Establishing Equipment Custodians
This guide outlines the steps to establish an Equipment Custodian, including required training resources to become familiar with the acquisition, use, upkeep, tracking, and disposition of capitalized assets.
Key Concepts
Equipment Custodians are assigned by departments and are responsible for providing current equipment information including physical location, custody code, disposal, and sales.
UCOP and Federal Regulations require that campus departments perform a physical verification of all capitalized assets listed in the UCSF asset management database system every two years. This is essential for continued federal, state, and private donor funding of operations and research projects. Equipment custodians are charged with conducting the physical inventory on a biannually-scheduled basis.
New Equipment Custodian Responsibilities
New Equipment Custodians must take the following steps to become familiar with the acquisition, use, upkeep, tracking and disposition of capitalized assets:
- Take the “Capital Asset Management - Capital Equipment Custodian Online Training" immediately upon being assigned the Equipment Custodian role.
- Review all pertinent policies (including BUS-29: Management and Control of University Equipment and BUS-38: Disposition of Excess Property and Transfer of University Owned Property) and if appropriate, any funding agency policies and guidelines.
- Review the Equipment Information Modification Request (EIMR) Process to understand when it should be used to report capitalized assets that have been lost, stolen, destroyed, requested for surplus, and more.
- Understand the policies and procedures for Disposal of Capital Equipment.
- Learn how to perform your physical verification of capitalized assets during the biennial physical inventory verification.
- Become familiar with Supply Chain Management's guidance(opens in new window)on capital equipment purchases using BearBuy.
Additional resources of interest to equipment custodians include:
- Review the processes on the Equipment Management service page of the Controller's Office website for step-by-step guides, references, and other resources you'll need in your role as an equipment custodian.
- Capital Equipment Codes and Schedules (we recommend bookmarking this resource page for quick access to the following resources):
- Physical Inventory Schedule - lists equipment custodian, department, and start date for the two-year physical inventory cycle
- Building Codes - lists building, street address, and building code
- Equipment Account Codes - lists the description for each equipment related Account code
- Equipment Custody Codes - lists custody codes, descriptions, custodians, and departments
- Useful Life Indices for Equipment Depreciation - links to the schedule maintained on the University of California, Office of the President (UCOP) Purchasing Services website. You can search by Capital Sequence Index, EQ Code Sequence Index, or keyword.
- Viewing Asset Management Reports in MyReports
Assigning or Changing Equipment Custodian Responsibility
When a new custodian is assigned responsibility by a department, the department must:
- Submit a completed Equipment Custodian & Custody Code Maintenance Form to Capital Accounting.
- Submit a request for access to the PeopleSoft Asset Management module.
- Department Access Administrators must use the Access Management Application to request access for the new custodian.
- Request access to the PeopleSoft role ZAM_CUSTODIAN_FR.
Assigning a Custodial Delegate
Departments may also assign Custodial Delegates to assist Equipment Custodians with limited functions, including updating information in PeopleSoft or initiating the Equipment Inventory Modification Request (EIMR) process on the custodian's behalf. A delegate may only work on assets that the Custodian assigns.
To assign a Custodial Delegate, Department Access Administrators must use the Access Management Application to request access to the PeopleSoft role ZAM_CUST_DELEGATE_FR.