An asset management system automatically generates and updates tool data stored in and used by the system for determining the presence or absence of tools or other inventory objects in the systems. The tool data can be automatically generated when a tool is newly added to the automated asset management system, and can be updated if and when characteristics of the tool and/or automated asset management system change. The automatic generation and updating includes automatically recognizing unique identifiers of tags located on inventory objects, automatically identifying an inventory object to associate with each unique identifier, and automatically populating a database to store each unique identifier in association with stored data for the corresponding inventory object.