LANDesk® Asset Lifecycle Manager
Inventory data is the foundation of many IT service management
processes. You need to know that you are not paying for support on assets
that are not in use and dispose of assets correctly, applying best practices. Assets include all elements of software and hardware that are found in the business environment. Tracking these complex asset relationships in an asset data repository ensures that your assets are always used in the most efficient way.
With LANDesk® Asset Lifecycle Manager, you can see what assets are in
your environment, who owns them, how they are maintained, and who
should be charged back for asset-related services. You can view a visual
mapping of all the assets in your environment, and a mapping of those
relationships. By analyzing the data, users can make informed decisions
regarding the changes that occur to the asset over its lifecycle, such as
changing users, departments, cost centers, functions, jobs, and more.
It can be tempting for most organizations to track too much information. But not all knowable data is worth tracking. To effectively plan, execute, and report on critical business activities, IT asset managers need quick and effective access to relevant data. But accessing the right facts is difficult when data is spread across multiple applications, departments, disciplines, and sources. LANDesk® Asset Lifecycle Manager structures a task-focused asset repository optimized for understanding costs, lifecycle and assignment status, and accountabilities for each asset.
The asset repository is crucial, because proper information, coupled
with a state change engine triggering the appropriate business process
and tracking change information, is what allows LANDesk Asset
Lifecycle Manager to enable layered accountability, costs information,
and link assets to defined services.
Every asset has a lifecycle status. But the core to effective IT asset
management is knowing precisely where in its functional lifecycle a
particular asset is—at any given moment—and whether that asset is capable of providing its intended value. If you know the current lifecycle state of any given asset—at any given moment—then you can intelligently plan IT updates/replacements, budget, install, move, add, change, and procure activities.
Many organizations can’t even physically verify the presence or use of key assets. LANDesk® Asset Lifecycle Manager allows your organization to physically account for critical assets and ensure their effective use. This core data is what most organizations need to demonstrate immediate and significant value to both IT and to their entire business.
IT Asset Management (ITAM) is the specific set of business practices that join financial, contractual, and inventory functions to support lifecycle management and strategic decision making for the IT environment.
An efficient asset repository can enable IT Service Management(ITSM) disciplines. It’s a smart move to start small—by tracking a few key elements for each asset, and then expand your asset data to meet specific needs tied to specific accountabilities. Resist the urge to track too much information, but make sure that you do incorporate the following:
- Identify discovered devices and reconcile those against purchase orders
- Identify possession: who has physical possession of the asset? (End
user)
- Identify accountability: who is responsible for the asset? (Usually a
department head or signing manager)
- Identify ownership: who actually owns the asset? (Usually a
department or cost center)
Start with the end user as an immediate anchor point and add the other
data over time. Even if three fields are created in the initial asset record, ITAM technicians may not add data to the other two fields until there is an explicit requirement for that fact.
This reconciliation and asset record extension loop forms the core
activity at the beginning of an ITAM project. Additional projects include reconciling to P.O., reconciling software installs to license entitlements, gathering contract terms and conditions, attaching warranty information (and associated data), formalizing policies and procedures, and ensuring proper distribution, etc.
The key to effective ITAM is to then make the data active so it can
drive internal process and decision support. Use scheduled reports to
identify exceptions to policy, such as software that is discovered on a computer, but that is not entitled for use on that computer. Simply storing the data is not enough—only by actively inspecting and evaluating selected data can IT asset managers derive the knowledge needed for effective asset administration.
LANDesk® Asset Lifecycle Manager helps ensure that existing data is
structured by well-defined rules and conditions, and that new data is
validated, well-formed, and useful. More importantly, LANDesk Asset
Lifecycle Manager then provides both the ability to actively process that data to derive additional knowledge, plus triggers to help highlight
exceptions or changes so IT asset managers can move from passive data
tracking to active IT asset management.
IT asset management integrates the physical, technological, contractual
and financial aspects of information technology assets to enable a holistic and proactive approach to achieving your organization’s objectives. LANDesk Asset Lifecycle Manager helps connect the dots and transform facts into knowledge and action.
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Reduce Your Risk, Reap the Rewards
With LANDesk® Asset Lifecycle Manager you can:
- Aggregate data from multiple sources such as your service desk, finance program, systems management, etc.
- Organize that data by department or cost center to use in research and planning
- Maintain a service history for each asset to help collect cost and maintenance data over time
- Have approvals and task flow handled automatically
- Use the same process every time, with data customized to the specific request
- Control the information that appears in each user’s interface according to that user’s role and scope
- Utilize version control and easily update
- Reconcile software entitlements against discovery
- Access full audit history that tracks all status changes, actions, times, people and dates
Accurate asset knowledge, accountability, and control are crucial to enhanced business value. Most organizations track their assets, but
LANDesk Asset Lifecycle Manager goes beyond simply tracking them. It’s a structured asset repository that extends the management of your organization’s assets (both hardware and software) by starting before the asset exists and going beyond when the asset is retired. It’s that extra connection throughout an asset’s entire lifecycle that allows your business to reap the full rewards of efficient asset management. LANDesk Asset Lifecycle Manager is more than just mere inventory control; it helps reveal the true value of IT systems to allow better planning decisions. Informed business analysis and improved business capacity ultimately increase your organization’s accountability.