, and can be active or deactivated.
Locations
Locations are subdivisions within a site — floors, zones, rooms, or areas. They help you organise where assets are physically located. Each location belongs to one site. Locations can be nested — for example, "Main Office" can have sub-locations like "By Exit Door" or "Reception".
Assets
An asset is any piece of equipment, plant, or infrastructure that needs to be tracked and inspected. Assets belong to a site and optionally to a location within that site. Each asset has:
- A category and subcategory (e.g. Lifting Equipment → Forklift Truck)
- A unique code generated automatically from the category prefix
- A status (In Service, Restricted, Out of Service, or Disposed)
- A criticality rating (Critical, High, Medium, Low)
Asset Categories
Categories use a two-level hierarchy to group assets. Parent categories represent broad equipment types (e.g. Lifting Equipment, Fire Safety), while subcategories represent specific equipment (e.g. Forklift Truck, Fire Extinguisher). Each parent category has a code prefix (e.g. LIFT, FS) used to generate unique asset codes, a default criticality level, and a reference to the relevant health and safety regulation (e.g. LOLER 1998, RRO 2005). Check templates and authorities operate at the parent or subcategory level.
Check Templates
A check template is a reusable inspection form. It defines:
- The questions (items) to be answered during an inspection
- The input type for each question (Pass/Fail, Yes/No, Number, Select, Text, Photo)
- Fail logic — what constitutes a failure
- A scoring model (Pass/Fail, Rated, or Checklist)
- A frequency rule for automatic scheduling (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, or pre-use)
- Whether to automatically create a defect when a check fails
AssetBuddy provides system default templates that you can copy and customise for your needs.
Check Instances
A check instance is a single occurrence of a check being performed on an asset. When someone performs an inspection, they create responses against a check instance. Each instance records:
- When it was due and when it was completed
- Who performed it
- The overall result (Pass, Fail, Partial, Not Completed)
- Individual responses to each template question
Defects
A defect is a problem found on an asset — either reported manually or created automatically from a failed check. Defects follow a workflow from discovery through to verified closure:
- Severity — Critical, High, Medium, Low
- Status — Open → In Progress → Awaiting Parts → Awaiting Verification → Closed
- Assignment — who is responsible for the repair
- Cost tracking — parts and labour costs
Documents
Documents are files attached to assets — certificates, warranties, manuals, insurance, reports, and photos. Documents with an expiry date are monitored automatically, and warnings are sent before they expire.
How it all fits together
Organisation
├── Sites
│ ├── Locations (can be nested)
│ └── Assets
│ ├── Check Instances (from Check Templates)
│ ├── Defects
│ └── Documents
├── Asset Categories
├── Check Templates
└── Users (with Roles)- You create sites and locations to represent your physical spaces
- You add assets to sites, categorised by type
- You configure check templates with questions and scheduling rules
- AssetBuddy generates scheduled checks that users perform
- Failed checks can automatically create defects
- Defects are assigned, repaired, verified, and closed
- Documents track certificates and warranties with expiry alerts
- Dashboards and reports give you a compliance overview