How to Check Out and Check In Equipment

Equipment goes out and nobody knows when it should come back

A projector is lent for a client visit, a laptop goes home with a contractor, a van is taken for the weekend. The only record is a message, and a month later nobody remembers who has it.

When equipment does come back, nobody notes its condition. A cracked screen is discovered by the next person, and there is no way to see who had it last.

Overdue loans are found by accident, usually when someone else needs the item.

Why this happens

• Loans are agreed verbally with no return date recorded.
• Returns are not recorded, so the register still shows the old holder.
• Condition is not checked when equipment goes out or comes back.
• Reassigning an item overwrites the previous holder instead of keeping history.

Biznsbook addresses this through check-out and check-in, loans with return dates, custody history when Fixed Assets Tracking is licensed. Each physical item has one record with its own tag, and every hand-over, move, status change and note stays on that record.

Registers drift the moment an item changes hands without a record. Making Biznsbook the only place where equipment is registered, labelled and handed over keeps the list true for audits, insurance and everyday questions.

Step-by-step: Check Out and Check In Equipment

Built for fixed asset managers, IT coordinators and operations teams who keep track of company equipment in Biznsbook Fixed Assets Tracking.

1. Open the asset. Find it in the asset register, scan its label, or use Scan / look up. The Custody card shows who holds it and where it is.
2. Choose Assign or Loan. Use Check out. Assign is for ongoing use and sets the status to Deployed. Loan is for temporary use and sets the status to Loaned with an expected return date.
3. Pick the custodian. Choose an employee, a login user and/or a department. Choosing an employee fills in their linked login and department. Employees who have left the company cannot receive assets.
4. Record the details. Optionally add a position or desk, a new warehouse and storage location, the condition going out and a note such as Includes charger and bag. For a loan, check the expected return date, which defaults to your loan period.
5. Watch for overdue loans. Loans past their return date are marked Overdue in the register and listed on the dashboard, with the holder and the due date.
6. Check the asset in. When it comes back, use Check in. Record the condition on return and where it goes back to. Choosing Damaged moves the asset to Break / Fix.
7. Review the custody history. The asset page lists every custody period: who held it, assign or loan, from and to dates, condition out and in, notes, and who handled each step.

Review results after the first full monthly cycle. Adjust roles, mappings, or approvals where the same exception repeats.

Screen names in this guide match Fixed Assets Tracking in the product: Dashboard, Asset register, Add asset, Receive from PO, Scan / look up, Import register, Asset types, Disposal methods, and Tags & loans. Every screen has a Help button.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Mistake 1: Loans are agreed verbally with no return date recorded. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in overdue loans, assets nobody can find, or an audit list that has to be rebuilt.
• Mistake 2: Returns are not recorded, so the register still shows the old holder. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in overdue loans, assets nobody can find, or an audit list that has to be rebuilt.
• Mistake 3: Condition is not checked when equipment goes out or comes back. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in overdue loans, assets nobody can find, or an audit list that has to be rebuilt.
• Mistake 4: Reassigning an item overwrites the previous holder instead of keeping history. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in overdue loans, assets nobody can find, or an audit list that has to be rebuilt.

Note each recurring gap in the monthly review; each should map to a step in this guide.

Best practices that hold up as you scale

• Open the asset — Find it in the asset register, scan its label, or use Scan / look up.
• Choose Assign or Loan — Use Check out.
• Pick the custodian — Choose an employee, a login user and/or a department.
• Record the details — Optionally add a position or desk, a new warehouse and storage location, the condition going out and a note such as Includes charger and bag.
• Watch for overdue loans — Loans past their return date are marked Overdue in the register and listed on the dashboard, with the holder and the due date.

Teams that register every item once, label it the same day, and record every hand-over as a check-out or check-in can answer who has what at any moment.

How Biznsbook supports this workflow

check-out and check-in is part of Biznsbook Fixed Assets Tracking. Every asset has one record with its tag, serial, cost, vendor, warranty, location and custodian, and every status change, hand-over, move and note is kept in its timeline.

loans with return dates is part of Biznsbook Fixed Assets Tracking. Every asset has one record with its tag, serial, cost, vendor, warranty, location and custodian, and every status change, hand-over, move and note is kept in its timeline.

custody history is part of Biznsbook Fixed Assets Tracking. Every asset has one record with its tag, serial, cost, vendor, warranty, location and custodian, and every status change, hand-over, move and note is kept in its timeline.

Viewing, managing, receiving, disposing and configuring are separate permissions. A Fixed Assets Clerk can register and hand out equipment but cannot dispose of it or change settings.

Suggested implementation timeline

1. Week 1: Enable Fixed Assets Tracking, assign the Fixed Assets Manager and Clerk roles, and review asset types and the tag format.
2. Week 2: Load existing equipment and start using check-out and check-in for everything new.
3. Week 3: Print and stick labels, then check every asset out to the person or department that uses it.
4. Week 4: Review the dashboard: chase overdue loans, clear Break / Fix items, and fill in missing costs and warranties.
5. Ongoing: Monthly review using moving versus checking out and the dashboard tiles.

Related guides

Start with build a fixed asset register, then import existing assets and tag assets with QR code labels.

Day to day: check equipment out and in and assign assets to employees. Product page: Asset Tracking. Employees: HRMS.

Checking out many assets at once

Onboarding a team or equipping a site usually means issuing several items to one person or department. Select them in the asset register and use Check out: the same custodian, kind and return date are applied to each, and each asset gets its own custody period.

Check in works the same way for a batch of returns, with one condition and one return location. A summary shows how many were processed, and any asset that could not be checked out or in is listed with the reason while the rest still go through.

Status changes that are not hand-overs

Some changes are not custody changes: an asset comes back from repair, or a new asset is ready to issue. Use Change status on the asset page for those, with an optional reason. Every change is written to the asset timeline next to hand-overs and notes.

What each custody period records

A custody period starts at check-out and ends at check-in, at the next check-out, or at disposal. It records the kind of hand-over, the employee, login user and department, the position, the location, the start date, the expected return date for loans, and the end date.

It also records the condition going out and coming back, a note for each direction, and the people who opened and closed it. Only one period is open for an asset at a time.

Default loan period

The expected return date is filled in from the default loan period in Tags & loans, which starts at 14 days. You can change it per loan, but it cannot be in the past.

Metrics to track monthly

• Assets without a label or without a custodian
• Loans past their expected return date
• Assets in Break / Fix for more than a month
• Warranties expiring inside the alert window
• Assets registered without a purchase cost

Start with three metrics; trend direction matters more than a single point-in-time snapshot.

Spreadsheet register vs Biznsbook asset tracking

Compare a typical spreadsheet asset list with Biznsbook check-out and check-in and related capabilities.

Moving versus checking out

Move changes where an asset is, its warehouse and storage location, without changing who holds it, and the move is written to the asset timeline. Check out changes who holds it. An asset at a warehouse other than your default one is flagged Off site automatically.

Write this into your asset handling procedure and revisit it when you add sites, teams or asset types.

Frequently asked questions

How this differs by industry