AssetCenter 4.4 Total Asset Visibility and Control Control Costs Ensure Compliance Reduce Complexity
Peregrine AssetCenter Compliance requirements. Complex infrastructure. Exploding demand. Tighter budgets. In today s enterprise, the IT organization is under increased pressure to perform in new and unfamiliar ways. As a result, the practice of IT Asset management has emerged as a solution for addressing these issues. Managing IT asset life cycles effectively is no longer optional it is critical. Peregrine s AssetCenter is an IT asset management solution that fully automates asset life cycle management, making it easy to control costs, manage inventory, and improve IT asset utilization across the enterprise. AssetCenter manages the asset lifecycle from request and procurement through to retirement by: Reconciling assets in a central repository Managing software license compliance and entitlement Controlling expenses through budgeting and chargeback programs Managing request fulfillment Extending asset management best practices to employees AssetCenter collects and consolidates asset information into a centralized repository, called Active CMDB (Configuration Management Database). Using Active CMDB, AssetCenter supplies critical information that drives a variety of service support and delivery processes. Peregrine s suite of advanced auto-discovery tools make the process fast, efficient, and completely customizable. The result: total asset visibility and control. AssetCenter creates a solid foundation for regulatory compliance, and enhances operational and financial management. AssetCenter s suite of applications share a common repository of asset information. Portfolio Software Asset Management Financial Management Contract Management Procurement Chargebacks BI Portal Enterprise Discovery Self Service Get-Resources Integration Connectors Cable and Circuit
Total Asset Visibility and Control: AssetCenter Applications PORTFOLIO Increase organizational and regulatory control of IT assets. AssetCenter Portfolio provides a centralized repository for integrating all asset data from a variety of sources, and creates the foundation for effective asset lifecycle management. A successful IT asset management practice answers key questions: 1. What assets do I have? 2. Where are these assets located? 3. Who has access? AssetCenter Portfolio, along with Peregrine s discovery tools, simplifies asset tracking by consolidating assets in a central repository. As servers and applications are consolidated, business units can share utilization and allocate costs correctly by using Portfolio s powerful configuration options. Portfolio is at the heart of every AssetCenter implementation. It defines and manages the complex relationships between assets, contracts, and costs, providing continuous and accurate inventory information. Optimization of the Asset Portfolio: Keeps a detailed physical inventory of all assets in the portfolio. Tracks items by hierarchical classification, user and manager, geographic location, and cost center. Comprehensive Workflow Engine: Defines complex procedures with multiple users, implements business integrity rules, and generates a variety of procedures at regular intervals. The workflow engine s out-of-box capabilities are based on industry best practices. Multiple Tracking Methodologies: Tracks and batches portfolio items in a variety of ways, matching portfolio management processes to the value and use of the asset. Comprehensive Tax Calculations: Calculates tax liability and associates tax rates to product categories and locations. Taxes linked to asset acquisitions appear at each stage in the procurement cycle. Asset Depreciation: Calculates depreciation on fixed assets and provides the residual value of physical assets. Departments that exchange assets are able to charge back the appropriate amount based on residual value. CONTRACT MANAGEMENT Control costs by automating contract management. AssetCenter Contracts manages periodic contracts such as leases, maintenance contracts, warranties, and insurance. AssetCenter Contracts simplifies, automates, and improves the business processes related to contract management. It tracks contract terms and conditions and sends automatic notifications of important dates, such as contract expirations. AssetCenter Contracts also provides critical data that helps manage vendor relationships and forms the basis for future planning and negotiations. The result: lower total cost of asset ownership. Contract and Lease Tracking: Stores all lease contract and master lease terms and conditions. Sends key details to employees tasked with maintaining compliance or affected by contract terms and conditions. Maintains original configuration of leased assets, so that subsequent upgrades are identified and removed before the asset is returned. Maintenance and Warranty Management: Tracks work orders and links them to the appropriate contracts and assets. All costs associated with each work order are tracked. Managers define whether the work performed is off-contract, on-contract, or handled by internal maintenance. Automatic Notifications: Sends scheduled alerts to users prior to important dates. Powerful Reconciliation Engine: Uncovers and reconciles discrepancies between existing IT databases and what actually is in use. Traps exceptions and errors outside the primary inventory record, preserving the integrity of the portfolio. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT Align asset investments for maximum business value. AssetCenter Financial Management captures, monitors, and manages all costs associated with an asset, from acquisition through to retirement. AssetCenter Financial Management makes it easy to track costs associated with every asset at every stage in its lifecycle, including expenses related to capital and operations. The IT organization easily can report on these costs by budget, cost center, or total cost of ownership. AssetCenter Financial Management also associates and reconciles fixed assets with assets in the Portfolio application, so management can fully understand the financial impact of asset service and disposition. Expense Line Detail: Creates expense lines to store costs relating to assets, contracts, lease payments, work orders, maintenance operations and consumption. Budgets can be managed by individual departments. Financial Management: Budget Management
Total Asset Visibility and Control: AssetCenter Applications Best Practices to Optimize Software Costs and Manage Risk SOFTWARE ASSET MANAGEMENT Gain control of how systems are configured, what should be there, and what to do about changes and exceptions. AssetCenter Software Asset Management proactively manages software license compliance, entitlement, and utilization. AssetCenter Software Asset Management is a simple, standardized, and proactive way to manage software license compliance. Using a central repository of existing contracts, Software Asset Management associates software purchase invoices with each software license agreement. Contractual and expense data are also collected to provide reconciliation reports from the physical inventory stored in AssetCenter Portfolio. Software Asset Management also manages entitlement to help control software usage costs. Software Asset Management Dashboard Software Contract Management: Manages a variety of contract details to ensure compliance and avoid overpurchasing. Contract details include system numbers, assignment of assets, total lifecycle costs of similar software packages, vendor history, and existing contract terms. Software License Reconciliation: Tracks license count and detailed software installation information using automated discovery tools. Licenses can be reconciled against actual installations, virtually eliminating non-compliance risks. Licenses are tracked down to the version number, and applications can be reconciled to application software suites. PROCUREMENT MANAGEMENT Acquire the right resources at the right price. AssetCenter Procurement optimizes processes for requesting and acquiring assets. AssetCenter Procurement automates and streamlines the entire request lifecycle. It verifies each request against corporate approval standards by checking against a catalog of approved assets. It monitors existing stocks and budgets so that requests are filled through available inventory whenever possible. Users generate and reconcile purchase orders against assets received from the vendor. Automated Business Processes: Monitors and tracks complex pricing offers and limited time offers. Alerts users to available discounts for volume purchasing. Automatically calculates correct pricing and notifies users about special terms and conditions. Integrated Product Catalog: Provides direct access to accurate, complete, and up-to-date product and pricing information from multiple vendors. Standard Configurations: Supports product bundles that represent standard configurations. Creates pre-configured requests that include assets and commonly associated services. Entitlement and Utilization Determination: Limits software access based on title, function, or organizational placement. Tracks utilization of installed software, enabling redeployment of unused licenses. CHARGEBACK MANAGEMENT Comprehensively track IT costs for each business unit. AssetCenter Chargebacks creates invoicing and chargeback programs between IT and individual business units. AssetCenter Chargebacks institutes invoicing and chargeback programs to specific business units. This automated cost-allocation process ensures that charges are made consistently and in accordance with business rules. AssetCenter Chargebacks provides maximum visibility into the financial impact of IT support and services. Business units are empowered and encouraged to make informed decisions about the service and availability levels they request. Detailed Allocation: Allocates expenses to cost centers and budgets in a specific department. Costs are then reflected at the business unit level. Flexible Automation: Defines chargeback rules based on organizational standards and allocates costs automatically to business units. Allocations can be split across business units as necessary.
Total Asset Visibility and Control: AssetCenter Applications BI PORTAL BI Portal transforms unrelated, detailed information into meaningful, business focused-intelligence. GET-RESOURCES Get-Resources delivers self-service information about resources and services. BI Portal is an advanced analytic and reporting tool that uses data from multiple asset sources to create an accurate picture of how asset tracking, expense control, and process automation are working across the enterprise. BI Portal users generate drill-down reports or define their own queries to identify relationships and trends that are not visible through static reporting. Get-Resources is a Web-based tool that enables employees to request and track the delivery of the IT resources they need to get their jobs done. Get-Resources simplifies the request process by: Presenting employees with available corporate-approved assets and services BI Portal enables the IT organization to understand the type and location of assets, IT fiscal performance, and compliance and risk management across multiple dimensions, such as time, business unit, department, and geographic location. Driving the business processes associated with notifying management for approval Fulfilling the employee s request based upon available stock prior to initiating a purchase CABLE AND CIRCUIT Cable and Circuit manages physical network connectivity inside and outside the organization s infrastructure, including local area network (LAN), wide area network, (WAN), and technology for voice and data services. Cable and Circuit extends AssetCenter s centralized repository by collecting, managing, and reporting on information obtained about cable and circuit data throughout the IT asset lifecycle. Procurement: Automated Request Management ENTERPRISE DISCOVERY Discovery tools automate the IT asset inventory process across the enterprise. Peregrine Desktop Inventory inventories detailed software and hardware configurations on a particular workstation Peregrine Enterprise Discovery inventories software, hardware, and network devices across the infrastructure Peregrine Network Discovery automates discovery of network assets and their physical relationships to other devices INTEGRATION CONNECTORS Connect-It creates, tests, and administers integration scenarios between AssetCenter and a wide variety of other external applications. Connect-It leverages industry-standard protocols and connects with third-party information systems to share and receive relevant data by integrating internal technology infrastructure with external information systems. AssetCenter Shared Features AssetCenter modules share the following features and capabilities: Customizable user interface adaptable to each user s specialization and level of training. Wizards that can be modified to define the sequence of screens that guide the user through a given task. Security capabilities that control access and functionality based on user rights, access restrictions and functional rights. Adaptable parameters that can be tested and implemented and tested from within the application (Certain modifications require the use of the external AssetCenter Database Administrator tool). Integrity rules that can be defined at the field, record, or link level.
Peregrine AssetCenter Agnostic Manage complex and diverse environments, regardless of the technologies, systems, processes and relationships already in place or in planning. Analytical Generate and examine historical data that supports practical decision making at every level. The Peregrine Advantage Why choose AssetCenter to manage your IT assets? Adaptive Flexible solutions designed to meet the needs of ever-changing organizational business requirements. Automated Streamline workflows with solutions that remove manual steps and transform them into predictable, reliable, change-friendly and self-executing processes. Change is the nature of business. Evolve Wisely TM www.peregrine.com To learn more how Peregrine Systems can help your business evolve wisely, call 800.432.4393. Outside of the U.S., please call +1.858.481.5000 2005 Peregrine Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Peregrine Systems, AssetCenter, Get-Resources and Evolve Wisely are registered trademarks of Peregrine Systems, Inc. or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. PBf AC4.4 0205 NA