OIT Asset Management. Georgia Institute of Technology Office of Information Technology. By Alex Agle April 14 th, 2000 Version 4.0.

Transcription

1 OIT Asset Management Georgia Institute of Technology Office of Information Technology By Alex Agle April 14 th, 2000 Version 4.0.3

2 Table of Contents Scope of This Document... 3 Purpose of the OIT Asset Management Application... 3 Asset Process Workflow and State Diagram... 4 Your Role in Asset Management... 6 Forms... 6 Fields... 7 Understanding Permissions... 9 Getting Help... 9 Common Procedures Directors, Managers, End Users... 9 Searching for Assets... 9 Modifying Assets Common Procedures Asset Manager Business Rules Rules for Directors, Managers, and End Users Rules for the Asset Manager Contact Information

3 Scope of This Document This document covers the purpose and use of the OIT Asset Management application. The document does not cover the basics of using the Remedy Action Request System. To learn more about the basics, visit the website and obtain the document titled An Introduction to the AR System. Both end user and administrative functions of the application will be covered in this document. A current copy of this document as well as more detailed information about Remedy client installation, user manuals, and application specific manuals are also located on the website. Purpose of the OIT Asset Management Application At Georgia Tech, all assets worth more than $1,000 must be accounted for by the Capital Assets Accounting department. Because Georgia Tech has a relatively flat management structure, each campus unit is responsible for tracking and reporting their own assets to Capital Assets Accounting. Since 1997, OIT has tracked its capital assets via the OIT Asset Management application. OIT has recently been recognized as having taken an initiative to closely track its capital assets. Using the Remedy Action Request System allows all OIT staff to check and report on the status of all expensive OIT equipment without having to contact the Asset Manager. The application keeps track of capital assets and their serial numbers, purchase dates, and locations. Remedy also keeps track of who is in possession of the asset and when it was last inventoried by its owner. Because OIT owns a lot of computer equipment, the application has been designed to track commonly tracked information about certain assets, such as processing power, RAM, disk space, etc. OIT has been using Remedy to track capital assets for several years. This is the second generation of Asset Management application running on the Remedy Action Request System and has been created out of the lessons learned with the original system. 3

4 Asset Process Workflow and State Diagram Remedy is good for tracking things that have a beginning and an end to their existence. Assets fit this category nicely, because they have a beginning and end in their lifecycle. In this case, an asset s life begins once OIT purchases and receives it, and ends once OIT disposes of it. The most important field in any Remedy application is the Status field. In this application the field is called Asset Status. The following chart will explain the lifecycle of an asset. Asset is Purchased or Received by OIT Current On Campus At Home Missing When an asset is current, it is in OIT's possession and available for use. Asset is no longer needed by OIT and is disposed Transferred Out Traded In Surplused Stolen Other Terminal State The Asset Manager will use this application to take care of entering new assets and disposing of old assets. End users will use this application to keep the asset 4

5 manager up to date on any changes made to the asset while its Asset Status is Current. For a more complete picture of the lifecycle of an asset, this diagram provides additional clarification. A new asset is received by OIT Asset is entered into OIT Asset Management form by Asset Manager Asset remains in OIT Asset Management Application No Has the asset's information changed? Asset information is updated Yes Asset Manager disposes of asset and puts the asset in a non-current status Yes Is the asset surplused, traded in, stolen, or transferred out? No 5

6 Your Role in Asset Management Because OIT has nearly 3,000 assets worth roughly $25 million, it is an unmanageable task for one person to track all of these assets alone. Therefore, the responsibility is delegated to the seven OIT Directorates who, in turn, delegate the task to the department managers. To make the process more efficient, the department managers delegate the responsibility of certain assets to their employees, who are more familiar with these assets. The OIT Asset Management Application has been designed to allow all OIT staff to view and update assets. As a security precaution, most changes made to assets are logged. For example, when the hostname or location of an asset changes, the old information is recorded as part of the asset s equipment s history. The main goal of the OIT Asset Management Application is to allow everyone to report and obtain timely, accurate information about capital assets. If everyone does their part to keep the information updated, less assets will be misplaced, and more accurate reports on information can be generated. The most important benefit of all is that it makes everyone s job easier. The roles of the OIT Asset Management application are as follows: Asset Manager Responsible for entering new assets and changing the status of assets. Adds or removes OIT departments and campus buildings. The person ultimately responsible for the integrity of the data contained in the application. Asset Support The Asset Manager s assistant. Responsible for a subset of the Asset Manager s responsibilities. Responsibilities vary from time to time as deemed appropriate by the Asset Manager. Director or Manager Responsible for ensuring that the information for their departments and/or workgroups is kept up to date. They use the application to create reports on their assets. End User Typical OIT staff person who keeps a small number of existing assets up to date in the system. Forms Compared to other Remedy applications, the OIT Asset Management Application is relatively simple as far as the number of forms are concerned. The following is a list of forms and their definitions: 6

7 OIT Asset Management The main form of the application. Each entry in this form represents the complete information of an asset. GT Buildings This is the authoritative form for all campus buildings referenced in Remedy. The Asset Manager or Asset Support person is the only person who accesses this form directly. OIT Departments A form that contains an entry for each OIT Directorate. The Asset Manager or Asset Support person is the only person who accesses this form directly. GT Customers A form that contains an entry for each student, faculty, and staff member at Georgia Tech. The contents of this form are updated nightly automatically. OIT Human Resources Support A form that contains a list of all OIT workgroups. The Resource Management Human Resources Support person is the only person who accesses this form directly. Fields As part of the new Remedy 4.x interface, fields are now grouped together on tabs. The use of tabs eliminates the need for scrolling. The following tabs are available on the OIT Asset Management form: Control Panel This panel appears only in search mode. It allows you to conveniently search on assets by GT Decal Number, Serial Number, or the Last Name of the assignee of the asset. There are also several buttons that allow you to perform common searches. There is no actual asset information stored on this tab. Asset Status Information All of the asset information appears in this tab. The tab has the word Status in it, because you will be able to see the statuses of the asset at all times while you are viewing this tab. There are three statuses for each asset: Asset Status If you refer back to the Lifecycle Concept section of this document, you will get a good overview of all of the asset statuses. An asset arrives as current. While the status is Current, the Location Status matters, otherwise it does not. Location Status While an asset is current, the location status will always be either At Home, On Campus, or Missing. Once the asset is no longer current, the Location Status should be set to N/A. 7

8 CAA Status OIT might have an asset in its records, but it might not appear on Capital Assets Accounting s inventory list. This field helps the Asset Manager keep track of assets that CAA does not yet have on its list. Also appearing on the Asset Status Information Tab is a second level of tabs that hold more information about the asset. I will briefly list each tab in this group here. Asset ID Information This tab lists standard information about the asset, such as its description, its manufacturer, when it was purchased, the Purchase Order number, serial number, model number, GT decal number, and its cost. The asset manager will be responsible for all of this information, so if it is incorrect, please contact him or her. OIT staff will be able to edit the asset s description and send notes to the Asset Manager via fields in this tab. Location Info This tab keeps track of the building, room number, cubicle or machine room tile of the asset, the OIT department, and workgroup of the asset. Assignee Information This tab keeps track of who the asset is assigned to. Computer Information This track keeps track of computer information, mainly if this asset is a computer. This tab has another level of subtabs: Network Hostname, Domain Name, IP Address, MAC Address, and Host ID Connected Components A table listing other current assets with the same hostname Configuration Lists information such as the model name of the computer, CPUs, RAM, Tape Devices, Operating System, Additional Commercial Software, Physical and Usable Storage Capacity, and Storage Array. Service Contract Shows what kind of service contracts are in effect for the asset. This includes warranty information, field services contract information, and OIT Software Distribution Program subscriber information. Inventory Reporting When it is time to inventory the asset, go to this tab and click Yes to report that the asset is here and that the information about the asset is correct. Remedy Information This information is automatically generated by Remedy. It shows system information, such as who created the asset, the Remedy User ID assigned to the asset, and who last modified it. 8

9 Understanding Permissions There are two main groups of permissions in this application, the Asset Manager group, and the Director/Manager/End User group. The Asset Manager has full permission to create and modify assets. The Asset Manager can modify all nonsystem-generated fields. There are also a few fields that only the Asset Manager can view. These fields are covered in the Asset Manager section of this document. Directors, Managers, and End Users are treated equally and cannot create new assets. They can modify a subset of the asset information. Fields that cannot be modified will appear as read-only (i.e. they will appear slightly gray). Getting Help This application makes extensive use of field help. Click on the What s This? button, or go to the Help menu and choose What s This? The pointer will change to an arrow with a question mark attached to it. Click on the field in question, and an explanation will appear. Common Procedures Directors, Managers, End Users There are some common tasks and procedures that Directors, Managers, and End Users will perform occasionally. They are listed here. Searching for Assets There will be several occasions that you will want to search for assets. You might want to see what assets are assigned to you, search for a specific asset, obtain a list of assets that you need to inventory, or just browse around. Show My Assigned Assets If you want to see what assets are assigned to you, open the OIT Asset Management form in search mode. On the Control Panel Tab, click the Show My Assigned Assets button. A list of all assets assigned to you will appear. The asset highlighted in the results list is a brief summary of the asset displayed at the bottom of the screen. Note that you may find that no assets are assigned to you. In the results list, all of the assets should appear as black, however, the results list will display an asset in red lettering if you have added a note to the Notes field. Once the Asset Manager processes the note, the asset will once again appear in black lettering. 9

10 Searching for Assets If you are looking for an asset with a specific Serial Number, GT Decal Number, or by a specific Assignee, open the OIT Asset Management form in search mode. On the Control Panel Tab, enter the appropriate information into one (or more) of the 3 fields. Finally, click on the main search button at the top of the form. A results list of all matching assets will appear. The asset highlighted at the top of the screen represents the asset displayed at the bottom of the screen. Search My Uninventoried Assets If it is time to do the inventory, you can click this button to show all assets that you have not yet inventoried. Open the OIT Asset Management form in search mode. On the Control Panel Tab, click the Search My Uninventoried Assets button. A list of all matching assets appears. The asset highlighted at the top of the screen represents the asset displayed at the bottom of the screen. Advanced Searching If you need to run a more specific search, click on the Advanced button in the upper right corner. The Advanced Search Bar appears at the bottom of the screen. Here you can enter more specific search criteria. Finally, click the Search button located at the top right corner of the form. For more information, see the document An Introduction to the AR System. Listing Connected Components If you need to see other capital assets attached to an asset that you are currently viewing, you can go to the Computer Information tab and then into the Connected Components subtab. All other current capital assets with the same hostname will appear in this table. Modifying Assets In order to modify an asset, you must first search for and find the asset that you wish to modify. Once the asset is selected from the Results List, the asset s information appears at the bottom of the screen. The types of modifications that you are likely to make to an asset are listed here. Remember that after you modify an asset, you must click on the save button. The save button is located on the upper right corner of the form. Changing the Asset s Description To change the description, simply edit the existing description. You are also free to wipe out the existing description and enter a new one. Contact the Asset Manager for more information on Asset Descriptions. The old description is logged in the Equipment History field. Sending a Note to the Asset Manager To inform the Asset Manager of a change to an asset, you can enter your information into the Notes field. Once the asset record is saved, an is generated by Remedy to the Asset Manager. Your Remedy User ID and the current time is permanently recorded with the note. The asset will subsequently appear as red in the results list until the manager processes the note. 10

11 Changing the Building Location of an Asset On the Location Info tab, you can select a new building, or enter the building number instead. Be sure to enter a room number. If there is no room number, you can enter something like Front Hallway (up to 15 letters and numbers). The old building and room number are logged. Changing the Cubicle or Tile Location of an Asset On the Location Info tab, you can enter either a new Cubicle Number or Machine Room Tile Letter and Number. In order to be able to enter a Tile Letter and Number, the room number must be either 116 or 133 (the Rich 116 and 133 Machine Rooms). The Tile Letter is automatically capitalized when the asset is saved. The old cubicle number, tile letter, and tile number are logged. Changing the Workgroup of an Asset On the Location Info tab, you can select a new Workgroup from a menu. The old OIT Workgroup is logged into the Equipment History field. If you need to have the OIT Department changed, you must have the Asset Manager make this change for you. Changing the Assignee of an Asset On the Assignee Information tab, you can enter a new first name and last name. You MUST press return to find the person in the campus directory. Pressing return enables the auto-fill of the other Assignee information. When the Assignee of an asset later clicks the Show My Assets button, the asset will appear in their list. The old Assignee of the asset will be logged. Changing the Network Information of an Asset On the Computer Information tab and on the Network subtab, you can enter/update the Hostname, Domain Name, IP Address, MAC Address, and Host ID of an asset. If you enter the Hostname or IP address of the asset, you can press return or press the Use Nslookup button to fill in the remaining fields. If the information on this tab is changed, the old information is logged. Changing the Configuration of an Asset On the Computer Information tab and on the Configuration subtab, you can enter/update all of the fields. Changes to this information is not logged, because the information is not critical. Changing the Service Contract Information of an Asset On the Computer Information tab on the Configuration subtab, you can toggle all of the fields. Note that in order for a warranty uplift to be in effect, there must be a service contract. In other words, the service contract cannot be set to none if there is a warranty uplift. Changes to this information is logged. Inventorying an Asset On the Inventory Reporting tab, you can toggle the Inventoried? field to Yes when inventorying an asset. The Inventoried Date, Inventoried by, and Account fields are automatically filled in. Managers, Directors, and End Users cannot toggle this field back to No. 11

12 Common Procedures Asset Manager The Asset Manager will have some additional responsibilities, such as creating assets, changing the Asset Status field, and managing the Inventory process. Creating a New Asset To create a new asset, choose Create a New from the File menu, and choose the OIT Asset Management form. The Control Panel tab, Connected Components subtab, Inventory Information tab, and Remedy Information Tab become hidden, since there is no information that needs to be entered in these tabs at the time of asset creation. Fill in as much information as possible about the asset. Fields with bold field names are required fields and must have a value in them. Once the information has been entered, click the Save button in the upper right corner. Disposing of Assets When disposing of an asset, the Asset Manager must change the Asset Status field to something other than Current. If an asset was traded in for another asset, the Traded In status should be used, and the Trade In PO number field should be filled in. Equipment Loans When equipment is loaned out, the Location Status field should be changed to At Home. Missing Equipment When equipment is missing, the Location Status field should be changed to Missing. If the equipment is stolen and a police report is filed, then the Asset Status should be changed to Stolen. Inventory Reporting Process The Asset Manager can begin the Inventory Reporting process by performing the following actions. The result of these actions changes the Inventoried? flag on all records to No. 1. Open a search window in the OIT Asset Management form. 2. Go to the edit menu and choose Clear All. 3. On the Asset Status Information tab, change the status to Current. 4. Press the Search button. 5. Press the control key, and click on the highlighted entry in the results list to deselect it. 6. Go to the Actions Menu and choose Modify All 7. Go to the Inventory Reporting tab and set the Inventoried? field to No. 8. Press the save button. Confirm that you want to modify all entries. The Asset Manager will then notify everyone that it is time to inventory their assets. Everyone will log into Remedy to find their uninventoried assets and change the Inventoried? flag to yes. The Asset Manager can then run a report to find out what equipment has not yet been inventoried. 12

13 Responding to New Notes When someone enters a note into the Notes field, the New Note? field is set to Yes by Remedy automatically. The Asset Manager can easily search for all entries where the New Note? field is set to Yes. It is up to the Asset Manager to change the New Notes field back to No. Until the New Notes? field is set back to No, the asset will always appear in red lettering when it is shown in the results list. Business Rules The following is a list of business rules associated with this application. Looking over the rules might explain a certain error message that you are receiving. Rules for Directors, Managers, and End Users 1. When anyone marks an item as inventoried, that person s Remedy User ID, full name, and current date are permanently recorded in Remedy. 2. Once an asset is no longer current, the Location Info Tab will no longer be visible for that asset. 3. You must use a version 4.x client in order to access this application. 4. In order for the Warranty Uplift field to be yes, the Service Contract field cannot be set to None. 5. The Manufacturer, Equipment Type, and Tile Letter fields will automatically be converted to UPPERCASE. The Hostname, and Domain Name fields will automatically be converted to lowercase. The conversion happens when the ticket is saved. 6. Remedy will automatically keep track of the creator, assignee, and the last person to modify an asset record. Remedy will place this person s full name next to their Remedy User ID in the Remedy Information section. 7. All asset description changes, as well as location changes will be logged. 8. All Hostname, Host ID, IP Address, and MAC address changes will be logged. 9. All Department, Workgroup, and Assignee changes will be logged. 10. All service contract changes will be logged. 11. When information is placed into the Notes field by anyone, the New Note? field is automatically set to Yes, and an is sent to the Asset Manager. 12. If a cubicle number is entered, a Machine Room Tile Letter or Number cannot be entered. If a Machine Room Tile or Letter is entered, a cubicle number cannot be entered. 13. A Machine Room Tile and Letter can only be entered if the Room field is set to 116 or

14 Rules for the Asset Manager 1. Only the Asset Manager can edit the following fields: Asset Status, Location Status, CAA Status, Equipment Type, Manufacturer, Acquisition Date, PO Number, Serial Number, Model Number, Equipment History, GT Decal Number, Cost, Trade In PO Number, and New Note? 2. Only the Asset Manager can create a new asset. 3. Only the Asset Manager can edit menu items. 4. The GT Decal Number field must be 7 digits. Remedy will automatically enter the leading zeros if less than 7 digits have been entered. No letters are allowed in this field. 5. When the Inventoried? field is set back to no by the Asset Manager, that event is logged, and the fields to the right of the Inventoried? field are not cleared out. 6. When the Asset Manager changes the status to Traded In status, they must enter the Trade In PO Number into the Trade In PO Number field. 7. The Location Status field will be set to N/A when an asset is no longer current. 8. All status changes (Asset Status, Location Status, CAA Status) will be logged. All asset creations will be logged with their initial status. 9. Once the Asset Manager receives this , it is up to him or her to reset the New Note field back to No. 10. Only the Asset Manager may change the Inventoried? field back to No. 11. The Asset Manager and Asset Support person may not enter any notes into the Notes field. They should add comments to the Equipment History field instead. 14

15 Contact Information As of April 1 st, 2000, the current contact information for the OIT Asset Management is listed here. If you have a problem with the data in the OIT Asset Management application, or need assistance with assets, you should contact the Asset Manager. As a backup, you can contact the Asset Support person. Asset Manager Asset Support HR Support Jerry Davis jerry.davis@oit.gatech.edu Linda Curbow linda.curbow@oit.gatech.edu Robin Greene robin.greene@oit.gatech.edu For problems with Remedy, you can contact the OIT Customer Support Center. Remedy Support OIT Customer Support Center for the Remedy website to report a problem support@oit.gatech.edu to report a computer-related problem 15