How to record CapEx metadata on equipment
Calira lets you store purchase and financial metadata directly on each piece of equipment. This gives lab operations and finance teams a single source of truth for what was purchased, when, at what cost, and from whom, without maintaining separate records. This information is only visible on the equipment details page to admins and instructors assigned to the equipment.
What CapEx metadata you can record
On any equipment entry, you can store the following financial fields:
- Purchase date
- Purchase price
- Manufacturer
- Model
- Year of manufacture
- Serial number
The Manufacturer and Model fields are mandatory; the rest of the fields are optional. You can fill in as many or as few as are relevant for your reporting needs.
Click here to read more about managing equipment metadata.
Adding metadata to equipment
- Go to Equipment and open the equipment details page for the instrument
- Click Edit equipment
- Select to Show optional details
- Enter the relevant details
- Click Save changes
You can add this information when first creating equipment or update it later. Existing booking data and usage history are unaffected.
Using CapEx metadata in reports
Once purchase metadata is recorded, it appears in reports alongside utilisation data. This enables calculations like:
- Cost per booking: purchase price divided by total bookings over a period
- Cost per hour of use: purchase price divided by total booked hours
- ROI indicators: compare instruments purchased at similar cost to see which delivers more value
These figures help you build the case for new equipment purchases or identify instruments that are not delivering return on investment.
For more on data analysis and reporting, read our data analysis page.
Who can see and edit CapEx metadata
- Organisation Admins and Lab Admins can view and edit purchase metadata on any equipment in their scope
- Researchers cannot see financial fields by default; this keeps sensitive cost data private
Best practices
- Record CapEx metadata at the point of equipment creation; it is easiest to capture purchase details when the instrument is first added
- Use consistent naming for suppliers and funding sources so you can filter and group effectively in reports
- Pair CapEx metadata with service contract tracking for a complete financial picture of each instrument