How to Convert an Equipment to Another Equipment

Convert Equipment turns one or more items in your fleet into different equipment, carrying their written-down value across, so both your fleet list and your asset register stay accurate when a machine is rebuilt, split up or tracked a different way.

Overview

Equipment doesn't always stay the shape you bought it in. A pair of general-purpose buckets gets re-profiled, a machine is stripped and rebuilt as two smaller units, or a bulk item you've been counting by the dozen now needs to be tracked one by one. Convert Equipment handles all of those in a single step, rather than disposing of one record and creating another with no link between them.

One conversion can take several items in (Convert From) and produce several items out (Convert To).
Everything you convert from is disposed of. Bulk quantity moves from available to disposed, and a serialized machine's Rental Status and Service Status both become Converted.
Everything you convert to is either added as quantity onto an existing bulk equipment record, or created as a brand-new serialized equipment record.
You choose how the value carries across by giving each Convert To line a Value Proportion. Whatever is left of 100% is written off as scrapped.
The conversion is irreversible, so the lines are worth checking twice before you save.

Before You Begin

Convert Equipment needs no settings turned on, but it does need a permission and equipment in the right state.

Requirement	Where to Find It
Convert Equipment permission	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › your group › Equipment › Option › Convert Equipment
Equipment in Available status	Equipment › Equipment - both Rental Status and Service Status must read Available
Available quantity at the branch you're converting at	Equipment › Equipment - the branch line must have quantity available
A bulk equipment record to convert into (if converting to bulk)	Equipment › Equipment
An equipment model to convert into (if converting to serialized)	Equipment › Configuration › Equipment Models

The Convert Equipment permission sits under Equipment › Option in a permission group

Convert Equipment runs from the Equipment list screen, not from an individual equipment record, and you pick the equipment inside the dialog rather than by selecting a row first.

Converting the Equipment

Step 1 - Open Convert Equipment

Go to Equipment › Equipment, then choose Options › Convert Equipment.

Convert Equipment sits at the bottom of the Equipment screen's Options menu

Step 2 - Set the branch and converted date

The dialog opens with a red banner reminding you that the conversion disposes of the From equipment and cannot be undone.

Branch - required, and defaults to your own branch. Both the Convert From search and the new equipment you create are tied to it. Changing it clears any lines you've already entered, so set it first.
Converted Date - required, and defaults to today. This is the date the equipment movements are recorded against, and the date the outgoing equipment's value is depreciated up to.

The Convert Equipment dialog, with the irreversible-action banner above the Branch and Converted Date fields

Step 3 - Choose what you're converting from

Under Convert From, search for the equipment you're taking out of the fleet and set the quantity. Use Add Equipment to add more lines if the conversion draws on several items.

Equipment - required. The search only returns equipment at the selected branch whose Rental Status and Service Status are both Available and which still has quantity available.
Quantity - required. It fills in as 1 as soon as you pick the equipment, and is locked at 1 for serialized equipment because there's only ever one of it.

Two general-purpose buckets selected as the equipment being converted from

Step 4 - Add the equipment you're converting to

Under Convert To, each line is one thing the conversion produces. Type starts as Bulk, which adds quantity to an equipment record you already have.

Type - required. Bulk or Serialized.
Equipment - required for a Bulk line. Only bulk equipment is listed, and it doesn't have to have stock at your branch already; the branch line is created for you if it doesn't exist.
Quantity - required. How many units this line adds.
Value Proportion - required. The share of the outgoing equipment's value that this line takes with it, as a percentage.

A Bulk line taking half the value across to an existing mud bucket record

Step 5 - Add a serialized result, if you need one

Click Add Equipment under Convert To and set Type to Serialized. The Equipment search is replaced by two fields, because the equipment doesn't exist yet and Latner creates it for you.

An equipment model search - required. The new record inherits its category, class, make and description from the model you pick.
Equipment Number - required, and must not already be in use by another item of equipment.

Set Quantity to 1 on a serialized line - it produces a single equipment record.

Choosing Serialized swaps the Equipment search for a model search and an Equipment Number box

Step 6 - Check the proportions and save

Add up the Value Proportion column before you click Save. Anything over 100% is rejected with Total Value cannot exceed 100%. Anything under 100% is accepted, and the shortfall is treated as scrapped - written off against the outgoing equipment's book value rather than carried into anything new. In the example below, 50% goes to the bulk line and 40% to the new serialized unit, so 10% of the value is scrapped.

Click Save. Latner confirms with Equipment Converted Successfully and refreshes the Equipment list.

The completed conversion: two buckets in, a bulk line and a new serialized unit out, 10% of the value scrapped

After the Conversion

Each Convert From line has its quantity moved from available to disposed, and picks up a Converted (From) movement dated the converted date.
A serialized machine you converted from has its Rental Status and Service Status set to Converted, drops off the Equipment tab and appears under Archived Equipment. It can no longer be rented, allocated, pre-allocated or put on a work order.
Bulk equipment you converted from keeps its status worked out from what's left, so it stays Available while there's still stock at any branch.
Each Bulk line under Convert To has its quantity added at the branch and picks up a Converted (To) movement, along with a new asset record holding its share of the value.
Each Serialized line under Convert To becomes a new equipment record in Available status at the branch, numbered as you typed and described from the equipment model.
Value carries across on the date you set: the outgoing assets are depreciated up to the converted date, each new record takes its Value Proportion of that written-down amount as its book value and tax book value, and its purchase price is the same share of what the originals originally cost. The new asset's purchase date is the earliest purchase date among the equipment you converted from, falling back to the converted date, and its depreciation restarts from the day before the conversion.
You can see both sides on the Movement History tab of each equipment record.

The new serialized record, created in Available status with its class, make and model taken from the equipment model

The Converted (From) movement on the source equipment, dated the conversion date

A conversion cannot be reversed. Latner can reverse a sale, but not a conversion, so putting the quantity back means a bulk equipment adjustment and tidying up the records the conversion created by hand. If you're unsure whether an item should leave the fleet at all, use Sell or Dispose Equipment instead - a sale can be reversed.

FAQs

Convert Equipment doesn't appear in the Options menu. Why?

Your permission group doesn't have the Convert Equipment permission. Someone with access to Security › Configuration › Permission Groups can switch it on under Equipment › Option.

The equipment I want to convert doesn't come up in the search. Why?

The Convert From search only returns equipment at the branch selected in the dialog, with both Rental Status and Service Status showing Available, and with quantity still available. Anything on rent, reserved, in transfer, off rent, non-operational or sitting on a work order won't be listed until it's back to Available. If the equipment is at another branch, change Branch at the top of the dialog first - note that doing so clears any lines you've already entered.

Can I undo a conversion?

No. Reversing a movement is only supported for sales, so a conversion has to be corrected manually: adjust the bulk quantity back where it came from, and deactivate or dispose of whatever the conversion created. It's much less work to check the lines before saving.

Do the Value Proportions have to add up to 100%?

They can't add up to more than 100%, but they can add up to less. The shortfall is recorded as the scrapped proportion and written off against the outgoing equipment's book value, which is exactly what you want when part of a machine goes in the skip.

Can I convert bulk equipment into individually tracked units?

Yes, and the reverse works too. Convert From takes bulk or serialized equipment, and each Convert To line is independently set to Bulk or Serialized, so bulk to serialized, serialized to bulk, one machine into several and several into one are all the same operation.

What happens to depreciation on the equipment I converted?

The outgoing assets are depreciated up to the converted date so the value being carried across is current at that date. Each new asset then starts from the day before the conversion with the book value and tax book value it inherited, so there's no gap and no double-counting.

Where do I see that a conversion happened?

On the Movement History tab of each equipment record involved: Converted (From) on what went out, Converted (To) on the bulk equipment that received quantity. A serialized machine that was converted from is on the Archived Equipment tab of the Equipment screen with a status of Converted.

Watch the Demo

Prefer to watch it? Step through the same flow here.