Contents

Introduction 01
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Build Your Inventory Using Multiple Discovery Sources 03

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Track the Complete Life Cycle of Assets 05

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Manage Software and Licenses in one Place 07

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Make ITAM work with other ITIL® processes 08

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Keep Tabs on the Metrics That Matter 09

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Conduct Self Audits 11

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Continuously Improve, Because ITAM Is an Ongoing Battle 13

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Conclusion 15

ITIL® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION
Without a solid plan and a streamlined process, it ITAM offers fourfold benefit to your IT
is difficult to track and manage all your hardware,
• Offers visibility by providing an in depth view
software, virtual, and non-IT assets from one place.
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.
you plenty of benefits. It can help you cut down
• Offers support to other ITIL processes by pro-
extra maintenance costs, use licenses optimally,
viding accurate information about the as-
reduce the number of unused assets and security
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 de-
incidents and performing a root cause analysis.
cisions, formulate precise budgets, and do more.
• Helps your organization stay compliant, gear
These seven IT asset management best practices
up for audits, and reduce legal and security
will help you overcome ITAM challenges, reap max-
risks.
imum benefits, and revolutionize the way you man-
• Reduces unwanted IT spending by optimizing
age your IT assets.
asset usage and controlling IT asset purchases.

An ITAM process helps you

Three interesting stories on ITAM
• Quantify the total value of unused hardware
and software applications. This helps optimize Let’s take a look at three interesting stories on ITAM.
asset usage and cut down extra maintenance
costs. The first story talks of how ITAM helped curb IT
• Identify stolen hardware and software applica- spending. A large medical institution in California
tions. According to Gartner, about five percent wanted to consolidate its IT assets, which were
of assets are stolen annually. To minimize the scattered, with licenses lying unused and with sev-
losses due to theft, you should be able to iden- eral other problems.The company wanted answers
tify and replace the stolen components as soon for the following:
as possible.
• Plan for the future. You can assess the adverse • Is the company using all the licenses it had?
impact of aging hardware on IT and avoid un- • Is the company using servers that it was
precedented losses. This helps you make deci- unaware of?
sions on new asset purchases and dispose or • Is the company maintaining unused hardware?
repair aging equipment.

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 The company’s 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 don’t 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 hard-
ware assets, risking the security of sensitive data.

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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. Let’s 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 NETWORK SCAN There is always a dilemma between choosing
agent-based and agentless discovery techniques. It
Linux, Solaris
Windows devices is advisable to use a combination of both to achieve
Mac, AIX
VMHost machines the best results.
Printers
Routers & Switches
The agent-based discovery technique:

Figure 1: Types of devices that can be scanned using • Gives you precise and comprehensive detail of
Windows domain and network scans your assets.
• Can be used to scan devices that are mobile
The second step is to discover assets outside your and outside your home network.
home network. This is where agent-based scans • 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. • Can be used to selectively scan individual
On subsequent scans, the agent scans your assets workstations that have undergone a change.
for changes sends out only the differential data to
the ServiceDesk Plus database, reducing the bur-
den on the ServiceDesk Plus server and your net-
work.

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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

Version number of the software
Current state of the asset
Number of installations of the software
Cost of acquiring
Name of the manufacturer
Name of the vendor
Category & sub-category the software falls under
Warranty expiration date

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 ASSET COMPONENTS SOFTWARE ASSETS

Servers Keyboard Software

Workstations Mouse Software licenses and
Printers Webcam Service packs
Scanners Projectors
Router
Smart phones
Tablets
VM and VM hosts

Figure 3: Asset classification

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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 me-

Procurement (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) cally refresh your asset states and stay current.

Storage (in store, in repair) Advancements in technology have benefited us

with asset tagging concepts like barcodes, RFID,
Expiration (expired/depreciated) and GPS, which simplify tracking assets. These as-
set tagging concepts help reconcile ownership,
Disposal (disposed) location, and configuration of hardware assets con-
tinuously.

Figure 4: A typical asset life cycle configuration along

with the associated asset states

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Let’s 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
Let’s use the example of Walmart. During its peak
Having updated and accurate information about
season, the company hires temporary staff to meet
your assets, at any given point in time, helps you
the extra demand. This, in turn, causes a spike in
make the right decisions.
gadget requirement. The company needs to have
an optimal buffer stock of gadgets to run its busi-
It offers scalability
ness without interruption. This estimate of the buff-
er stock can only be easily identified if the existing
As your organization grows in size, the number of IT
assets are tracked properly.
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.

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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 Ensure software compliance by either
own, when they will expire, and if they are linked to purchasing new licenses or deleting
any contracts. existing software applications

Choose license types that will suit This, again, is a time-consuming process, but a nec-
your needs essary 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, where-
as core software, such as a coding platform, would
need a perpetual license.

Reconcile licenses

This is the most tedious task in ITAM because it in-

volves a lot of manual effort. If you are using a soft-
ware asset management tool, you will be able to
record three important details: the number of

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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 ITAM- ITAM influences other ITIL processes
ITSM integration. Make sure your technicians and such as
end users adhere to these prerequisites.
Incident management
Make sure to map your workstations
ITAM provides key diagnostic information about
to end users
assets used by the requester. It also helps techni-
cians access any workstation, via a remote control
Mapping your workstations can help you effectively
feature to troubleshoot issues.
track and manage a specific end user’s workstation
for quick analysis. You will also have a count of
Problem management
workstations that are currently in use, which can
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 Change management

view of your entire IT ITAM helps carry out IT changes with minimal risk,
downtime, and impact. It also lets you understand
A CMDB is a virtual replica of your organization. the impact of planned changes on IT, in advance.
CMDB also supports other modules such as inci-
dent, problem, change, and project. Therefore, per-
fecting 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.

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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. Let’s take a look at a few of
those objectives and their corresponding reports.

IF FORMULATING AN EFFECTIVE IT BUDGET IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO STAY LICENSE

IS YOUR GOAL, TRACK THE COMPLIANT, LOOK AT THE

Average cost of a workstation Ratio of used to purchased licenses

Average cost of a license Software licenses by expiration date
Total asset spending, broken up by vendors Number of licenses available
Total value of assets owned

IF YOU NEED TO MAKE EFFECTIVE PURCHASE IF YOU WANT TO IDENTIFY DISCREPANCIES TO

DECISIONS, CHECK OUT THE YOUR IT ENVIRONMENT, KEEP AN EYE ON THE

Depreciation rate of assets Number of unauthorized configuration items

Average lease violation fines paid Assets identified as the cause of service failures
Average cost of maintaining an asset Audit history
Number of workstations in repair

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

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Today’s 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 cus-
tom 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

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06 CONDUCT SELF AUDITS
Goal: Carry out formal internal assessments for compliance and audit readiness.

Here is why self audits are important. Being compli- Set audit policies
ant and audit-ready ensures that you are in control
You need to clearly define the people and tools in-
of your IT, and that you have already curbed a lot of
volved in your audits. You also need to plan your
unwanted IT spending. Real audits may occur any
audit execution strategy and set the scope of your
time, and therefore you need to ensure that you are
audit.
always audit-ready. Conduct self-audits for all your
vendors at least twice a year.
People aspect
Now, let’s 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 auditor’s 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 experi- Tools involved
ence to face real audits without any panic.
Check to see if you need to install a third-party tool,
or if you are planning to use existing tools for the
Follow these simple steps to conduct a hassle-free
audit. Some vendors may not entertain the use of
audit.
third-party tools.

Prioritize your vendors

Planning
Audits are usually time-consuming. Make sure you
You also need to plan between having a fast paced
prioritize your vendor list before a self-audit, based
surface audit or a time-consuming, in-depth audit.
on external factors such as likeliness of audit from
Devise proper roll-out and back-out plans to exe-
the vendor, vendor profile, and vendor who has
cute the audit.
supplied the majority of inventory. Always remem-
ber to perform the audit one vendor at a time and
not rush things.

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 Setting the scope Come up with a remediation plan
Some audits might focus on just license violations,
Audit results are mostly disappointing, with a lot
while others might focus on finding the usage of
of discrepancies. Answering the following ques-
prohibited software. You need to identify specific
tions will help you make necessary modifications
parameters to track for individual audits based on
to properly set your inventory.
the purpose of the audit.

• How do I install/uninstall software?

Facilitate an audit-friendly
• How do I purchase new licenses?
environment
• Do I have the budget to pay potential fines?

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.

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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 refresh-

ing your asset database and CMDB regularly with DELETIONS TO THE ASSET DATABASE

different scan techniques. You can also automati-

cally schedule scans to track changes to the IT asset Depreciated assets
database. Broadly, these changes would mean Disposed assets
Expired licenses
additions, modifications, and deletions to the asset
database.

Figure 6: Changes to asset database

ADDITIONS TO THE ASSET DATABASE

You need to check for continual improvement by

New purchases
Newly leased equipment
creating a checklist of systematic activities that
Assets scanned from a newly acquired facility need to be performed. You should also review
Mobile devices scanned under BYOD policy 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

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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, today’s
ITSM market is overloaded with IT asset management tools, which make your selection process more com-
plicated. 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 doesn’t
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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