Real Asset Management International, Inc. — Asset Station

From the Dec. 2007 Review of
Fixed Asset Systems

In addition to offering asset management solutions for enterprise-level organizations
with hundreds of thousands of assets, Real Asset Management International offers
the Asset Station system, a lower-cost depreciation management program geared
for small and midsize concerns with up to 1,000 assets. The program supports
multiple currencies and languages, enabling management of multiple books per
asset, and it automatically performs calculations for traditional GAAP- and
FASB-compliant depreciation methods and conventions. Pricing for the system
starts at $499 for a single-user version. The company also offers high-end systems
for asset tracking, maintenance management, and transport and logistics.

NAVIGATION/EASE-OF-USE — 4.5 Stars
By default, Asset Station opens directly into the client asset list, which offers
a spreadsheet view of all items, with description, categories, subcategories,
purchase costs and date of capitalization, along with search, filter and sorting
options. The tabbed asset list also includes navigation functions and provides
easy-to-use add and edit tools, and it lets users jump directly to the Detail
screen, which houses the real work areas of the program. The Detail screen provides
additional tabs that enable tracking of virtually any kind of asset information.
Back to the primary master window, the user interface is exceptionally well
designed, with intuitive icons and menus for accessing primary features, along
with a vertical, expandable menu for Inquiries, Processing and Reports.

New assets can be easily added, including parent/child items, with the tabbed
data-entry screens providing abundant pull-down selection lists. Users can clone
existing assets when entering multiple like items or can set up templates. The
system provides good guidance for selection of asset classification and treatment
methods. An Import Wizard also aids in transferring asset data from other systems.
Other asset life events are similarly intuitive, with the ability to perform
changes en masse or individually. Asset Station is very customizable to user
preferences, enabling the tailoring of all detail and description fields, as
well as the setting of currencies and other regional preferences. Quick views
of multiple books for assets are available, allowing the display of books side-by-side
for comparison.

MANAGEMENT FEATURES — 4.5 Stars
Asset Station can be used in-house by businesses or by accounting professionals
who support multiple clients and subsidiary units with up to 1,000 assets. The
system can track parent/child assets, and allows splitting, unsplitting, combining,
revaluation, partial and mass dispositions, and like-kind exchanges. It allows
grouping and tracking of items by cost center, division and other options, including
by geographic location with differing currencies for the locations.

Asset Station’s calculations support multiple books that include Federal,
State, AMT, ACE and customizable books. Plus, it supports all U.S. conventions,
including MACRS, ACRS, Reducing, Non-Depreciating, Straight-Line, Variable Rate,
Digressive, Multiple Units of Production, Sum-of-the-Years’ Digits, Declining
Balance and Amortization. Asset types can include regular, farm, Indian Reservation,
Indian Farm and governmental units, in addition to others. It also supports
various conventions used in Europe and Canada. On-screen projections are easily
accessible, as are views of all asset books from one screen. Asset Station also
maintains a full-time audit trail that tracks all actions applied to an asset
over its life span.

INTEGRATION — 4 Stars
Asset Station can export to multiple common file types, including Excel spreadsheets
and plain text, allowing for a two-step export/import data transfer process
to GL and tax systems. Users can also generate reports into PDFs. As well, the
system provides an Import Wizard for pulling in asset data and opening balances
from other systems.

REPORTING — 4.5 Stars
The system offers comprehensive and customizable analysis and reporting options,
which include standard reports for asset histories, disposals, transfers, detailed
asset depreciation and yearly depreciation. Asset Station also includes annual
gross and depreciation summaries, along with a balance sheet report. All of
these reports can be output into Excel or PDF. It does not offer federal forms
output.

HELP/SUPPORT — 4 Stars
The program is very modern in design and assistance features, providing a traditional
Help utility that includes right-click and content-sensitive guidance, while
users are also provided with a getting started guide. The company’s online
support website provides little additional material, not even FAQs or tutorials.
Comprehensive tutorials are provided upon purchase. Technical assistance and
program updates are included with an annual maintenance agreement.

SUMMARY
Asset Station is essentially a lite version of the company’s very sophisticated
and high-end Asset4000 system, providing smaller businesses and professionals
with robust features and detailed depreciation calculations and projection capabilities.
The program is very attractively priced for this market and provides comprehensive
reporting and output options.

2007 Overall Rating: 4.5 Stars