Property Inventory

UO currently has about 6,500 capital assets required to be inventoried biennially by Property Control. This means that a department that possesses capital assets will meet with us in person once every two years, not including tagging new equipment, which happens on a rolling basis as equipment is purchased.

It is the duty of the department that possesses the assets to safeguard them and maintain an up-to-date list of their whereabouts. If an asset is not located on an inventory, or during an audit, then it falls on the department and equipment manager to take responsibility to locate the asset or sign it off as missing/lost. The inventory process is not just a university procedure, but a requirement of all universities that receive federal funding.

Procedure

When it is a department's year for inventory: 

1. A Property Control employee will email the appropriate department contact with a list of the capital assets required for inventory for their unit, and a request to make an appointment to complete the inventory observation in the coming month. 
2. The contact will evaluate the list, and notify us in a timely manner if they, or someone else in the department, will be able to lead the inventory. Ideally, the same department person will lead the inventory each cycle.
3. The contact should notify their own faculty or staff of the appointment and perform a preliminary inventory. Any discrepancies with the provided list should be reported back to Property Control before the official inventory. 
4. On the official inventory, Property Control will follow departmental staff to physically verify every asset is present in its reported location. Any discrepancies will be noted. For departments with a significant number of assets, this could take more than one appointment. 
5. Any assets that are out on loan or far-afield are to be signed off on a Letter of Verification. We may request a current photo of the tag or serial number for something like a computer kept at home. 
6. Any assets not found will be the department's responsibility to investigate. Once they are located, a follow-up inventory appointment should be scheduled with Property Control. 
7. If an asset is missing or lost it may be recorded on a Certification of Asset Disposal. This form requires a narrative summary, any supporting documentation, and a department head signature. 
8. Once all assets have been accounted for, an inventory evaluation report with an updated list of assets and locations will be sent to the department contact and department head. This will be the basis for the department to track assets in the time between inventories. 

Expectations

It is our commitment to make the inventory process as quick, accurate, and non-invasive as possible. This means we reach out in advance to schedule, we respond quickly and courteously to emails, we are thorough on our searches, and meticulous with our record-keeping. We do not interfere with equipment operations, and do our best not to disturb experiments, classes, or special events. 

In turn, we hope that our department contacts do not delay with their response to our requests, keep an accurate record of assets in the time between inventories, and come prepared to inventory appointments by doing a preliminary check beforehand. The locations of assets are the responsibility of the departments to track, and to investigate if not found. 

Storeroom Inventories

As part of year-end procedures, all university storerooms must perform an itemized count. A member of Property Control will be in contact with all storeroom managers in May or June to schedule a time to observe inventories and ask questions about counting and valuation processes used. A final copy of the inventory is to be sent to Property Control by close of fiscal period 14.

Collections

Capital assets held in library or museum collections are exempt from the Property Control inventory process, and instead follow their own strict industry standards.

Updating Locations

Accurate location data for every asset is integral to our system. Equipment managers must notify Property Control of relocated capital equipment. You may email us with the asset numbers and locations or fill out an Asset Maintenance Form and submit it via email or campus mail it to Property Control. Relocations include but are not limited to:

• Acquiring a capital asset off the surplus website
• A move or transfer from one department to another department
• A long-term move from one location (building or room) to another
• A move off-campus for University business
• A lab or unit moving under the umbrella of one department to another
• Surge or temporary construction storage

When a transfer of equipment between departments includes financial compensation, Property Control can assist departments with the completion of a journal voucher (JV) in Banner.

Any IT equipment with a storage device containing medium to high-risk data must be sanitized before transfer should follow Storage Sanitization Procedures.

What was referred to as "high risk" minor equipment (tag numbers starting with "HR") is no longer tracked by Property Control and you do not need to notify us of location changes. If you wish to dispose of minor electronic equipment, please use a Property Disposition Request to send it to e-waste.

Loans

If you wish to loan UO property to a non-UO entity, you must contact Purchasing and Contracting Services prior to initiating the loan. This is done by completing an intake in the UO Purchasing Portal as a contract for a Property Loan Agreement. Departments will be asked to sign a Letter of Verification for any capital assets loaned out at the time of inventory.

Property Check-Out

Any university property temporarily checked out for field research, home use, or by students, are to be recorded on a Property Check-Out form with your department office. Property Control does not manage this, but does have some templates available via the Property Check-Out Form or the online version. Departments will be asked to sign a Letter of Verification for any capital assets checked out at the time of inventory. In the event of an audit, departments are responsible for providing accurate documentation (user and location) for equipment checked-out.

Note: Any equipment taken out of the country is subject to export controls. You can find more information on this from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation.

Upgrades/Repairs

An upgrade to an asset that would increase the life or functionality and should be treated as an attachment. Attachments are depreciated and disposed with the parent asset. The capitalization threshold does not apply and use the corresponding capital asset account code. Please state in FOATEXT which capital asset number (000XXXXXX) the attachment adds value to.

Parts related to maintenance and repairs are not attachments and are to be expensed.

Replacement Asset Tags

You may request a replacement asset tag at any time if one has fallen off or been removed from your equipment. We can deliver new ones in person, by campus mail, or via USPS. Please place tags in a clearly visible location on the main body of the asset.

If an asset has been replaced or exchanged, please notify us and we will set up a tagging appointment.

Banner Database

If at any time you wish to look up specific information about an asset, please feel free to contact Property Control. If you have Banner FIS access, you may query by asset number on FFIMAST or reverse lookup on FWIFLST. Please see more information on how to do this on the Resources page.

Identifying Capital Assets

Capital assets are primarily identified by their UO property tag, which will usually have a 9-digit number starting with "000".

If there is no tag, the next best way is to match serial number(s) to what we have in the Banner record via FWIFLST. Barring either of those identifiers, please work with Property Control to identify the asset you are looking for. We have a photograph on file for almost every asset we tag.

Be aware that some like CAS and IS track assets with other tags, such as ones with numbers beginning with "HR". Those tags are administered and tracked separately from Property Control. If no group related to your department tracks equipment with HR tags, then they are probably obsolete tags formerly issued by Property Control and you may remove them to reduce confusion with capital asset tags. Any old handwritten tags will have to be assessed case-by-case by looking up the number in the fixed asset system, as some are no longer tracked equipment.

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