Laboratory asset management is the register of a lab's instruments and equipment, kept by the lab manager who is also running the lab: what each instrument is, what it cost, which grant paid, where it sits, who is responsible for it, when its calibration or service is next due, and what it is worth on the books. A small research, testing or teaching lab has fewer assets than a school and more conditions on each of them, because the instruments are expensive, the funding is restricted and the accreditation asks for records. This page sets out what the lab's register holds, where the calibration record meets it, and what the grant and accreditation conditions require of it.
What the lab's register holds on every instrument
A number and a tag, the description and model, the serial number, the cost including installation, the acquisition date, the funding source and the federal share where a grant paid, the location down to the bench, the custodian, the status, and the next calibration or service due date. Instruments above the organisation's threshold also carry a useful life and a salvage value so the depreciation runs; the free fixed asset register worksheet on this site works one such line. The funding source is the field most lab registers lack and most audits ask for.
Where the calibration record meets the register
ISO/IEC 17025, the standard testing and calibration labs are accredited against, asks in clause 6.4 for records of each item of equipment, including its identification, manufacturer and serial number, location, calibration dates and results, the due date of the next calibration, and its maintenance history. The register holds the identity, the location and the next-due date; the calibration certificates and results are the calibration record, linked by the asset number. Keeping the two in one place, or linked by the number, is what lets the lab show that an instrument was in calibration on the date a result was issued.
The grant conditions: property records and a count every two years
Equipment bought with federal research funds carries the record-keeping of 2 CFR 200.313: description, serial number, source, title, acquisition date and cost, federal share, location, use and condition, and disposition, with a physical inventory reconciled to the records at least once every two years. A lab register that holds the funding source on every line can print the report by grant; one that does not reconstructs it before each audit.
Custody in a shared lab: the custodian is a person, the location is a bench
Instruments in a shared lab move between benches and rooms and are borrowed between groups. The register names a custodian, the person responsible, and a location, and every move is a row with a date. A shared instrument with no custodian is the one that is out of calibration when the auditor asks, and the register's job is to make that person visible before the auditor does.
Questions people ask about laboratory asset management
What is the difference between laboratory asset management and a maintenance system?
The register records what the lab owns, who is responsible for it, what it is worth and when the next calibration is due. A maintenance or calibration management system schedules and records the calibration itself. They are linked by the asset number and should not be one spreadsheet.
Does lab asset management software need to track funding sources?
Yes. Equipment bought with federal funds carries the record-keeping and inventory conditions of 2 CFR 200.313, and the audit asks for the report by grant. A register without a funding source on each line cannot produce it.
How often should a lab count its instruments?
At least once every two years for federally funded equipment, and annually in most labs because the accreditation body and the institution's own audit ask. With tags on every instrument, the count is a scan through every room.
What does ISO/IEC 17025 require of equipment records?
Clause 6.4 asks for records of each item's identity, manufacturer and serial, location, calibration dates and results, next calibration due date, and maintenance history. The register holds the identity and the due date and links to the rest.