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Introduction

AssetAtlas is the asset registry for a project, with a position attached to every record. Before anyone adds the first asset, two things have to exist outside AssetAtlas: what an asset is (set in Team Settings) and where it can go (set in the project Skeleton). This article covers that setup and the first bulk import.

Where AssetAtlas sits

AssetAtlas is where two separate setups meet. One defines what an asset is, the other defines where it can go, and neither is configured inside AssetAtlas itself. This article follows the diagram in order.

What an asset is, and where it can go, feeding the three steps.

Before you start

Two setups happen outside AssetAtlas, and both have to exist before the first asset is created. Do them in this order.

Team Settings: what an asset is

Three objects, created at team level and shared across every project. They chain together, and the order matters because each one references the one before it.

1. Status Set - the statuses an asset can move through. Created under Templates > Status Sets.

• Statuses sit in three stage groups: Initiation Stage, Execution Stage and Finalization Stage.
• The order set here is the order the dropdown shows.
• Those stage groups are also what the asset table's Status filter groups by.

Status Set editor, with the statuses grouped under the three stages.

2. Form Template - the property fields an asset carries. Created under Templates > Forms, and held in a shared pool.

• Whatever fields are defined here are what appears on an asset's Properties tab.
• The Status Set attaches here, to the Form, not directly to the category. The boxed line in the Live Preview names which Status Set this Form is using.

Form Template editor. The Status Set the form carries is marked.

3. Asset Category - the classification tree. Created under Asset Categories.

• Each Asset Category Type holds one tree; the types are listed on the left.
• A category references one Form Template, and its child categories inherit it.
• The category then shows the result as its Effective Status Set.

Asset Categories in Team Settings: the type list, the tree, and the Form Template field on the Category Properties panel.

What the chain means in practice:

• An asset takes its statuses and its property fields from its category, never from the project. Two assets in different categories can offer different statuses and different fields.
• Status options come from the Status-Set-determining Form Template: the category's own template if it has one, otherwise the root category's own. A category resolves to a set of templates, and only one of them supplies the Status Set.
• Property fields are the category's effective set: its own template plus every ancestor's, cumulative to the root. They render one section per category layer, ancestor first. The same template used on two layers is two sections with separate answers, and two fields with the same name is a legal render, not a bug.
• An empty option list never blocks anything. (Not set) is always offered, so a category with no statuses is guidance text rather than a locked dialog.

For editing the category tree, icons and Form Template assignments, see Team Settings: Asset Categories.

Project setup: where an asset can go

Built in the project Skeleton, once per project.

The built world.

• The Site - exactly one per project, fixed, and not addable.
• Buildings, each holding Levels, each holding Work Areas.
• Site and Building are peers under the project. Site is not the parent of Building, and an asset attaches to one or the other, never both.

The names matter more than they look.

• A CSV import matches Building, Level and Work Area by name, not by ID.
• Whatever is typed in the Skeleton is exactly what an import file has to carry. LEVEL_01 and Level 1 are two different levels as far as the import is concerned.
• Settle the naming before anyone builds an import file. See Import a CSV file for what a mismatch looks like.

Captures and plans.

• The 3D viewer needs a SiteView capture for the selected Level.
• The 2D map needs a Reference Plan for that Level.
• With no Level selected, the viewer reads Select a Level to load the viewer.

Pick the Asset Category Type

On a project with no Asset Category Type configured, AssetAtlas opens on a selection screen instead of the asset table. Select a type from the options configured in Team Settings and you land on the main page. Later visits skip the screen.

Once at least one asset exists under an Asset Category Type, the selector in the header becomes read-only and shows a lock icon. Hovering it explains why: Delete all assets to change Category Type. Changing the type then means deleting every asset under it first.

The Asset Category Type selector in the header, before any asset exists.

Import assets

Import a CSV file

CSV import is a four-step wizard: Import CSV > Assign Assets > Map Properties > Review Properties.

Step 1, upload the file.

Step 2, map CSV columns onto the levels of the category hierarchy.

Step 3, map CSV columns onto the asset fields.

Step 4, the validation summary before apply.

Columns are Name, Description, Category, Status, Building, Level, Work Area, and optionally Coordinate X, Y and Z.

The three things that trip people up.

• Column count is checked at upload. The file must carry at least as many columns as the project's Asset Category Type is deep. A thinner file is rejected at step 1 and cannot reach step 2: CSV requires at least {N} columns, but only {found} found.
• File size. The upload step caps the file at 1 MB, which arrives sooner than customers expect on a several-thousand-row inventory. Split large inventories across files.
• Site and Building are separate columns in CSV, even though the interface merges them. A row carries one or the other, never both, and the import writes them into the merged field.

Two kinds of error, handled differently.

• Mapping problems at Map Properties block progress to Review Properties.
• Row-level validation problems at Review Properties do not. Invalid rows are excluded, the summary counts the valid ones, and you can go back and fix the file or proceed with what is valid.

What an empty cell becomes. An empty value, and a value that matches nothing, both import as (Not set). An unmapped Building column gives (Not set) and never Site. X, Y and Z are one unit: a supplied coordinate overrides the location columns, and the count of rows that happened to is reported at Review.

To add or edit assets one at a time afterwards, see Add one asset.

Setup checklist

Work through this on a demo project.

1. In Team Settings > Templates, confirm the Status Sets and Forms the categories will reference.
2. In Team Settings > Asset Categories, confirm an Asset Category Type with a category structure, or import one from CSV.
3. In the project Skeleton, confirm the Site exists and add the Buildings, Levels and Work Areas the assets will reference.
4. Confirm a SiteView capture and a Reference Plan exist for at least one Level.
5. Open Project > Apps > AssetAtlas and select the Asset Category Type.
6. Import a small CSV file and read the validation summary.

Next: try the registry in AssetAtlas.