Before we move into loading outside sources into a QlikView document, we will have a quick look at our definition of fixed asset management and how we might want to display that information.

Fixed asset management is the process of tracking fixed assets for the purposes of financial accounting, preventive maintenance, and theft deterrence.

The most commonly tracked assets are the following:

Displaying a report of an organization's fixed assets would probably best be accomplished with an Excel-type list, similar to the one you can see on the Investment Screener tab of the Asset Management QlikView document we opened earlier from the Web. Instead of Funds Available and the number, we will put summary group values at the top and have an asset-type grouping. Then we can filter on that and change the value and the information. As a suggestion, please review the following screenshot:

Figure 4-2: Fixed asset-tracking display example

Organizations face a significant challenge to track the location, quantity, condition, maintenance, and depreciation status of their fixed assets. A popular approach to tracking fixed assets uses serial-numbered asset tags with bar codes for easy and accurate reading. Periodically, the owner of the assets can take an inventory with a mobile bar code reader and then produce a report. Ideally, that report should be exportable in an electronic format that could then be imported into QlikView for reporting and budgeting replacement assets. The next section of this chapter will demonstrate what the script sections look like for several different sources that can be imported into a QlikView document.