Asset Mapping

The Asset Mapping tab is where you list, organise, and maintain all assets in a site or business area. It is the foundation of the investment planning process in Capex Strategy: the data you enter here feeds the Investment Plan and the cash flow model. Getting the Asset Mapping right is one of the most important steps in building a reliable Base Alternative.

Understanding the Asset Mapping grid

Each row in the Asset Mapping grid represents one asset. The following fields are mandatory for an asset to be valid:

Optional fields include Sub Category 1, Sub Category 2, Std. Life, Depr. Years, Description, and Distribution.

Customise the column view

1. Go to Assets and open the Asset Mapping tab.

2. Click Columns above the grid.

3. Tick or untick the columns you want to show or hide.

The logic behind Asset Mapping

Asset Mapping is an exercise that lists the assets of a company, division, or business area. In a Capex Strategy project, it is the stepping stone to building the Base Alternative: Weissr translates the information in the Asset Mapping into Investment Plans that show the investment need of a given site, year after year.

Principles to follow

• Focus on assets with a replacement value above roughly 0.5 to 1 million. A percentage of the gross asset value will be added automatically to capture smaller capex on a yearly basis.

• Assume your current products and how they are produced will remain the same in the future.

Each asset should be assessed through three questions:

When was the asset installed? (In Use Year)

Absolute accuracy is not essential. Being within plus or minus five years of reality is sufficient. If the original asset was replaced at some point, enter the year of the replacement.

How much would it cost to replace the asset today? (Amount)

Estimate the cost of buying the exact same asset today. Accuracy within plus or minus 500,000 is acceptable. More important than precision is comparability: the replacement value of a similar asset across different sites should be reasonable relative to each other.

When will the asset next be replaced or refurbished? (Replacement Year)

This is the field where accuracy matters most. Being correct within plus or minus two years will ensure that future outlays are reliable. If only part of an asset needs replacing earlier than the rest, it is recommended to create a separate replacement asset for that part and treat it as a standalone asset.

The "as is going concern" principle

In a Capex Strategy project, the investment outlays in the Base Alternative's Asset Mapping should reflect an "as is going concern" view of the business. This means the investments for each asset should:

• Include capex for safety and environmental compliance over time.

• Include capex for maintenance of current equipment over time.

• Include capex for upgrades that keep quality high enough to satisfy the current customer base.

• Include only capex that was already decided at the time of the exercise.

• Exclude speculative capex for capacity or volume expansions.

Adding assets

Create a category

A category must exist before you can add an asset to it.

1. Go to Assets and open the Asset Mapping tab.

2. In the navigation tree, stand on the sub-industry node the category should belong to.

3. Click + at the top of the tree, enter a name, and press Enter.

Add an asset

1. Go to Base Alternative / Strategic Building Block / Strategic Alternative and open the Assets tab, then select Asset Mapping.

2. Navigate to the relevant entity in the tree: Division > Site > Sub-industry > Category.

3. Fill in the mandatory fields: Category, Asset name, Amount, In Use Year, and Replacement Year.

4. Optionally, set a Sub Category, Std. Life, or Description.

5. Press Enter to save the asset.

Editing assets

Modify an asset

1. Go to Assets and open the Asset Mapping tab.

2. Navigate to the asset in the tree: Division > Site > Sub-industry > Category.

3. Double-click the cell you want to change, enter the new value, and press Enter.

All changes are reflected automatically in other tabs and parts of the model.

Modify the depreciation years of an asset

By default, Weissr applies a 10-year depreciation period to all assets. If a specific asset depreciates over a different time span, you can change this.

1. Go to Assets and open the Asset Mapping tab.

2. Navigate to the asset in the tree.

3. Find the Depr. Years column. If it is not visible, enable it via Columns.

4. Double-click the cell, enter the number of depreciation years, and press Enter.

Retiring and replacing assets

Retire an individual asset

Retiring an asset stops its reinvestments from a specified year. Use this for individual assets.

1. Go to Assets and open the Asset Mapping tab.

2. Navigate to the asset in the tree.

3. Double-click the cell in the Retired column, enter the retirement year, and press Enter.

You can verify the change by scrolling right in the Asset Mapping grid: the asset should stop generating reinvestments from the retirement year onward.

Create a replacement asset

If only part of an asset needs replacing earlier than the rest, or if you want to model a separate replacement cycle, you can create a copy of the asset and treat it as standalone.

1. Go to Assets and open the Asset Mapping tab.

2. Stand on a sub-industry or category node in the tree.

3. Click any cell of the asset you want to copy and select Copy.

4. Rename the copy and adjust its values to reflect the replacement asset.

Asset Amount Distribution

By default, Weissr places the full investment amount in a single year. If you want to spread a large reinvestment across multiple years to minimise the capex impact in any single year, use the Asset Amount Distribution (AAD) feature.

There are two ways to apply a distribution to an asset:

• Pre-defined distribution: your administrator has set up one or more named distributions with fixed percentage splits across years (for example, 20% the year before, 70% in the investment year, 10% the year after). You can select one of these from the dropdown in the Distribution column.

• Manual distribution: you define the split yourself by entering specific amounts per year directly on the asset.

👉 Learn how administrators configure pre-defined distributions

Apply a distribution to an asset

1. Go to Assets and open the Asset Mapping tab.

2. Navigate to the asset in the tree.

3. In the Distribution column, click the dropdown arrow on the asset's row.

4. Select a pre-defined distribution from the list, or click Manual to set your own split.

5. In the confirmation dialog, click Yes to proceed.

6. If you selected Manual: double-click the asset's amount. A window opens showing the In Use Year in yellow with the total amount. Enter the portion you want in each year. The amounts must sum to the full asset amount.

7. Click Save.

The Investment Map

The Investment Map tab provides a graphical view of all listed assets, stacked to give a visual overview of the total investment required per year for a given entity.

Show the Gross Operating Assets line

1. Go to Assets and click on the Investment Map link to open the Investment Map.

2. Navigate to the entity you want to view in the tree.

3. Click the greyed-out GOA button above the Investment Map grid to toggle the Gross Operating Assets line on.

Exporting the Asset Mapping

The Asset Mapping can be exported in three formats depending on what you need the data for. To export:

1. Go to Assets and open the Assets tab.

2. Navigate to the node that shows the data you want to export: Division > Site > Sub-industry > Category.

3. Click Export in the top right corner of the grid and select the format you want.