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Equipment | General

In the equipment module you keep track of the capital goods you manage yourself: machines, tools, vehicles ... You manage every device as a separate piece of equipment, with its own serial number, brand, location and status. That way you always know where a device is, who is using it, on which project it is being deployed and whether its inspection is still valid. The equipment module is included in all licences: Starter, Go and Pro.

Equipment consists of capital goods. An item is consumed or invoiced once as a line. Equipment carries permanent information that is specific to that one device, together with a complete history.

Navigate quickly to:

the overview of your equipment
creating a new piece of equipment
the equipment file and its fields
the various tabs
moving and lending equipment
registering equipment hours
the action buttons
the difference between equipment and installations

You can find answers to frequently asked questions in the equipment FAQ.

Overview screen

You can adjust the overview of your equipment via the settings: which columns you want, in which order, which quick filters? In addition, every user can create their own overviews and personalise them. Via the overview screen you can make bulk changes to several pieces of equipment at once.

With the search bar you search on, among other things, the name, serial number, brand, status, the linked item, the stock location, the location, the project, the customer, the supplier and the employee who uses the equipment.

Views

Besides the table view, the equipment overview has two more views:

Kanban: your equipment as cards, in a column per status.
Map: your equipment on a map, based on the address of the equipment.

Creating a new piece of equipment

You always create a new piece of equipment from a template. A template is an example piece of equipment in which certain fields are already filled in. You create templates in the settings. You start a new piece of equipment in several ways:

from the overview of your equipment, via the Add (+) action button. If you have several templates, you choose one.
from an item of the Equipment type, via the plus sign next to 'Equipment' in the Overview block. The item is then linked straight away.
from a project or a customer, via the plus sign next to 'Equipment' in the Overview block. Robaws fills in the project, the customer and the site address or the customer address.
from the overview via the Duplicate action button, based on an existing piece of equipment. The serial number, the certificates and the files are not copied.

Don't see the Add action button in the overview? Then no template exists yet. First create one in the settings.

In addition, equipment is also created automatically. If you book a stock change with an item of the Equipment type and a serial number, Robaws creates the equipment if it does not exist yet. Do you have a list of equipment? Then you can import it.

The equipment file

The equipment file consists of the Material info, Use details, Address and Overview blocks. Below them you find the tabs.

Material info

Here you record the fixed characteristics of the equipment.

Field	Explanation
Name	The name of the equipment.
Serialnumber	The serial number of the equipment. It is unique: two pieces of equipment cannot have the same serial number. You change it via the pencil next to the field. The serial number is also in the barcode or QR code of the equipment.
Brand	The brand of the equipment.
Stock location	Where the equipment is at this moment. Robaws adjusts this automatically when you move the equipment.
Item	The item of the Equipment type that belongs to this equipment. That way you can put the equipment on a quotation, order or invoice.
Supplier	The supplier from whom you purchased the equipment.
Status	The status of the equipment, for smooth follow-up in the overview. You create your statuses in the settings.
Company	(visible if you have several companies) The company the equipment belongs to.
Planning group	(visible with permissions on the dayplanning) Group your equipment in the dayplanning.

If you work with extra fields, those appear at the bottom of this block.

Use details

Here you note who is using the equipment at this moment.

Field	Explanation
Employee	The employee who is using the equipment at this moment.
Subcontractor	The subcontractor who is using the equipment at this moment.
At project	The project on which the equipment is being deployed at this moment.
Customer	The customer for whom the equipment is being used at this moment.
Endcustomer	The end customer for whom the equipment is being used at this moment.

If you choose a project, Robaws fills in the customer and the end customer of that project. Conversely, a filled-in customer and end customer limit your choice to the projects of those two.

If you move the equipment with a stock change, Robaws adjusts these fields automatically.

Address

The address where the equipment is located, with the Location field for a free description, for example 'warehouse, rack 3'. Based on this address Robaws shows the equipment on the map. If you move the equipment to a project, the site address of that project becomes the address of the equipment.

Overview

Here you see at a glance where the equipment is used: in the Dayplanning, in Orders, Subscriptions, Work orders, Invoices, Supply orders, Incoming invoices and Stockchanges, with a chart alongside. Click on a module to view the linked documents. Via the plus sign you schedule the equipment straight away in the dayplanning, or you make an order with this equipment.

Tabs

History

The history shows the stock changes of this equipment: when it was moved from which location to which location, for which project and by which employee.

Documents

Here you add files that belong to this equipment, for example the manual or the incoming invoice.

Remarks

You use remarks to communicate internally about this equipment and as a reminder.

Tasks

As in all modules, you can also create a task from the equipment, for example to follow up a maintenance.

Planning

All jobs from the dayplanning on which this equipment is scheduled. From here you also schedule the equipment straight away.

Certificates

If the equipment has to be inspected or maintained regularly, you keep the inspection certificate here digitally. Click Add, fill in the Name, the Date and the Due date, and add the file. For example: a truck is inspected and approved. You keep the inspection certificate with the certificates, with the date of the next inspection as the due date.

Robaws does not send a notification when a certificate expires. Follow up your due dates via the Excel action button in the overview: that export contains a tab per certificate, with the due date per piece of equipment.

Moving and lending equipment

Are you handing a device to an employee, or taking it to a site? Then register that with a stock change. As soon as you book it, Robaws automatically adjusts the Stock location, the Use details and the address of the equipment. The move also appears in the History tab. The stock changes module is included in the Pro licence.

Do you only want to know when a device is deployed where? Then schedule it in the dayplanning. You see those jobs in the Planning tab.

Registering equipment hours

Do you want to keep track of how many hours a machine runs, for example to charge those hours on? Then work with an item of the Hour code - material type. Fill in that hour code on the item of your equipment. Just as an hour code for employees registers the hours worked, an hour code for equipment registers the running hours of your machines. If you choose the equipment on a line or in the Material hours block of a work order, Robaws fills in that hour code itself. Which item type to choose when, you can read in Which item type do I choose for my materials, hours and machines?

Action buttons

In the overview screen

For most action buttons in the overview, you first tick the equipment on the left on which you want to perform the action.

Action button	Explanation
Add	Create a new piece of equipment based on a template, see Creating a new piece of equipment.
Duplicate	Make a new piece of equipment based on the selected equipment. To do so, select exactly one piece of equipment.
Excel	Export the equipment from the overview to Excel, with an extra tab per certificate.
Delete, Archive, Lock	See the explanation in the table below.

On the equipment file

At the top of the equipment file there is a row of action buttons. The name of an action button appears as soon as you hover over it with your mouse.

Action button	Explanation
E-mail	Send an e-mail from the equipment with an email template.
Default documents	Draw up a default document from the equipment, for example a loan form.
Barcode	Make a PDF with the name of the equipment and the QR code or barcode of the serial number, to stick on the device. Whether it becomes a QR code or a barcode is something you choose in the general settings. See also Working with barcodes.
Delete	The equipment disappears from the overviews. Use this for equipment that was created by mistake. More explanation in Archiving and deleting.
Archive	The equipment disappears from the overviews, but stays linked to the work orders, stock changes, ... Use this for equipment you no longer have. More explanation in Archiving and deleting.
Lock	The equipment can no longer be changed. More explanation in Locking documents.
Audit log	(visible for administrators) The history of retrieving and saving the equipment.

Don't see Delete, Archive or Lock? Then your user role does not have the right to edit or delete equipment. Archived and deleted equipment can be found again via the advanced filters in the overview.

Equipment or installation?

Robaws has two modules that resemble each other, but have a different purpose:

The equipment module is used to manage your own capital goods: machines, tools, vehicles ...
The installations module is used to record what you install at the customer, for example an air conditioner, and on which you then schedule maintenance.

They are two separate modules, each with its own overview and its own settings. You can read more about installations in Installations | General.

Updated on: 20/10/2026

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