Most organizations use a CMMS such as FMX to track equipment—as well as inventory and resources—when running their day-to-day operations. However, many people still find it challenging to decipher between the three.
Equipment
Equipment, or what some might call assets, are items that an organization would like to track carefully. They are items that help an organization carry out daily tasks that maintain their facilities, as well as produce income. Equipment items can comprise water heaters, air conditioning units, refrigerators, tractors, vehicles, and much more.
Inventory
Inventory includes items that are used once or last only a short amount of time; these can also be referred to as consumables. These items do not need to be tracked closely, like equipment, but knowing the quantity on hand is valuable to an organization so that they can be reordered when necessary. Examples of inventory items include office supplies such as paper and pens, perishables of any kind, and items that are used only once, such as bandages or disposable air filters. Reach out to your Customer Success Manager to learn more about how you can use FMX to track your inventory and save some money.
Resources
Often confused with equipment, resources differ in that they are typically items or locations inside or outside of an organization's building(s). They can be scheduled, as well as serve as a housing unit for particular equipment items. For example, a resource can be the conference room on the first floor (also a resource) of a building within an organization. This conference room is a resource and a location that can be scheduled for meetings, and the chairs within this room are also resources (however, not a location) that can also be scheduled for use. Other examples of resources include tables, storage rooms, operating rooms, offices, classrooms, laptop carts, projectors, courtyards, gymnasiums, and many more.
Clarifying different resources within an organization's facilities helps provide more details when creating schedule requests, maintenance requests, transportation pick up locations, as well as equipment item locations.
Still unsure? No problem! Contact our Support Team at support@gofmx.com, and we would be happy to assist you!