Managing Devices

Register, organize, and track equipment and devices within your systems

Overview

Devices represent individual pieces of equipment installed at a customer site — fire alarm pull stations, HVAC units, sprinkler heads, backflow preventers, or any other asset that needs tracking and inspection. Each device belongs to a system, has a unique barcode for identification, and a device type that determines its inspection schedule. You can also create device templates to speed up adding common equipment configurations.

Before You Begin

Prerequisites:

  1. You have the Devices: Create permission on your role.

  2. At least one system exists (created on a job or site).

  3. Device types are configured for the system's system option (these define what types of devices can be added).

Adding a Device

  1. Navigate to the system where you want to add the device (e.g., open a job or site, then select the system).

  2. Click the + New Device button.

  3. Enter a Barcode -- a unique identifier for this device within the system (e.g., "FA-PU-101", "SPR-3F-042"). This is required.

  4. Select a Device Type from the dropdown. Options come from the device types configured for this system's system option.

  5. Enter a Location -- a description of where the device is installed (e.g., "3rd Floor East Corridor", "Mechanical Room B").

  6. Fill in any Custom Fields if configured for your account.

  7. Click Save.

Expected result: The device appears in the system's device list. Forz sets initial inspection due dates based on the device type's configured inspection types.

Note: Barcodes must be unique within a system. You can reuse the same barcode across different systems. If you enter a duplicate barcode, Forz displays a validation error.

Creating a Device Template

Device templates let you pre-configure a device setup that you can reuse across systems. Templates are useful when you install the same equipment configuration repeatedly.

  1. Navigate to the system's device list.

  2. Click + New Device and fill in the Barcode, Device Type, and Location fields.

  3. Mark the device as a Template.

  4. Enter a Template Name to identify this template.

  5. Click Save.

Expected result: The template is saved but does not appear in the active device list. It is available when adding new devices from templates.

Tip: Templates are filtered separately from active devices. Use the templates view to manage your saved configurations.

Editing a Device

  1. Open the system that contains the device.

  2. Click the device in the list to open its detail view.

  3. Update the Barcode, Device Type, Location, or Custom Fields.

  4. Click Save.

Expected result: The device record updates. If you change the device type, inspection due dates may need to be recalculated.

Deleting a Device

Deleting a device is a soft delete — the device is discarded and its inspections are removed, but the record can be recovered from the trash bin.

  1. Open the device's detail view.

  2. Click Delete.

Expected result: The device is removed from the active list. All associated device inspection records are deleted. If this was the last device in the system, the page reloads to show the empty state.

Warning: Deleting a device permanently removes all its inspection records. This action cannot be undone from the device list -- check the trash bin if you need to recover a deleted device.

Understanding System Scope

Devices are always scoped to a system. A system belongs to a site (customer location) and has a system option that defines the available device types. This hierarchy means:

  • System Option defines which device types exist (e.g., "Fire Alarm" system option has "Pull Station", "Smoke Detector", "Horn/Strobe" device types).

  • System is an instance at a specific site (e.g., "Building A Fire Alarm System").

  • Device is a specific piece of equipment within that system (e.g., pull station FA-PU-101 on the 3rd floor).

Common Scenarios

Registering fire alarm devices during an initial survey

A technician is surveying a new commercial building and needs to register all fire alarm devices.

  1. Open the job for the fire alarm survey and navigate to the system.

  2. For each device found, click + New Device.

  3. Scan or enter the barcode from the device label (e.g., "FA-SD-201" for a smoke detector on floor 2).

  4. Select the device type ("Smoke Detector").

  5. Enter the location ("2nd Floor, Suite 201, above entrance").

  6. Save. Repeat for each device.

Adding sprinkler heads using a naming convention

A fire protection company installs sprinkler systems and uses a consistent barcode format: SPR-[Floor]-[Sequence].

  1. Open the sprinkler system on the job.

  2. Add devices with barcodes following the convention: SPR-1-001, SPR-1-002, SPR-2-001, etc.

  3. Set the device type to "Sprinkler Head" and location to the corresponding floor and zone.

Creating a template for standard HVAC rooftop units

Your company installs the same rooftop unit configuration frequently.

  1. Open any HVAC system and click + New Device.

  2. Enter the standard barcode prefix (e.g., "RTU-TEMPLATE").

  3. Select device type "Rooftop Unit".

  4. Mark as a Template and name it "Standard RTU Configuration".

  5. Save. Use this template when setting up new HVAC systems.

Troubleshooting

Problem

Solution

"Barcode has already been taken" error

Barcodes must be unique within a system. Check the existing device list for duplicates. The uniqueness check only applies to non-discarded (active) devices.

No device types available in the dropdown

Device types are configured per system option. Ask your admin to add device types in the system option configuration.

Device does not appear after saving

Check if you accidentally marked it as a template. Templates are filtered out of the active device list.

Cannot add a device -- no systems exist

Devices must belong to a system. Create a system first (via a job or site), then add devices to it.