Creating Circuits and Components

Owned by Joseph Yarborough (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jul 26, 2022 by Anastasia Troichuk (Unlicensed)
6 min read

Assets with Circuits and Components

With the addition of circuits and components to asset creation, users have the ability to track circuits and components at the following levels:

  • At the asset level (The whole part: i.e. Conveyor Belt)
  • At the circuit level (the conveyor belt motor)
  • At the component level (the parts that make up the motor assembly) 

With ServiceChannel’s Asset Manager, companies can add additional layers of granularity when setting up assets to be tracked and managed. Complex assets such as refrigeration systems, conveyor belts, and industrial ovens, just to name a few, are constructed using many parts. For some of these assets, the parts that make the whole can be subdivided into circuits and even further subdivided into the components that make up the circuit. When setting up assets of this level of complexity, you have the flexibility to subdivide the assets into circuits and components, which can be tracked separately.

Assets can have just circuits or just components or a three-tiered relationship where the asset has both circuits and components 

Adding Assets with Circuits and Components

When a complex asset is being added to Service Automation, there is a logic that must be followed. The most complex configuration would require the whole asset must be added before the circuit for that asset can be added and the circuit must be added before the component can be added. The reason for this logic is that when a circuit is added, it must be associated with a parent asset. Therefore, the parent asset must already be loaded into Service Automation in order for its children (circuits and components) to be associated with it.

If you are just adding a component to an asset, then the parent asset must be added before its component can be added.


⦿ How to Add an Asset that Has Circuits and Components
  1. Navigate to Assets (Equipment) > Manage Assets. You land on the assets list.
    Assets list in Asset Manager
  2. Click +Add.
    Button for creating a new asset
  3. On the Manage Assets screen:
    1. Select the Location where the asset is located.
    2. Enter the Area (Physical/Serving), within the location, that the asset services.
    3. Select the Asset Type.
  4. Check Asset Contains Circuits and/or Has Components under the asset type.
    Marking that an asset has components or circuits
  5. Add the additional required and optional information for the asset you are adding, then click Add Asset.

On the Asset Details tab, the Has Circuits checkbox has been selected, indicating that the asset has additional subdivisions. Click the Add Circuit button to add circuits to the parent asset.

Asset details page

Assets that are Circuits and Components

Once the parent asset has been added, its circuits and components can be added. Following the logic of adding assets before you add its circuits and/or components, it must be determined if the components that are to be added are to be associated directly to the asset or to one of the circuits that make up the asset. If the latter, then the circuit must be added before the component, so that it is in the database when it component(s) are added, so they can be associated with it.

⦿ How to Add an Asset that is a Circuit
  1. Navigate to Assets (Equipment) > Manage Assets. You land on the assets list.
    Assets list in Asset Manager
  2. Click +Add.
    Adding a new asset from the assets list
  3. On the Manage Assets screen:
    1. Select the Location where the asset is located.
    2. Enter the Area (Physical/Serving), within the location, where the asset is placed.
    3. Check the checkbox next to Is Circuit.
    4. Select the Asset Type.
    5. Select the parent asset from the Parents drop-down menu.
    6. Select the asset type from the Asset Type drop-down menu.
    7. If the circuit/asset has Components, check the box next to Has Components. 

      Page for creating a new asset that is a circuit

      Note: the circuit/asset will inherit the parent's Model and Serial Numbers.

  4. Add the additional required and optional information for the asset you are adding to the database, then click Add Asset.
⦿ How to Add Assets that are Components
  1. Navigate to Assets (Equipment) > Manage Assets. You land on the assets list.
    Assets list in Asset Manager
  2. Click +Add.
  3. On the Manage Assets screen:
    1. Select the Location where the asset is located.
    2. Enter the Area (Physical/Serving), within the location, where the asset is placed.
    3. Check the checkbox next to Is Component.
    4. Select the parent asset from the Parents drop-down menu.
    5. Select the Asset Type.
      Creating a component asset
  4. Add the additional required and optional information for the asset you are adding to the database, then click Add Asset.

Locating and Viewing Assets that Contain Circuits and or Components

Users of Refrigeration Management have the option to view assets as one piece of equipment or as connected individual assets. This option allows the circuits and or components of an asset to be tracked separately from the whole. This option is especially helpful for complex refrigeration and HVAC assets that have many working parts. Users can view connected assets by clicking on the Asset Tag ID. 

Connected Assets System Relationship

In ServiceChannel’s Asset Manager, the relationship between connected assets is that of parents and children. Any time an asset has other assets associated with it that asset becomes the parent asset. All assets associated with the parent asset become the children of that asset. In the Assets Details view, Parent Assets display an icon, indicating the relationship.

⦿ How to View Connected Assets
  1. Navigate to Assets (Equipment) > Manage Assets. You land on the assets list.
  2. Use one or more of the following filters to locate connected assets connected:
    1. Show Assets With Circuits
    2. Show Assets With Components
    3. Is Component
      Filters on the assets list to quickly find connected assets
  3. From the returned list, click the Tag ID of the desired asset.
    List of connected assets
  4. On the Asset Details page, click the Circuits & Components tab. A summary of the connected assets is displayed. 
  5. Click the Details link to view the details of connected circuits and components.
    Circuits and Components tab on the asset details page
  6. Click the Parent Asset link to navigate back to the parent asset.
    Asset details tab of a component asset with a link to the parent asset


Assets that contain either circuits or components can be located by navigating to the Manage Assets screen. Users can use filters to segregate the desired asset type. This is especially helpful when users want to add a circuit or component to an existing asset.

⦿ How to Add a Circuit to an Existing Asset
  1. Navigate to the Manage Assets page.
  2. Locate the asset you want to add the circuit to.
  3. Open the asset’s details screen by clicking on the asset’s tag ID.
    Asset list view
  4. Under the Asset Details tab, check the Has Circuits checkbox.
  5. Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the details page. Once you have saved the previous actions, the Add Circuit button will appear.
  6. Click the Add Circuit button. The Manage Assets screen will open.
  7. Add the additional required and optional information for the asset you are adding to the database, then click Add Asset.
⦿ How to Add a Component to an Existing Asset
  1. Navigate to the Manage Assets page.
  2. Locate the asset you want to add the circuit to.
  3. Open the asset’s details screen by clicking on the asset’s tag ID link.
    Asset list view
  4. Under General Asset Info, check the Has Components checkbox.
    Has Components checkbox on the asset details page
  5. Click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the screen. Once you have saved the previous actions, the Add Components button will appear.
  6. Click the Add Component button. The Manage Assets screen will open.
    Page for creating a component asset
  7. Add the additional required and optional information for the asset you are adding to the database, then click Add Asset.

For refrigerant assets: When a refrigerant asset has circuits, the asset doesn’t contain any refrigerant. All the refrigerant properties are defined for its circuits. Thus, the refrigerant usage can be added only to circuits. 

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