Custom assets are here! here’s how you can benefit from this new Atera feature

Get creative about your asset management and monitoring with Atera’s brand-new custom assets functionality. This article will explain what custom assets are, and how they work to help manage your IT environment.

Asset types vs. asset fields: what do I need to know?

Within the Atera platform, you are now able to create both Asset Types and Asset Fields.

Assets Types will be an overall category for a certain kind of asset, for example, “Monitors”, “Printers” or “Security cameras”. For admin users on Growth plans, 5 Asset Types can be created, while on Power you can choose up to 20.

Once you’ve created your Asset Types, you can use Asset Fields to save more information about each asset. There are default fields, as well as custom fields.

Default fields are a name for each asset (For example, Security Camera Zone C, or Alex’s Printer), a description of the asset, an associated customer, a defined contact to who the asset belongs to, and the folder in which the specific asset will be placed. These need to be filled in, and can’t be edited.

On top of the default fields, you can also add your own custom fields. You might add the purchase date for the asset so that you can stay on top of replacements or maintenance, or you could add a security level to better manage unmonitored devices.

Top tip: Custom Fields can be used across all of your Asset Types, so once you’ve entered them once, look for them in the dropdown! Remember, when you edit a custom asset field, this will be reflected across all of your assets with that field, and you’ll need to edit directly from the Host Asset Type — where the custom field was originally created.

How can custom assets help my IT business?

Custom Assets can be used for any kind of asset, whether it’s digital or otherwise. The main goal is to help businesses to keep track of all of their assets, no matter whether they are monitored by an Atera agent or otherwise.

For example, you can create an Asset Type called Office Furniture, and add fields that include chairs, desks, or even stationery. Assign this to a customer and a contact, and you’ll be able to keep track if assets are moved, broken, or need replacing. This is especially useful for MSPs who offer an office-as-a-service kind of solution, where even non-digital assets are included in a monthly subscription or package.

For digital products, you might find that you want to stay on top of certain assets which are not monitored by an agent, for example, software applications. By including a specific app as a Custom Asset, when you want to offer the functionality across the business, you know exactly which contact to speak with, and where to find the information you need.

Another example could be if your customer has borrowed or leased physical items. Create a Custom Type for Leased or On Loan items, and then include the items inside this type, naming them as necessary. You can use custom fields to include a renewal date, making sure that you stay on top of costs and commitments.

Give custom assets a try!

The goal of Custom Assets is to help IT pros get deeper on their asset management, expanding from monitored assets, to keeping track of critical information about non-monitored assets, too.

Give it a whirl inside the Atera platform now, and let us know what you think!

Need a walkthrough of how Custom Assets works inside Atera? Check out the full Knowledge Base article here.