Link Assets to Contracts

[dschipfel]

Current situation

The Contracts module is very useful for tracking contract details, renewal dates, and cancellation periods. However, contracts cannot currently be linked directly to assets.

Suggested improvement

Allow assets to be linked to contracts and display the relationship in both directions.

Examples:

• Mobile phones <-> Mobile service contracts
• SIM cards <-> Mobile service contracts
• Routers <-> Internet contracts
• Printers <-> Leasing contracts
• Hardware <-> Maintenance contracts
• Software <-> License agreements

Real-world use case

We would like to use the Contracts module to manage our mobile phone contracts and SIM cards.

A typical setup could be:

• Asset: SIM Card
• Asset: Mobile Phone
• Contract: Mobile Service Agreement

By linking these records together, it would be easy to identify:

• Which SIM card belongs to which contract
• Which phone uses that SIM card
• When the contract expires
• When the cancellation period ends

This would help prevent missed cancellation deadlines and make contract management much more transparent.

Possible functionality

• Link one or more assets to a contract
• Display linked assets within the contract view
• Display linked contracts within the asset view
• Search and filter by linked contract
• Optional notifications for upcoming contract renewals or cancellation deadlines

Benefits

• Better contract lifecycle management
• Easier tracking of mobile phones and SIM cards
• Reduced risk of missed cancellation periods
• Clear relationship between assets and contractual obligations
• Improved inventory and cost management

For many organizations, contracts are closely tied to physical assets. Being able to link assets and contracts would make the Contracts module significantly more valuable and help manage recurring costs and renewal deadlines more effectively.

[edmozley]

Hi @dschipfel Daniel!

Thanks for this one - it is built and shipped.

A contract now has an Equipment panel. Search your estate by name, model, serial number, asset tag or location, and add what the agreement covers. Location is searchable on purpose, because nobody knows the hostname of a meeting-room TV and nobody knows the serial number of a SIM card.

Each link carries an optional reference typed straight onto the row - a phone number, a line ID, a seat number. It belongs to the link rather than to the equipment, which is the part that matters for your case: move a handset onto a different agreement and you keep the handset and lose the line. Details of the thing itself, like a SIM's IMSI, belong on the asset, where custom asset fields can hold them.

The link is visible from both ends. An asset gains a Contracts tab listing every agreement covering it, with the supplier, the end date and the notice date. The notice date is picked out in the warning colour deliberately - an end date is easy to plan around, but a notice period is what quietly turns a decision you meant to make into a renewal you did not.

Removing a link takes the equipment off the contract and nothing else. The asset stays exactly where it was.

One thing to know before you ask for it: renewal notifications already exist, and they are separate from this. A workflow can fire when a contract approaches its end date, at windows you choose, with nothing linked to it at all. Linking equipment tells you what is affected when that reminder arrives; it is not what produces it.

For your mobile phones and SIM cards specifically: create the Mobile Service Agreement with its end date and notice period, add the handsets and SIMs as assets (add "Mobile phone" and "SIM card" asset types if you do not have them - they are ordinary types), then link them from the contract and put each line number in the reference. After that, opening any handset answers "what are we on, and by when do we have to say something?"

Not done, so you know where you stand: you also asked to filter or search assets by contract from the asset list. The picker searches and both panels show their links, but there is no "show me everything on contract X" filter on the asset list yet. Say if that is the part you actually need and I will look at it next.

There is a new section in the in-app help on both the Contracts guide and the Asset Management guide, and a wiki page:

https://github.com/edmozley/freeitsm/wiki/Linking-Equipment-to-Contracts

[edmozley]

UPDATE! @dschipfel

Following up on the one part I said was missing: searching assets by contract. That is now done, along with a couple of additions that came out of using the feature properly.

Searching assets by contract. The asset search box previously matched the hostname and nothing else, which is not much use for a SIM card or a meeting-room TV. It now also matches serial number, asset tag, model, location, and the number or title of any contract the equipment is on. Type a contract number into the asset list and you get that contract's equipment as a normal list you can select from and act on.

Linking from either end. You can now add equipment to a contract from the equipment as well as from the contract: open an asset, go to its Contracts tab, and use "Add to a contract". It searches by contract number, title or supplier name, and offers the contracts closest to ending first. There is also a right-click menu on any asset in the list with "Add to a contract" on it, so you can do it without opening anything.

Equipment report. A contract now has an "Equipment report" button that produces a one-page list of everything it covers, and offers it three ways: print or save as PDF, download as CSV for reconciling against a supplier's own list, or email it - which goes to the contract owner unless you type a different address.

---

Things to try, if you want to check it does what you need:

1. Open a contract, use the Equipment panel to add a couple of items, and put something in the reference box on each row - a phone number or a line ID.
2. Open one of those assets in Asset Management and look at its Contracts tab. You should see the contract, the supplier, the end date, and the notice date picked out in amber.
3. Type the contract number into the asset search box. The list should narrow to exactly the equipment on that contract.
4. Try the search with a serial number, an asset tag and a location name as well - all three used to return nothing.
5. Right-click an asset in the list. You can change its status, type or location, add it to a contract, print its label or copy its serial, without opening it.
6. On the contract, click "Equipment report" and try all three: the PDF, the CSV and the email. All three show the same rows.
7. Remove a piece of equipment from a contract, then go and find that asset in Asset Management. It should still be there, unchanged - removing a link never deletes anything.
8. Worth knowing: if you have more than one company set up, the equipment list on a contract only ever shows equipment from the companies you have access to, and the report is filtered the same way.

The wiki page has the full detail, including a worked example for mobile phones and SIM cards:

https://github.com/edmozley/freeitsm/wiki/Linking-Equipment-to-Contracts

One thing still on the list rather than done: a proper filter bar on the asset list, with type, status, location and contract as dropdowns, the way Tasks and Tickets have. The widened search covers the contract case for now. Shout if the filter bar is the part you actually need.