The Equipment Inventory lists all workstations, printers, servers and network components in the IT infrastructure. Data inventory can be collected automatically using a discovery tool, or it can be entered manually for undetected equipment.

Example

• Relationship between equipment and the CMDB:
  • Oracle server S131 hosts different applications: SAP, expense account, payroll software, etc.
  • Server downtime will lead to the unavailability of these applications. The equipment is therefore managed both in the Equipment Inventory and as a CI in the CMDB.

Notes

• When an item of equipment is created:
  • Certain information is inherited from the model defined in the catalog.
  • The location and department of the main user will automatically be proposed.

• Equipment SLA:
  • If an SLA is associated with the equipment type, it will apply to all incidents related to the equipment.
  • If several SLAs are associated with the equipment, the one with the shortest resolution time will be applicable.

Caution

• The asset tag is used to identify an item of equipment during its entire life span in the IT infrastructure. You should only modify it if there is a data entry error.
• When you delete a form, the action is final. If you want to keep the form without making it available in , you can archive it by running the Discard wizard. You can then view it using the Archived filter.

Best Practice

• We recommend that you use the Delivery Reception wizard.
  • Unlike the standard creation procedure where you are required to complete information in different tabs, this wizard enables you to specify general information on the equipment, financial data and attributes. It also enables you to generate bar codes if you have to create several items of equipment for a given supplier.  See the procedure.
  • It can also be used to perform stock entry for several items of equipment.

• Modifications made to models in the catalog will automatically be propagated to existing equipment. Make corrections at this level only if there are specific conditions not to be included in the catalog.
• If the status of the equipment is To be checked, select Asset Management > Administration > Inventory Anomalies to make the relevant corrections so that the equipment is correctly referenced in .
• To see all equipment under the responsibility of the main user, open the Employee form and select the Equipment tab.
• Because software can be installed or reinstalled frequently on equipment, you should specify the licenses installed on servers so that you can see the technical configuration required prior to network deployment.
• If an item of equipment is no longer used:
  • Run the Discard wizard to keep it with the Archived status. Enter a discard date and specify the status to indicate the reason for discarding the item of equipment.
  • Run the Delete wizard only if you do not want to keep the Equipment form.
• To view equipment removed from the IT infrastructure, use the Archived filter.

Click to see the general principles for updating tabs.

Asset Tag: Unique identifier placed on an item of equipment using a label or bar code when it is added to stock. This identifier does not change during the entire life span of the equipment even if it is moved or discarded.

Status: Status indicating the condition of the item of equipment and its availability, e.g. active, out of order, etc.

Type: Type (full path displayed) associated with the current object.

Model: Model associated with the equipment from which certain catalog information is inherited.

• Update: Detected by the automatic discovery tool when the information is in the workstation BIOS.

Manufacturer: Brand of the current object.

Standard Build: Standard build of the workstation, defining the list of software that should be installed based on workstation usage. This list should be compared with the list of software actually installed on the workstation using the Installed Software tab. 

• Only active standard builds will be proposed.

Network Identifier: NetBIOS name of the resource used to identify it within the network.

• When a remote access software is installed, the hotline can use  to connect directly to it when troubleshooting.

Main User: Employee responsible for the equipment and who must be able to return the equipment in its initial condition.

Serial Number: Serial number of the equipment, attributed by the supplier.

• Certain items of equipment such as assembled PCs do not have any serial number.

Location: Location where the current object is physically stored.

Department: Department associated with the current object.

Warranty Type: Type of warranty for the equipment.

Critical Level: Value that warns the IT Department of the sensitivity of the current object when processing incidents or requests, indicated by  displayed in the form. The higher the critical level, the higher the object's processing priority.

End of Warranty: Date on which the equipment is no longer covered by the warranty. 

• It is automatically calculated when the equipment is created by applying the duration of the warranty (inherited from the model) to the Delivery Date indicated in the Financial Data tab.

SLA: SLA applicable to all incidents or requests related to the current object, used to calculate processing time for the IT Department.

Installation Date: Date on which the equipment was installed in the IT infrastructure.

Discard Date: Date on which the equipment was permanently removed from the IT infrastructure. 

• When this date is reached, the status of the equipment in the inventory will be Archived.
• Update: Use the form or run the Discard wizard.

Last Automatic Inventory: Date of the last automatic inventory of the equipment updated using a discovery tool.

Last Physical Inventory: Date of the last manual control inventory for the equipment.

Comment: Comments on the form. You can also add images or tables in this field using HTML tags.

Data on the purchase, depreciation, renewal and charge back of the current object.

example  8 cores for 2 quad core processors.

List of information on the current object detected by an automatic discovery tool.

Details of the current object's charge back to the relevant cost centers. The amount charged back can be broken down by cost center calculated using their sharing value coefficient.  See the examples.

List of invoices linked to the current object.

• Update: Run the Invoice wizard.

List of documents associated with the current object.

• Update: In this tab.  See the Description.

List of discussions associated with the current object.

• Users can access discussions based on their domain and the visibility of the discussion. Users must also belong to a group authorized to take part in discussions, i.e. in the Group form, the Discussion Enabled box must be selected.
• Enter the keywords you want in the Search field and press < Enter >.
• To cancel the search criteria and return to the complete list of discussions, provided you have the relevant rights, click within the box and then click .

List of software installed on the current object.

• Different reports are used to display the differences between the required configuration and the software actually installed on workstations.
• Update: Use the automatic discovery tool via detection rules defined for software or in this tab when software cannot be detected, e.g. printer drivers. You can also use an integration model based on the Software connector.

List of licenses associated with the current object.

• Update: In this tab or run the Link to a License wizard or in License forms > Related Equipment tab. You can also use an integration model based on the Relationships Equipment Licenses connector.

List of other equipment locally associated with the current object.

• Update: In this tab. You can also use an integration model based on the Relationships Equipment Equipment by Asset Tag or Relationships Equipment Equipment by Serial Number connector.

 To associate several items of equipment with a given contract, display the Equipment Inventory in List mode, select the equipment you want and run the Link to a Contract wizard.

List of all modifications made to the form. 

• The fields taken into account are defined using rules in the history of changes.
• This is in the AM_ASSET table.

List of release projects linked to the current object.

• Update: In this tab or in the Transition > Release Projects forms > All CI tab.

List of attributes linked to the current object.

List of capacities linked to the current object.

List of incidents associated with the current object.

• Update: In Incident forms.

List of service requests linked to the current object.

• Update: In Service Request forms.

List of change requests linked to the current object.

• Update: In Change Request forms.

List of actions associated with the current object.

• Update: In Incident/Request forms when an action linked to the current object is created.

List of problems associated with the current object.

• Update: In Problem forms.

List of known errors associated with the current object.

• Update: In Known Error forms.

List of events associated with the current object.

example  Toner cartridge delivered with a printer, or a mouse delivered with a computer.

List of projects linked to the current object.

• Only project managers can associate a project with the current object. If this is not the case, no projects will appear in the list.

Note: When the uniqueness check is activated for the asset tag, an error message will be displayed if there is a duplicate.