Asset registers remain a major challenge for facilities managers

Only 9% of facilities management professionals believe their asset registers are fully accurate and up to date, according to new industry research published by industry standards body SFG20. 37% said their registers were at most 50% accurate, and 6% said their organisation had no asset register at all.

The State of Facilities Management Report 2025 surveyed 190 professionals across a range of sectors and found widespread issues with the way organisations record, manage, and maintain information about the assets in their buildings. While accurate asset registers are critical for compliance, maintenance planning and cost control, the report found that 34% of professionals either do not update their registers or are unsure how often they are updated.

Just 22% of organisations update their asset register monthly, while 28% do so annually.

The survey identified asset registers as the top investment priority for facilities management professionals over the next three years, reflecting growing awareness of the impact poor data quality has on operations. Inaccurate or incomplete registers lead to inefficient maintenance planning and increased risk of non-compliance, according to SFG20.

Adoption of digital tools across the facilities management sector remains inconsistent. While 57% of respondents said they store their asset register using dedicated software, 31% still rely on spreadsheets and 5% use a mix of spreadsheets, software, and paper-based records. Organisations using software reported 25% higher accuracy than those using other formats.

The findings suggest that while digital tools are available, many facilities management teams still face challenges in maintaining a single, accurate and accessible source of asset data – something SFG20 says is essential for meeting future regulatory and operational demands.

Davy Clark, implementation consultant at SFG20, says:

“One of the most common issues we encounter is the lack of consistency and specificity in asset registers. Too often, assets are recorded with vague descriptions like ‘boiler’ or ‘pump,’ making it incredibly difficult to map them to the correct maintenance tasks.

“Several factors contribute to this challenge, including the collection of asset data across large estates, which may have been surveyed at different points in time and by different people, causing inconsistencies in data quality and accuracy.

“This leads to inefficiencies, increased risk, and compliance challenges. Ensuring asset data is consistently structured, complete, and digitally maintained in a single source of truth is essential—not only for effective planned maintenance but also for long-term cost savings and compliance.”