Altiris Asset Management Suite 7.1 from Symantec User Guide

Altiris Asset Management Suite 7.1 from Symantec User Guide

Altiris Asset Management Suite 7.1 from Symantec User Guide The software described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Legal Notice Copyright 2011 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec and the Symantec Logo, Altiris, and any Altiris or Symantec trademarks used in the product are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. This Symantec product may contain third party software for which Symantec is required to provide attribution to the third party ( Third Party Programs ). Some of the Third Party Programs are available under open source or free software licenses. The License Agreement accompanying the Software does not alter any rights or obligations you may have under those open source or free software licenses. Please see the Third Party Legal Notice Appendix to this Documentation or TPIP ReadMe File accompanying this Symantec product for more information on the Third Party Programs. The product described in this document is distributed under licenses restricting its use, copying, distribution, and decompilation/reverse engineering. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written authorization of Symantec Corporation and its licensors, if any. THE DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID. SYMANTEC CORPORATION SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH THE FURNISHING, PERFORMANCE, OR USE OF THIS DOCUMENTATION. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENTATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. The Licensed Software and Documentation are deemed to be commercial computer software as defined in FAR 12.212 and subject to restricted rights as defined in FAR Section 52.227-19 "Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights" and DFARS 227.7202, "Rights in Commercial Computer Software or Commercial Computer Software Documentation", as applicable, and any successor regulations. Any use, modification, reproduction release, performance, display or disclosure of the Licensed Software and Documentation by the U.S. Government shall be solely in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

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Technical Support Contacting Technical Support Symantec Technical Support maintains support centers globally. Technical Support s primary role is to respond to specific queries about product features and functionality. The Technical Support group also creates content for our online Knowledge Base. The Technical Support group works collaboratively with the other functional areas within Symantec to answer your questions in a timely fashion. For example, the Technical Support group works with Product Engineering and Symantec Security Response to provide alerting services and virus definition updates. Symantec s support offerings include the following: A range of support options that give you the flexibility to select the right amount of service for any size organization Telephone and/or Web-based support that provides rapid response and up-to-the-minute information Upgrade assurance that delivers software upgrades Global support purchased on a regional business hours or 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis Premium service offerings that include Account Management Services For information about Symantec s support offerings, you can visit our Web site at the following URL: www.symantec.com/business/support/ All support services will be delivered in accordance with your support agreement and the then-current enterprise technical support policy. Customers with a current support agreement may access Technical Support information at the following URL: www.symantec.com/business/support/ Before contacting Technical Support, make sure you have satisfied the system requirements that are listed in your product documentation. Also, you should be at the computer on which the problem occurred, in case it is necessary to replicate the problem. When you contact Technical Support, please have the following information available: Product release level

Hardware information Available memory, disk space, and NIC information Operating system Version and patch level Network topology Router, gateway, and IP address information Problem description: Error messages and log files Troubleshooting that was performed before contacting Symantec Recent software configuration changes and network changes Licensing and registration Customer service If your Symantec product requires registration or a license key, access our technical support Web page at the following URL: www.symantec.com/business/support/ Customer service information is available at the following URL: www.symantec.com/business/support/ Customer Service is available to assist with non-technical questions, such as the following types of issues: Questions regarding product licensing or serialization Product registration updates, such as address or name changes General product information (features, language availability, local dealers) Latest information about product updates and upgrades Information about upgrade assurance and support contracts Information about the Symantec Buying Programs Advice about Symantec's technical support options Nontechnical presales questions Issues that are related to CD-ROMs or manuals

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Contents Technical Support... 4 Chapter 1 Introducing Asset Management Suite... 11 About Asset Management Suite... 11 What's new in Asset Management Suite 7.1... 12 What you can do with Asset Management Suite... 13 Where to get more information... 14 Chapter 2 Setting up Asset Management Suite... 17 About the Asset Management Suite environment... 17 About installing Asset Management Suite... 19 About licensing Asset Management Suite... 19 About migrating data from earlier versions... 19 About configuring Asset Management Solution settings... 20 Configuring accounting periods... 20 Configuring base currency settings... 21 Configuring settings for migrating legacy software licenses... 21 Chapter 3 Managing your organizational structure... 23 About organizational configuration item types... 23 About the Company configuration item type... 25 About the User configuration item type... 25 Setting up your organizational structure... 26 Creating a location... 27 Creating a cost center... 28 Creating a department... 29 Updating your organizational hierarchy manually... 30 Chapter 4 Managing security... 31 About managing security... 31 About predefined security roles... 32 Managing security on an organizational group... 32 Assigning an organizational group to a security role... 33 Configuring security permissions for an organizational group... 34

8 Contents Chapter 5 Managing configuration items... 35 About configuration item types... 36 About base configuration item types... 36 About data classes... 37 About predefined configuration item types... 38 About datacenter configuration item types... 40 About configuration items... 41 About configuration item associations... 41 About configuration item association types... 43 Tracking the associations of a configuration item... 44 Automatically creating configuration items for network devices... 44 About importing configuration item data from other systems... 45 About merging configuration items... 46 Merging two configuration items... 47 Creating and editing a configuration item... 47 Creating and editing views... 48 About asset life cycle... 49 Chapter 6 Managing custom configuration item types... 51 About custom configuration item types... 51 Creating a custom data class... 52 Creating a custom configuration item type... 53 Creating a custom configuration item association type... 54 About data input masks... 55 Chapter 7 Using financial configuration item types... 57 About financial configuration item types... 57 Adding a cost item to an asset... 58 Using the currency convertor... 59 Chapter 8 Managing contracts... 61 About managing contracts... 61 About predefined contract configuration item types... 62 About setting up your contract management environment... 63 Configuring a contract expiration notification policy... 64 Configuring a contract expiration notification policy to send an email notification to the contract owner... 65

Contents 9 Chapter 9 Managing your procurement process... 67 About procurement process... 68 Preparing the procurement environment... 68 About stockrooms... 69 Creating a stockroom... 70 Replenishing stockroom quantities... 71 Creating a procurement catalog... 71 Adding items to the procurement catalog... 72 Creating a bundle... 73 Performing the procurement... 74 Creating a purchase request in the Symantec Management Console... 75 Generating a purchase order... 75 Generating an invoice... 76 About receiving items... 77 About receiving consumable catalog items... 78 About receiving fixed asset catalog items... 78 About receiving software catalog items... 79 Receiving an item... 80 Receive Items page... 80 Chapter 10 Managing your software license compliance... 83 About software license compliance... 84 Managing your software license compliance using Symantec Management Console enhanced views... 84 Managing your software license compliance manually... 85 About software product items... 86 Manually creating a software product item... 87 Associating a software product item to a software resource... 87 About software purchase items... 88 Creating a software purchase item... 89 Software purchase item attributes... 89 About software license items... 90 Creating a software license item... 91 Software license item attributes... 92 Upgrading and renewing a software license... 94 Tracking your software license compliance... 96 Chapter 11 Using Asset Management Suite workflows... 97 About Asset Management Suite workflows... 97 Setting up Asset Management Suite workflows... 98

10 Contents Registering a Workflow Server... 99 Publishing a workflow in the Symantec Management Console... 100 Configuring Asset Management Suite workflows... 101 Requirements for data configuration... 101 Running the Asset Management Suite workflows... 103 Index... 105

Chapter 1 Introducing Asset Management Suite This chapter includes the following topics: About Asset Management Suite What's new in Asset Management Suite 7.1 What you can do with Asset Management Suite Where to get more information About Asset Management Suite Asset Management Suite provides a management console, a database environment, and a suite of solutions that let you track assets and asset-related information. The suite includes Asset Management Solution, Barcode Solution, and CMDB Solution. Asset Management Suite specializes in tracking IT-related assets, such as computers and software. You can also use it to track other types of assets, such as furniture and company cars. In association with assets, you can record and track many types of documents and documented details. For example, you can track lease schedules, NDAs (non-disclosure agreements), SLAs (Service Level Agreements), and warranty information. Contracts and contract details can be associated with assets so that you can easily view the contractual information that is related to specific assets. You can also configure the software so that it notifies you of the upcoming actions that are specified in a contract. See What you can do with Asset Management Suite on page 13. You can use the Symantec Management Console to view the value of an asset or a group of assets. You can use it to view the department, cost center, and user

12 Introducing Asset Management Suite What's new in Asset Management Suite 7.1 that is assigned to an asset. You can use it to improve your ability to allocate software and hardware costs to specific users and departments. You can also use it to keep track of software license details so that you avoid paying for the licenses that you do not need. Additionally, Asset Management Suite aligns with IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) standards. It also helps you comply with international IT standards such as COBIT and U.S. federal laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and HIPAA. What's new in Asset Management Suite 7.1 Asset Management Suite 7.1 includes several new features. Table 1-1 List of new features Feature 64-bit support Description 64-bit is now a standard supported platform. Performance and usability enhancements The picker page now displays a paged view rather than displaying all of the records. Users cannot delete default views. Dashboards - Symantec Management Console enhanced views integration If you install Symantec Management Platform 7.1 and accompanying versions of Deployment Solution, IT Management Suite, Server Management Suite, or Client Management Suite, you see enhanced console views for certain Symantec Management Console menu options. Note that if you only install Asset Management Suite, the enhanced views are not installed. For more information, see the topics about Symantec Management Console enhanced views in the Enhanced Console Views User Guide. New Software License and Software usage dashboard The dashboard of a Managed Software shows how many Software Licenses you have in comparison to how many instances of the software are in use. Enhanced software license management Software Catalog now contains a list of predefined Software Products for top commercial applications such as Symantec, Adobe, and Microsoft. Creating Software Products in the Software Catalog is easier. Creating Software Purchase items and associating them to the Software Products is easier. Selecting the Software Products that you want to track usage of is easier.

Introducing Asset Management Suite What you can do with Asset Management Suite 13 Table 1-1 List of new features (continued) Feature Support for Software Licensing in a hierarchy Description Symantec Management Platform, Asset Management Solution, Inventory Solution, and Enhanced Console Views functionality is enhanced to provide a more detailed reporting of Software Licensing. In a hierarchy, perform Software Licensing reporting at the parent Notification Server computer. Improvements to the legacy Software License migration process The Migrate Legacy Software License wizard for 7.1 reduces the manual effort of associating a Software Product with the legacy Software License. To take advantage of this feature, you must manage the software before you migrate the legacy Software License using enhanced console views. This speeds up the migration process. What you can do with Asset Management Suite From acquisition to disposal, Asset Management Suite helps you accurately value your assets, track ownership, and maintain associations with related documents. See About Asset Management Suite on page 11. Asset Management Suite provides predefined templates and quick-start processes that help you set up and manage the following asset management processes: Managing configuration items. Asset Management Suite helps you track assets and other resources. For each asset type that you want to track, you create a corresponding configuration item in the system. Templates are provided to help you create items for computers, printers, phones, furniture, and other assets. See About configuration items on page 41. After you create items for each asset, you can create configuration items for the details that you want to associate with the assets. You then specify the associations between the asset items and other items in your environment. For example, you can associate a computer with its purchase order, location, and user. Reports and filters help you determine the status of the assets in your environment.

14 Introducing Asset Management Suite Where to get more information Managing contracts. Asset Management Suite helps you manage and track your contracts. The contract item specifies the details of the agreement and includes attached source documents. Asset Management Suite provides the templates that let you create contracts, lease schedules, NDAs (non-disclosure agreements), and warranties. See About predefined contract configuration item types on page 62. Managing your procurement process. Procurement describes the process of obtaining new objects, assets, or devices for your company. Managing your software license compliance. Asset Management Suite provides the templates that help you create and manage procurement-related configuration items. Creating and using these item types lets you track assets and resources from the initial procurement process to the eventual disposal. You can run reports and use filters to determine the status of items in your procurement process. See About procurement process on page 68. Asset Management Suite helps you track software licenses and applications. You create configuration items for software licensing elements in your environment. You then associate these license-related items with other information in your system. Asset Management Suite provides you the templates that let you create software products, software licenses, and software purchases. Reports and filters help you determine your software license compliance and requirements. See About software license compliance on page 84. Where to get more information Use the following documentation resources to learn about and use this product. Document Release Notes Table 1-2 Description Information about new features and important issues. Documentation resources Location The Product Support page, which is available at the following URL: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/all_products.jsp When you open your product's support page, look for the Documentation link on the right side of the page.

Introducing Asset Management Suite Where to get more information 15 Document Table 1-2 Description Documentation resources (continued) Location User Guide Information about how to use this product, including detailed technical information and instructions for performing common tasks. The Documentation Library, which is available in the Symantec Management Console on the Help menu. The ProductSupport page, which is available at the following URL: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/all_products.jsp When you open your product s support page, look for the Documentation link on the right side of the page. Help Information about how to use this product, including detailed technical information and instructions for performing common tasks. Help is available at the solution level and at the suite level. The Documentation Library, which is available in the Symantec Management Console on the Help menu. Context-sensitive help is available for most screens in the Symantec Management Console. You can open context-sensitive help in the following ways: The F1 key when the page is active. The Context command, which is available in the Symantec Management Console on the Help menu. This information is available in HTML help format. In addition to the product documentation, you can use the following resources to learn about Symantec products. Resource SymWISE Support Knowledgebase Symantec Connect Table 1-3 Description Articles, incidents, and issues about Symantec products. An online resource that contains forums, articles, blogs, downloads, events, videos, groups, and ideas for users of Symantec products. Symantec product information resources Location http://www.symantec.com/business/theme.jsp?themeid=support-knowledgebase http://www.symantec.com/connect/endpoint-management

16 Introducing Asset Management Suite Where to get more information

Chapter 2 Setting up Asset Management Suite This chapter includes the following topics: About the Asset Management Suite environment About installing Asset Management Suite About licensing Asset Management Suite About migrating data from earlier versions About configuring Asset Management Solution settings About the Asset Management Suite environment Asset Management Suite lets you manage assets in your environment, set cost data, and manage the services and the licenses that are associated with the assets. See About Asset Management Suite on page 11. To achieve a fully functional Asset Management Suite environment, the following components must be in place on your network: Active Directory server Email server SQL server You need a server that provides Active Directory services. Email server is used to send out the notifications that are related to asset management processes. On the SQL server, you set up the Configuration Management Database (CMDB).

18 Setting up Asset Management Suite About the Asset Management Suite environment Notification Server On Notification Server, you install all the main components of Asset Management Suite: Asset Management Solution Asset Management Solution lets you set up and manage different asset management processes. See What you can do with Asset Management Suite on page 13. Barcode Solution Barcode Solution lets you speed up asset data entry, reduce errors, track and audit assets, and manage inventory. For more information, see the topics about what you can do with Barcode Solution in the Barcode Solution Help. CMDB Solution CMDB Solution lets you manage your data in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). For more information, see the topics about what you can do with CMDB Solution in the CMDB Solution Help. Data Connector Data Connector lets you import and export resource data between numerous external data sources and the CMDB. For example, you can import organizational view and group memberships and resource filter membership information. Additionally, you can export reports. See About importing configuration item data from other systems on page 45. Inventory Solution Inventory Solution lets you add computer inventory data to your asset management system and obtain an up-to-date inventory of the computers in your network. Inventory Solution is also required, if you want to take full advantage of the software licensing features. See About software license compliance on page 84. For more information, see the topics about what you can do with Inventory Solution in the Inventory Solution Help. Barcode Manager Barcode Manager must be installed on the laptop or workstation of each barcode technician. These computers become hosts for barcode scanning devices. Barcode technicians use their host computers to install the Barcoder on their handheld scanners. After the installation is accomplished, the handheld devices can communicate with Notification Server whenever they are connected to the host systems.

Setting up Asset Management Suite About installing Asset Management Suite 19 Workflow Server If you intend to use the Asset Management Suite workflows in your environment, you must set up the Workflow Server. This system is used to run the workflows and to host the Process Manager portal that enables you to manage the workflow processes. Workflow provides automation of business processes that require inputs from multiple parties to accomplish a business goal. In Asset Management Suite, the workflow solution enables you to leverage new asset management workflows to perform asset ownership validation, hardware and software purchase requests, and lease termination. See About Asset Management Suite workflows on page 97. About installing Asset Management Suite Asset Management Suite lets you track assets and asset-related information. See About Asset Management Suite on page 11. Before you install Asset Management Suite, be sure that your server environment meets the requirements for Symantec Management Platform. Symantec Installation Manager is a program that guides you through the installation of Symantec Management Platform products. For more information, see the topics about installing Symantec Management Platform products in the IT Management Suite Implementation Guide. About licensing Asset Management Suite Each solution in Asset Management Suite includes a trial license. You can register and obtain extended trial licenses through Symantec Web site at www.symantec.com. You can also purchase full product licenses. For more information, see the topics about applying licenses to a solution in the IT Management Suite Implementation Guide. See About Asset Management Suite on page 11. About migrating data from earlier versions You can migrate data from Notification Server 6.x and Symantec Management Platform 7.0 environments to be used in your Symantec Management Platform 7.1 environment. Note that the steps to migrate from Notification Server 6.x and from Symantec Management Platform 7.0 are different.

20 Setting up Asset Management Suite About configuring Asset Management Solution settings For more information, see the topics about migrating data in the IT Management Suite Migration Guide version 6.x to 7.1 and in the IT Management Suite Migration Guide version 7.0 to 7.1. If you migrate data from a Notification Server 6.x, you must migrate legacy software license items to Symantec Management Platform 7.1. For more information, see the topics about migrating legacy software license items in the IT Management Suite Migration Guide version 6.x to 7.1. About configuring Asset Management Solution settings The Asset Management Solution settings let you set up an environment for managing assets in your system. For example, you can specify accounting periods and base currency. You can also specify the settings that are used to migrate software licenses from Notification Server 6.x to Symantec Management Platform 7.x. The LicenseUsage page lets you view the details about your Asset Management Solution licenses. See Configuring accounting periods on page 20. See Configuring base currency settings on page 21. See Configuring settings for migrating legacy software licenses on page 21. Configuring accounting periods An accounting period represents a yearly range of dates that corresponds to a set of financial records or reports. For example, an accounting period for a tax year can start on June 1, and it can be divided quarterly into three-month ranges. The following accounting periods are provided: My Book My Tax My Custom The accounting period settings that you define appear in the Purpose Type and in the Period parameters of several reports. For example, these settings appear in the Depreciation By Assigned Cost Center report. In these reports, the Purpose Type parameter lets you select an accounting period. You can then select a range of dates from the Period parameter. See About configuring Asset Management Solution settings on page 20.

Setting up Asset Management Suite About configuring Asset Management Solution settings 21 To configure accounting periods 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Settings menu, click All Settings. 2 In the left pane, under Settings, expand Service and Asset Management > Asset Management Solution, and then click Accounting Periods. 3 In the right pane, configure the accounting period. 4 Click Save changes. Configuring base currency settings You can use currency values and rates with the currency convertor. You can select any currency to be the base currency. Symantec recommends that you set the base currency rate to 1.00. You then set other currencies to their respective exchange rates as they compare to the base currency. See About configuring Asset Management Solution settings on page 20. To configure a base currency 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Settings menu, click All Settings. 2 In the left pane, under Settings, expand Service and Asset Management > Asset Management Solution, and then click Base Currency. 3 In the right pane, select the currency you want to use as the base currency. Warning: You cannot change the base currency after it has been saved. 4 Click Save changes. Configuring settings for migrating legacy software licenses Before you migrate your legacy software license items, configure the settings for migration. For more information, see the topic about migrating legacy software license items in the IT Management Suite Migration Guide. See About configuring Asset Management Solution settings on page 20.

22 Setting up Asset Management Suite About configuring Asset Management Solution settings To configure settings for migrating legacy software licenses 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Settings menu, click All Settings. 2 In the left pane, under Settings, expand Service and Asset Management > Asset Management Solution, and then click Migrate Legacy Software Licenses. 3 In the right pane, configure the settings. 4 Click Save changes.

Chapter 3 Managing your organizational structure This chapter includes the following topics: About organizational configuration item types About the Company configuration item type About the User configuration item type Setting up your organizational structure Creating a location Creating a cost center Creating a department Updating your organizational hierarchy manually About organizational configuration item types One of the main purposes of Asset Management Suite is to enable you to create and maintain associations among organizations, assets, and resources. For example, you can associate a computer with a user, a department, and a location. You can also associate a department with a specific cost center. After you specify these logical groups and associations, you can keep track of an asset. You can track where an asset is located, who has it, and which department or cost center has responsibility for it. Before you can make the associations, you must add organizational configuration items into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). The organizational configuration item types let you enter organizational data and define the structure

24 Managing your organizational structure About organizational configuration item types of your organization. Organizational configuration item types are the essential building blocks upon which all of your other asset and contract data is based. See Setting up your organizational structure on page 26. Organizational configuration item types are unique because they support a hierarchy for organizing resources. Organizing information in a hierarchy simplifies management and access to the data. You can view information at different levels of detail. For example, you can look at the reports for all computers at a building, site, geographical region, or company level. You must define these groups to meet the needs of your company. For each organizational configuration item type, decide what groups you want to use and enter the corresponding data into the CMDB. You can use the groups that your company already has for departments and cost centers, unless these groupings are too broad or too granular. Before you enter any data, consider your organizational needs and the relationships that the resources have with each other. Symantec recommends that you plan and set up organizational configuration items correctly at the beginning. However, you can update and edit the organizational configuration items later. You can use the following predefined organizational configuration item types to enter your organizational data: Company Cost Center Department Location User After you enter your organizational data and associate it with assets, contracts, and users, the system automatically creates organizational groups under the organizational views. Organizational groups offer a great benefit when you want to manage your assets by location or department. For example, you can apply policies and tasks separately to the different resource targets that you create from the organizational groups. You can also create and configure site-specific security roles to restrict each asset management team, so that they can only view and manage assets of their own site. See Managing security on an organizational group on page 32. For more information, see the topics about organizational views and groups, and configuring resource security in the Symantec Management Platform Help.

Managing your organizational structure About the Company configuration item type 25 About the Company configuration item type The Company configuration item type lets you specify data for the internal or the external companies in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). See About organizational configuration item types on page 23. For internal companies, the Company configuration item lets you create the top level of your company's organizational hierarchy, if you have subsidiaries. In some situations, a single company consists of multiple smaller companies. The Company configuration item type lets you record data about these companies. If you have structured your configuration item management system as a single company, this configuration item type might not be needed for internal company data. For external companies, you can use the Company configuration item type to insert data of the companies from whom you purchase assets. In the procurement feature of Asset Management Suite, these companies are called suppliers. See About procurement process on page 68. Additionally, the Company configuration item type gets populated by the Software Management Framework. The Software Discovery scan collects data about the installed software and creates the software resources with the minimum metadata: the company (vendor) name, software name, and version. For more information, see the topics about discovering software on managed computers in the Symantec Management Platform Help. Note that the Company configuration item type does not let you create a hierarchical structure of companies. About the User configuration item type The User configuration item type lets you enter data about people of your company into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). The User configuration item type is associated with the Company and the Department configuration item types. You can also specify a manager for a user. When you use Asset Management Suite for the first time, you do not have to insert user data manually. Symantec recommends that you use Microsoft Active Directory Import to enter all your company's existing users into the CMDB. If the user data that you import also contains department data, you can use it to automatically assign users to the departments. To accomplish this task, you must enter the department data before you import the user data. See About importing configuration item data from other systems on page 45.

26 Managing your organizational structure Setting up your organizational structure You can add users manually in the Symantec Management Console when you need to add a few users at a time. For example, when you add information about new hires. See Creating and editing a configuration item on page 47. Setting up your organizational structure Organizational configuration item types help you organize assets and configuration items into logical groups, associations, and relationships. You use the organizational configuration item types to create the structure of your organization. See About organizational configuration item types on page 23. Symantec recommends that you add organizational configuration items first because many other configuration items are associated to them. When you create entries for assets and other configuration items, you can then associate these items with the organizational information that already exists. Note that ideally you would enter all data for a configuration item at once and then move on to the next configuration item. However, when you create an organizational configuration item, it is often not possible. Organizational configuration items have associations with each other. When you create an organizational configuration item, you can specify all data, except the association data. You must create the associated configuration item, and then you can go back to the original configuration item and specify the association data. For example, if you have not created a cost center, you cannot specify a cost center for a department. Table 3-1 Process for setting up your organizational structure Step Step 1 Step 2 Action Create locations Create cost centers Description When you set up your organizational structure in the Asset Management Suite, the first step is to create locations. The location organizational type lets you add geographical or physical locations into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). See Creating a location on page 27. The cost center organizational type lets you add your company's cost centers into the CMDB. Note that if you enter cost center data, and have not created a location, you cannot specify a location for a cost center. See Creating a cost center on page 28.

Managing your organizational structure Creating a location 27 Table 3-1 Process for setting up your organizational structure (continued) Step Step 3 Step 4 Action Create departments (Optional) Update the organizational hierarchy manually Description The department organizational type lets you add your company's departments into the CMDB. If you enter department data, and have not created a location and a cost center, you cannot create according associations for a department. See Creating a department on page 29. When you set up your organizational structure in the Symantec Management Console, the organizational items do not appear in the Organizational Views and Groups list until the organizational hierarchy gets updated. By default, the automatic update runs every 30 seconds and updates the organizational hierarchy. If you have disabled the automatic updating of organizational hierarchy, you must use the Update Organizational Hierarchy task to manually refresh the hierarchy. See Updating your organizational hierarchy manually on page 30. Creating a location The Location organizational type lets you add geographical or physical locations into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). If your company has multiple sites around the world, you can use the geographical locations, such as country, state, and city, to create a location for each site. You can then associate the assets of each site with the locations that you define. Physical locations, such as building, floor, and cubicle, let you create separate locations at a single site. You can then associate assets of each building, floor, or cubicle to its corresponding location. You can associate each location with its manager and with a cost center. When you enter data for a location, you can also specify the hierarchy for it. For example, you can create a location for the United States, and then create sub-locations for the states, such as California, Utah, and Texas. You can quickly add a parent location to a group of locations at once using bulk edit function. To add a parent location to a group of locations, do the following: Select the locations to which you want to add the parent location. Right-click one of the locations, and then click CMDB Functions > Assignment Functions > Assign Parent Location. In the Select a Resource dialog box, select the parent location, and then click OK.

28 Managing your organizational structure Creating a cost center Note that on the Location page, all location items are displayed in the flat list. You can see the hierarchy of the locations on the Organizational Views and Groups page. For more information, see the topics about organizational views and groups in the Symantec Management Platform Help. This task is a step in the process for setting up your organizational structure. See Setting up your organizational structure on page 26. To create a location 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Manage Configuration Items. 2 In the left pane, under CI Management, expand Organizational Types. 3 Right-click Location and click Create Location. 4 In the Create configuration item dialog box, give the location a name. 5 (Optional) To create a hierarchy, under Location Hierarchy, specify the parent location for the item that you currently edit. You can also first insert all locations and then use the bulk edit function to add a parent location to a group of locations at once. 6 Click OK. Creating a cost center The Cost Center organizational type lets you add your company's cost centers into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Cost centers are associated with the departments or other sections of the company that create costs. For example, an engineering department, IT department, or services department can each include one or more cost centers. The managers of these cost centers are responsible for approving all asset purchases and ensuring that the expenditures are kept within budgets. With each cost center, you can associate a location and a manager of a cost center. However, if your organization has a single cost center that spans multiple locations, you do not use this field. You can then only specify a cost center for each location. See Creating a location on page 27. The Cost Center configuration item type lets you create a hierarchical structure of the cost centers in your company. Note that on the Cost Center page, all cost center items are displayed in the flat list. You can see the hierarchy of the cost centers on the Organizational Views and Groups page.

Managing your organizational structure Creating a department 29 For more information, see the topics about organizational views and groups in the Symantec Management Platform Help. This task is a step in the process for setting up your organizational structure. See Setting up your organizational structure on page 26. To create a cost center 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Manage Configuration Items. 2 In the left pane, under CI Management, expand Organizational Types. 3 Right-click Cost Center and click Create Cost Center. 4 In the Create configuration item dialog box, give the cost center a name and specify the Cost Center Code. You use Cost Center Code value for accounting related data. 5 To create a child cost center, under Cost Center Hierarchy, select a parent cost center. 6 Click OK. Creating a department The Department organizational type lets you add your company's departments into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). You associate each department with a location, cost center, and a barcode that is used for physical audits. The Department configuration item type also lets you specify a manager for the department. When you enter data for a department, you can specify its hierarchical position within the company. Note that on the Department page, all departments are displayed in the flat list. You can see the hierarchy of the departments on the Organizational Views and Groups page. For more information, see the topics about organizational views and groups in the Symantec Management Platform Help. This task is a step in the process for setting up your organizational structure. See Setting up your organizational structure on page 26. To create a department 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Manage Configuration Items. 2 In the left pane, under CI Management, expand Organizational Types.

30 Managing your organizational structure Updating your organizational hierarchy manually 3 Right-click Department and click Create Department. 4 In the Create configuration item dialog box, give the department a name. 5 To create a child department, under Department Hierarchy, select a parent department. 6 Click OK. Updating your organizational hierarchy manually When you add new locations, cost centers, or departments in the Symantec Management Console, the items do not appear in the Organizational Views and Groups list until the organizational hierarchy gets updated. By default, the automatic update runs every 30 seconds and updates the organizational hierarchy. In large environments, Symantec recommends that you disable the automatic update task to improve the performance. You can disable it on the Organizational Hierarchy Settings page that you access from the Settings menu, at All Settings > Service and Asset Management > CMDB Solution. If you have disabled the automatic updating of the organizational hierarchy, you can use the Update Organizational Hierarchy task to manually refresh the hierarchy on demand. You can run this task immediately or on a specified schedule. For example, you need to run the task after every import of your organizational data. This task is an optional step in the process for setting up your organizational structure. See Setting up your organizational structure on page 26. To update organizational hierarchy manually 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Jobs and Tasks. 2 In the left pane, under Jobs and Tasks, expand System Jobs and Tasks > Service and Asset Management > CMDB, and then click Update Organizational Hierarchy. 3 On the Update Organizational Hierarchy page, add the organizational hierarchies that you want to update. 4 (Optional) Under Task Status, schedule the task. For more information, see the topics about running a task in the Symantec Management Platform Help. 5 Click Save changes.

Chapter 4 Managing security This chapter includes the following topics: About managing security About predefined security roles Managing security on an organizational group Assigning an organizational group to a security role Configuring security permissions for an organizational group About managing security Managing security is an important part of asset management. Setting up the security properly ensures that your data is secure while permitting users to have the access they need. In most environments, you have different users who need various degrees of access to the Asset Management Suite features. These users might be data input workers, managers, or administrators. Each type of user has different access needs. For example, a supervisor user needs the rights to verify and update resource entries. A manager user needs to access the reports. An administrator user needs the rights to do everything. To set up security roles for all types of users, you can modify the predefined asset management security roles, or you can create new security roles. In a large and a complex organization that has offices in several countries, additional security management might be necessary. For example, you might want to restrict each asset management team, so that they can only view and manage the assets for their own site. To accomplish this task, you need to create and configure site-specific security roles. See Managing security on an organizational group on page 32.

32 Managing security About predefined security roles For more information, see the topics about creating and configuring a security role in the Symantec Management Platform Help. About predefined security roles When you install Asset Management Suite, the system automatically adds the predefined asset management security roles to the Symantec Management Console. The predefined security roles get automatically assigned the privileges and the permissions that their respective jobs and tasks require. See About managing security on page 31. Table 4-1 Security role Asset Managers Barcode User CMDB Managers Predefined security roles Description This security role has privileges for managing the basic configuration item types. The security role also has privileges for the managing functions that are related to special contract types, software licensing, and procurement. This security role is a restricted data entry user role. This security role has privileges for managing basic configuration item types, such as hardware and the base contract configuration item type. Managing security on an organizational group Managing security is an important part of asset management. You can grant different levels of access according to the responsibilities and location of the users. These settings ensure that only authorized users can access and modify the data. See About managing security on page 31. Managing security on an organizational group involves two main steps. You assign an organizational group to a security role, and then you set the security permissions for the organizational group.

Managing security Assigning an organizational group to a security role 33 Table 4-2 Process for managing security on an organizational group Step Step 1 Action (Optional) Create a custom security role Description When you want to manage security on an organizational group, the first step is to create the custom security roles. Custom security roles can help you better manage the assets that are dispersed over multiple sites or organizational units. For more information, see the topics about creating and configuring a security role in the Symantec Management Platform Help. Step 2 Assign an organizational group to a security role After you create a security role, you can assign an organizational group to it. Only users who are assigned to this security role can view and manage the assets of this organizational group. Step 3 Configure security permissions for an organizational group See Assigning an organizational group to a security role on page 33. To control what a security role can do with asset records of an organizational group, you must configure its security settings. See Configuring security permissions for an organizational group on page 34. Assigning an organizational group to a security role Assigning an organizational group to a security role lets you specify the users who can view and manage the assets in this organizational group. You can assign an organizational group to a predefined or to a custom security role. If you want to assign the organizational group to a custom security role, you must create the custom security role first. For more information, see the topics about creating and configuring a security role in the Symantec Management Platform Help. This task is a step in the process for managing security on an organizational group. See Managing security on an organizational group on page 32. To assign an organizational group to a security role 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click All Resources. 2 In the left pane, under Organizational Views, expand any organizational view, right-click an organizational group that you want to assign to a security role, and then click Manage Security > Assign Management Rights. 3 In the Assign Management Rights dialog box, select the security role. 4 Click OK.

34 Managing security Configuring security permissions for an organizational group Configuring security permissions for an organizational group Security permissions let you control the actions that the users of a security role can perform with asset records in an organizational group. This task is a step in the process for managing security on an organizational group. See Managing security on an organizational group on page 32. To configure security permissions for an organizational group 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click All Resources. 2 In the left pane, under Organizational Views, expand any organizational view, right-click an organizational group for which you want to configure the security permissions, and then click Security. 3 In the Security Role Manager dialog box, in the Role list, click the security role that you want to configure. 4 Configure the security permissions. 5 Click Save changes.

Chapter 5 Managing configuration items This chapter includes the following topics: About configuration item types About base configuration item types About data classes About predefined configuration item types About datacenter configuration item types About configuration items About configuration item associations About configuration item association types Tracking the associations of a configuration item Automatically creating configuration items for network devices About importing configuration item data from other systems About merging configuration items Merging two configuration items Creating and editing a configuration item Creating and editing views About asset life cycle

36 Managing configuration items About configuration item types About configuration item types A configuration item (also known as a resource) is an individual entry in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) that represents any resource in your environment. A configuration item stores the data of a resource, and enables Notification Server to manage this resource. For example, the Computer configuration item lets you manage computers. Configuration item types are the templates for creating configuration items in the CMDB. A configuration item type is the base for all items that Asset Management Suite monitors or manages. A configuration item type consists of the following components: Base configuration item types Base configuration item type is the foundation on which a configuration item type is built. A configuration item type inherits the data classes of the base configuration item type. Besides Asset and Contract, all configuration item types are based on another configuration item type. See About base configuration item types on page 36. Data classes Data classes are the building blocks of a configuration item type. Each data class defines the attributes that you can record about a configuration item. See About data classes on page 37. Configuration item association types Configuration item association types create associations between configuration items and allow related data to be linked together. See About configuration item association types on page 43. About base configuration item types A base configuration item type (also known as a base resource type) is the configuration item type on which you base custom configuration item types as you create them. For example, to create a custom configuration item type named Mac, you might use the Computer base configuration item type. See About configuration item types on page 36. Base configuration item types let you effectively manage configuration item types. A custom configuration item type inherits all data classes of its base configuration item type. If the base configuration item type changes, any configuration item types that are based on it also change. For example, you can create the Generic Invoice base configuration item type that includes the attributes for all invoices. You can then use the base configuration item type to create any specific invoices

Managing configuration items About data classes 37 About data classes that require unique attributes. You only need to add the additional data classes for the unique attributes. Base configuration item types let you take advantage of built-in features such as asset aggregation, reporting, and accounting data. Any configuration item type can serve as a base configuration item type. No special configuration is required to allow a configuration item type to be a base configuration item type. You perform this action when you specify a base configuration item type for a new configuration item type. For example, most predefined asset types and contract types are based on the Asset and Contract configuration item types correspondingly. Data classes are the building blocks of a configuration item type. They represent the categories of data that you want to record about a configuration item. For example, the Computer configuration item type contains the Manufacturer data class. See About configuration item types on page 36. CMDB Solution includes the predefined data classes that you can use. You can also create custom data classes. The predefined data classes let you easily create configuration item types. Predefined data classes provide many elements that configuration item types need. You cannot modify or delete predefined data classes. You can modify and delete the custom data classes that you define. Data classes specify the type of data you want to record about resources. Imported, manually entered, or predefined data populates data classes. A data class has the following components: Data class attribute Data class attributes define the data that data classes store. Data class attributes appear as fields when you enter data. After you add a data class attribute to a data class, you can edit certain aspects of the attribute. You can edit the description and control if it is hidden, but you cannot delete the description from the data class. You cannot add data class attributes to a predefined data class. For example, the Manufacturer data class contains the Manufacturer Name and Model data class attributes.

38 Managing configuration items About predefined configuration item types Data class attribute parameter Data class attribute parameters specify the characteristics of a data class attribute such as name, description, and maximum length of the attribute. For each data class attribute, you must specify values for each of the parameters. You can specify the type, number, and order of characters in a field. For example, the name to be entered into the Manufacturer Name data class attribute might have a parameter of less than 256 characters. You can access CMDB data classes from the Settings menu, at All Settings > Notification Server > Resource and Data Class Settings > Data Classes > CMDB Data Classes. For more information, see the topics about configuration item data classes in the Symantec Management Platform Help. CMDB data classes represent the categories of data that CMDB configuration item types contain. CMDB data classes can be of the following types: Predefined data classes Editable data classes The event data classes such as Asset Merge Event and Concurrent Licensing are the predefined data classes that you cannot modify. CMDB data classes of different types such as DatacenterClasses, Contract Details, or Identity. You can define these data classes according to your needs and modify the data class attributes. About predefined configuration item types Predefined configuration item types are the templates that define what data is created and stored about a specific configuration item. See About configuration items on page 41. See Creating and editing a configuration item on page 47. Asset Management Suite provides predefined configuration item types for many types of assets. You can add custom fields to the predefined configuration item types. You can also create new configuration item types, if required. However, Symantec recommends that you use predefined configuration item types, because different features and reports are available for the predefined configuration item types.

Managing configuration items About predefined configuration item types 39 Table 5-1 Predefined configuration item types of Asset Management Solution Category Contract Management Predefined configuration item types Lease Schedule, Master Lease, NDA, Warranty. See About predefined contract configuration item types on page 62. Financial Types Accounting Code, Cost Type, Currency, Depreciation Schedule. See About financial configuration item types on page 57. Procurement Invoice, Purchase Order, Purchase Request, Receiving Slip, Stockroom. See About procurement process on page 68. Catalogs Software Licensing Bundle, Catalog, Consumable Catalog Item, Fixed Asset Catalog Item, Software Catalog Item. SoftwareProduct, MasterLicenseAgreement, SoftwareLicense, Software Purchase, Virtual License Agreement. See About software license items on page 90. Table 5-2 Predefined configuration item types of CMDB Solution Category Contract Management Predefined configuration item types Contract, Service Level Agreement. See About predefined contract configuration item types on page 62. Communication Equipment Computers and Peripherals Datacenter Types Cell Phone, Desk Phone. Computer, Monitor, Network Printer, Peripheral, Scanner, Virtual Machine. Computer Type, Power, Rack, Services, Systems, UPS. See About datacenter configuration item types on page 40. Generic Asset Types Other Assets Asset, Network Resource. Furniture and Fixtures, Office Equipment, Site, Subnet. Organizational Types Company, Cost Center, Department, Location, User. See About organizational configuration item types on page 23.

40 Managing configuration items About datacenter configuration item types About datacenter configuration item types Datacenter configuration item types let you track different IT management components and services. Datacenter configuration item types are the predefined configuration item types of CMDB Solution. See About predefined configuration item types on page 38. Table 5-3 Datacenter configuration item types Configuration item type Computer Type Power Rack Services Description Includes the predefined Server, Test, and Workstation types to let you specify what type of function or role a computer has. You determine the computer type when you edit or create a new computer configuration item. The power sources that the network uses and that are intended to be associated with UPS configuration items. Network resource racks. You can specify which network resources are included in each rack. The functions that support one or more business areas. For example, the Service configuration item type lets you manage the information about your email service. Email service consists of several components such as Active Directory, Exchange Server, and Web Mail. Each of these components might be located on a separate server. When you set up the email service in the Symantec Management Console, you first create the systems that support this service. After you create the systems, you create the Service and in the Create configuration item window, under SupportingSystems, you add all related systems. When you then receive an incident that is related to the email service, you can use the Resource Association Diagram to track down the problem. The Resource Association Diagram lets you quickly view all the components that are connected to this particular service. See Tracking the associations of a configuration item on page 44. Systems UPS The components that support services. For example, an Exchange Server. Uninterrupted power supply resources. Includes the details on voltage, input and output frequencies, currents, and so on.

Managing configuration items About configuration items 41 About configuration items Asset Management Suite stores all the asset-related information in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). To track an asset, you must enter its data into the database. You enter information into the database as a configuration item, also called a resource entry. A configuration item represents an object or any detail that you want your system to track. These items can be assets, locations, invoices, schedules, users, contracts, and so on. The following items are examples of configuration items: A user named Jon A location named California A computer named GX260 A depreciation schedule named Straight Line An invoice named Invoice0002 You can associate a configuration item with other configuration items. For example, you can associate a user named Jon with a location named California and with a computer named GX260. After you create these associations between configuration items, you can track items and manage information in your asset management environment. Although you can enter any type of information about any configuration item type, Asset Management Suite provides predefined configuration item types. Configuration item types are the templates that define the data that you can store about a specific configuration item. See About predefined configuration item types on page 38. About configuration item associations Understanding the relationships between various configuration item types, especially the crucial organizational configuration item types, helps you to identify the dependencies within the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). You can view relationships between configuration items in the Resource Association Diagram that you access in the Resource Manager, in the left pane. See Tracking the associations of a configuration item on page 44. Not all configuration item types can have direct associations with each other but most of them have indirect associations with each other. Associations are useful for reporting purposes. For example, a computer asset is associated with a user

42 Managing configuration items About configuration item associations and the user is associated with a department. Although the asset may not be directly associated with the department, the asset is reported as one of the department s assets. The following table shows direct configuration item type associations. The configuration item type column presents the child (from) configuration item type, and the direct association column presents the parent (to) configuration item types. See About configuration item association types on page 43. Table 5-4 Direct associations of configuration item types Configuration item type Asset Company Cost Center Department Location User Direct association Cost Center, Location, User, Department, and Asset. Creates no direct associations. Location and Manager (User). Cost Center, Location, and Manager (User). Cost Center and Manager (User). Company, Department, Location, and Manager (User). The following table shows indirect configuration item type associations, including the path for creating the association. The configuration item type column presents the child (from) configuration item type, and the indirect association column presents the parent (to) configuration item types. Table 5-5 Indirect associations of configuration item types Configuration item type Asset Indirect association User > Company User > Department User > User Company Cost Center Department Location Creates no indirect associations. Creates no indirect associations. Cost Center > User Cost Center > User

Managing configuration items About configuration item association types 43 Table 5-5 Indirect associations of configuration item types (continued) Configuration item type Manager User Indirect association Existing Users can be specified as Managers. Department > Cost Center Department > Location About configuration item association types A configuration item association type (also known as a resource association type) lets you link resources for more convenient access to associated data. You can then easily track the data about related configuration items. A configuration item association type is a template for creating a child to parent relationship between configuration items. This association links child configuration items to a parent configuration item. You can associate a computer monitor with a computer, a cell phone with a user, and several pieces of equipment with a lease. For example, the Power to Network Resource association type represents a group of network resources that are directly connected to the power rather than covered by a backup power system (UPS). When you create a configuration item association type, a new field appears in the child configuration item type. The field contains the list of configuration items that the parent configuration item type defines. You can associate any of them with the child configuration item type. For example, you can create a configuration item association type that links the Monitor configuration item type to the Computer configuration item type. The Monitor configuration item type includes the field with the list of computers that you can associate with the monitor. CMDB Solution includes numerous predefined configuration item association types. You can also create custom configuration item association types. You can access the CMDB configuration item association types from the Settings menu, at Notification Server > Resource and Data Class Settings > Resource Associations > CMDB Association Types. See About configuration item associations on page 41. See Tracking the associations of a configuration item on page 44. For more information, see the topics about viewing configuration item association type information in the Symantec Management Platform Help.

44 Managing configuration items Tracking the associations of a configuration item Tracking the associations of a configuration item The Resource Association Diagram displays a graphic that shows a configuration item and all its associated configuration items. The Resource Association Diagram lets you view relationships between assets, users, locations, departments, and cost centers. In a large environment, this graphic makes it easier to track down an asset and its dependencies. See About configuration item associations on page 41. To track associations of configuration items 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Assets. 2 In the left pane, under Assets, click the desired configuration item type. 3 In the configuration items list, right-click the configuration item that you want to track, and then click CMDB Functions > Resource Association Diagram. 4 (Optional) Adjust the Resource Association Diagram view according to your requirements. Automatically creating configuration items for network devices Gathering and entering asset information is one of the first steps in asset management. You must create a configuration item for each asset that you want to track. See About configuration items on page 41. You can manually create configuration items or they can be automatically created. You must manually create configuration items for non-networked assets like office equipment, racks, and monitors. For networked devices, you can use inventory management tools to automate the task of creating a configuration item. For example, you can gather inventory data about computers on your network, and then have each computer automatically created as a configuration item.

Managing configuration items About importing configuration item data from other systems 45 To automatically create configuration items for network devices 1 Run an inventory management program to identify devices on your network. For example, in the Symantec Management Console, on the Actions menu, click Discover > Import Microsoft Active Directory. 2 Specify the import settings and click Apply. Each identified device is set up as a configuration item in the system. 3 (Optional) To view the configuration items, in the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Manage Configuration Items, and then click the correct folder and configuration item type. About importing configuration item data from other systems If you have configuration item data available in a file or in another application, you can import it into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Importing configuration item data lets you save time and reduce data entry errors. You can also take advantage of the import feature when you manage part of your data outside of the CMDB. To make sure that the data in CMDB remains current and accurate, Symantec recommends that you work out a process for getting regular updates. When the data is continuously maintained outside of the asset management system, you can schedule a regular import from the external data source into the CMDB. When you import data, ensure that the key that you use to identify a configuration item is unique. Do not change this key when you import the same data. If the key is not unique or is changed, duplicate entries of configuration items and other data import problems may appear. You can use the following tools to import data into the CMDB: Data Connector This solution lets you transfer data from various common mechanisms, such as OLE, ODBC, CSV files, XML files, and LDAP. For more information, see the topics about managing CMDB data with Data Connectors in the Symantec Management Platform Help. Connector Packs This tool works with Data Connector Solution to import data from enterprise management applications, such as HP OpenView and Remedy Action Request System.

46 Managing configuration items About merging configuration items Data import components These components of Notification Server let you import data from sources such as Microsoft Active Directory. For more information, see the topics about importing resource data in the Symantec Management Platform Help. See About configuration items on page 41. About merging configuration items The feature of merging configuration items lets you merge duplicate configuration items. You can merge the configuration items only of the same configuration item type. For example, you can merge the two assets: a printer and a network printer. You can merge two contracts. But you cannot merge an asset and a contract. When you merge two configuration items, you select the configuration item that you want to keep. For the data classes that both configuration items have, you select the data class that you want to keep. If a data class exists only for the configuration item that you decide to delete, the data for this data class is also deleted. Associations of the configuration item that you decide to delete are transferred to the configuration item that you keep. If there is more than one association of the same type, only the newest association remains. You can use tasks and rules to automate recurring configuration item merges. The base for merge tasks and rules are the merge keys. Predefined configuration item type data classes define the merge keys. For example, to create a merge rule for desk phones, you select the Desk Phone configuration item type. You can then select one of the available merge keys. The list of the merge keys is based on the default data classes for Desk Phone configuration item type, such as a phone number. You can use Connector Solution to define the additional resource lookup keys that appear in the Merge Key drop-down list. A custom data class that you add to a predefined configuration item type cannot be used as a merge key. See Merging two configuration items on page 47.

Managing configuration items Merging two configuration items 47 Merging two configuration items You can merge two configuration items into a single configuration item. For example, if network discovery creates a new item for a computer that you already set up manually, you can combine the two items. You can merge only configuration items of the same type. See About merging configuration items on page 46. See About configuration items on page 41. To merge two configuration items 1 Ctrl-click two configuration items of the same type. 2 Right-click one of the selected items, and then click Merge Resources. 3 In the Merge Resources dialog box, do the following: For Primary Resource, check the check box next to the name that you want to use as the item name. In the Keep columns, check the check box next to the data class information that you want to keep. An asterisk (*) indicates the most recently updated data. 4 Click Save changes. Creating and editing a configuration item Configuration items represent the resources and information that you want to track in your environment. To create a configuration item, you can use the predefined configuration item types that Asset Management Suite provides. You can also create and use custom configuration item types. See About configuration items on page 41. See About predefined configuration item types on page 38. To create and edit a configuration item 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Assets. 2 In the left pane, expand the desired folder. 3 To create a configuration item, right-click a configuration item type, and then click the context menu option that lets you create a new configuration item. 4 (Optional) To edit a configuration item, do one of the following: In the configuration items list, double-click a configuration item.

48 Managing configuration items Creating and editing views In the configuration items list, right-click a configuration item, and then click the context menu option that lets you edit the configuration item, add associations, or change the status. 5 In the Create configuration item or Edit configuration item window, specify the details of the configuration item. To make creating and editing configuration items more convenient, you can adjust the view according to your needs. See Creating and editing views on page 48. 6 Do one of the following: Click Save and create new, if you want to save the data and create the next item. Click Apply, if you want to save the data and continue editing the same item. Click OK, if you want to save the data and close the window. Note that in the configuration items list, you must click Refresh to display the changes. Creating and editing views Asset Management Suite offers the default views that let you insert data about your assets, purchase orders, software licenses, and other configuration items. See About configuration items on page 41. When you open the dialog box to create or edit a configuration item, the default view opens. On the default view, you can specify information for all the data class attributes that apply to this configuration item type. On the default view, you can also create all associations that are possible for this configuration item type. When you do not need to insert some data or you prefer to insert the data in a different order, you can edit the default views. You can also create new views. To create and edit views 1 Open the dialog box to create or edit a configuration item. See Creating and editing a configuration item on page 47. 2 In the dialog box, in the View drop-down list, click Manage Views... 3 In the Change Edit Views dialog box, do one of the following: To create a view, click New, insert the name of the view, and then click OK.

Managing configuration items About asset life cycle 49 To edit a view, select the view you want to edit. 4 Select the Data classes and Associations that are displayed on the Edit configuration item page when you select the view. Symantec suggests that you select the Data classes and Associations based on your data entry roles. 5 Click Save changes. About asset life cycle You can track an asset through all stages of its life cycle, from procurement to retirement. After you purchase an asset and enter its data into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), the asset starts its regular life cycle. You can modify the Asset Status according to the changes in the life cycle. See About configuration items on page 41. You can also create custom statuses and set them to your assets. However, an asset with a custom status becomes inactive and does not appear in the reports. Instead of using custom statuses, Symantec recommends that you create the custom status as a Location and assign the asset to this location. The following example presents the life cycle of a laptop computer: You request a laptop. Purchase Order lets you enter purchase data into the CMDB. The asset status is On Order. You acquire the laptop. You specify the laptop data in the CMDB. The asset status is In Stock. You deploy and inventory the laptop. You get the laptop and connect it to the network. You run inventory on the laptop. As a result of inventory scan, the laptop appears as an active asset. The asset status is Active. The laptop breaks. You send the laptop to the supplier to have it fixed or replaced under warranty. The asset status is RMA. The laptop is lost or stolen. The asset status is Missing. The laptop reaches its end of life. You retire the laptop. The asset status is Retired. You dispose of the laptop. The asset status is Disposed. After you set the status to Retired or Disposed, the asset becomes inactive and does not appear in the reports.

50 Managing configuration items About asset life cycle

Chapter 6 Managing custom configuration item types This chapter includes the following topics: About custom configuration item types Creating a custom data class Creating a custom configuration item type Creating a custom configuration item association type About data input masks About custom configuration item types Asset Management Suite provides predefined configuration item types for many types of assets. See About predefined configuration item types on page 38. If the predefined configuration item types do not meet all your requirements, you can customize them in your environment. For example, for some configuration items you might have the information that cannot be stored in the existing data classes of the predefined configuration item types. In this situation you can define and add custom data classes and custom configuration item association types to the predefined configuration item types. See Creating a custom data class on page 52. See Creating a custom configuration item association type on page 54. In the environment where the predefined configuration item types are not sufficient, you can create custom configuration item types. Symantec recommends

52 Managing custom configuration item types Creating a custom data class that when you create a custom configuration item type, you specify a base configuration item type for it. The custom configuration item type inherits the data classes, associations, and functionality from the base configuration item type. To extend the definition of the base configuration item type, you add custom data classes and custom resource association types. See Creating a custom configuration item type on page 53. Creating a custom data class A data class can be visualized as a table in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Each data class has a set of attributes that define its properties. When you create a data class, you can customize it by adding, editing, and deleting its attributes. After you create a custom data class, you can add it to a predefined configuration item type or to a custom configuration item type that you create. See Creating a custom configuration item type on page 53. To create a custom data class 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Settings menu, click All Settings. 2 In the left pane, click Notification Server > Resource and Data Class Settings > Data Classes > CMDB Data Classes. 3 In the left pane, right-click the folder where you want to create a custom data class, and then click New > Editable Data Class. 4 On the New Editable Data Class page, give the data class a name and add the attributes. The name of the database table that is linked to the data class is created from the name of this data class. It begins with the prefix Inv_ followed by the data class name. The spaces in the data class name are replaced with the underscore character. Note that the table name persists even if you later change the name of the data class. See About data input masks on page 55. 5 Click Save changes.

Managing custom configuration item types Creating a custom configuration item type 53 Creating a custom configuration item type Asset Management Suite provides predefined configuration item types for many types of assets. However, sometimes the predefined configuration item types are not sufficient and you might need to create custom configuration item types. See About predefined configuration item types on page 38. The first step in defining a custom configuration item type is to determine what information you want to track for it. You also need to decide which data types you want to exist in only this configuration item type and which data types you want to be linked to other configuration item types. For the data types that you want to exist in only this configuration item type, you create the corresponding data classes. For the data types that you want to link to other configuration item types, you create custom association types. See Creating a custom data class on page 52. See Creating a custom configuration item association type on page 54. To create a custom configuration item type 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Settings menu, click All Settings. 2 In the left pane, click Notification Server > Resource and Data Class Settings > Resource Types. 3 In the left pane, right-click the folder where you want to create a custom configuration item type, and then click New > Resource Type. 4 On the New Resource Type page, give the configuration item a name and specify its settings. If you specify the Base Resource Type, the custom configuration item type inherits all data classes, associations, and functionality of the selected base configuration item type. To add custom data classes to the configuration item type, click Add data classes. 5 Click Save changes. 6 (Optional) To make it easier to access the custom configuration item type, create a link to this configuration item type in the CI Management portal. To create the link, do the following: In the Symantec Management Console, on the CI Management page, in the left pane, right-click the folder where you want to place the link, and then click New > Resource Type Link.

54 Managing custom configuration item types Creating a custom configuration item association type In the Select a Resource Type dialog box, click the custom configuration item type, and then click OK. Creating a custom configuration item association type A configuration item association type defines a child (to) to parent (from) relationship between one configuration item type to one or more configuration item types. See About configuration item associations on page 41. See About configuration item association types on page 43. If the predefined associations of a configuration item type do not meet all your requirements, you can create custom configuration item associations. For example, you might want to associate a contract to each of your vendors as part of the contract management. In Asset Management Suite, the default associations of a Contract configuration item type do not let you create such an association. In this case you can create a custom configuration item association type. To create a custom configuration item association type 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Settings menu, click All Settings. 2 In the left pane, click Notification Server > Resource and Data Class Settings > Resource Associations > CMDB Association Types. 3 In the left pane, right-click the folder where you want to create a custom association type, and then click New > Editable Association Type. 4 On the New Editable Association Type page, give the association a name and specify its details. If you want to create an association between a contract and a vendor, configure the details as follows: Type Contract's Vendor, as the name of the new editable association type. In the Reverse Display name box, type Vendor's Contracts. For the From Type configuration item type, select Contract. For the To Type configuration item type, select Company. In the Minimum Cardinality box, type 0. In the Maximum Cardinality box, type 1.

Managing custom configuration item types About data input masks 55 Note that when you create a new association, you can only specify the minimum cardinality and maximum cardinality from parent to child. The cardinality from child to parent is always from 0 to many, and you cannot change it. Under Enable Editing From, check Contract, and in the drop-down list, click Resource Association Picker for Asset. 5 Click Save changes. About data input masks Data input masks are the filters that selectively include or exclude certain values. When you define a data class, you can assign the masks that indicate what sort of value the data class attributes should hold. Values that do not conform to the mask cannot be entered. See About data classes on page 37. See Creating a custom data class on page 52. Table 6-1 Character A a 9 0 * # \ Data input mask characters Meaning Any letter. Entry required. Any letter. Entry optional. Any digit or space. Entry optional; + and - not allowed. Any digit (0 to 9). Entry required; + and - not allowed. Any letter, digit, space, +, or -. Entry optional; spaces are removed when data is saved. Any letter, digit, +, or -. Entry required. Treat the masking character following the \ as a regular character with no special masking properties.

56 Managing custom configuration item types About data input masks

Chapter 7 Using financial configuration item types This chapter includes the following topics: About financial configuration item types Adding a cost item to an asset Using the currency convertor About financial configuration item types Asset Management Suite provides several predefined configuration item types that help you manage finance-related details in your environment. Table 7-1 Predefined financial configuration item types Financial configuration item type Accounting Code Cost Type Description An accounting code contains an ID number and a description that corresponds with a budgetary division, such as a department or division. You can associate the accounting code with the cost items to help you allocate expenses to resources, such as computers and purchase orders. You use a cost type item to specify a type of expense. For example, you can designate cost types as an external purchase, external support, internal support, or contract. Cost type items let you logically group expenses. Cost type attributes affect depreciation values, group allocation, and other reporting areas.

58 Using financial configuration item types Adding a cost item to an asset Table 7-1 Predefined financial configuration item types (continued) Financial configuration item type Currency Description By default, Asset Management Suite defines no currency types or currency rates. It provides a single, non-defined base currency for all monetary entries. Symantec recommends that you define your base currency so that you can use the currency convertor. See Using the currency convertor on page 59. Symantec recommends that you set the rate of the base currency to 1.00. You then set other currencies to their respective exchange rates as they compare to the base currency. DepreciationSchedule The depreciation schedule lets you specify the rates and the dates that are associated with depreciating assets and other resource items. You create the depreciation schedule items that correspond to your depreciation expense strategies. When you create a depreciation schedule item, you enter attributes, such as description, depreciation type, and rate. You can use these items and attributes to generate the reports that are associated with the assets and depreciation. Cost Item A cost item is an expense that relates to or adds value to a resource. See Adding a cost item to an asset on page 58. Adding a cost item to an asset A cost item is an expenditure that relates to or adds to the value of an asset. For example, you can add the cost of an extra disk drive to the value of a computer. The additional value is added as a cost item. See About financial configuration item types on page 57. To add a cost item to an asset using the context menu 1 In the assets list, right-click an asset, and then click Asset Functions > Add Cost Item. 2 In the Add Cost Item to Asset dialog box, specify the settings, and then click OK. To add a cost item to an asset using the scheduled task 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Jobs and Tasks. 2 In the left pane, go to the folder where you want to save the task. Right-click the folder, and then click New > Task.

Using financial configuration item types Using the currency convertor 59 3 In the CreateNewTask dialog box, in the left pane, expand ServiceandAsset Management > Asset Management, and then click Add Cost Items. 4 In the right pane, click Select a Resource to select one or more assets. 5 In the CostItems section, click Add to select the cost type and add a cost item entry. 6 In the Cost Items section, click on each field to enter cost item information. 7 Click OK. 8 In the Task Status section, click New Schedule. 9 On the New Schedule page, schedule the task. For more information, see the topics about running a task in the Symantec Management Platform Help. 10 Click Schedule. Using the currency convertor The currency convertor is available for the fields that require monetary value as an input. The convertor helps you convert the currency amount into the base currency. See Configuring base currency settings on page 21. To use the currency convertor 1 Open the dialog box to create or edit a configuration item. See Creating and editing a configuration item on page 47. 2 In the dialog box, select a field that requires or contains a monetary value, such as Amount. 3 Click Currency. Currency is often located in the heading of the table. If you cannot see Currency or it appears inactive, the option is not available for the selected field. 4 In the Currency Convertor dialog box, in the Amount box, type the amount of the original currency to convert. 5 In the Currency drop-down list, select the type of currency you entered in the Amount box. 6 Click OK.

60 Using financial configuration item types Using the currency convertor

Chapter 8 Managing contracts This chapter includes the following topics: About managing contracts About predefined contract configuration item types About setting up your contract management environment Configuring a contract expiration notification policy Configuring a contract expiration notification policy to send an email notification to the contract owner About managing contracts Contract configuration items in Asset Management Suite let you insert and track the contract-related data in your environment. For example, you can enter details about lease schedules, warranties, and the agreements that you have signed with your vendors or other business partners. After you create contract configuration items, you can associate them with other items in your system. For example, you can create a contract item that specifies the contract details, and then associate it with a new computer purchase. This association lets you track the document-related details of the new computer. Before you can set up contract management in Asset Management Suite, you must identify where the existing contract data is located. To find out where the existing data is stored, you must identify which departments and individuals are responsible for it. By working with the owners of the data, you can determine what kind of information you need to enter and track for the contracts. After you decide what types of leases and contracts you want to track, you enter the necessary data into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). If your contract data is stored in paper form, you need to input the data manually. If you

62 Managing contracts About predefined contract configuration item types have your contract data available in electronic format, you can import it into the CMDB. See About importing configuration item data from other systems on page 45. Symantec recommends that you use the predefined contract configuration item types to enter your contract data. See About predefined contract configuration item types on page 62. About predefined contract configuration item types Asset Management Suite lets you record and track almost any type of contract from a centralized location. For example, you can manage leases, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and warranties. After you enter your contracts into the database, you can associate them with different assets in your system. See About managing contracts on page 61. Symantec recommends that you use the predefined contract configuration item types to enter your contract data. Table 8-1 Predefined contract configuration item types Contract configuration item type Contract Description A contract configuration item type lets you enter data for any types of contracts. For example, you can enter the contracts that you have signed with your vendors. Contract configuration item type is part of the CMDB Solution. See Creating a custom configuration item association type on page 54. Lease Schedule A lease schedule lets you track the duration of a lease, payments, and associated resources. You can set notification policies to remind you that a lease is due to expire. See Configuring a contract expiration notification policy on page 64. Master Lease After you create multiple lease schedules, you can combine accounting details into a master lease for total cost of ownership reports, generic schedule, and overall summary information. For example, your organization leases several computers and printers from the same vendor. You can then create a master lease and link all the lease schedules that are associated with these leased assets. A master lease enables you to quickly view summary details for all leased equipment from one supplier. For example, you can view payments, schedules, and serial numbers for covered hardware.

Managing contracts About setting up your contract management environment 63 Table 8-1 Predefined contract configuration item types (continued) Contract configuration item type NDA Description An NDA lets you protect the sensitive information about your organization that you share with your business partners or contractors. An NDA configuration item type lets you insert the NDAs that are signed for your company, or the NDAs that your company signs for the other companies. Service Level Agreement An SLA specifies the services that a vendor or a service provider furnishes under particular contract. Service Level Agreement configuration item type is part of the CMDB Solution. Warranty Warranties consist of hardware details, schedule, and financial information. The warranty contract type lets you track the information that relates to the warranty. For example, you can track payments, expiration date, and associated serial numbers. About setting up your contract management environment Before you can create contracts in Asset Management Suite, you must set up the following prerequisite financial configuration item types for contracts: Accounting Periods An accounting period represents a yearly range of dates that corresponds to a set of financial records or reports. See Configuring accounting periods on page 20. Cost Type Cost types specify a type of expense and enable you to logically group expenses. Cost type attributes affect depreciation values, group allocation, and other reporting areas. Asset Management Suite includes predefined cost types, but you can add custom cost types if you need. DepreciationSchedule The depreciation schedule lets you specify the rates and the dates that are associated with depreciating assets and other resource items. Currency Base Currency Currency configuration item type lets you specify different currencies and their rates compared to the base currency. After you specify the base currency, you can use the currency values and rates with the currency convertor.

64 Managing contracts Configuring a contract expiration notification policy The Quick Start - Contracts Web part displays the items that must be completed in the order shown, when you first begin managing contracts in Asset Management Suite. Configuring a contract expiration notification policy Asset Management Suite includes the automation policies that send an email notification 30, 60, or 90 days before a contract is due to expire. The reminder that runs before the expiration date gives you enough time to create an efficient migration and replacement strategy. Note that the Software License configuration item type uses the base configuration item type of Contract and therefore has an expiration date. The automation policy also sends out notification email when a software license is about to expire. For more information, see the topics about managing automation policies in the Symantec Management Platform Help. To configure a contract expiration notification policy 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Automation Policies. 2 In the automation policies list, click one of the following: Contracts expiring in the next 30 days Contracts expiring in the next 60 days Contracts expiring in the next 90 days 3 Specify the schedule and other settings of the automation policy. 4 Click Edit input parameter. 5 In the Edit Job/Task Input Parameters dialog box, in the To box, specify the required data, and then click OK. Note that by default the automation policies are configured to send the notifications to the system administrator. However, you can configure an automation policy to send a notification email to the contract owner. See Configuring a contract expiration notification policy to send an email notification to the contract owner on page 65. 6 Click Save changes.

Managing contracts Configuring a contract expiration notification policy to send an email notification to the contract owner 65 7 (Optional) Click Test Automation Policy. If the automation policy works correctly, it sends an email to the email address that you specified. 8 Click Turn on. Configuring a contract expiration notification policy to send an email notification to the contract owner The automation policies are configured to send the notifications to the system administrator by default. However, if you assign owners to all contracts, you might want the contract owner to be notified instead. See Configuring a contract expiration notification policy on page 64. Warning: If a contract does not have an assigned owner, the contract expiration notification is not sent. To avoid this situation, make the system administrator the default owner for all new contracts. For more information, see the topics about setting the default values in the CMDB Solution Help. To configure a contract expiration notification policy to send an email notification to the contract owner 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Automation Policies. 2 In the automation policies list, click one of the following: Contracts expiring in the next 30 days Contracts expiring in the next 60 days Contracts expiring in the next 90 days 3 In the right pane, click Edit query. 4 In the Data Source dialog box, on the Query tab, click Create Joins. 5 In the Joins dialog box, do the following: In the first drop-down list, leave the type LeftOuter. In the second drop-down list, click vuser. In the left drop-down list, click [Contract].[OwnerNSGuid]. In the right drop-down list, click Guid.

66 Managing contracts Configuring a contract expiration notification policy to send an email notification to the contract owner Click OK. 6 In the Data Source dialog box, on the Fields tab, click Add. 7 In the Add Fields & DataClass Attributes dialog box, click [vuser].[email], and then click OK. 8 In the Data Source dialog box, click OK. 9 Click Save changes. 10 Click Turn on.

Chapter 9 Managing your procurement process This chapter includes the following topics: About procurement process Preparing the procurement environment About stockrooms Creating a stockroom Replenishing stockroom quantities Creating a procurement catalog Adding items to the procurement catalog Creating a bundle Performing the procurement Creating a purchase request in the Symantec Management Console Generating a purchase order Generating an invoice About receiving items Receiving an item Receive Items page

68 Managing your procurement process About procurement process About procurement process Procurement describes the process of obtaining new objects, assets, or devices for your company. Asset Management Suite helps you manage your procurement process. Asset Management Suite provides templates to help you create and manage procurement-related configuration items, such as the stockroom, catalogs, purchase requests, purchase orders, and invoices. Creating and using these configuration items lets you track assets and resources for their entire lifecycle. You can run reports and use filters to determine the status of items in your procurement process. The Quick Start - Procurement Web part displays the items that must be completed in the order shown, when you first begin working in the Procurement portal. First you must set up the stockroom, supplier companies, and catalogs, and then enter the catalog items. After you prepare the procurement environment, you can create purchase requests and purchase orders. See Preparing the procurement environment on page 68. See Performing the procurement on page 74. Preparing the procurement environment Before you can start purchasing and receiving processes, you must prepare the procurement environment. You must create stockroom, supplier companies, and catalogs for the items that you want to purchase. See About procurement process on page 68. See Performing the procurement on page 74. Table 9-1 Process for preparing the procurement environment Step Step 1 Step 2 Action Create a stockroom Create supplier companies Description Creating a stockroom is the first step of preparing the procurement environment. Stockroom lets you keep track of the catalog items. See Creating a stockroom on page 70. Before you can create procurement catalogs, you must create company configuration items for suppliers from whom you purchase assets and consumables. See About the Company configuration item type on page 25.

Managing your procurement process About stockrooms 69 Table 9-1 Process for preparing the procurement environment (continued) Step Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Action Create procurement catalogs Add items to the procurement catalogs (optional) Create bundles Description Procurement catalogs house the information that you need to request assets. See Creating a procurement catalog on page 71. After you create procurement catalog, you must populate it with the consumables, assets, or software that users can request. See Adding items to the procurement catalog on page 72. Bundles let you group frequently ordered catalog items together. See Creating a bundle on page 73. About stockrooms Stockrooms are part of the procurement feature in Asset Management Suite. See Preparing the procurement environment on page 68. A stockroom lets you physically hold the assets and the consumables that are ready for distribution into the environment. It also lets you store spare equipment until it is needed. In Asset Management Suite, you can use the stockroom configuration item type for the following functions: To store fixed assets, such as hardware and software catalog items. To house and monitor consumable items. Fixed assets are received into a stockroom through returns, terminations, leases, or purchases. When a fixed asset is placed in a stockroom, you update the location to reflect the stockroom and change the status to In Stock. When the asset leaves the stockroom, you update the new location and owner data fields. The fixed assets that are stored in stock are not listed on the stockroom resource. An asset is considered to be in a stockroom if its status is set to In Stock. To view the fixed assets that are in a particular stockroom, use the AssetsbyType,Status, Department, Cost Center and Location report. The Consumable In Stock items are generally less important assets that are not tracked as individual resources. You only monitor the quantity of these items in stock and order new items when the quantity becomes too low. To make it easier to keep track of the consumable items and their quantities in stock, you can set up notifications and automation for reordering.

70 Managing your procurement process Creating a stockroom See Replenishing stockroom quantities on page 71. The Consumables In Stock items must first exist in the procurement catalog and be defined as consumable items. You can then create a stockroom and assign the consumable items to it. See Creating a stockroom on page 70. Creating a stockroom Stockrooms are part of the procurement feature in Asset Management Suite. Stockrooms let you store assets and monitor consumable items. See About stockrooms on page 69. When you define a stockroom, you must assign it to a location and associate a user as the stockroom manager. To have the system work properly, the stockroom manager should have a valid email address. Before you create a stockroom, make sure that you have the location and the manager of the stockroom defined in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). At this time, a stockroom can only contain consumable configuration items. However, you may also want to assign fixed assets to a stockroom. The best practice is to create a location for each stockroom using the same name as the stockroom. When you place a fixed asset in a stockroom, you then change its status to In Stock and update its Location to reflect the stockroom. To see all fixed assets that are placed in the stockroom, filter the Assets by Type, Status, Department, Cost Center and Location report by Asset Status and Location parameters. See Creating a location on page 27. See About the User configuration item type on page 25. This task is a step in the process for preparing the procurement environment. See Preparing the procurement environment on page 68. To create a stockroom 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Procurement. 2 In the left pane, right-click Stockroom, and then click Create Stockroom.

Managing your procurement process Replenishing stockroom quantities 71 3 In the Create configuration item dialog box, give the stockroom a name and then assign it to a location and associate a stockroom manager. If you plan to use the reorder feature, you must specify the Stock Order Details data for your stockrooms. See Replenishing stockroom quantities on page 71. 4 Click OK. Replenishing stockroom quantities You can use your stockrooms with the Replenish Stockroom Quantities automation policy. This policy automatically keeps track of the quantities of the consumable items in the stockroom, and performs a reorder if necessary. For each consumable item that is listed under Stock Order Details of the stockroom, the task checks the quantity in a stockroom with the same Cost Center or Department. If it is less than the Order Level, the policy creates a purchase order with a quantity of Number To Order. The policy also sends an email notification to the stockroom manager to report that the purchase order is created. See Creating a stockroom on page 70. See About stockrooms on page 69. To replenish stockroom quantities 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Automation Policies. 2 In the left pane, click Replenish Stockroom Quantities. 3 On the Replenish Stockroom Quantities page, specify the schedule of the policy and the actions that should be performed. 4 Click Save changes. Creating a procurement catalog The procurement catalog contains the information that you need to request consumables, assets, or software. The procurement catalog is directly associated with the supplier company. See About the Company configuration item type on page 25. This task is a step in the process for preparing the procurement environment. See Preparing the procurement environment on page 68.

72 Managing your procurement process Adding items to the procurement catalog To create a procurement catalog 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Procurement. 2 In the left pane, expand Catalogs, right-click Catalog, and then click Create Catalog. 3 In the Create configuration item dialog box, give the catalog a name and specify the supplier for the catalog. Symantec recommends that you give the catalog the same name as the supplier company that is associated with it. 4 Click OK. Adding items to the procurement catalog After you create the procurement catalog, you can populate it with the following types of items: Consumable catalog item Fixed asset catalog item Software catalog item You do not track consumable catalog items once you give them out. You only track how much it costs to buy these items. For example, consumable catalog items are cables and toners. The cost of a consumable catalog item is charged directly from a cost center or department. The owner of a consumable catalog item can be a cost center or a department. Fixed assets are usually purchased for a particular user. The owner of a fixed asset catalog item can be a user or a department. For example, fixed asset catalog items are computers, monitors, and desks. Software is purchased for a particular user or group of users. The owner of a Software Catalog item can be a user or a department. Note that many suppliers provide an electronic form of their catalogs. You can use Data Connector Solution to import these catalogs into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). For more information, see the topics about managing CMDB data with Data Connector in the Symantec Management Platform Help. After you add the items to the procurement catalog, users can start requesting purchases of these items. See Performing the procurement on page 74. This task is a step in the process for preparing the procurement environment. See Preparing the procurement environment on page 68.

Managing your procurement process Creating a bundle 73 To add items to the procurement catalog 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Procurement. 2 In the left pane, expand Catalogs, right-click the catalog item type, and then click the context menu option that lets you create a catalog item. 3 In the Create configuration item dialog box, give the catalog item a name and specify the catalog to which you want to add it. For Fixed asset catalog item, you must also specify the Resource Type. 4 Click OK. Creating a bundle Bundles let you group frequently ordered catalog items together. For example, you can create an equipment bundle for a new tester. This bundle contains two monitors, a desktop production computer, a keyboard, a mouse, a laptop, two test computers, and a switch box. If you need to order a such set of items frequently, you can set it up in a bundle rather than have to select all the individual items each time you order. Note that you can add bundles only to a purchase request. This task is a step in the process for preparing the procurement environment. See Preparing the procurement environment on page 68. To create a bundle 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Procurement. 2 In the left pane, expand Catalogs, right-click Bundle, and then click Create Bundle. 3 In the Create configuration item dialog box, give the bundle a name and add the items that you want to be part of this bundle. Note that you must have the items inserted into the procurement catalog first. See Adding items to the procurement catalog on page 72. 4 Click OK.

74 Managing your procurement process Performing the procurement Performing the procurement The procurement process lets you obtain new objects, assets, or devices for your company. Before you can start the procurement process, you must prepare the procurement environment. See About procurement process on page 68. See Preparing the procurement environment on page 68. Table 9-2 Process for performing the procurement Step Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Action Create a purchase request Generate a purchase order Generate an invoice Receive items Description The creation of a purchase request initiates the procurement process. Usually, users should submit their purchase requests using the Purchase Request Workflow. Instructions for running the Purchase Request Workflow are attached to the Asset Management Suite - Workflows article. You can also create a purchase request in the Symantec Management Console. See Creating a purchase request in the Symantec Management Console on page 75. Symantec recommends that you use the purchase requests to generate the purchase orders. However, you can also create a purchase order manually. When a user submits a purchase request, the requestor s manager has to approve it before you can create a purchase order. See Generating a purchase order on page 75. After you create a purchase order and send it to the supplier, the procurement process pauses until the items on the order arrive. When a shipment arrives, you generate an invoice in the Symantec Management Console in preparation for receiving the items. Use the purchase order to generate the invoice. See Generating an invoice on page 76. As the final step of the procurement process, you receive the items and place them in the stockroom or pass them to the owner. When you receive an item, you can specify how you want to handle it. You can create a new resource in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) or you can update the existing item. See Receiving an item on page 80.

Managing your procurement process Creating a purchase request in the Symantec Management Console 75 Creating a purchase request in the Symantec Management Console To order any assets or software items, you must create a purchase request. Usually, the users submit their purchase requests using the Purchase Request Workflow. Instructions for running the Purchase Request Workflow are attached to the Asset Management Suite - Workflows article. However, you can also create purchase requests in the Symantec Management Console. Warning: If you plan to create the purchase requests in the Symantec Management Console, restrict Procurement portal permissions so that only managers or users who have purchasing approval authority can create purchase requests. The reason for this restriction is that the purchase request form includes a global setting that lets you approve the request and move to the next stage in the procurement process. This task is a step in the process for performing the procurement. See Performing the procurement on page 74. To create a purchase request in the Symantec Management Console 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Procurement. 2 In the left pane, right-click PurchaseRequest, and then click CreatePurchase Request. 3 In the Createconfigurationitem dialog box, specify the stockroom, requestor, and the catalog items that you want to purchase. You must specify the quantity for each line item. You can specify an owner for each line item separately. If you do not specify the owner, the system automatically sets the requestor as the owner of all line items. 4 Set the Approval Status to Approved and then click OK. Generating a purchase order A purchase order is a document that you send out to a supplier to order the items that your company requires. You can generate purchase orders from the purchase requests that you receive. You can also create purchase orders manually.

76 Managing your procurement process Generating an invoice A purchase request can contain a mix of catalog item types and items from different catalogs. For example, a purchase request can contain a Dell computer, Dell monitor, Hewlett-Packard keyboard and mouse, Cables Direct ethernet cable, and Microsoft Office software. When you generate a purchase order from the purchase request, the system automatically checks the supplier of each catalog item on the purchase request. For each different supplier company, the system creates a separate purchase order. Note that before you can generate a purchase order, the Approval Status of the purchase request must be set to Approved. This task is a step in the process for performing the procurement. See Performing the procurement on page 74. To generate a purchase order 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Procurement. 2 In the left pane, click Purchase Request. 3 To generate a purchase order, do one of the following: Open the purchase request for editing and in the Edit configuration item dialog box, click Generate. In the right pane, right-click the purchase request and then click Generate Purchase Order. When you use the Generate option in the Edit configuration item dialog box to generate the purchase order, you can choose to have selected line items go across to the purchase order. If you use the right-click method, all of the line items are processed. Generating an invoice When a shipment arrives, you generate an invoice in the Symantec Management Console. Use a purchase order to generate the invoice. The invoice contains catalog items from one supplier and is expected to be a copy of the invoice that you receive from the supplier company. To the invoice that you generate in the Symantec Management Console, you can attach the physical invoice that your supplier sends. This task is a step in the process for performing the procurement. See Performing the procurement on page 74.

Managing your procurement process About receiving items 77 To generate an invoice 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Procurement. 2 In the left pane, click Purchase Order. 3 To generate an invoice, do one of the following: Open the purchase order for editing and in the Edit configuration item dialog box, click Generate. In the right pane, right-click the purchase order and then click Generate Invoice. When you use the Generate option in the Edit configuration item dialog box to generate the invoice, you can choose to have selected line items go across to the invoice. If you use the right-click method, all of the line items are processed. About receiving items As the final step of the procurement process, you receive the catalog items and place them in the stockroom or pass them to the owner. The system automatically creates a receiving slip to record the receiving action. See Receiving an item on page 80. When you receive an item, you can specify whether you want to create a new resource for this item or update the existing catalog item. The receiving process handles each type of catalog item differently: Consumable catalog item When you receive a consumable catalog item to a stockroom, the system creates a new consumable catalog item or increases its quantity in the stockroom. You do not track consumable catalog items once you give them out. See About receiving consumable catalog items on page 78. Fixed asset catalog item When you receive a fixed asset catalog item, the system creates a new resource in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) or updates an existing asset. You can track the fixed asset catalog item for its entire lifecycle. See About receiving fixed asset catalog items on page 78. Software catalog item When you receive a software catalog item, it becomes a software purchase configuration item in the CMDB. See About receiving software catalog items on page 79.

78 Managing your procurement process About receiving items About receiving consumable catalog items The receiving process lets you place the purchased consumable catalog items to a stockroom or add them as cost items to a configuration item. See About receiving items on page 77. When you receive a consumable catalog item to a stockroom, the system creates a new consumable catalog item or increases its quantity in the stockroom. If a new item is created, the information that you specify in the Receive Items dialog box is added to the item. For example, you can specify Display Name, Quantity, and Owner of the consumable catalog item. If the system detects in the stockroom the same consumable item of the same Owner, the quantity of the item is increased. The owner of the consumable catalog item can be a cost center or a department. After the items are placed in stock, the stockroom manager can keep track of the quantity of the items in stock. When you receive a consumable catalog item as a cost item to an existing resource, you must specify in the Received Item Line Items table the Existing Resource to which you want to add the item. A cost item is added to the cost center or the department for which the consumable item has been ordered. About receiving fixed asset catalog items The receiving process of the fixed asset catalog items lets you add new assets into your database or update the data of the existing assets. See About receiving items on page 77. When you receive fixed asset catalog items, one line per item is created in the Receive Items dialog box, in the Received Item Line Items table. For example, when you purchase three new laptops, the ReceivedItemLineItems table displays three separate lines, all with quantity of 1. When you receive the items, a new asset is created in the system for each line. The data for each fixed asset catalog item is handled as follows: The Catalog Item field defines the asset type. The Display Name field defines the name of the configuration item. The Owner field defines the Asset Owners. Details of the receiving item are added to the Comment field of the new asset. Asset s associated catalog item association is set. By default, Asset s Status is set to In Stock and the Location of the asset is set to the location of the stockroom to which the item is received.

Managing your procurement process About receiving items 79 If in the Receive Items dialog box, under Parameters, you specify different values for Manufacturer, Location, and Status, the inserted values override the default data. The Part Number, Manufacturer, and Model information is taken from the fixed asset catalog item data. You can specify System Number, Serial Number, and Barcode values. Symantec recommends that you insert the SerialNumber of a computer when receiving it. When inventory runs and finds an item with this serial number, it creates an association between the inventory record and the asset record. If you update an asset that is already created in the database, you must specify in the Received Item Line Items table the Existing Resource that you want to update. The details, such as Barcode, Manufacturer, Status, or Location, are only added when the existing asset does not have them specified. About receiving software catalog items Receiving the software catalog items lets you add a new software purchase configuration item or update the data of the existing software purchase. See About receiving items on page 77. When you receive a new software catalog item, a new software purchase configuration item is created. The data for each software catalog item is handled as follows: The Display Name field defines the name of the software purchase. The Owner field defines the Software Purchase Owners. Details of the receiving software catalog item are added to the Comment field of the software purchase. The Software Purchases' Associated Catalog Item association is set. The Quantity of the software catalog item is written to the Quantity field of the software purchase. The System Number, Serial Number, and Barcode fields are ignored. If you update a software purchase configuration item that is already created in the database, you must specify in the Received Item Line Items table the Existing Resource that you want to update.

80 Managing your procurement process Receiving an item Receiving an item The receiving process lets you place the purchased catalog items in the stockroom or pass them to the owner. See About receiving items on page 77. See About receiving consumable catalog items on page 78. See About receiving fixed asset catalog items on page 78. See About receiving software catalog items on page 79. To accommodate different workflows, you can receive items from a purchase request, purchase order, or invoice. Note that if you receive items from a purchase request, you must split up any bundles into their individual catalog items. This task is a step in the process for performing the procurement. See Performing the procurement on page 74. To receive an item 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Procurement. 2 In the left pane, click one of the following: Invoice Purchase Order Purchase Request 3 In the right pane, right-click the invoice, purchase order, or purchase request, and then click Receive Items. 4 In the Receive Items dialog box, specify the stockroom where you want to place the items. 5 Click Receive. Receive Items page This page appears when you receive items from a purchase request, purchase order, or invoice. The Receive Items page lets you receive catalog items, add items as costs to existing resources, or update consumable catalog items in a stockroom. When you receive items, a receiving slip is automatically created as a record. See About receiving items on page 77. See Receiving an item on page 80.

Managing your procurement process Receive Items page 81 Table 9-3 Options on the Receive Items page Option Receiving Item Receive To Stockroom The items should be received as Description Lets you specify the Line Items that you want to receive. Lets you specify the stockroom where you want to place the items that you receive. Lets you specify how you want to receive the items: Create a new Resource Lets you create a new resource for a fixed asset catalog item or for a software catalog item. For example, when you create a new monitor configuration item, all relevant information from the fixed asset catalog item is copied to the new resource. Additionally, you can specify System Number, Serial Number, and Barcode. Update an existing Resource/Add the Consumable to a Stockroom Lets you update an existing resource or add consumable catalog items to a stockroom. If you update an existing resource, specify the individual resource that you want to update in the Existing Resource/Stockroom field, in the Received Item Line Items table. If you add consumable items to a stockroom, specify the stockroom in the Existing Resource/Stockroom field, in the Received Item Line Items table. Add as a Cost Item to an existing Resource For example, you can add a new hard drive as a cost item to a computer. In this case, you need to specify this computer in the Existing Resource/Stockroom field, in the Received Item Line Items table. See About receiving consumable catalog items on page 78. See About receiving fixed asset catalog items on page 78. See About receiving software catalog items on page 79. Parameters Lets you select the data classes for which you want to add or edit the data. Received Item Line Items Receive all Receive selected Lets you specify additional necessary data for each Line Item and select the items that you want to receive. Lets you receive and generate receiving slips for all Line Items. Lets you receive and generate receiving slips for selected Line Items.

82 Managing your procurement process Receive Items page

Chapter 10 Managing your software license compliance This chapter includes the following topics: About software license compliance Managing your software license compliance using Symantec Management Console enhanced views Managing your software license compliance manually About software product items Manually creating a software product item Associating a software product item to a software resource About software purchase items Creating a software purchase item Software purchase item attributes About software license items Creating a software license item Software license item attributes Upgrading and renewing a software license Tracking your software license compliance

84 Managing your software license compliance About software license compliance About software license compliance Asset Management Suite lets you audit software license compliance by comparing the number of the software product installs to the amount of purchased licenses. Managing the software licenses in your environment lets you easily report software license compliance for software audits. It minimizes the risk that software installs exceed the amount of software licenses. Software license compliance reports let you plan your future software purchases more accurately. To set up software license compliance, you must first collect data about the software that is installed on your client computers. After you discover the software, you insert information about the purchased licenses. Software license items let you tie together the software product information and the amount of purchased licenses. You can manage all the data manually, or you can use the Symantec Management Console enhanced views. See Managing your software license compliance manually on page 85. See Managing your software license compliance using Symantec Management Console enhanced views on page 84. Managing your software license compliance using Symantec Management Console enhanced views Symantec Management Console enhanced views let you manage software license compliance in your environment with a few easy steps. However, Symantec Management Console enhanced views provide fewer options than the manual process of managing your software license compliance. Note that Symantec Management Console enhanced views are only available when you have installed IT Management Suite. For more information, see the topics about the Symantec Management Console enhanced views in the Enhanced Console Views User Guide. See About software license compliance on page 84. See Managing your software license compliance manually on page 85. To manage software license compliance using Symantec Management Console enhanced views 1 Gather software inventory. For more information, see the topics about gathering your software inventory in the Inventory Solution Help. 2 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Software.

Managing your software license compliance Managing your software license compliance manually 85 3 In the Newly Discovered Software list, click the name of the discovered software. 4 In the right pane, click Manage this software. 5 In the Add Software Product dialog box, on the Licenses tab, click Add License Purchase. 6 In the AddLicensePurchase dialog box, enter software purchase and software license information, and then click Add. 7 In the Add Software Product dialog box, click OK. Managing your software license compliance manually To track and manage software license compliance, you must insert the software-related configuration items and create the necessary associations. Note that the manual process of managing your software license compliance provides more options than Symantec Management Console enhanced views provide. For example, when you use the manual process, you can specify the software products that are not installed in your environment. You can also specify authorized clients information for the software license and associate multiple software purchases with one software license. See About software license compliance on page 84. See Managing your software license compliance using Symantec Management Console enhanced views on page 84. Table 10-1 Process for manually managing your software license compliance Step Step 1 Action Gather software inventory Description Software inventory collects information about the applications that are installed on your client computers. To gather software inventory, you must have the Inventory Solution installed on your Notification Server and the Inventory plug-in installed on your client computers. For more information, see the topics about gathering your software inventory in the Inventory Solution Help.

86 Managing your software license compliance About software product items Table 10-1 Process for manually managing your software license compliance (continued) Step Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7 Action (Optional) Create software product item Create or configure software resource Create software purchase item Create software license item (Optional) Upgrade or renew software license Track software license compliance Description A software product item contains information about the software. A software product item is automatically created in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) when it is discovered on the client computer. You can also create a software product item manually. You must associate the software product item to the software resource and to the software license information. See Manually creating a software product item on page 87. Before you can view the reports, you must configure the software resource. You must associate a software product item to the software resource. See Associating a software product item to a software resource on page 87. After you create a software purchase item, you can create valid software license items. The quantity of the licenses that you specify for the software purchase gives you the number of the licenses that you own. See Creating a software purchase item on page 89. A software license item ties together the software purchase and the software product. Before you can create a software license item, you must create a software product item and a software purchase item. See Creating a software license item on page 91. When a software license expires, you can upgrade or renew it. See Upgrading and renewing a software license on page 94. After you set up your environment, you can track the software license compliance. See Tracking your software license compliance on page 96. About software product items Software product items let you record the details that are associated with the software in your environment. For example, you can create the software product items that represent the software programs, such as Norton Ghost 15.0, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, and Adobe Photoshop CS4. When you create a software product item, you specify its name, description, company, and category. After you create a software product, you make associations between the software product, a software resource (also called software

Managing your software license compliance Manually creating a software product item 87 component), and a software license. Creating these associations lets you identify how many copies of a given software product you have in your environment. You can compare the number of copies with the number of the software licenses that you own. You can create a single software product item and associate it with several different versions of the same software. For example, you can associate both Norton Ghost 15.2 and Norton Ghost 15.3 SP2 with a software product item Norton Ghost 15. When these different versions are reported, they are consolidated for the software product named Norton Ghost 15. See Manually creating a software product item on page 87. Manually creating a software product item Software product items let you manage the details that are related to the software products and their different versions in your environment. See About software product items on page 86. This task is a step in the process for manually managing your software license compliance. See Managing your software license compliance manually on page 85. To manually create a software product item 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Software Licensing. 2 In the right pane, under Software Licensing, click Software Product. 3 On the Software Product list page, click Add. 4 In the Add or Edit Product dialog box, specify the details of the software product, and then click OK. Associating a software product item to a software resource A software resource represents a common way to describe a specific instance of a software application so that all software-related actions can identify it accurately. For example, a software resource is Asset Management Solution 7.0.1341.0 English. You create a software resource for the software that you want to manage. For example, you can create a software resource for the software that is installed on client computers in your network. For more information, see the topics about software resources in the Symantec Management Platform Help.

88 Managing your software license compliance About software purchase items To make the software license compliance work, you must associate a software product item to a software resource. A software product item can have one or multiple software resources linked to it. This task is a step in the process for manually managing your software license compliance. See Managing your software license compliance manually on page 85. To associate a software product item to a software resource 1 Open the software resource for editing. For more information, see the topics about editing software resources in the Symantec Management Platform Help. 2 On the software resource page, on the Properties tab, in the SoftwareProduct drop-down list, click the software product that you want to link to the software resource. 3 Click Save changes. About software purchase items Software purchase items record the transaction details that are associated with purchasing software licenses. You create a software purchase item to record the cost of the software, the number of licenses, and cost allocation. You should create a software purchase item for each purchasing transaction and for each version of a software license. Symantec recommends that you create the software purchase items in following cases: You purchase software licenses You purchase additional software licenses for the same version You purchase software licenses for different versions If you purchase licenses for Norton Ghost 15.0, you should create a software purchase item to record the following transaction details: the number of licenses, purchase price, and purchase date. If you purchase additional licenses for Norton Ghost 15.0, you should create a new software purchase item to record the details that are specific to the transaction. If you purchase licenses for Norton Ghost 15.0 and purchase licenses for Norton Ghost 16.0, you should create two separate software purchase items.

Managing your software license compliance Creating a software purchase item 89 See Creating a software purchase item on page 89. Creating a software purchase item Software purchase items let you manage the details that are related to purchasing and managing the software licenses. See About software purchase items on page 88. See Software purchase item attributes on page 89. You can create software purchase items manually or you can import the software purchase data. If you choose to import the software purchase data, Symantec recommends that you first add the software license data into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). When you perform the import, you can then automatically assign the software purchases to their corresponding software licenses. This task is a step in the process for manually managing your software license compliance. See Managing your software license compliance manually on page 85. To create a software purchase item 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Software Licensing. 2 In the left pane, under Software Licensing, right-click Software Purchase, and then click Create Software Purchase. 3 In the Create configuration item dialog box, specify the quantity of licenses, and other settings of the software purchase. 4 Click OK. Software purchase item attributes When you create a software purchase item, you specify its attributes and associations with other configuration items in your system. See About software purchase items on page 88. See Creating a software purchase item on page 89. The attributes that are listed in the table are displayed when in the View drop-down list, you select the Software Purchase (global) view.

90 Managing your software license compliance About software license items Table 10-2 Software purchase item attributes Attribute Software Purchase Description Lets you insert the name of the software purchase item. Symantec recommends typing a name that uses a combination of the software name, software version, purchase date, and number of licenses. For example, you can type the following as a software purchase name: Norton Ghost 15.0 5May2011 (10 Licenses). Software Purchase Details Cost Items Software Purchase Owners SoftwarePurchaseCost Center Ownership Installed Location Software Purchases' Associated Catalog Item Book Depreciation Custom Depreciation Tax Depreciation Internal Reference Lets you specify the details that are related to purchasing the software. You can specify the purchase date, description, and number of licenses. Lets you enter the costs that are associated with purchasing the software licenses. Lets you associate and allocate the cost to departments and users. Lets you associate and allocate the purchase cost to one or more cost centers. Lets you associate a location. Lets you associate the software purchase with an item from the procurement Software Catalog. Lets you specify the book depreciation schedule to be used. Lets you specify the custom depreciation schedule to be used. Lets you specify the tax depreciation schedule to be used. Lets you specify reference information, such as account number, internal reference ID, internal contact, archive number, and cross reference. About software license items Software license items record the details that are associated with contracts for software licenses. When you create a software license item, you specify its attributes and associate it with other configuration items in your system. The attribute information includes the software that is associated with the license. It also includes the start date and the end date of the license, and the clients that are authorized to use the software. You can associate a software license item with the following other configuration items in the system:

Managing your software license compliance Creating a software license item 91 Software purchase item Software product item Other software license items You associate each software license with a single software purchase. You associate each software license with a single software product. You can associate a software license item with other software license items that represent upgraded or previous versions of the same software program. For example, you can associate a software license item for Norton Ghost 12 with software license items for Norton Ghost 11 and Norton Ghost 13. By specifying these associations, you can track and manage your software licenses throughout their lifecycle. See Creating a software license item on page 91. See Upgrading and renewing a software license on page 94. See Software license item attributes on page 92. Creating a software license item Software license items let you manage the details that are related to managing the software licenses. You can use a Master License Agreement and a Virtual License Agreement to combine a set of software licenses into a one manageable unit. The Master License Agreement lets you combine licenses of one vendor. The Virtual License Agreement lets you create your own logical groups of managed licenses. For example, you can create a Virtual License Agreement for each software license manager. See About software license items on page 90. See Software license item attributes on page 92. This task is a step in the process for manually managing your software license compliance. See Managing your software license compliance manually on page 85. To create a software license item 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Software Licensing. 2 In the left pane, under Software Licensing, right-click Software License, and then click Create Software License.

92 Managing your software license compliance Software license item attributes 3 In the Create configuration item dialog box, specify the settings of the software license. 4 Click OK. Software license item attributes When you create a software license item, you specify its attributes and associate it with other configuration items in your system. Note that the attributes that are listed in the table are displayed when in the View drop-down list, you select the Software Licenses (global) view. Table 10-3 Software license item attributes Attribute Software License Covered Software Product Standard Contract Information Software License Details Description Lets you specify a name for the software license item. Lets you specify which software product is associated with the software license contract. To ensure the data integrity, you can add only one software product item to a software license item. Lets you enter standard contract information. Lets you record the software license details. You can specify maintenance renewal cost, support renewal cost, and license type. Software Purchases Lets you specify the software purchases that are associated with the software license item. You can associate one or more software purchases to the software license item. Note that you can associate multiple software purchases to the software license item only when you use manual process of managing your software license compliance. To ensure the data integrity, you can add each software purchase item only to one software license item.

Managing your software license compliance Software license item attributes 93 Table 10-3 Software license item attributes (continued) Attribute Authorized Clients Description Lets you specify the users, computers, and owners that are authorized to run the software. You can use the Add option to add an authorized client. Note that you can specify authorized client information only when you use the manual process of managing your software license compliance. You can specify the following options: Clients lets you select a filter that contains the computers, users, or owners that are authorized to run the software. The results of the selected filter must consist of only one configuration item type. The results cannot combine computer and user configuration item types. Authorization Group lets you specify the configuration item type resulting from the filter, either Computer, Owner, or Primary User. To specify additional filters, you can add more rows to the grid. Each row is treated as an OR condition. The client is authorized for the software license if any condition in any row is met. Non Inventoried Installs Software License Sharing Lets you enter the details to track the number of software installations on the computers that are not inventoried or discovered. Lets you specify the details about sharing the software licenses. If the software license item borrows licenses from other software license items, select the appropriate software license and specify the number of borrowed licenses. Contract's Assigned User Contract's Location Contract Details Comment Lets you specify the user that is assigned to the software license contract. Lets you specify the location of the software license contract. Lets you enter any details that correspond to the software license contract. You can select a filter to specify to which user or computer the software license contract applies. Lets you enter comments about the software license.

94 Managing your software license compliance Upgrading and renewing a software license Table 10-3 Software license item attributes (continued) Attribute AssociatedDocuments Description Lets you specify the documents that are associated with the software license contract. You can use the Add option to add an associated document. You can specify the following options: File lets you enter the path to the document. The path must be specified as a UNC path. The following file path is not supported: C:\document.txt To specify a file on the local computer, you can set up its location as a network share as follows: \\Computer\share\document.txt Description lets you enter a description of the document. Internal Reference Former Software License (if renewed or upgraded) New Software License (if renewed or upgraded) Lets you enter the internal reference information. For example, you can enter the account number, internal contact, and archive number. Lets you specify the former software license item that represents the previous software license contract. This option is available only when you upgrade or renew a software license. Lets you specify the new software license item that represents the upgraded software license contract. This option is available only when you upgrade or renew a software license. See About software license items on page 90. See Creating a software license item on page 91. Upgrading and renewing a software license When a software license expires, you can upgrade or renew it. Note that you can upgrade or renew a software license only once. After you upgrade or renew the software license, the context menu options Upgrade Software License and Renew Software License do not appear. You can renew a software license when the following conditions are met: For the software license, under Contract Details, the Renewable option is checked. The software license is not expired. The software license is associated with a software purchase that has quantity data specified.

Managing your software license compliance Upgrading and renewing a software license 95 See About software license items on page 90. This task is a step in the process for manually managing your software license compliance. See Managing your software license compliance manually on page 85. To upgrade a software license 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Software Licensing. 2 In the left pane, click Software License. 3 In the right pane, right-click a software license, and then click Contract Functions > Upgrade Software License. 4 In the Upgrade an existing software license dialog box, to specify the settings of the new software license, do the following: For the Covered Software Product option, select a software product that is different from the original software product. Select one or more software purchases so that the quantity matches the total number of original software licenses that you upgrade. Partial upgrade is not supported. Enter information in other data classes as required. 5 Click OK. To renew a software license 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Software Licensing. 2 In the left pane, click Software License. 3 In the right pane, right-click a software license, and then click Contract Functions > Renew Software License. 4 In the Renew an existing software license dialog box, specify the settings of the software license renewal. Note that the quantity of the selected software purchases must match the quantity of the licenses that you want to renew. Partial renewal is not supported. 5 Click OK.

96 Managing your software license compliance Tracking your software license compliance Tracking your software license compliance After you insert all necessary data and create the associations, you can track the software license compliance in your environment. See Managing your software license compliance using Symantec Management Console enhanced views on page 84. See Managing your software license compliance manually on page 85. You can use Activity Center or Resource Manager to check the software license compliance of a single software. In the Licensing Reports Web part, on the Software Product Licensing Compliance tab, you can view the software license compliance report for all your software. To track your software license compliance in Symantec Management Console enhanced views 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Software. 2 In the left pane, click Managed Software. 3 In the Managed Software list, click the software item that you want. To track your software license compliance in Resource Manager 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Software Licensing. 2 In the left pane, click Software Product. 3 In the Software Product list, right-click the software product, and then click Resource Manager. 4 In Resource Manager, on the Summaries menu, click Software Product Licensing Summary. To track your software license compliance in the Software Licensing portal 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Home menu, click Service and Asset Management > Software Licensing. 2 In the right pane, in the Licensing Reports Web part, click the Software Product Licensing Compliance tab.

Chapter 11 Using Asset Management Suite workflows This chapter includes the following topics: About Asset Management Suite workflows Setting up Asset Management Suite workflows Registering a Workflow Server Publishing a workflow in the Symantec Management Console Configuring Asset Management Suite workflows Requirements for data configuration Running the Asset Management Suite workflows About Asset Management Suite workflows Asset Management Suite includes the built-in workflow templates that let you automate common tasks and business processes. The workflows guide users through the process of completing the following useful tasks: Ownership Validation Lets you send requests to users so they can verify which assets are assigned to them. Lease Extension and Termination Lets you notify owners of leased assets and expiration dates. It also lets owners extend or terminate the lease.

98 Using Asset Management Suite workflows Setting up Asset Management Suite workflows Purchase Request Guides a user through a process of requesting hardware and software. These workflows are provided as part of Asset Management Suite, but require that you install and configure Workflow Solution. See Setting up Asset Management Suite workflows on page 98. Setting up Asset Management Suite workflows Asset Management Suite includes workflows that guide users through the process of ownership validation, lease notification, and purchase request. See About Asset Management Suite workflows on page 97. Before you can use Asset Management Suite workflows, you must set them up in your environment. Table 11-1 Process for setting up Asset Management Suite workflows Step Action Description Step 1 Make sure that your environment meets the requirements for setting up the Asset Management Suite workflows. Before you install Asset Management Suite, make sure that you have the following components installed: Symantec Management Platform Workflow Server Process Manager Portal Note: You must install Workflow Server and Symantec Management Platform on separate servers. Step 2 Install Asset Management Suite. For more information, see the topics about installing Workflow Server in the Workflow Solution Installation and Configuration Guide. If you manually install your Workflow Server, you must register it in the Symantec Management Console. See Registering a Workflow Server on page 99. You install the Asset Management Suite product through the Symantec Installation Manager. Note that Asset Management Suite workflows are now integrated into the Asset Management Solution, and are automatically installed with Asset Management Suite. For more information, see the topics about installing the Symantec Management Platform products in the IT Management Suite Implementation Guide.

Using Asset Management Suite workflows Registering a Workflow Server 99 Table 11-1 Process for setting up Asset Management Suite workflows (continued) Step Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Action Publish Asset Management Suite workflows to a Workflow Server. Configure Asset Management Suite workflows. Configure your data. Description After you complete the installation, find the Asset Management Suite projects in the Workflow repository and deploy them to your Workflow Server. See Publishing a workflow in the Symantec Management Console on page 100. To configure the processes, run the Asset Management Suite Workflow Setup Wizard from the Workflow Server. See Configuring Asset Management Suite workflows on page 101. To make sure that the Asset Management Suite workflows function properly, create all the necessary associations to the configuration items that relate to these workflows. See Requirements for data configuration on page 101. Step 6 (Optional) Verify that Asset Management Suite workflows are set up properly. To verify that Asset Management Suite workflows are set up properly, do the following: In the Symantec Management Console, right-click a user or an asset. Verify that the context menu displays a OwnershipValidationbyAsset option. In the Symantec Management Console, right-click a lease schedule. Verify that the context menu displays a Extend or Terminate Lease option. In the Process Manager portal, click Submit Request. Verify that you have options for requesting hardware and software. Registering a Workflow Server Registering a Workflow Server is only needed if you manually install the Workflow Server. If you install the Workflow Server through the Symantec Management Console, you skip this step. This task is a step in the process for setting up Asset Management Suite workflows. See Setting up Asset Management Suite workflows on page 98. To register a Workflow Server 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Workflows. 2 In the left pane, under Workflows, click Workflow Enterprise Management.

100 Using Asset Management Suite workflows Publishing a workflow in the Symantec Management Console 3 In the right pane, on the Workflow Servers tab, click Register Server. 4 In the Register Server dialog box, select the server, and then click Register. Publishing a workflow in the Symantec Management Console After you complete the installation of the Asset Management Suite product, you publish the Asset Management Suite workflows. Symantec recommends that you publish the workflows in the Symantec Management Console. You must publish all 12 Asset Management Suite projects that start with AM. Note that you do not need to publish the workflows in particular order. This task is a step in the process for setting up Asset Management Suite workflows. See Setting up Asset Management Suite workflows on page 98. To publish a workflow in the Symantec Management Console 1 In the Symantec Management Console, on the Manage menu, click Workflows. 2 In the left pane, under Workflows, click Workflow Enterprise Management. 3 In the right pane, click the Workflow Servers tab. 4 On the Workflow Servers tab, under Servers, click the server on which you want to publish the workflow, and then click Publish Workflow. 5 In the Publish To Server dialog box, in the left pane, click Projects, click the workflow that you want to publish, and then click Select Version. 6 In the list of workflow versions, click the version that you want to publish, and then click Next. Note that the most recent version of the project appears first. 7 (Optional) In the Process Manager servers list, do one of the following: Check the servers where you want to publish the workflow, specify the administrator's credentials and Form Category, and then click Get Properties. Skip selecting the servers and click Get Properties. 8 Edit the values of any properties, and then click Add. Symantec recommends that you do not edit the default properties, because it may cause the processes to fail.

Using Asset Management Suite workflows Configuring Asset Management Suite workflows 101 Configuring Asset Management Suite workflows To configure the Asset Management Suite workflows, run the AssetManagement Suite Workflow Setup Wizard from the Workflow Server. This task is a step in the process for setting up Asset Management Suite workflows. See Setting up Asset Management Suite workflows on page 98. To configure Asset Management Suite workflows 1 On the Workflow Server, open the Web browser and navigate to the following location: http://workflowserverurl/am.installationpostinstallwizard 2 Log on to the setup wizard. Note that only the users that belong to the Administrators group in Process Manager can log on and run the wizard. 3 On the Welcome page, click Begin Configuration. 4 On the Collect Information pages, do the following: Specify the information that is required for the asset processes. Add users to the following three Asset groups in the Process Manager portal: Process Managers, Purchase Managers, and Asset Managers. Update the business justification, approval settings, and the number of days before lease expiration (default is 30 days). 5 Click Continue. 6 When the configuration has completed, click Finished. Requirements for data configuration To ensure that the Asset Management Suite workflows function properly, you must additionally configure your data in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). You must configure the user data and create the required associations to the configuration items that relate to the workflows. See Setting up Asset Management Suite workflows on page 98. When you configure the user data, the following requirements must be met: A user must have an account both in the CMDB and in the Process Manager Database. The user's Email field in the CMDB must match the user's Primary Email Address field in the Process Manager Database.

102 Using Asset Management Suite workflows Requirements for data configuration A user must be a member of the Application Users group in the Process Manager portal or a member of another group that has the Asset.CanViewAssetCatalogItems permission and access to the Service Catalog. If you synchronize CMDB and Process Manager Database data with Active Directory, make sure that both environments synchronize with the same Active Directory domain controller. Table 11-2 Workflow Purchase Request Requirements for data configuration Required associations The users who should be able to request hardware or software must be configured as follows: A User must be associated to a Department that is associated to a Cost Center. A user account must have a manager associated with it. To create a Hardware Request, the hardware items must be configured as follows: A hardware item must be added to the procurement catalog. See Adding items to the procurement catalog on page 72. Hardware item must have a Manufacturer associated to it. To create a Software Request, the data must be configured as follows: A user account must have a Computer assigned to it. A software item must be added to the procurement catalog. See Adding items to the procurement catalog on page 72. Lease Extension and Termination To use the Lease Extension and Termination workflow, the lease schedules must be configured as follows: A user must be assigned to a lease schedule. At least one hardware item must be associated with a lease schedule. Ownership Validation To use the Ownership Validation workflow, the user data must be configured as follows: A user must be associated to a Location. A user must be associated to a hardware item.

Using Asset Management Suite workflows Running the Asset Management Suite workflows 103 Running the Asset Management Suite workflows Asset Management Suite includes workflows that guide users through the process of ownership validation, lease notification, and purchase request. See About Asset Management Suite workflows on page 97. Before you can use Asset Management Suite workflows, you must set them up in your environment. See Setting up Asset Management Suite workflows on page 98. The instructions for running Asset Management Suite workflows are attached to the Asset Management Suite - Workflows article.

104 Using Asset Management Suite workflows Running the Asset Management Suite workflows

Index A accounting codes 57 accounting periods configuring 20 asset life cycle 49 asset life cycle about 49 Asset Management Solution settings 20 Asset Management Solution settings configuring 20 Asset Management Suite about 11 environment 17 features 13 installing 19 licensing 19 necessary components 17 use cases 13 what you can do 13 Asset Management Suite workflows about 97 configuring 98, 101 data configuration 101 publishing 100 running 103 setting up 98 associations tracking 44 associations of configuration items tracking 44 automation policy configuring 64 65 configuring to send email to the contract owner 65 contract expiration 64 B base configuration item types about 36 base currency configuring 21 base resource type. See base configuration item type bundles creating 73 C catalog items adding 72 receiving 77 80 companies 23 about 25 company configuration items about 25 compliance managing 85 Symantec Management Console enhanced views 84 configuration item about 36 configuration item association types about 43 configuration item type associations about 41 direct 41 indirect 41 configuration item types about 36, 38 association type 43 base 36 components 36 predefined 38 configuration items about 41 creating 44, 47 editing 47 48 importing 45 merging 47 consumable catalog items receiving 78 context-sensitive help 14

106 Index contract configuration items about 62 contract management getting started 63 setting up environment 63 contracts about 61 associating to a vendor 54 managing 61 cost center configuration items creating 28 cost centers 23 creating 26, 28 cost items 57 adding to asset 58 cost types 57 currency 57 currency convertor using 59 custom configuration item association type adding 53 creating 54 custom configuration item types about 51 creating 52 54 custom data class adding 53 creating 52 D data class attribute definition 37 data class attribute parameter definition 37 data classes about 37 components 37 editable 37 data input masks about 55 datacenter configuration item type 40 department configuration items creating 29 departments 23 creating 26, 29 depreciation schedules 57 direct associations 41 documentation 14 F financial configuration items about 57 fixed asset catalog items receiving 78 H help context-sensitive 14 I indirect associations 41 invoice creating 76 generating 76 L Lease Extension and Termination 97 legacy software licenses migrating 21 location configuration items creating 27 locations 23 creating 26 27 M managing security about 31 merging configuration items about 46 migrating legacy software licenses configuring 21 settings 21 N network devices creating automatically 44 Notification Server 6.x migrating data 19 O organizational configuration items about 23 creating structure 26 organizing 26

Index 107 organizational groups configuring security permissions 34 managing security 32 permissions 32 privileges 32 security 32 security permissions 32, 34 security role 33 organizational hierarchy updating 30 organizational structure creating 26 setting up 26 Ownership Validation 97 P predefined configuration item types 38 predefined contract configuration item types 62 predefined security roles about 32 procurement about 68 preparing 68 setting up 68 procurement catalogs adding items 72 creating 71 procurement process 74 about 68 steps 74 purchase orders creating 75 generating 75 Purchase Request 97 purchase requests bundles 73 creating 75 R receive items page about 80 receiving items about 77 79 Release Notes 14 resource. See configuration item Resource Association Diagram 44 resource association type. See configuration item association type resource type. See configuration item type S security managing 31 security permissions configuring 34 security role assigning 33 security roles predefined 32 software catalog items receiving 79 software license about 90 attributes 92 creating 91 renewing 94 upgrading 94 software license compliance about 84 managing 85 Symantec Management Console enhanced views 84 tracking 96 software license item about 90 attributes 92 creating 91 software license usage tracking 96 software licenses purchase 88 software product items about 86 creating 87 software products about 86 creating 87 software purchase attributes 89 software purchase item attributes 89 software purchase items about 88 creating 89 software purchases about 88 creating 89

108 Index software resources configuring 87 stockrooms about 69 creating 70 replenishing 71 Symantec Management Platform 7.0 migrating data 19 U user configuration items about 25 users 23 about 25 V views creating 48 editing 48 W Workflow Server registering 99 workflows about 97 configuring 98, 101 publishing 100 running 103 setting up 98