A. Before You Start

Before you start using TEC-RFID Asset, it's a good idea to plan out how you want to structure your data--this will help prevent you from having to spend lots of time updating existing assets later on. No two setups are going to look alike--it depends entirely on what it is you're tracking and what you want to do with the data.

This is a broad-strokes summary: if you would like further detailed setup guidance, we'd be happy to help!

• What are your goals?
  • Knowing what success looks like to you heavily influences how you configure your tracking system.
  • Think about the sort of information you'd like to have at your fingertips when you scan an asset. What would you like to be able to see--or to update?
  • Do you want to export data to other locations or integrate with other apps?
• Who are your users going to be?
  • What sort of information will each of your staff members need?
  • What level of access will they require?
  • You'll want at least two people to have full admin access so you have a backup in case of staff absence.
• What locations will you need to list?
  • What areas are you going to want to stocktake? How specific do you want to get?
  • Aim for a good balance between specific and vague: a cabinet, for example, rather than a whole room or a single shelf.
  • You can nest locations inside each other (but note that stocktakes will not search sublocations).
  • If you have an existing warehouse labelling system, it'll likely make sense to carry that over.
  • Locations don’t have to be a single fixed physical location—they could be a van, for instance, or a tool bag.
• What categories / asset groups will you need?
  • Both are used to sort assets, but with key differences. You can use one, both, or neither. Assets can belong to both a group and a category.
  • Categories are usually going to be your first choice for asset organisation. You can use them to filter stocktakes, and they can be nested inside each other.
  • Asset groups are useful if you need to do additional filtering that doesn't fit into your category structure. They are not used for filtering stocktakes and they cannot be nested.
  • Example: an IT department tracking equipment might use asset groups for equipment type--monitors, laptops, phones, etc--and categories for the department they're assigned to--accounting, sales, marketing, etc. This would allow them to easily stocktake a single department's equipment while still separating the assets into their physical types for their records.
• What asset types / custom fields will you need?
  • You can create any kind of custom field you need: text, numbers, dropdown menus, etc. You can also customise which of the default system fields you would like to use.
  • An 'asset type' is essentially a template for different kinds of assets: you can assign different custom fields to different types, allowing you to store different data about different kinds of assets.

B. Set Up

You can create new Locations, Categories, Asset Groups, or Asset Types by selecting the relevant module in the sidebar and clicking + CREATE NEW.

If you have too many to easily add manually, an import function is available: just click IMPORT, download the template, make your edits in Excel or your preferred spreadsheet app, and upload your document.

i. Categories

(Under Assets in the sidebar.)

Creating and editing these is pretty straightforward: create your top level category first, then create your child category/ies and select the parent category from the dropdown.

ii. Asset Groups

(Under Assets in the sidebar.)

These only require a title and a description--unlike categories, there's no nesting.

iii. Asset Types

(Under Assets in the sidebar.)

These only require a title and a description--the custom field assignment is done in Settings.

C. Locations

Creating and editing these is pretty straightforward: create your top level location first, then create your child location(s) and select the parent location from the dropdown. You can also, optionally, record the location's address.

For details on how to manage fixed readers, click here.

D. Settings

i. Asset Fields

Here you can hide the default system asset fields you don't need, mark them as mandatory if necessary*, and restrict edit access to certain user roles. You can also click and drag the fields to reorder them.

ii. Custom Fields

• Field names have to contain at least one letter of the alphabet (so not just numbers).
• Available element types:
  • Text box (can be restricted to numbers, emails, URLs, or dates, or be any format)
  • Textarea (larger text box)
  • List box (dropdown menu)
  • Checkbox(es) (can select multiple options)
  • Radio buttons (can select only one option)
• For the field types with options (list boxes, checkboxes, radio buttons), fill in the options in the Field Value box, with one option on each line.
• Assign it to a specific asset type by choosing an option from the dropdown; or, if you want it to appear on all assets regardless of type, tick 'is global field'.
• To make the field mandatory*, tick 'is required field'.

* A note on mandatory fields: we suggest using these sparingly--only use them in situations where the user will always have the required information to fill in the field. Otherwise, you tend to end up with nonsense data.

iii. User Roles

Here you can create custom sets of user permissions--just use the toggles to specify exactly what users can do to each module, or select Enable All for full admin access. By default, your Asset system will have two standard permissions sets: one for admin access, and one for low-level users who can only manage assets, not setup. You can modify or add to these as required.

iv. Print Templates

The print templates feature is applicable for customers using RFID printing. There is the ability to create a default print template, that will apply to all assets that do not have an assigned template. You can also create multiple custom label templates for different types of labels. You will then need to select the custom label template that applies to the asset when creating or updating the asset.

In most instances, we assist our customers in setting up the print templates. Please contact us if you would like assistance in setting up RFID label printing.

The label templates are created in Zebra Printer Language (ZPL).

More information on ZPL is available here.

We create the templates using Zebra Designer 3, which is free to download here. This enables the user to create the label template using a drag-and-drop designer. Zebra Designer allows you to create a label template that includes text fields and barcodes or QR codes, which will have asset data inserted into them. We do not recommend printing logos or images using ZPL.

Once you have created your label template, click Print, select desired darkness and print speed, then select the checkbox next to 'Print to file'. This will prompt you to save the code as a file.

Save it, open it in a text editor, then copy and paste the code into the default template or custom template created under Settings > Print Templates on the left menu.

If you want to preview the label, select the dpi of the printer from the Print Density dropdown, then set the label size in inches and click preview.

The next step is to replace the sample data in the label template with asset fields in the system. For example, select 'Hello World!' in the code, delete the text, then press the Asset Name button below.

Repeat the same method for all fields you want printed on the label, either as text fields or as a barcode. In order to add RFID encoding to your template, at the end of the template but before ^XZ, add the below line:

^RFW,H^FD[EPCRFID]^FS

This will encode the tag with the EPC field in the system.

v. API Key

For API documentation, click here.

vi. Google Sheets Integration

If you're using the Google Sheets integration, documentation for this feature is available by clicking 'Show Guide' on the Google Sheet Config tab in settings. For guidance or access to this feature, please contact support.

vii. Microsoft Entra Integration

If you're using the Microsoft Entra integration, documentation for this feature is available by clicking 'Show Guide' on the MS Entra tab in settings. For guidance or access to this feature, please contact support.

C. Maintenance

Activity Reports

Under Reports > Activity Reports in the sidebar, you can export an Excel spreadsheet to view events (such as asset creation, movement, etc) for a specific date. You can filter by type, category, location, or group as desired, but note that you cannot currently filter by multiple categories/locations/etc, just one at a time.