# Assigning a holder to a device | Raal Help Center

> What a holder is, how to assign one, how Raal keeps one holder record per person, and how to unassign.

Source: https://raal.io/help/asset-management/assigning-a-holder-to-a-device

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Asset Management

# Assigning a holder to a device

What a holder is, how to assign one, how Raal keeps one holder record per person, and how to unassign.

2 min read Updated 8 September 2026

The **holder** is the person who currently has the device. Holders live on step 2 of the Add asset and Edit asset wizards, under **Holder and ownership**.

## A holder does not have to be a portal user

This is the part that surprises people. The wizard spells it out: "Or enter any holder below; they do not have be a portal user." A contractor, a new starter who has not been invited yet, or someone who will never log in to Raal is a perfectly normal holder. Type their details in and save.

![Step 2 of the Add asset wizard showing the find team member search above the holder name, phone and email fields](/help-images/cce39d9c01b68c6f.png)

## Assigning someone

1.  Start typing in **Find team member**. If BambooHR or another HR integration is connected the suggestions come from there, otherwise from the people in your Raal account. It matches on name, email or phone.

2.  Pick someone. Their name, business email and phone drop into the fields below, and if they have a saved address the **Country** and **Address** fill in too.

3.  Or skip the search and fill in **Holder name**, **Holder phone**, **Holder business email** and **Holder private email** by hand.

4.  Set **Assigned at** if you know when the person got the device.

5.  Save. The activity trail records "Assigned to" and the name.

Where a field can be filled from BambooHR, a small information marker sits next to the label with the note "This value may come from BambooHR via the HR integration. Please verify it."

## One person, one holder record

Raal keeps a single holder record per person per company, keyed on the **business email address**, ignoring capitalisation. So if five laptops are assigned to the same business email, they all point at the same holder, and correcting that person's phone number on one device corrects it everywhere.

**Holder private email** is extra contact detail only. It is never used to match people up, which matters when you are offboarding somebody and their work address is about to stop working.

If you enter a holder with no business email at all, Raal cannot match them to anyone, so that holder belongs to that one device.

## Unassigning

There is no Unassign button. Open **Edit asset**, clear the holder name, phone and both email fields on step 2, and save. The device shows as **Unassigned** and the trail records "Holder unassigned". A collection shipment does the same thing automatically when the device comes back.

![The Edit asset wizard on step 2 with the holder fields already filled in](/help-images/c98d181eb45e565c.png)

## Holder is not the same as owner

**Owner**, further down the same step, is not a person. It is how the device is owned, and it has three values: **Company owned**, **Leased** and **BYOD**.

## Related articles

-   [Adding an asset to the register](/asset-management/adding-an-asset-to-the-register)

-   [Orders and your asset register](/asset-management/orders-and-your-asset-register)

-   [Asset statuses and condition grades explained](/asset-management/asset-statuses-and-condition-grades-explained)

On this page

-   [A holder does not have to be a portal user](#ybz1mxtewqd)
-   [Assigning someone](#5f7kt3r4xa2)
-   [One person, one holder record](#permrrexk0t)
-   [Unassigning](#fa5wkl00zfp)
-   [Holder is not the same as owner](#txb2f3fcmsb)
-   [Related articles](#a13f0sq66yy)