Anvil’s AiM Asset Search feature is a convenient way to look up assets catalogued in our AiM asset management system. Once you’ve clicked on Work List from the Anvil home screen, click on the box icon at the top-right of your screen.

🔵 3 Ways to Search Using Asset Search

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There are 3 ways to search for an asset using the AiM Asset Search feature.

⚫ 1 - Barcode Scanner

If you’re at the actual physical job site where the asset resides, the fastest way to look up its details would be to scan the Barcode on the asset. Click on the barcode icon to open the Barcode Scanner and aim it at the asset barcode. The screenshot below shows the Barcode Scanner that pops up when you click on the scanner icon.

⚫ 2 - Free Text Field

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Another option when using AiM Asset Search is to enter a keyword in the Free Text field. Click Search to see what your text entry returns.

⚫ 3 - Asset Tag Field

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The third search option is the Asset Tag field. Users who are responsible for entering assets into AiM add relevant tags / keywords to the asset to help you search for the asset. If you happen to know the AiM asset number, you can also enter that in the Asset Tag field (but not in the Free Text field).

🔵 Search Results & Asset Details

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Once you’ve completed the search by any of the 3 methods above, a window will open up with your search results.

If you want to start your search over at any moment, click on the search icon at the top-right corner of the window. Or click Cancel to back out of the screen.

Back in the search results / AiM Asset Search screen, click on any of your results to view the asset details.

After you click on an asset listing from your search results, the Viewing Asset window will open. Notice at the top, the asset number is also included in the title of the window. Scroll up / down on the left side to view various key details on the asset, including the floor, building, status, etc.

Note the Asset image, Related Documents and Assessment Activity are not available features when viewing an asset using the AiM Asset Search feature.

🔵 Alternate Methods

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This section of the tutorial is about the AiM Asset Search feature, but it’s worth mentioning that there are a couple of other ways you can open up asset details, that don’t involve the asset search tool.

If you click on the Asset Number from the Phase Listing, you will be able to view Asset Attachments, images, and add an Assessment Activity entry. Note that not all phases have a link to the asset.

The same goes if you click on the asset link from the Phase Details view. To do this, first click on the phase listing that has the asset field populated like in the screenshot, below.

After you click on a phase, it will open the Phase Details window. The asset details link is towards the top-right.

Clicking on the asset number via either the phase listing or from the Phase Details window opens up a version of the asset details window, with clickable Asset Attachments (e.g., relevant PDFs and images), as well as an interactive Assessment Activity feature.

When viewing a list of phases, there are multiple sort options, giving you the ability to order the list in a variety of ways. In this section, we will cover each sort option. Click on the filter + up / down arrows icon at the top-right to get started.

When you click on the filter + up / down arrows icon, a filter options window pops up. This window is split up into 2 sections, called Work List Sort Order and Work List Filters. At the top of the window is also a field we will call the Filter Work List field.

We’ll go over each section, below, starting with the Work List Sort Order options.

🔵 Work List Sort Order

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The Work List Sort Order section of the window lists simple filter options for ordering the phase listings by various values, in either descending or ascending order. From the Work List Sort Order section, you have 6 sort options, as described below.

⚫ 1 - By Date Descending

The first option is called By Date Desc. With this option, due dates that are farther out will appear first. As you work down the list, the earlier the calendar the due dates are. Simply click on By Date Desc, and make sure the blue check mark appears by it. Notice your list of phases immediately adjusts to match the criteria you selected.

⚫ 2 - By Date Ascending

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The second option is called By Date Asc. This is a great way to sort tasks/phases by their due dates. If you click on By Date Asc., the list of phases automatically does the reverse, putting phases/tasks with due dates earlier on the calendar at the top of the list, chronologically moving further out as you work your way down the list.

⚫ 3 - By Priority Descending

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The next sort order option down the list is called By Priority Desc. This is another great way to sort your tasks/phases, because it helps you keep the most urgent tasks top of mind. With this filter selected, phase priorities are highest at the top of the list and lower towards the bottom. They correspond to the value under the Priority field on the right of each listing, and the matching color strip on the left of each listing.

The list below describes what would appear in the Priority field as well as the color code for that priority, in the order called By Priority Desc.

1. High (Red)

2. Medium (Yellow)

3. Low (Green)

4. Annual (Blue)

5. Unknown & PM 30 Day (Gray)
   

⚫ 4 - By Priority Ascending

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By Priority Asc. does the opposite of By Priority Desc., with the lowest priority at the top of the list.

The list below describes what would appear in the Priority field as well as the color code for that priority, in the order called By Priority Asc.

1. Unknown & PM 30 Day (Gray)

2. Annual (Blue)

3. Low (Green)

4. Medium (Yellow)

5. High (Red)
   

⚫ 5 - By Status

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By Status sorts by the value that sits in the Status field per phase (underlined in the screenshot, below).

Below is a list of statuses in the order that the By Status filter would sort them

1. Assigned

2. Hold

3. New

4. Planning

5. Purchasing Hold

6. Work in Progress
   

⚫ 6 - By Location

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If you click on the By Location option, the phases are sorted by what is entered for the Location per phase listing (see where Location is listed per phase, in the screenshot below).

At the top of the list would be those with the Location left blank. After that, they’re sorted in alphabetical order. It’s important to remember that in addition to the Location being left blank, there are also Locations with No applicable property typed in that field. Those would be sorted alphabetically, with N, followed by the rest of the alphabet.

The list below describes the Location order when sorting phases by that field

1. Blank

2. A-N

3. No applicable property

4. N-Z

🔵 Work List Filters

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The second, bottom section of this filter screen is labeled Work List Filters. Below it are the options to toggle on/off PMs Only and/or Starred Only. Notice that in the top Work List Sort Order section, there will always be one of the options selected. The sort order selection is combined with your Work List Filters settings.

⚫ PMs Only

If you toggle on PMs Only, your list will only show Preventive Maintenance (PM) tasks. In the Screenshot below, By Location is also selected. As a result, the list only shows PM Phases/tasks, listed by alphabetically by Location.

⚫ Starred Only

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If you toggle on Starred Only, the list will only show the phases/tasks that you have bookmarked.

The screenshot above was covering the activated star icons. Below is a full shot of the search results for Starred Only.

All of these filter settings can be combined in various ways. Below, PMs Only and Starred Only are both toggled on. Also, the Work List Sort Order is By Date Desc.

Below is the full screenshot of the search results, showing phases that are PMs Only and Starred Only.

🔵 Filter Work List Field

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The next filter, which is optional, is the Filter Work List field. This field can be found at the top of the AiM Asset Search window can also be combined with the other filter option settings. It’s called Filter Work List because using it filters your list of phases/tasks, which is your work list. This is the case with all the filter settings we’ve described so far in this section.

These are the Phase values this search operates on

1. Phase Description

2. Location

3. Work Order

4. Phase

5. Phase Contact

These are the Phase values the search does not operate on

1. Created On

2. Assign Date

3. Status

4. Priority

⚫ Search by Phase Description or Location

If you type in any exact word or phrase from the Phase Description or Location fields of a phase listing, Anvil will list the phases with the word or phrase you typed in, combined with the criteria you set for the other filter options.

Unlike the other filter settings, when using this search field, you need to hit Apply at the bottom of the search window to apply it to your search results.

⚫ Search by Work Order or Phase

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You can also enter either the work order or phase number in the Filter Work List field so that in your search results, you have either:

1. Entering a Work Order Number → Phases that are linked to the work order you entered OR…

2. Entering a Phase Number → Phases of any work order that match the phase number you entered

The search won’t however work with the work order and phase numbers combined.

You can even enter a partial number to pull up work orders / phases that contain those digits in the order you entered them. Below, I enter 12, and the search results bring up work order(s) with the number 12 in them, and also Phases of any work order that match the number 12.

⚫ Search by Phase Contact

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You can even search by the first and/or last name or phone number of the Phase Contact. In the screenshot below, I type in “debbi” then hit Apply. The search results include all the phases with Debbi included under Phase Contact.

Below, entering a phone number brings up all of the phases that contain that number under the Phase Contact.

⚫ Apply Search

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In the screenshot above, notice the Apply option is grayed out because you already hit Apply to get your search results.

To reset and reuse the search field, delete or x-out your field entry. When you do that, the Apply option turns blue again. From here, you can either add a new value in the search field or leave it blank and hit Apply to return to the list you had before applying any value to the Filter Work List field.

In the screenshot above, clearing out the Filter Work List field allows you to hit Apply, which will return to your original search results. And in the screenshot below, entering a new value into the field also reactivates Apply so you can search using the new filter parameter.

The 3rd icon at the top-right is the map icon. If you click on it, the Work List Map pops up, providing a visual representation of your tasks/phases by location.

You can manually zoom in to the map just like you would zoom in to an image on a smart phone. As you zoom in closer, you will be able to read the names of the buildings and smaller streets. Click on any map marker to learn more about the work that needs to be completed there.

When you click on a map marker, the Phase Details screen for the task opens up. You will also notice that at the bottom of the Phase Details screen is a more detailed map, showing the numbers of the assigned and nearby rooms.

If you click on the Clock icon at the top-right, the Time Entry screen pops up. This time entry method is a good way to enter holiday and other leave time. You can also enter time worked on a specific phase if you know the exact work order and phase number.

When you click on the large filter icon, a window called Work List Options pops up. In this section, we’ll go over the 2 modes: AiM Filters and Custom, and the characteristics of each.

🔵 AiM Filters

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At the bottom of the screen, there’s an option/tab called AiM Filters. This is a list of filters that are set up in the AiM asset management system by Work Control. Depending on the user, the filters shown here will differ.

🔵 Custom Filters

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At the