An asset hierarchy arranges assets in levels, where each asset can belong to a parent and have children of its own. A common pattern is site › area › system › equipment › component, for example Plant A › Packaging › Line 2 › Conveyor 2B › Drive motor. Each level answers the question "what is this part of?".
The international standard ISO 14224, used in the petroleum, petrochemical and gas industries, describes such a taxonomy for collecting equipment reliability and maintenance data. Many other industries borrow the idea without following the standard to the letter.
Typical levels
| Level | What it represents | Factory example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Site | A plant, campus or facility | Plant A |
| 2. Area | A department or process area | Packaging |
| 3. System | A group of equipment doing one job | Line 2 |
| 4. Equipment | A maintainable unit with its own ID | Conveyor 2B |
| 5. Component | A replaceable part of the equipment | Drive motor, gearbox |
Example tree: a hospital
A ventilator's work orders sit on the ventilator. A flow sensor replaced every year can be tracked as its own component, so its history moves with it if it is fitted to another ventilator.
How to build parent-child relationships
- Start from the top. List sites and areas first, then systems.
- Decide what is maintainable. Give an asset ID to anything you service, inspect or replace on its own.
- Link each child to one parent. One asset, one parent, so costs do not double count.
- Keep components optional. Only break equipment down where component history is worth having.
- Name consistently, using codes like PLA-PKG-L2-CNV2B so the path is readable in exports.
Why it matters
- Costs, downtime and work orders roll up, so you can see what a whole line or building costs to run.
- Maintenance can be planned at the right level: replace a motor without losing the conveyor's history.
- People navigate large registers by drilling down instead of scrolling.
Asset hierarchy vs location hierarchy
A location hierarchy says where things are (building › floor › room). An asset hierarchy says what things are part of. They often mirror each other in plants, but not for mobile assets: a laptop has a location but no parent asset. See asset location.
Common mistakes
- Too deep. Tracking every bolt makes the tree hard to use and nobody keeps it current.
- Mixing location and function, such as putting "Room 12" as a parent of a pump.
- Orphan assets with no parent, which disappear from roll-up reports.
Spreadsheet vs software
In a spreadsheet you can add a "parent ID" column and filter by it, but there is no tree view and roll-ups need manual formulas. A CMMS or asset register keeps the relationship on each record, so work orders and history follow the right asset.
In Asetavo
In the Asetavo asset register, each asset can record a parent asset, and assets sit in a location tree (property › building › floor › room) with categories that carry their own fields. On the Business plan, work orders and service history are kept on each asset's own record.
