Asset Management Overview

1. Asset Creation

By default, Asset Management tracks assets of the following classes:

Computer
Furniture
Hardware
Leasehold Improvements (new carpet, for example)
Office Equipment
Other Fixed Assets
Software

You can use these methods to add assets to your system:

Submit assets directly into an asset management project.
Create new assets from service requests. Refer to About the Service Requests Integration.
Post configuration items (CIs) from the Configuration Management System (CMS). For details, refer to About the Configuration Management System (CMS) Integration.
Administrators can import assets from a spreadsheet. For details, refer to Importing Assets.

2. Approvals

You can use Asset Management to track approvals for assets that have not been approved by a different process, such as Service Requests.

By default, two levels of approval are required for new assets:

Business
Approvals are typically made by managers or department leads, who provide or approve the business justification for an asset.
Financial
Approvals are typically made by members of the financial team, who approve the cost of the asset.

Once assets are approved, they move to purchasing.

To ensure new assets are approved, you can:

Submit them directly into an Asset Management project.
Create new assets from service requests that are assigned to a fulfiller.
Import them into the "Planning"' state. For details, refer to Importing Assets.

To make approvals optional or to use the Service Requests approvals process, refer to Managing the Approval Process.

3. Inventory Management and Maintenance

After assets are ordered and delivered, they move to the acquired state.

Assets with an assigned class of Computer, Hardware, Office Equipment, Other Fixed Assets, and Software must be added to the configuration management database (CMDB). The asset and the configuration item (CI) are linked together.

After assets have been added to the CMDB, they are typically assigned to an employee. You can use the User Info tab on the asset to see all assets assigned to that employee.

You can also choose to move acquired assets directly to the IT inventory.

The exception is leasehold improvements, which would include capital improvements to leased properties, such as adding new carpet or renovating a workroom. Leasehold improvements move directly from "Purchasing" to "Active" until their associated leases are terminated.

Asset managers can also perform these tasks during this phase:

Collect assets
Use the Collect transition to move assets from an employee to the IT inventory so they are available for other employees.
Salvage assets
Use the Salvage transition to dispose of assets. For example, you may destroy, recycle, or sell assets. To ensure the asset is included in depreciation calculations, you must provide a salvage value, even if that value is $0.

Once assets are salvaged, the related CI automatically becomes inactive in the CMDB.
Report lost or stolen assets
Use the Report Lost transition to move assets to a missing state. If an asset is later found, it can be returned to the assigned state. If the asset is not found, it can be removed from inventory.
Audit assets
Refer to 5. Audit.

And once assets associated with CIs are salvaged or removed from your inventory, the related CI is automatically set as inactive.

4. Depreciation

Depreciation calculations start once assets are acquired. After that, depreciation is automatically calculated on the first day of every month until an asset is retired.

Asset managers, members of the financial team, and administrators can also use the "Update Depreciation" transition to manually calculate depreciation for individual assets between the automated calculation cycles. This transition is located on the More Actions menu.

Note: If you experience unexpected results after using the "Update Depreciation" transition, refer to Changing an Asset's Depreciation Date and Recalculating.

Your administrator can configure when depreciation calculations automatically occur. For details, refer to Changing Depreciation Calculation Dates.

The following depreciation rates are provided:

Double Declining Balance - 3 years
Straight Line - 15 years
Straight Line - 5 years
Straight Line - 3 years
No Depreciation (no calculations when this is selected)

Typically, the depreciation rate is set after an asset has been purchased.

Important: Before using the provided depreciation rates, verify that they are consistent with the calculations used by your financial team.

You can view depreciation data on each asset or run one of several provided reports to quickly see depreciation data by department or asset class.

5. Audit

Auditing capabilities are available after assets have been acquired:

From the Acquired State
Assets that have been acquired but not assigned to an employee are automatically moved to an audit state after 30 days.
From the Assigned State
Assets can be manually moved to an audit state so you can verify their existence and the accuracy of information about the asset. If assets are not found, they can be moved to a missing state.

Auditing is typically performed by an asset manager or another member of the IT group. To audit assets, use the provided Assets Currently Being Audited report or create your own reports.