An asset inventory is a list of assets containing sufficient information about the assets to physically locate and identify them.
Alternate Definitions
A list of assets considered worthy of identification as discrete assets, with information such as location such as location, design standard, construction date, maintenance history, configuration, condition, and technical details. - Austroads Glossary of Terms
A discussion on the IPWEA's AssetMates forum has come up with a number of suggested definitions, but no consensus.
- A list of all assets & items, including those with a value less than the financial capitalisation threshold.
- A list of all items with a value less than the financial capitalisation threshold.
- A list of all items with a value less than the financial capitalisation threshold, which are never-the-less judged to be worth tracking individually.
- A list of all assets of interest to an organisation, including assets not owned by the organisation.
- A list of asset types and the number of those assets owned or controlled by an organisation.
"The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary" defines inventory as; "a complete list of goods …" or "the total of a firm's commercial assets", which best agrees with (1) & (5) above.
Austroads Glossary of Terms
Austroads Glossary of Terms defines an asset inventory as "a list of assets considered worthy of identification as discrete assets, with information such as location, design standard, construction date, maintenance history, configuration, condition, and technical details."
Notes
The Roads Alliance Desirable Data Set for roads lists 81 fields under the heading of inventory.