Simply put, an Area is a user-defined physical location that has some noteworthy properties in Tracmor: it both creates a location identifier, and it provides a level of control when applied to limiting user permissions to specific Areas and Locations.

In Tracmor's location identifier hierarchy, Area stacks up like this:

Areas are user-defined to enable you to set up the level of specificity your organization requires. The following scenarios show Area defined at both a macro and micro scale — from cities and building types, to a room or a shelf in a room.

Note: Locations are also defined to illustrate how they fit into the hierarchy as you begin planning your asset and inventory location identifiers.

As you define areas, also keep in mind how they may apply to user permissions that you apply to those areas. This allows you to track many types of assets, segmented by your organization's needs.

For instance,

for an Area defined as "Headquarters," you may want to create one or more roles (and users) for IT personnel to manage computer hardware
for an Area defined as "Field Equipment Storage" you may want to create one or more roles (and users) to manage field equipment
for an Area defined as "Office Supplies," you may want to create one or more roles (and users) for office administrators to oversee inventory items such copier paper and other "disposables"

This article describes:

Finding the menu options
Creating one new area
Importing a list of areas
Deleting areas
Exporting a list of areas
Editing area information
Archiving areas
Related articles

Finding the menu options

All options regarding Area are accessed from the the side menu by clicking on Admin (near the bottom).

On the Admin sub-menu, Areas is near the bottom.

Note: If the side menu is not visible, click on the square to the left of Global Search at the top of the screen. Clicking on this icon allows you to show and hide the side menu.

Click on Areas to open this view:

Note: The options that can be accessed via the icons in the upper right corner include adding, importing, exporting, archiving, and deleting locations, as described below.

Creating one new area

To create one new area, start by clicking on Admin>Areas (from the side menu) and then click on the blue plus icon.

All fields in the Create Area dialog box are required:

Select the country from the dropdown menu
Select the state from the dropdown menu (or add a new state by clicking on the (blue) plus icon)
Add the Area Name. As described in the introduction, the Area Name can be mapped at any scale that describes where your assets are located (also keep in mind who will manage that location if you restrict permissions to that Area for specific users).

Click on Save and you will see the new area at the top of the Area List.

Importing a list of areas

To import a list of areas, start by clicking on Admin>Areas (from the side menu) and then clicking on the (green) down arrow icon.

Having clicked on the down arrow icon, you will arrive at a dialog box from which you can download a standard file to import areas by clicking on the (tan) download icon.

Note: Clicking on the blue icon to the right of the standard file icon displays a list of files previously imported.

Open the downloaded file, preferably in MS Excel. Note that the column headings match the fields in the Create Area dialog box. Every field is required.

Area Name. As described in the introduction, the Area Name can be mapped at any scale that describes where your assets are located (also keep in mind who will manage that location if you restrict permissions to that Area for specific users).
Country Name. Use only the country names already in Tracmor; if unsure, check the dropdown menu described in the previous section.
State Name. Use only State Names already in Tracmor (US states and Canadian provinces are built-in) or the state names that you created. Spell out the state name; do not use the abbreviation.

Note: Do not skip any rows.

Save the file with a descriptive name.

Click on Choose File to navigate to the saved file, and once you have chosen the file and the file name is listed in place of [No file chosen], click on Upload File.

Once the file is uploaded, you will receive a status report via the Imported File List. If any areas were not successfully imported, the number will be indicated under the column heading “Skipped.”

Note: Clicking Undo removes the imported values. This option is only available for the most recent import.

To determine the error, download the file by clicking on the link in the "Skipped" column. In the example above, clicking on the number "1" in red downloads a file with the error message.

Deleting areas

You can delete areas as follows:

One at a time while editing (see below)
Mass delete by either
- Clicking on the check box to the left of each area on the Area List view
- Creating a filtered list using the search function; filter by Area Name, Country, State, or Archived status, as shown below. Click on Apply Filter, then either select the items of interest or all items by clicking on the check box at the top of the column, as shown by the red arrow in the lower left corner.

Once your selections have been made, click on the red "trash" icon. You will be asked to confirm the delete request. Once you confirm, the item will deleted and no longer appear in the list.

Exporting a list of areas

If you need a record of your areas, you can export them by clicking on the export icon in the upper right corner. The list downloads as an MS Excel spreadsheet and includes all areas, states, and countries.

Note: The spreadsheet is password protected and cannot be edited without the password that Tracmor sent to your account admin.

Editing area information

To edit the information in fields for an area already created, navigate to Admin>Areas.

Click on the Area Name of interest in list view to arrive at these options: Edit, Delete, or Cancel.

Click on Edit to select different options, including adding a new State:

Click on Save of upload your changes.

Archiving areas

Applying a filter using the search function is a quick way of creating a list of items you may want to archive or un-archive. Once you have created a filtered list as described above, you can select items by clicking the check box next to each item.

Note: Clicking the check box at the top of the column selects all items in the list.

To archive (or unarchive) the selected items, click on the yellow icon (in upper right corner).