---
title: Assets
slug: concepts/assets
docTags: 5eNNX_Hobhvyt7KEHa8S7
createdAt: 2025-07-17T11:47:25.122Z
---

## What are Assets?

An **asset** is a logical representation of a physical component in your production environment such as a machine, line, tank, sensor, or entire facility.

In Factry Historian, assets are used to **organize** measurements, events, and metadata in a way that reflects your actual production setup.

## Why does it matter?

Assets provide structure and context to your data. Without them, your measurements would just be flat lists with names, which can be hard to navigate and hard to relate to real-world equipment for some people in the plant.

Therefore, setting up a proper asset hierarchy is key for making data available to many stakeholders in your organization.

With assets:

- You can assign [Measurements](docId\:XQWLEmDcNfff3-0H-GMmS), [Calculations](docId\:OpIoDkGNNgYjeDX6zkg_D) and [Events](docId:0Ith2zLcAIs5YYwhSdTjE) to specific equipment
- Dashboards and reports become more intuitive ("show me all data for Line 3")
- You can filter and drill down in a structured way

## How does it fit in the system?

Assets form a **hierarchical structure** that mirrors your plant layout. Each asset in the tree can have, regardless of its level:

- A set of asset properties, which are mapped to measurements or calculations
- One or more **Events** linked to it
- Metadata such as asset type, tags, or status
- Children or parent assets

This hierarchy is used in visualizations, dashboard variables, and alerts.

## Example

Let's say you have a site with a production line and a storage tank. Each of these, and their parents (Enterprise, Site, Area, Line) or children (Mixer), are assets. The Mixer has a Level asset property, and a Batch event (see [Events](docId:0Ith2zLcAIs5YYwhSdTjE)) linked to it. The Storage Tank has Material and Level [Asset Properties](docId\:Cr6HbrDSl8FsuVlVm20IF).

:::BlockQuote
Enterprise  
└── Site  
    └── Area A  
        └── Line 1  
        \|   └── Mixer
        \|       └── Level
        \|       └── Batch
        └── Storage Tank 1
            ├── Material
            └── Level
:::

## When you use it

You’ll interact with assets when:

- Designing your asset model during system setup, and when equipment is added or changed
- Assigning new data to machines or lines
- Creating dashboards per area or line, or when quickly browsing data ad-hoc
- Attaching events such as batches or alerts to specific equipment

Most user-facing features such as dashboards, events, and calculations are asset-aware.

## Common misconceptions

- An asset is not just a label. It has structure and can be queried and filtered.
- Assets are not always one-to-one with physical machines. Sometimes they are logical groupings such as "Packaging area".
- Measurements can be linked to multiple assets, but that should be done carefully to avoid confusion.

## Best practices

- Use your real-world equipment and layout as a starting point when designing the asset hierarchy.
- Apply consistent naming, especially when dealing with similar lines or repeated structures. Consult industry standards like [ISA-95](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI/ISA-95) when designing the asset hierarchy.
- Keep the hierarchy shallow and focused. Avoid unnecessary nesting.
- Enrich assets with metadata such as asset type, manufacturer, or production line.
- Use the bulk importing functionality

## More information

- [Creating an asset](docId\:m0Fam6gdF1Dq5EaaIMeNn)
- [Bulk asset creation and editing](docId\:wRe04QNI2tob9Hy_LKU6s)
- [Trending Assets Properties](docId\:nFccWY9aovwF8xPvni13k)