From spreadsheet to asset register in 30 days: a practical plan

Most asset spreadsheets start accurate and drift: a laptop is swapped, a monitor moves desks, a leaver keeps a phone. The fix is not a better spreadsheet but a register where every change is recorded as it happens. Here is a plan we recommend for moving to Brillienta Asset Management.

Week 1 — Set up and import

• Install the app on a SharePoint site and define asset types, locations and statuses.
• Save your spreadsheet as CSV and import it. The import validates everything first, updates existing assets by tag or serial, and gives you an error report to fix. Don't aim for perfection — the first audit will tidy the rest.
• If you use Intune, switch on device sync so managed devices and their compliance appear next to each asset.

Week 2 — Label everything

Print labels for a whole selection at once: A4 sheets with 21 labels, US Letter with 30, or a label-printer format. Each label carries a code that opens the asset in the app: QR codes, and Code 128 barcodes — the standard for asset tags — which the app can also read with a phone camera.

Week 3 — Let people confirm what they hold

Every employee gets a portal with a “Waiting for you” card. Ask people to confirm the equipment assigned to them, report problems and request returns or replacements. Each confirmation fixes a line of your old spreadsheet.

Week 4 — Run the first floor audit

Create an audit campaign for a location, walk the floor and scan each label. A scan records the asset as verified, a wrong location is corrected automatically, and anything left can be recorded as missing in one step.

After day 30

Check-out, transfer and check-in now record custody history automatically, loans carry due-back dates, and each asset type's audit interval schedules the next audit. Contracts, maintenance and depreciation can follow when you are ready.