like furniture, computers and air conditioners. On the other hand digital assets comprise all
digital media like audio, video, text and other computer generated imagery and content. There are many methods to keep track of physical assets. Traditional inventory systems consist of Barcodes, tagging and lately RFID are some of the methods used to keep track of these physical assets.
These can be used individually and can independently act as a tracking system. They can also be used together to form a complex asset tracking system. Physical assets can be fixed as in the case of furniture and fixtures, Personal computers , Air conditioners etc. Keeping track of such assets simply would consist of taking inventory and regularly updating the information.In case of moveable assets like vehicles, cars etc., asset tracking becomes a bit more technical. Modern
asset tracking systems consist of global positioning (GPS) in conjunction with CCTV cameras and display systems, for keeping track of such assets. An asset tracking system would essentially consist of two or more subsystems. For example in a logistics environment, initial data capture would be carried out by hand held scanners which would automatically transfer data to a personal computer. The data would then be classified, sorted and saved in a database. Small inventories
can be effectively managed in an Excel worksheet whereas lager databases may consist of Oracle or
MS SQL Server. Radio frequency identification, RFID technology is becoming quite popular in
retail stores and supermarkets to keep track of inventory. They are also used for tracking
livestock and even wildlife in sanctuaries. A combination of data capture, storage and retrieval are the basic building blocks of asset tracking system. Such systems are critical in logistics and are coupled to inventory and supply chain management system.
