Physical items are those which make up a physical arrangement, either as single components, complete items or systems, or subsets of these.

In AssetWise, a physical item is defined as an entity that may be procured, designed, manufactured, or maintained, or as an asset (or plant) used to generate income. It may comprise hardware, software or firmware, which is built, operated or maintained as part of the enterprise processes.

Physical items are identified by a prime identifier comprising of a number, and, if necessary, a version. You can number any object in any way, provided the numbers are unique.

Two common conventions are used to identify physical items.

1. The Item Concept number, where an internal identifier is used to define a specific item's fit, form and function and this definition is broad enough to be satisfied by numerous vendor supplied items that fully satisfy this definition (substitutable models). For example, Item: SSI1234 - 17" Color CRT Computer Monitor, can be sourced from various manufacturers.
2. The item Given Number which uses the item number allocated it by the originating organization. An item with a definite model number. For example, Item: LN-17E - DigiView 17" Color Monitor (may even have a serialized instance of this item).