Service Definition

Introduction

The Asset Management process standardizes and controls how actions and events associated with assets are registered in the CMDB. In particular, this process establishes how to document adds, removes and changes, for all items managed by the inventory management system. This process ensures that the CMDB is kept up to date at all times with all information needed to deliver the service.

Scope of application

Asset Management procedures are applied every time a task or service associated with the assets is performed. For example:

• When receiving new equipment from a vendor.
• When carrying out repairs, installations, or any other service associated with an asset.
• When delivering a computer to a customer (employee).
• When a customer (employee) leaves and his assets must be returned to storage.
• Etc.

These actions are almost always coordinated through a Task (Assignment), which itself usually forms part of a RFC. The technician performs the task and documents all the actions, both on the Task form and in the affected Asset form. These procedures are applied in order to ensure that the CMDB is up to date at all times.

Process

The Asset Management process is as follows:

Process Summary

The Asset Management process consists of the following procedures:

1. When receiving new assets, before entering them into the CMDB, the shipment should be checked to be sure it has arrived in good condition and that the delivery matches the delivery note. If not, the appropriate person is notified and, if a claim must be made, the relevant tasks are created and assigned.
    
2. The procedure for updating asset information ensures that information regarding assets is up to date in the CMDB at all times. Physical items (e.g. workstations, telephones, and PDAs) and non-physical (e.g. software licenses) are included in this process.

Roles

In the Asset Management process, a distinction should be made between the following roles or profiles:

• The Technician is the person performing the task or service associated with the asset. It is vital that the Technician follows the Asset Management procedures continuously, every time he performs a task related to an Asset, as this is the only way to keep the CMDB up to date at all times.
   
• The Customer is normally a user, beneficiary or owner of an Asset. Customers often report Requests in relation to their Assets.
   
• The Inventory Manager is responsible for ensuring that the Asset Management procedures are followed, and authorizes modifications in the inventory catalog (for example, assigning new assets to customers).