It Asset Management Guide

Contents
Introduction
01
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Build Your Inventory Using Multiple Discovery Sources
03
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Track the Complete Life Cycle of Assets
05
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manage Software and Licenses in one Place
07
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make ITAM Work with Other ITIL Processes
08
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keep Tabs on the Metrics That Matter
09
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conduct Self Audits
11
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continuously Improve, Because ITAM Is an Ongoing Battle
13
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
15
INTRODUCTION
Without a solid plan and a streamlined process, it
is difficult to track and manage all your hardware,
software, virtual, and non-IT assets from one place.
ITAM offers fourfold benefit to your IT
of your IT environment. It plays a vital role in
Therefore, implementing an IT asset management
helping an organization define and control its
(ITAM) process is the right thing to do. It also brings

you plenty of benefits. It can help you cut down
extra maintenance costs, use licenses optimally,
IT infrastructure, from scratch.
sets affected due to an incident, problem, or
risks, gear up for audits, increase the efficiency of
change. It helps in identifying the impact of
other ITIL processes, make effective purchasing deThese seven IT asset management best practices
incidents and performing a root cause analysis.
age your IT assets.
An ITAM process helps you
Quantify the total value of unused hardware

and software applications. This helps optimize
asset usage and cut down extra maintenance
costs.
Identify stolen hardware and software applications. According to Gartner, about five percent
of assets are stolen annually. To minimize the
losses due to theft, you should be able to identify and replace the stolen components as soon
as possible.
Plan for the future. You can assess the adverse

impact of aging hardware on IT and avoid unprecedented losses. This helps you make decisions on new asset purchases and dispose or
repair aging equipment.
risks.
Reduces unwanted IT spending by optimizing

asset usage and controlling IT asset purchases.
Three interesting stories on ITAM

Lets take a look at three interesting stories on ITAM.
The first story talks of how ITAM helped curb IT
spending. A large medical institution in California
wanted to consolidate its IT assets, which were
scattered, with licenses lying unused and with several other problems.The company wanted answers
for the following:
Is the company using all the licenses it had?
Is the company using servers that it was

unaware of?
01 - Whitepaper - 7 Step Guide to IT Asset Management Success

www.servicedeskplus.com
Helps your organization stay compliant, gear

up for audits, and reduce legal and security
will help you overcome ITAM challenges, reap maximum benefits, and revolutionize the way you man-
Offers support to other ITIL processes by providing accurate information about the as-
reduce the number of unused assets and security
cisions, formulate precise budgets, and do more.
Offers visibility by providing an in depth view
Is the company maintaining unused hardware?
The companys goal was to cut unwanted mainte-
The third story talks of how an effective ITAM pro-
nance of assets, reduce license fees, and optimize
cess saved the day for Marriott. The hotel was de-
the use of existing licenses. Answers to these ques-
stroyed completely in the 9/11 attacks, as was its
tions helped the company save three million dol-
main server, which had sensitive client and staff
lars in just three years.
data. An organization named Tangram was hired to

recover the lost data. Tangram was easily able to get
The second story is about what might happen
the original server configuration details through an
when you dont have an effective ITAM in place. The
inventory tool that Marriott was already using. A
Department of Justice in London lost sensitive pris-
backup server was quickly replicated, and the data
oner data and was fined 180,000 euros. The prison
was retrieved successfully.
authorities had failed to turn on the encryption

mechanism on their hard disks. They also did not
have a proper system to track and maintain hardware assets, risking the security of sensitive data.

01
BUILD YOUR INVENTORY USING

MULTIPLE DISCOVERY SOURCES
Goal: To identify what and where your assets are, so that you can classify them and gain better visibility.
The bottom line is to discover and track every asset
The third step is to ensure that your mobile as-
in your organization. Lets look at a three-step
sets are tracked as well. Initially, you may not have
approach to do this.
a Bring Your Own Device policy in place, but you

can always start by asking users to register their
The first step is to discover the assets inside your
personal devices for MDM tracking. These person-
home network. You can use the Windows domain
al devices are on and off the home network, and
or network scan, depending on the types of devices
therefore require dynamic discovery techniques.
you are looking to discover and track. If your assets

are scattered across multiple sites, use the distrib-
An advantage of using MDM is that it reduces the
uted asset scan to get the information you need.
adverse effects of shadow IT.
WINDOWS DOMAIN SCAN

Windows devices
NETWORK SCAN
Linux, Solaris
Mac, AIX
VMHost machines
Printers
Routers & Switches
Figure 1: Types of devices that can be scanned using
There is always a dilemma between choosing

agent-based and agentless discovery techniques. It
is advisable to use a combination of both to achieve
the best results.
The agent-based discovery technique:
your assets.
Windows domain and network scans
Can be used to scan devices that are mobile

and outside your home network.
The second step is to discover assets outside your

home network. This is where agent-based scans
Gives you precise and comprehensive detail of
Requires minimal infrastructure to perform
come in handy. You need to deploy agents on your
scans and leaves behind a minimal footprint
workstations to scan the machine information and
on the scanned asset.
send the information back to your central server.
On subsequent scans, the agent scans your assets

for changes sends out only the differential data to
the ServiceDesk Plus database, reducing the burden on the ServiceDesk Plus server and your network.

Can be used to selectively scan individual

workstations that have undergone a change.
The agentless discovery technique:
Is a light-weight, non-invasive method because authentication is not required.
Requires very minimal implementation time.
Incurs no extra cost for installation, maintenance, or upgrades.
Requires all devices to be in the network and switched on.
It is important that you know everything about your assets. You need to capture as much asset information
as possible to help you drive critical decisions later. Here are some basic hardware and software parameters
that you should track.
HARDWARE ASSET PARAMETERS
SOFTWARE ASSET PARAMETERS
Configuration item type

Current state of the asset
Cost of acquiring
Name of the vendor
Warranty expiration date
Version number of the software

Number of installations of the software
Name of the manufacturer
Category & sub-category the software falls under
Figure 2: Asset parameters
To access assets easily, without tedious searching, you typically need to classify them under three sections,
as depicted below.
HARDWARE ASSETS
Servers
Workstations
Printers
Scanners
Router
Smart phones
Tablets
VM and VM hosts
ASSET COMPONENTS
Keyboard
Mouse
Webcam
Projectors
Figure 3: Asset classification

SOFTWARE ASSETS
Software
Software licenses and
Service packs
02
TRACK THE COMPLETE LIFE CYCLE

OF ASSETS
Goal: To know the current state of each asset in your environment.
Organization have their unique asset procurement,
In the above diagram, an asset is initially requested
maintenance, and disposal policies. You need to
by a department or a user. A purchase request is
frame an asset life cycle to cover all stages of an
then raised and sent for approval. Upon approval
asset in your organization. Each asset stage can
of the purchase request, the asset is procured and
have one or more states associated to it.
installed in the IT environment. The asset is then

put to use by mapping it to a user. If the asset needs
to be repaired or is not currently in use, it is placed
in storage. Finally, if the asset has expired or depre-
Request for asset (requested)
ciated, a decision must be made to either dispose

or reuse the asset.
Approval (waiting for approval, approved)
Another important task is to track asset states meProcurement (purchased, leased)
ticulously because they are dynamic in nature. For

example, a workstation can be used for a couple of
Deployment (in installation, installed)
days and then kept in storage until the next need

arises. Therefore, it is important that you periodi-
Usage (in use)
Storage (in store, in repair)
cally refresh your asset states and stay current.

Advancements in technology have benefited us
with asset tagging concepts like barcodes, RFID,
Expiration (expired/depreciated)
and GPS, which simplify tracking assets. These asset tagging concepts help reconcile ownership,
Disposal (disposed)
location, and configuration of hardware assets continuously.
Figure 4: A typical asset life cycle configuration along

with the associated asset states

Lets take a look at the benefits of tracking assets.
You can plan ahead for any surge in

IT asset requirement
Asset data becomes more reliable

Having updated and accurate information about
your assets, at any given point in time, helps you
make the right decisions.
It offers scalability
As your organization grows in size, the number of IT
assets required to support your business operations
increases. A proper IT asset tracking process helps
you track and maintain assets with minimal effort,
regardless of what the numbers are. This allows your
help desk staff to concentrate on resolving issues
than tracking the assets.

Lets use the example of Walmart. During its peak

season, the company hires temporary staff to meet
the extra demand. This, in turn, causes a spike in
gadget requirement. The company needs to have
an optimal buffer stock of gadgets to run its business without interruption. This estimate of the buffer stock can only be easily identified if the existing
assets are tracked properly.
03
MANAGE SOFTWARE AND LICENSES

IN ONE PLACE
Goal: Optimize software license usage, stay compliant, and ensure timely renewals.
Here are some simple steps to ensure that you stay
installations, the licenses available, and the licenses
software compliant.
already allocated. Analyzing this data will help you

determine your software compliance level. Do not
Study existing software and licenses
panic if the numbers do not tally initially because

very few organizations can be perfect the first time.
Scan and identify all your existing license details

and deployments. Learn what type of licenses you
own, when they will expire, and if they are linked to
any contracts.
Choose license types that will suit

your needs
Ensure software compliance by either

purchasing new licenses or deleting
existing software applications
This, again, is a time-consuming process, but a necessary evil. Do not be even slightly over or under
compliant because it would either induce a heavy
You will have a wide choice of license types such
penalty or increase your total cost of ownership. It
as volume, individual, OEM, CAL, concurrent, and
is advisable to have real-time dashboards to meas-
perpetual to choose from. You need to do your re-
ure and track software compliance metrics.
search to identify the type or combination of types

that would best suit your organization, based on
the type of software you own. For example, trial
software would need a temporary license, whereas core software, such as a coding platform, would
need a perpetual license.
Reconcile licenses
This is the most tedious task in ITAM because it involves a lot of manual effort. If you are using a software asset management tool, you will be able to
record three important details: the number of

04
MAKE ITAM WORK WITH OTHER

ITIL PROCESSES
Goal: To understand how your IT infrastructure is mapped to other business services.
Here are a few prerequisites for an effective ITAMITSM integration. Make sure your technicians and
ITAM influences other ITIL processes

such as
end users adhere to these prerequisites.
Make sure to map your workstations

to end users
Mapping your workstations can help you effectively
track and manage a specific end users workstation
for quick analysis. You will also have a count of
workstations that are currently in use, which can
Incident management
ITAM provides key diagnostic information about
assets used by the requester. It also helps technicians access any workstation, via a remote control
feature to troubleshoot issues.
Problem management
help you tackle fluctuations during ad hoc asset
ITAM provides diagnostic information to perform
requirements.
root cause analysis.
Build a comprehensive CMDB to get one

view of your entire IT
Change management
A CMDB is a virtual replica of your organization.

CMDB also supports other modules such as inci-
ITAM helps carry out IT changes with minimal risk,

downtime, and impact. It also lets you understand
the impact of planned changes on IT, in advance.
dent, problem, change, and project. Therefore, perfecting your CMDB translates to better efficiency of
all your other modules, as well.
Tie impacted assets to incidents,

problems, and changes
Tying assets to issues helps with easy analysis and
resolution.

05
KEEP TABS ON THE METRICS

THAT MATTER
Goal: Track the right KPIs to drive better decisions.
Generating specific ITAM reports can help you accomplish specific objectives. Lets take a look at a few of
those objectives and their corresponding reports.
IF FORMULATING AN EFFECTIVE IT BUDGET

IS YOUR GOAL, TRACK THE
Average cost of a workstation

Average cost of a license
Total asset spending, broken up by vendors
Total value of assets owned
IF YOU NEED TO MAKE EFFECTIVE PURCHASE

DECISIONS, CHECK OUT THE
Depreciation rate of assets

Average lease violation fines paid
Average cost of maintaining an asset
Number of workstations in repair
IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO STAY LICENSE

COMPLIANT, LOOK AT THE
Ratio of used to purchased licenses

Software licenses by expiration date
Number of licenses available
IF YOU WANT TO IDENTIFY DISCREPANCIES TO

YOUR IT ENVIRONMENT, KEEP AN EYE ON THE
Number of unauthorized configuration items

Assets identified as the cause of service failures
Audit history
IF YOU NEED TO OPTIMALLY USE EXISTING

RESOURCES, WATCH THE NUMBER OF
Unassigned workstations
Users with more than one workstation
Users without a mapped workstation
Figure 5: Specific ITAM reports and their purposes

Todays tools offer the advantage of generating
It is good practice to pin key metrics that matter to
both built-in standard reports, as well as custom
your dashboard. Some tools allow you to add gen-
reports. Pre-configured standard reports can be
erated reports as dashboard widgets. This ensures
generated at the click of a button. This eliminates
that the information you seek is readily available.
redundant effort and saves a lot of time if you
Here are a few dashboard components every IT asset
are looking to generate a report multiple times
manager should track
under various scenarios. Reports can also be custom built using an interactive platform whenever
Workstations by operating system
you want.
Software usage to monitor rarely used, unused,

and frequently used software

License compliance details
06
CONDUCT SELF AUDITS

Goal: Carry out formal internal assessments for compliance and audit readiness.
Here is why self audits are important. Being compliant and audit-ready ensures that you are in control
of your IT, and that you have already curbed a lot of
unwanted IT spending. Real audits may occur any
time, and therefore you need to ensure that you are
always audit-ready. Conduct self-audits for all your
vendors at least twice a year.
Set audit policies

You need to clearly define the people and tools involved in your audits. You also need to plan your
audit execution strategy and set the scope of your
audit.
People aspect
Now, lets take a look at the benefits of conducting
Define appropriate audit roles. List the department
internal self-audits
names and their level of involvement in the audit.

Choose skilled people from the legal and technical
Serves as an early warning system.
departments to play the auditors role. Also, form a
Helps you save huge fines and penalties.
committee to represent and defend the
Reduces existing discrepancies in your IT
organization.
infrastructure.
Helps your staff get enough hands-on experience to face real audits without any panic.
Follow these simple steps to conduct a hassle-free

audit.
Prioritize your vendors

Audits are usually time-consuming. Make sure you
prioritize your vendor list before a self-audit, based
on external factors such as likeliness of audit from
the vendor, vendor profile, and vendor who has
supplied the majority of inventory. Always remem-
Tools involved
Check to see if you need to install a third-party tool,
or if you are planning to use existing tools for the
audit. Some vendors may not entertain the use of
third-party tools.
Planning
You also need to plan between having a fast paced
surface audit or a time-consuming, in-depth audit.
Devise proper roll-out and back-out plans to execute the audit.
ber to perform the audit one vendor at a time and

not rush things.

Setting the scope

Some audits might focus on just license violations,
while others might focus on finding the usage of
prohibited software. You need to identify specific
parameters to track for individual audits based on
the purpose of the audit.
Facilitate an audit-friendly
environment
Keep records related to purchases, entitlements,
and inventory ready and accessible for the audit.
Provide incentives to your workforce to participate
in the audit. This will give them a purpose and the
motivation to dive deep into executing the audits
wholeheartedly. Prepare your tools to run usage
and compliance reports multiple times, if required.

Come up with a remediation plan

Audit results are mostly disappointing, with a lot
of discrepancies. Answering the following questions will help you make necessary modifications
to properly set your inventory.
How do I install/uninstall software?
How do I purchase new licenses?
Do I have the budget to pay potential fines?
07
CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE, BECAUSE

ITAM IS AN ONGOING BATTLE
Goal: Keep asset information up to date and identify key areas of improvement.
To continually improve, you need to keep refreshing your asset database and CMDB regularly with
DELETIONS TO THE ASSET DATABASE
different scan techniques. You can also automatically schedule scans to track changes to the IT asset
database. Broadly, these changes would mean
additions, modifications, and deletions to the asset
Depreciated assets
Disposed assets
Expired licenses
database.
Figure 6: Changes to asset database

ADDITIONS TO THE ASSET DATABASE
New purchases
Newly leased equipment
Assets scanned from a newly acquired facility
Mobile devices scanned under BYOD policy
You need to check for continual improvement by

creating a checklist of systematic activities that
need to be performed. You should also review
your ITAM process results with benchmarks for
past data. This would be a good opportunity to
take stock and identify areas of improvement.
MODIFICATIONS TO THE ASSET DATABASE
Re-assigning workstations to new users

Assets sent to repair
Installation or uninstallation of existing software
Allocation of licenses

CONCLUSION
The seven IT asset management best practices discussed above cover most aspects of an ITAM process, right
from detecting your assets and integrating ITAM with other ITIL processes to improving ITAM on a continual
basis. You need to identify a tool that will help you accomplish your ITAM objectives effectively. But, todays
ITSM market is overloaded with IT asset management tools, which make your selection process more complicated. You need to look out for those unique advantages and out of the box features that some tools offer
to gain an edge over your business competitors.
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus offers an integrated IT asset

management solution that provides you with an accurate inventory
of all the hardware and software assets in your organization. It doesnt
stop there you can integrate the tool with other native products,
such as Desktop Central and Zoho Reports to further enhance
the scope and capability of your ITAM process.


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Contents

Build Your Inventory Using Multiple Discovery Sources

Track the Complete Life Cycle of Assets

Manage Software and Licenses in one Place

Make ITAM Work with Other ITIL Processes

Keep Tabs on the Metrics That Matter

Conduct Self Audits

Continuously Improve, Because ITAM Is an Ongoing Battle

ITAM offers fourfold benefit to your IT

of your IT environment. It plays a vital role in

Therefore, implementing an IT asset management

helping an organization define and control its

(ITAM) process is the right thing to do. It also brings

IT infrastructure, from scratch.

sets affected due to an incident, problem, or

risks, gear up for audits, increase the efficiency of

change. It helps in identifying the impact of

incidents and performing a root cause analysis.

age your IT assets.

An ITAM process helps you

Quantify the total value of unused hardware

Plan for the future. You can assess the adverse

Reduces unwanted IT spending by optimizing

Three interesting stories on ITAM

Is the company using all the licenses it had?

Is the company using servers that it was

01 - Whitepaper - 7 Step Guide to IT Asset Management Success

Helps your organization stay compliant, gear

reduce the number of unused assets and security

cisions, formulate precise budgets, and do more.

Offers visibility by providing an in depth view

Is the company maintaining unused hardware?

The companys goal was to cut unwanted mainte-

The third story talks of how an effective ITAM pro-

nance of assets, reduce license fees, and optimize

the use of existing licenses. Answers to these ques-

stroyed completely in the 9/11 attacks, as was its

tions helped the company save three million dol-

main server, which had sensitive client and staff

lars in just three years.

data. An organization named Tangram was hired to

The second story is about what might happen

the original server configuration details through an

when you dont have an effective ITAM in place. The

inventory tool that Marriott was already using. A

Department of Justice in London lost sensitive pris-

backup server was quickly replicated, and the data

oner data and was fined 180,000 euros. The prison

was retrieved successfully.

authorities had failed to turn on the encryption

02 - Whitepaper - 7 Step Guide to IT Asset Management Success

BUILD YOUR INVENTORY USING

The bottom line is to discover and track every asset

The third step is to ensure that your mobile as-

in your organization. Lets look at a three-step

sets are tracked as well. Initially, you may not have

a Bring Your Own Device policy in place, but you

The first step is to discover the assets inside your

personal devices for MDM tracking. These person-