The Location Prefix feature was added to AssetCloud in May 2018, expanding the original 2-level Site-Location scheme.
Location Prefix allows for multi-level location hierarchy, beneath the Site, which is the highest level. A Location's Parent Location is set when creating or editing a Location.
When using AssetCloud:
Location Prefix: refers to the full hierarchical structure above a specific Location, with each Prefix separated by backslashes.
Parent Location: refers to a single Location directly above or containing a specific Location.
The following example uses the structure of a building to illustrate these terms.
Site: Longhorn Building
Location: Warehouse. Location Prefix: none; Parent Location: none.
Location: Row A. Location Prefix: Warehouse; Parent Location: Warehouse.
Location: Shelf 1. Location Prefix: Warehouse\Row A; Parent Location: Row A.
Location: Yellow Bin. Location Prefix: Warehouse\Row A\Shelf 1; Parent Location: Shelf 1.
Since the Warehouse has multiple rows, each with multiple shelves & bins, these are other possible Location Prefixes (all within the site of Longhorn Building):
Warehouse\Row B\Shelf 2\Blue Bin
Warehouse\Row W\Alice's Shelf\Trash Bin
Warehouse\Printer Row\Shelf 1\Print Head Bin
The location hierarchy that is created is similar to the folder structure on a computer's drive, as illustrated below:
Location Prefix and Reports: The location_prefix field should have been added to most of the reports already. If it's not showing up, the user will need to reset the report, or manually add the field to the report.
For example, when designing the Asset By Location Report, it shows {SpAssetInfo.location_prefix}, which is the Location Prefix name as entered by the user when setting up the location. Full path in Dictionary: Data Sources, WaspDB2012 [MS SQL], SpAssetInfo, location_prefix.
Limits:
There is not a specified limit on the number of nested location levels, and the Location Prefix field's character length limit is theoretically 512.
As a practical matter, keep the total Location Prefix length under about 430. When attempting to Save a new location that would result in a Location Prefix greater than this, the screen may simply refresh, with no error displayed, and the location will not actually get saved.