IT Asset Management Solutions

ITAM Repository - Asset Repository will enhance discovery data to cover financial, contractual and asset status information encompassing enhanced capabilities for hardware contract management, hardware asset pooling, asset status, asset location, SLA and the provision of a basic capability for facilitating financial treatment of assets.

The asset repository can also be used as the key interface point for barcoding and physical audit information.

One area which is commonly misunderstood is the difference between the discovery database, the asset repository and a CMDB.

The discovery database represents a non real time view of the asset fields and configuration information which can be collected over a network. It is being constantly updated from the network (each asset typically on a weekly basis), and changes to its data are not controlled or managed.

The asset repository extends this data into areas which are not electronically collectible, such as contract, financial, asset tag, procurement, location, allocation to user or business unit and so on.

Repository is not a control view – more of a kind of dumping ground for the latest asset information. Some discovery tools try to emulate this but typically are not very successful or complete in their treatment of the problem.

Asset repository offers asset information but also light depreciation tracking capabilities to the finance department. Via this facility disposals may be better managed by finance if this is integrated with their processes. For more extended financial capabilities we recommend fixed asset registers.

CMDB is in effect an evolution of the asset repository which is ITIL integrated. The key difference is that alongside the data in an asset repository change, problem, incident and often release information / objects also exist in the database and are managed constantly by service desk, change and configuration relationship administrators and processes.

Most companies start with discovery, then licence repository, then progress to asset repository medium term, followed by CMDB longer term.