Managing configuration items

Asset Management Suite lets you manage and track the assets that you have in your environment. For each item that you want to manage, you enter information into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) as a configuration item entry. Asset Management Suite provides you with the predefined configuration item types that let you manages different types of assets. Configuration item types are the templates that define the data that you can store about a specific configuration item in the CMDB. These configuration items can be assets, locations, invoices, schedules, users, contracts, and so on.

A configuration item type consists of the following components:

Base configuration item type

The 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.

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.

Configuration item association types

Configuration item association types create associations between configuration items and allow related data to be linked together.

Table: Process for managing configuration items

Step

Action

Description

Step 1

Set up the environment for managing configuration items.

Before you enter the asset data into the database, you can set up your environment for managing configuration items. For example, you can create custom status values and custom configuration item types. To simplify and speed up the data entry, you can set the default data entry values and create custom edit views.

See Configuring default data entry values.

See Configuring ownership settings.

See Creating custom status values.

See Creating an edit view.

See Creating a custom configuration item type.

Step 2

Create configuration items.

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. You can create configuration items through manual entry, scanning of the asset during the receiving process, or importing of the assets. You can also gather inventory data about the computers on your network, and then have each computer automatically created as a configuration item.

See Creating a configuration item.

After you create a configuration item, you can manage and track it through its whole lifecycle.

Step 3

Perform configuration item maintenance tasks.

You can run different asset maintenance tasks related to asset ownership, merging of duplicate computers or users, inventory synchronization, and network resource location.

See Running configuration item maintenance tasks.

Step 4

Track the total cost of an asset.

When you add cost items to an asset, you can later use that information to determine the total cost of ownership and chargeback.

See Adding a cost item to an asset.

See About tracking the total cost of an asset.

Step 5

View and track the configuration item data.

You can view and track the configuration item data through the lists, edit page, reports, and Resource Association Diagram.

You can access the configuration item reports on the Reports page, under Reports > Service and Asset Management > Assets.

The Resource Association Diagram lets you view a configuration item and all its associated configuration items. In a large environment, this graphic makes it easier to track down an asset and its dependencies.

See Tracking the associations of a configuration item.

Imported Document ID: HOWTO93965
Legacy ID: v72068601_v75977300

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