---
alias: user-guide-asset-index
tags:
- data platform
description: "Asset documentation defines a flexible abstraction for representing devices and systems within Critical Manufacturing MES"
---

# Asset

:lock: Asset.**Show**

In Critical Manufacturing MES, an **Asset** represents a high-level abstraction of a device or system object that provides a variety of data to be made available through the use of queries, dashboards or reports, as well as allowing that data to be used by external applications. An **Asset** is a flexible concept that may include physical assets (equipments, containers, sensors) or logical assets such as an application.

Similarly to the concept of entity templates in Critical Manufacturing MES, there is also the possibility of creating **Asset Templates** which are regular **Assets** that represent configuration for **Assets** and can therefore be used as a base from which **Asset** properties will be derived, while not being used as **Assets** themselves.

!!! note
    For example, an Asset Template may contain Property Definitions, but it does not contain Property values.

An **Asset Template** can be assigned to multiple **Assets** and one **Asset** may include properties and characteristics inherited from multiple **Asset Templates**.

!!! note
    The Asset Template definitions are not copied into the Assets that reference it, with the noticeable exception of the Property `Value` which effectively belongs to the Asset. The system will use all configurations as being defined in the Asset itself. Also, when modifying an Asset Template or assigning an Asset Template to a specific Asset, all the name of the properties, commands, events must remain unique within the same Asset.

**Assets** are included and can be managed by **Asset Directories**, and the data they contain can be viewed through the **Asset Browser** included in the **Data Platform** Critical Manufacturing MES menu.

**Assets** can hold multiple properties and definitions, namely:

* Property Value
* Property Definition
* Event
* Command
* Rule
* Data Set
* Dashboard
* Alert

Below you can see the data model of an **Asset**:

![Screenshot showing an asset in a directory with filename hint "data platform asset model".](../../images/data_platform_asset_model.png)