Looking for information on assets or depreciation?
If you read and recall the email I sent on 10/23/09 about using EFS to get asset information, then read no further. This is that information again. I want it to be in the blog, so it is archived for future reference.
There are many reports in EFS (over 70, I'm told) to get information on
assets and depreciation, but much of the information can be found in
the following pages. Go to Asset Management,
Search for an Asset. If you know the Asset ID, Tag Number, etc, you
can search by the criteria on this screen, but often I see depreciation
on a string and I need to know more about what is causing it. For that
purpose, click on the link in the middle of the screen labeled
"Chartfield Search Criteria" and input the elements of the string you
want to search on. You could, for example, only put DeptID and then it
will return all the assets coded to that DeptID. After you input the
CFs you want to search on, click OK then click on the Search button on
the main screen. That will return a list of assets, if there are any.
From here, there is a lot of information. First, there are some tabs
that you can click on to see whatever information is in the system
about the cost, custodian, and acquisition. For assets that converted
to EFS, much of this information will be blank. If you are
experimenting with this, you will find it most informative from here if
you pick an asset that is still being depreciated.
To get more details, click the button next to the asset you are
interested in and click the "Drill-Down To:" dropdown box in the middle
of the screen. I find the Asset Depreciation screen to be useful. If
you select that and click Go, you'll get a new screen in EFS that will
tell you what type of depreciation is being used (e.g. straight line),
click on the Depreciation tab and you'll see the cost, the accumulated
depreciation and the net book value. For assets fully depreciated
prior to conversion, you may just see one entry in year 2008 that fully
depreciates the asset. For assets still being depreciated, you'll see
more information.
From here, you can click on Depr Summary by Cost Type on the left
menu. On the book detail page you'll see the Life and Service Date,
and on the Depreciation tab you can see the period by period
depreciation expense and accumulated depreciation. Again, you'll only
see really useful information here if the asset has been depreciating in
EFS.
Finally, you can click on Print an Asset on the left menu (this is also
an option in the dropdown box mentioned above) and see most of the
relevant information (Tag, ID, location, custodian, old asset ID,
depreciation info, service date, useful life, remaining value, CF
string, cost, etc.) all on one screen that is formatted to print very
nicely on one page.
There were many tabs and screens that I didn't mention and won't
because I've gone on long enough. I hope you found this useful and if
you have any questions, please let me know. DJP
