SM Space · Asset & Equipment Management
Equipment Management Software for Assets and Fleets
SM Space Equipment is the equipment management software inside the SM Space ERP system. It tracks each machine as its own asset — what it cost, where it is, who is answerable for it, what condition it is in and when it is next due for service. It books machines out, moves them between sites, and plans the maintenance that keeps them running.
Every machine, its whole history, and the checks that stop the wrong one leaving the yard.
Last updated: September 2026
One machine, everything about it
EQ-0142 · Excavator, 5t
- Bought $86,000 March 2023
- Hours 2,418 meter, validated
- Last service 14 Aug WO-000482
- Condition Good set by the last inspection
Where it is On hire · Northgate Limited back 14 October
one record, not a spreadsheet and a folder and somebody’s memory
Drawn, then done
the transfer is the picture
Depot
- EQ-0142
- EQ-0155
- EQ-0163
Site B
- EQ-0161
- EQ-0170
- StagedTRF-000308checked · approved by the site manager
executed — EQ-0142 is at Site B
Wrong machine. CMP-000044 reverses it — and TRF-000308 stays on the record.
a finished move is corrected, never edited
What runs out first
EQ-0142 · compliance profile
- Lifting certificate 21 Sep in 11 days
- Operator licence 04 Nov in 55 days
- Insurance 02 Sep expired
Check-out refused — “that identifier belongs to EQ-0155, not to this machine.”
the document is on the row, not in a filing cabinet
Out of service, and costed
WO-000482 · from the 250-hour plan
- MachineUnder maintenanceheld — nobody can book it out
- Parts$160.00out of stock, through inventory
- Labour$520.00approved time × rate
On the machine $680.00 worked out on the server — not whatever was typed in the box
back into service, and the plan’s next due date rolls forward
Two readings, a month apart
RNT-000117 · Northgate Limited
- Dispatch14 Sep · 2,418 hread by the driver who took it
- Return14 Oct · 2,602 hread by the fitter who took it back
Between them 184 hours recorded at the time, by name, at both ends
not a number argued about a month later
Above: one machine’s cost, hours, service date and current status on a single record; a machine dragged between sites on a canvas, staged, approved and executed — then corrected by a reversing entry that leaves the original in place; certificates listed by whichever runs out first; a work order that holds the machine out of service and takes its parts from stock; and a hire recorded against the meter readings taken at dispatch and return.
What you can do
- Track each machine as its own asset, with its own number — not as a quantity in a stock figure
- Give a category its own fields, so a vehicle asks for different details than a generator
- Give a machine as many identifiers as it has — serial number, asset tag, barcode, QR code, RFID — with the types defined by you
- Assign a machine to a person, a department or a job, and know who is answerable for it
- Check a machine out and back in, with the meter reading and the condition recorded at both ends
- Move a machine between sites, and see it as in transit until somebody receives it
- Reserve a machine for a date range, and be refused when it is already spoken for
- Ask whether a machine is free between two dates, and get an answer that reads maintenance holds, hires, transfers and reservations
- Plan maintenance, raise work orders, and take the spare parts straight out of inventory
- Run inspections from a checklist, where a failed safety item stops the machine being signed back into service
- Record certificates, licences, insurance and inspections against the asset, each with its expiry date
- Correct a mistake with a reversing entry — the original stays on the record
01
A Visual Workspace for Moving Equipment
There is a workspace where the transaction is a picture. Your sites are zones on a canvas, your machines are nodes in them, and you move one by dragging it to where it is going.
The drawing is not a drawing. Dropping EQ-0142 into Site B stages a real transfer — TRF-000308 — checks it against the same rules a typed form would face, sends it to the site manager if your setup asks for that, and then executes it through the same service the form would have called.
A finished move is never edited. If the wrong machine went, you post a correction, CMP-000044, that reverses it, and both entries stay visible. Same when somebody with the authority overrides a rule: the rule that fired, the reason they gave and the time they gave it are kept beside the row, not written over it.
Depot
- EQ-0142 dragging
- EQ-0155
- EQ-0163
Site B
- EQ-0161
- EQ-0170
- StagedTRF-000308a real transfer, not a drawing
- Checkedpassessame rules as the typed form
- Approvalsite managerbecause your setup asks for it
- ExecutedEQ-0142 is at Site Bthrough the same service the form calls
What most systems do
Open TRF-000308. Change the machine. Save.
gone nothing now says the wrong one ever moved
What this does
Post CMP-000044, which reverses TRF-000308.
both kept the move and its correction, side by side
An override is kept the same way. The rule that fired, the reason given and the time it was given sit beside the row — not written over it.
02
Equipment Compliance and Certificate Tracking
Each category of equipment declares what it has to hold to be legal to operate: inspections, certificates, operator licences, insurance. Each machine carries a profile of which of those apply to it, the evidence it holds them, and the date each one runs out.
So the crane’s lifting certificate, its operator licence and its insurance are three rows on one screen with three dates, sorted by whichever runs out first — not a folder in a filing cabinet and a date somebody meant to diarise. The certificate itself is attached to the row, along with its renewal and any restriction placed on the machine.
The checks that do refuse work sit on the machine’s movements. A check-out will not go through without what your policy demands — the identifier scanned, the condition recorded, the meter read — and a barcode belonging to a different machine is refused in those words.
sorted by whichever runs out first
| What it must hold | Issued by | Good until | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lifting certificate | Thoroughlift Ltd | 21 Sep 2026 | in 11 days |
| Operator licence | Issued in-house | 04 Nov 2026 | in 55 days |
| Insurance | Marchmont Brokers | 02 Sep 2026 | expired |
| Annual inspection | Internal, Form E4 | 17 Feb 2027 | in 160 days |
The certificate itself is on the row — LIFT-2025-8841.pdf, with its renewal, any waiver and any restriction recorded against the same profile.
The check that does refuse work
refused “That identifier belongs to EQ-0155, not to this machine.”
refused “A meter reading is required before this machine can be checked out.”
Which of those a check-out demands is your setting, not ours — the identifier scan, the issue condition, the meter reading and an accepted handover are each switched on or off per category.
03
Asset Lifecycle in Equipment Management Software
The same record carries the whole life of the machine. What it cost and who supplied it. The hours it has run. Every inspection and the condition it was left in. Every work order and what that work cost. Where it is now and who has it. And at the end, the disposal and what you got for it.
Most businesses this size keep four of those in four places — a spreadsheet for the fleet, a folder for the certificates, the accountant’s file for the asset values, and somebody’s memory for the rest. The point of one record is not tidiness. It is that “should we keep this machine?” has an answer on one screen: $86,000 in March 2023, 2,418 hours, and $4,880 of repairs and servicing since.
It is a fixed asset register that knows what the machine has actually been doing, rather than a list of costs and dates kept beside one.
- Bought$86,000March 2023
- Hours run2,418meter, validated
- Where it isSite Bon hire
- ConditionGoodset by the last inspection
- Mar 2023 Bought Vendor: Hallam Plant $86,000
- Mar 2023 Registered Serial, asset tag, QR code —
- Aug 2024 Engine repair WO-000291 $4,200
- Feb 2026 Inspection Passed · condition Good —
- Aug 2026 Service, 250 h WO-000482 $680
- Sep 2026 On hire RNT-000117 · back 14 Oct —
Kept running, two years $4,880 every work order on this machine, costed on the server
Four of those lines usually live in four places — a fleet spreadsheet, a certificate folder, the accountant’s file and somebody’s memory. The point of one record is that “should we keep this machine?” has an answer on one screen.
04
Equipment Rental and Hire Management
If you hire your machines out, this is where the contract lives. Rate plans and the terms that go with them, the agreement itself against a customer you already hold in the system, the dispatch, and the return.
The two numbers that matter are the meter readings taken at each end. EQ-0142 leaves on 14 September reading 2,418 hours and comes back on 14 October reading 2,602 — 184 hours, written down at the time by the people who handed it over and took it back, rather than argued about afterwards. The customer is the same record sales and accounting use, so the invoice goes to the company you already trade with.
It also changes what a machine is on paper. The same excavator now has hours against it, a maintenance bill against it, and hire income against it — on one record rather than three.
- MachineEQ-0142Excavator, 5t
- Hired toNorthgate Limitedthe customer record sales uses
- Rate planPlant · day ratewith its own terms template
Dispatch
14 September
meter2,418 h
read by the driver who took it
Return
14 October
meter2,602 h
read by the fitter who took it back
Between the two readings 184 hours recorded at the time, by name, at both ends
A lower reading on the way back is refused unless somebody records why — a meter reset, a rollover, or a correction pointing at the reading it replaces.
05
Maintenance, Work Orders and Spare Parts
A maintenance plan says what a machine needs and when — every 250 hours, every six months, every so many days since the last. SM Space generates the occurrences due, and generating them twice does not produce two copies.
When the work starts, the machine is put out of service and a hold goes on it, so nobody books it out from another screen while the fitter has it. Parts come out of inventory through inventory’s own posting, so stock goes down once and the stock report shows what maintenance consumed. The cost is worked out on the server from approved labour time and what inventory costed the parts at — not from whatever somebody typed in a box.
When it goes back into service the machine returns to the status it had before — a machine that was Assigned goes back to Assigned, not to Available — the hold is released, and the plan’s next due date rolls forward.
- Raised from250-hour service planoccurrence generated, once
- StatusIn progressmachine held out of service
- WasAssignedand goes back to that, not to Available
held Nobody can book EQ-0142 out from another screen while this is open.
| Part | Qty | Cost | Where it came from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydraulic filter | 2 | $86.00 | issued from Depot store |
| Engine oil, 20 L | 1 | $74.00 | issued from Depot store |
- Parts$160.00what inventory costed the movement at
- Labour$520.00approved time × rate
- On the machine$680.00worked out on the server, not typed
Stock goes down once, through inventory’s own posting, so the stock report can show what maintenance consumed. Sign it back into service and the hold is released, the machine returns to the status it had before, and the plan’s next due date rolls forward.
How SM Space equipment management software compares
The one-line answers buyers usually ask for, before the longer argument underneath them.
- Individual asset tracking Each machine has its own number and its own history.
- Category-driven fields A vehicle asks for different details than a generator.
- Maintenance Plans that generate work orders, with parts out of inventory.
- Inspection Checklists scored on the server, with a safety gate.
- Rental Contracts with the meter read at dispatch and at return.
- Certificate tracking Expiry dates and documents held against the asset.
- Cloud Runs in a web browser, nothing to install.
- Audit trail Every move keeps who did it, when, and what they overrode.
How it fits with the rest of SM Space
Equipment is not stock, and that is the distinction worth being clear about. Inventory management counts quantities of interchangeable things — 400 filters, and any one of them will do. This counts individual machines, each with its own number, its own history and its own certificates, where no two are interchangeable and “we have three excavators” is not an answer to “can I have one on Tuesday?”. A business with both needs both, and they are deliberately separate.
- Purchase order writes to
- Work order writes to
- Inspection writes to
- Rental agreement writes to
- Disposal writes to
- reads Accounting — the asset values and what disposal brought in
- reads Reporting — cost, hours and history per machine
They still meet. Spare parts for a work order come out of inventory’s own records, through inventory’s own posting, so stock goes down once. Purchasing and procurement buys the machines, from the vendor record the rest of the system uses. Sales and invoicing bills a hire to the same customer record everything else bills. Accounting and finance holds the asset values and takes the proceeds when a machine is sold. Reporting and dashboards groups cost and hours by machine, by category or by site. And audit and compliance keeps the record of who moved the machine, who overrode the rule and who signed it back into service.
Who this equipment management software is for
Small and mid-sized businesses that own more machines than one person can picture — plant hire, construction, haulage, farming, facilities, manufacturing. Anywhere the equipment is worth more than the office. The signal that you have outgrown the spreadsheet is usually this: somebody has to ring round to find out where a machine is, the certificate folder lives in a filing cabinet, and nobody can say what any one machine has cost to keep running. SM Space is a cloud ERP system — it runs in a web browser, with no server to install.
Frequently asked questions
- What does SM Space Equipment do?
- It is the equipment management software inside the SM Space ERP system. Each machine is its own asset record, holding what it cost, where it is, who is answerable for it, its identifiers, its certificates, its inspections and its service history. You book machines out, move them between sites, reserve them for dates, plan their maintenance and eventually record their disposal.
- How is this different from inventory?
- Inventory counts quantities of interchangeable things; this tracks individual machines. Four hundred filters are a number, and any one of them will do. One excavator is EQ-0142 — bought in March 2023, 2,418 hours on it, out on hire until 14 October, insurance expired on 2 September. You cannot ask a stock figure where it is or when it was last serviced. Businesses with both need both.
- Can it track service and inspection schedules?
- Yes. A maintenance plan triggers on hours, on a calendar, on elapsed days or on usage, and generates the occurrences due. Inspections run from a checklist whose answers are scored on the server, and a failed safety-critical item stops the machine being signed back into service. Completing the work rolls the plan’s next due date forward on its own.
- Does it calculate depreciation?
- Depreciation is calculated and posted in the SM Space accounting module, which runs it as a simulation you can check before posting it for real. The equipment record holds each asset’s cost, its book, its useful life and its value history. The automatic hand-off from the machine’s record into that run is not switched on yet, so today the run is started from the accounting side.
- Can we hire equipment out to customers?
- Yes. You set up rate plans and terms, raise a rental agreement against a customer already in the system, and record the dispatch and the return with a meter reading at each end. EQ-0142 leaves reading 2,418 hours and comes back reading 2,602 — 184 hours, agreed at the time rather than afterwards. The invoice goes out through sales, against the same customer record.
- Can it warn us before a certificate expires?
- Every certificate, licence, insurance policy and required inspection is recorded against the machine with its expiry date and its document attached, so a list sorted by what runs out first is on screen whenever you want it. Automatic reminders before the date are not switched on yet. What is enforced today is the check-out itself, which refuses a machine missing what your policy requires.
Every machine, its whole history, one screen.
Book a 30-minute demo and we’ll set up one of your own machines, with its certificates and its service plan.
Book a 30-minute demo