
Asset Management
This is a guide on asset management.
Terms
AD - Active Directory
AMDB - Asset Management Database
AV - Antivirus
IMAC - Created from the first letters of Install-Move-Add-Change
IT - Information Technology
ITAM - IT Asset Management
ITIL - Information Technology Infrastructure Library
ITSM - Information Technology Service Management
KPI - Key Performance Indicator
SLA - Service Level Agreement
ITSM
IT Asset Management and IT Service Management are very closely related when it comes to IT Management, yet they do not work together as much as they could. While they might often reside within two different IT systems, organizations should look to bring them together to work for better business solutions. IT asset management and IT service management activities can be implemented to work to benefit each other, remove duplication, and ensure IT services are effectively managed and controlled. ITAM can be integrated with many ITIL processes that are included in ITSM including incident management, configuration management, change management, and service management to name a few.
Asset management integrates with incident management and helps the incident team with relevant information such as asset owner, previous asset history, and configuration details. Similarly, evaluate your asset health with details of past incident records.
ITAM assists the service request team whenever a user places a software or hardware request. The ITAM team checks whether the asset is available or not. If not available, they place a purchase request to the vendor and gets it delivered on time to the end user.
Both ITAM and ITSM have managed data repositories related to assets. In the case of ITSM, the configuration management database (CMDB) plus configuration management activities can support ITAM activities.
When creating ITAM policies, it is important to involve IT security personnel both to leverage their knowledge and whatever corporate policies are already in place. You can then decide whether you need a specific ITAM policy or if your requirements are covered in existing security or acceptable usage policies.
Integrating ITAM within change management during the risk analysis process mitigates the risks involved and the change process is defined properly based on this. ITAM provides information to a change team regarding asset location, impact, and configuration details.
Integrating ITAM into a wider ITSM strategy is undoubtedly a challenging task. As such, the best way to achieve this is by breaking this down and implementing individual ITSM processes first and prioritizing each one.
Asset Management Objectives
It is extremely important to keep our asset repositories accurate because many of our business decisions are based on this data. It helps the organization to reduce the cost that the organizations spend on purchasing new assets. Ensure assets are being used productively. It is important because it helps the organization to monitor and manage their assets using a systematic approach. Enables successful completion of IT asset refresh cycle. Enables more efficient IMAC and break/fix processes. Determines the need for procurement of maintenance contracts and software licenses. It helps in avoiding non-compliance during internal and external audits.
ITAM Lifecycle
In the first phase of asset lifecycle, the need for an asset is identified.
This phase is also called procurement where an asset is acquired.
The asset has moved into the usage stage, where it provides the intended service to your organization. Maintenance and upgrade should be provided routinely.
Device in use must be tracked and accounted for across the lifecycle.
When an asset has reached the end of its useful life, or its operational/maintenance costs have become too high, the asset is disposed.
Asset Tagging
Asset tagging is the process of applying a label to an asset that serves as its identifier and which can then be scanned to get essential information about that item, including its description, location, usage history, serial numbers, performance metrics, and other custom information.
When it comes to physical assets, asset tags are literal tags that are attached to items and feature a bar code or other means for digitally scanning the label. When this label is scanned with a mobile device or dedicated barcode scanner, an employee is presented with all the saved information about that device. For companies that use a check-in/check0out system for assets, scanning can also be used to that effect.
Asset tagging is most important for items that are used in multiple locations and departments, allowing their location and chain of use to be tracked. However, there are also other uses for asset tagging, for example, it is a quick way to indicate that a given item needs maintenance, updating, or other service.
Benefits of Asset Tagging
To fully understand why asset tagging matters for your IT department and business as a whole, think of it as more than just a way to determine where a specific item should be located.
Asset tagging is the first step in establishing an efficient system for managing your IT inventory and ensuring that every item is available when, where, and by whoever needs it. This is essential at companies that loan out IT equipment to specific employees throughout the company as well as any organization that uses IT equipment as tools in day to day operations of their business.
Asset tagging is vital when it comes to warranty issues. When assets are properly tagged and associated with relevant warranty information, it is simple to see when an issue is covered by a warranty and take the necessary next steps.
Finally, asset tagging is a matter of security and loss prevention. Not only does it help protect against unknown theft by providing a record of what assets your IT department owns and who they were last checked out to, it helps provide accountability to reduce misplaced items by ensuring that the responsibility is placed on whoever used the item most recently.
Asset Evergreen
The asset evergreen process provides a proactive approach to track and monitor asset accuracy throughout the lifecycle of an asset. Some advantages of the asset evergreen process: identify data inaccuracies, identify missing data, take corrective action, and improve data integrity.
Asset Reconciliation
Asset reconciliation is a process wherein asset database is matched or reconciled with discovery tools based on the findings, appropriate actions are taken.
Standard Hardware Reports
All assets - all deployed and stockroom assets
Warranty expiry report - 12 month rolling warranty expiration forecast schedule.
Deployed assets undiscovered - assets that have not been discovered, received, or had a service desk ticket in the last 180 days.
Stockroom report - assets that are aging in the stockroom
Retired assets report - assets that have been retired and are pending disposal
Hardware Asset Management SLA
A service level agreement is an agreement between two parties regarding a service. Apparently, SLA must contain quantitative measurements that represent a desired and mutually agreed state of service, provide additional boundaries of a service scope, and describe agreed and guaranteed minimal service performance.
Hardware Management KPI
Key performance indicators are metrics that target service providers organization objectives, both tactical and strategic. Usually, these metrics are used to measure efficiency and effectiveness of a service and service operation status. Service level agreements and key performance indicators are closely related but clearly different. An SLA is forward looking while KPIs focus on past performance. Your SLA will set benchamarks ahead of time for you to measure performance. The KPIs you choose will measure the performance of your business against those benchmarks as time passes.