The Path to Value for Hardware Asset Management

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The Path to Value for a HAM Program in ServiceNow

Implementing a Hardware Asset Management (HAM) program in ServiceNow offers organizations a structured way to track, manage, and optimize their physical IT assets. To maximize the value of your HAM program, it’s important to follow a phased approach, typically divided into Crawl, Walk, and Run phases. This structured journey helps organizations build visibility, reduce risks, and improve operational efficiency over time.

Crawl Phase: Getting visibility to your Asset Estate

The Crawl phase is the foundation of your HAM journey, where the primary goal is to establish visibility into your entire Hardware asset estate. Laying a solid foundation ensures that your program can scale effectively and provides reliable data for more advanced processes in future phases. The key activities in this phase include:

Governance

Establishing a governance framework early in the Crawl phase ensures that your ITAM program is aligned with organizational goals and compliance requirements. Governance structures define roles, responsibilities, and approval workflows, ensuring that asset management is consistent, secure, and compliant with internal policies and regulatory requirements.

Implementation Readiness

Before embarking on the journey to implement a comprehensive IT Asset Management (ITAM) program using ServiceNow, organizations must ensure they are fully prepared. Implementation readiness is critical to the success of the ITAM initiative, as it sets the stage for a smooth rollout, minimizes disruptions, and ensures that the program delivers long-term value. This readiness involves aligning stakeholders, preparing the necessary technical and operational foundations, and having a clear plan for execution.

Steps for Implementation Readiness

1. Stakeholder Alignment

The success of any ITAM program requires strong collaboration between multiple departments, including IT, procurement, finance, and legal. All stakeholders must have a clear understanding of the program’s goals, their roles, and how the ITAM system will support broader organizational objectives.

To achieve stakeholder alignment:

• Define the goals of the ITAM program: Ensure that there is a shared understanding of the program's objectives, such as cost savings, risk reduction, and operational efficiency.
• Assign clear roles and responsibilities: Stakeholders from different departments must know their roles in the ITAM process, including who will be responsible for procurement, asset disposal, financial tracking, and auditing.
• Establish governance committees: Create an ITAM governance board to oversee the implementation, monitor compliance, and provide guidance as the program evolves.

2. Data Preparation and Cleansing

As with any data-driven program, the quality of your data will heavily influence the success of your ITAM implementation. Prior to starting the project, all asset-related data needs to be reviewed, cleansed, and standardized. Clean data ensures the accuracy of reports and reduces issues during the discovery and lifecycle management processes.

To prepare data for import:

• Review and consolidate existing data sources: Collect asset data from all relevant sources, including spreadsheets, procurement systems, legacy databases, and vendor portals.
• Normalize asset records: Ensure that asset names, models, manufacturers, and financial details follow consistent naming conventions to eliminate discrepancies.
• Deduplicate and remove obsolete records: Cleanse your data to eliminate duplicate assets and outdated records, which could distort asset counts and create inaccuracies.

3. CMDB Health Check

A healthy Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is essential for the success of an ITAM implementation. Since the CMDB holds all asset and configuration data, ensuring its health and integrity will prevent data issues and improve the effectiveness of asset tracking and lifecycle management.

Steps for a CMDB health check include:

• Validate current asset and configuration data: Ensure that the CMDB accurately reflects all current assets and their relationships to services, systems, and applications.
• Ensure the CMDB is well-structured: Organize the CMDB with well-defined asset classes, categories, and relationships to other IT services to avoid fragmentation.
• Resolve any data discrepancies: Identify and fix any inconsistencies or gaps in the CMDB before importing new asset data.

4. System Integration Planning

An effective ITAM program should be well-integrated with other systems within the organization to ensure seamless data flow and operational efficiency. Integration points could include procurement systems, IT service management (ITSM) tools, financial systems, and vendor platforms.

To plan system integrations:

• Identify key systems for integration: Determine which systems will need to share data with the ITAM platform, such as procurement, financial, and maintenance tracking tools.
• Define integration workflows: Establish automated workflows for the exchange of data between systems (e.g., automating the import of procurement data or syncing with IT service management).
• Test integrations: Before full-scale implementation, test integrations in a controlled environment to ensure data is transferred accurately between systems.

5. Training and Change Management

Successful ITAM implementation requires buy-in from all users who interact with the system, from IT managers and procurement staff to asset custodians. Change management and training initiatives are essential to ensure all teams understand the new processes and tools and can operate the system effectively.

To manage change:

• Develop a training plan: Create role-specific training modules to educate users on their responsibilities within the ITAM program and how to use the ServiceNow platform.
• Communicate the benefits: Ensure that all teams understand how the ITAM program will improve their daily work by enhancing visibility, reducing manual tasks, and improving compliance.
• Address resistance to change: Use change management strategies to identify potential resistance and proactively address concerns by involving key stakeholders early in the process.

6. Project Scope and Timeline Definition

Defining the scope of your ITAM program and setting a realistic timeline for implementation is critical for keeping the project on track. Organizations should focus on a phased approach, ensuring each stage builds upon the previous one.

To define project scope:

• Start with the Crawl phase: Begin with the basics—achieving visibility into the asset estate, importing data, and activating essential workflows. Starting small allows teams to focus on getting the foundation right before scaling.
• Set measurable milestones: Break the implementation into smaller, achievable milestones such as completing data import, configuring stockrooms, and integrating systems.
• Prepare for an iterative process: Recognize that ITAM implementation is not a one-time project but an evolving process. Plan for continuous improvements as you move from the Crawl to Walk and Run phases.

For more detailed information, please click here for the Hardware Asset Management readiness checklist. 

Activating Plugins

The first step in setting up ITAM in ServiceNow is to activate the necessary plugins, such as Hardware Asset Management (HAM), Software Asset Management (SAM), and related features. These plugins offer out-of-the-box capabilities to track and manage both hardware and software assets across the organization.

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content:

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on how to request the Hardware Asset Management plugin
• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on how to install the Hardware Asset Managment application
• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on how to use the Hardware Asset Management guided setup. 

For more on plugin activation and installation, review our ServiceNow Docs page here

 

ITAM Success Portal

The ServiceNow Hardware Asset Management (HAM) Success Portal is a powerful tool designed to help organizations track, analyze, and optimize the value they gain from their hardware assets. By providing a structured view of goals, activities, and program maturity, it enables users to monitor the progress of their HAM application and mature their HAM program over time. The portal offers several key benefits:

1. Track the Progress of HAM with Success Goals
• The Success Portal allows users to set success goals to track and measure the value derived from hardware assets. These goals help users monitor projected savings and analyze asset performance.
2. Monitor Success Activities Linked to Goals
• Users can create and manage success activities tied to each goal, ensuring that tasks are actively tracked and assigned. This enhances accountability and transparency in reaching asset management targets.
3. Mature the HAM Program with Predefined Maturity Items
• The HAM program is structured into Crawl, Walk, and Run stages, helping organizations progressively improve their asset management efficiency. These maturity stages are linked to success goals, allowing organizations to measure growth and optimize their hardware asset management.
4. Automated Notifications
• The portal sends automated email notifications to owners and groups when success goals are assigned or when activities are marked for review, ensuring timely follow-up and action.
5. Domain Separation Support
• For organizations using domain separation, the Success Portal supports this feature with the Performance Analytics - Domain Support plugin, enabling users to filter data by domain for more customized reporting.

In summary, the Success Portal helps organizations effectively manage and mature their hardware asset management processes by tracking goals, assigning tasks, and monitoring progress, all while providing actionable insights for program improvement.

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on automation tasks and how to use them
• Click here for ServiceNow documentation on the HAM success portal

Normalization

What is Hardware Normalization? 

Asset visibility starts with data you can trust, and clean data is critical to business agility, strategy, and planning. Normalization creates a definitive list of assets in your organization, providing assurance that you know what assets you own. 

Normalization is the process of standardizing discovered asset data to fill in gaps, or correct fields where the manufacturer name, product, or model are inconsistent. The ServiceNow Content Library will automatically populate additional metadata such as lifecycle dates (end of support and end-of-life) and dimension information, where available. Discovered hardware data can come from many sources (ServiceNow Discovery tools, your procurement systems, spreadsheets, etc.), and as a result, the data may be formatted in many ways. Automatic and continuous normalization standardizes these models by category against UNSPSC data to maintain a perpetually clean asset database. For any outliers not recognized, our ServiceNow content service team will research and update the Content Library, pushing that updated content to all customers.  

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here to learn about how the HAM Guided Setup can assist in configuring Hardware Asset Management. This video also includes information on how to opt-in to Resource Categories. 
• Watch here to dive deeper into Normalization Data Services.  
• Watch here for more on how to install the Content Library Portal. The IT Asset Management Content lookup portal gives you visibility into the data stored in the Hardware Asset Management Content Service. **You can use the content portal to help you identify missing attributes like model number and view related content like lifecycle data.  

How to Normalize Your Asset Data: 

• Ensure you have alignment and support from an executive sponsor at the organization. It is important to establish realistic and measurable expectations 
• Ensure you are opted into the resource categories to activate hardware model normalization and automated updates to product model and asset records. Note that this step can be completed as part of Hardware Asset Management Guided Setup configuration. 
• Opt in to the Hardware Asset Management content service. The Content Service is a shared service that provides customers with continual data quality improvement. By anonymously and securely providing ServiceNow the unrecognized details of Hardware/Consumable models, the Hardware Asset Management Content Service will, in return, supply updates to the normalization library. This new content will improve your normalization hit ratios and enable you to better manage your hardware assets. Note that this step can be completed as part of Hardware Asset Management Guided Setup configuration. 
• Check that you have hardware inventory data flowing into HAM. Note that hardware inventory data may come from multiple sources, and they are not always consistent. Each hardware has a unique model number. The model number is the number which HAM Normalization uses to normalize records with inconsistent product names and manufacturers. This number aligns the values in the database with those in the UNSPSC.  
• Experiencing lower than expected normalization rates? You can use this valuable information to focus on where your CMDB can be improved! Review this remediation documentation for tactical solutions. 
• Analyze the Hardware Model records to confirm normalization completeness and accuracy. Reports can be run by searching for Reports > View/Run > search for “Normalization”. This can be done individually on a specific record by evaluating the Normalization tab in a specific record, or running one of the following reports: 
• Hardware Product Overall Normalization Status 
• Consumable Product Overall Normalization Status 
• Hardware Model Normalization Status 
• Consumable Model Normalization Status 
• Perform these iterative steps with some frequency to ensure your hardware inventory data is normalized properly. 
• Build processes and procedures to streamline and enhance your hardware visibility activity. Combining technology, people, and process is key to any successful HAM program! 

 

Stockrooms

Why Should I Define Stockrooms? 

At the most basic level, defining stockrooms allows you to assign assets to physical locations. But, proper use of this feature will offer much, much more!  

In summary, defining stock rooms in ServiceNow enhances inventory management, improves service delivery, supports cost management, and integrates seamlessly with ITSM processes, leading to more efficient and effective IT operations. See below for more: 

Inventory Management

• Accurate Tracking: Defining stock rooms allows for precise tracking of inventory items. This helps in maintaining accurate records of stock levels. 

• Inventory Optimization: Ensure optimal inventory levels are maintained, reducing the chances of overstocking or stockouts. 

Efficient Service Delivery

• Quick Access to Assets: users can quickly identify the location of required assets, facilitating faster service and support. You can service multiple buildings with a single stockroom by setting up service locations in HAM. 

• Streamlined Request Fulfillment: When users request items, having well-defined stock rooms helps in fulfilling these requests efficiently by knowing exactly where the items are stored. Optimize the path to an in-stock, in-region asset by using distribution channels to connect stock rooms logically and geographically. 

Enhanced Reporting and Analytics

• Detailed Reporting: Defining stock rooms enables detailed reporting on inventory usage, stock levels, and trends. This data can be used to make informed decisions about inventory management and procurement. 

• Audit and Compliance: Aid in audit and compliance by maintaining clear records of where assets are located and how they are utilized. 

Cost Management

• Cost Control: By tracking inventory more accurately, organizations can better manage costs associated with purchasing and storing assets. This helps in budget planning and cost reduction. 

• Avoiding Loss and Theft: Clearly defined stock rooms with controlled access reduce the risk of loss and theft of valuable assets. 

Improved Workflow and Processes

• Standardized Procedures: Stockrooms allow for standardized procedures for checking in and out inventory items, ensuring consistency and reliability in inventory management processes. 

• Automation: Workflows can be automated based on the stock room definitions, streamlining processes such as asset allocation, replenishment, and disposal. 

Integration with ITSM Processes

• Incident and Change Management: Accurate stock room definitions support incident and change management by providing visibility into available resources, which can be critical when addressing issues or implementing changes. 

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Review the ServiceNow Documentation on how to create stockrooms. 
• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on how to use stock rules for inventory control.  
• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on how to use inventory stock orders to replenish your inventory levels. 
• Stockrooms up and running? Watch here for a tutorial and demo on how to use the Asset Audit feature of Hardware Asset Management. 

 

Procurement and Purchase Orders

Why should I associate an asset with a Purchase Order? 

It is important that your asset records include associated financial detail to ensure you have complete visibility into your estate. Accurate purchase order information is vital for invoice tracking, receiving, and reporting in ServiceNow. You should take steps to ensure that you can answer the below questions by reviewing an asset record: 

• Who was the vendor this asset was purchased from? 
• What date was this purchased? 
• How much did it cost? 

Purchase orders can be created directly in ServiceNow when the Procurement plugin has been installed. Even if you use other procurement systems, you should still use the procurement plugin in ServiceNow so that you can leverage features like receiving a PO on the mobile app/UI and Advanced Shipment Notifications. When receiving a PO on the mobile app or within the UI, assets get automatically created as they are received.   

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on how to generate a vendor purchase order to fulfill a procurement request. 
• For more on procurement portal, review our ServiceNow Docs page here. 

Receiving Assets

Why Should I Prioritize Asset Receiving Process? 

It is important that your asset records include associated receiving detail to ensure you have complete visibility into your estate. You should take steps to ensure that you can answer the below questions when reviewing an asset record: 

• When did I receive this asset? 
• Where did this asset come from? 
• What is this asset’s Asset Tag and Serial Number? 

Assets can be received and added to the system when they are delivered to a stockroom. If assets have not been created prior to the receiving process, they can be created during receiving, either on desktop or via mobile. Improve your records by capturing important information like Asset Tag and Serial Number and associating them with the asset in the system.  

Proper documentation is crucial to maintain accurate records of assets, making it easier to use ServiceNow HAM to track their location, status, and usage throughout the lifecycle. 

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on how to receive assets on a purchase order. 
• For step-by-step procedure on how to receive an asset, review our ServiceNow Docs page here. 

Walk Phase: Reducing Risk and Mitigating Cost - Time to Automate

Once visibility of the asset estate is achieved, the Walk phase focuses on reducing risks, optimizing costs, and automating asset management processes. This phase ensures that your hardware assets are well-controlled and managed efficiently throughout their lifecycle, mitigating risks of asset loss, financial inefficiencies, and non-compliance.

Sourcing Tasks

Automating sourcing tasks ensures that your procurement process is streamlined and compliant with internal policies. In ServiceNow, sourcing tasks can help track and manage the procurement lifecycle, from purchase requests to approvals and vendor orders. Automating these workflows reduces manual intervention and ensures that purchases are made in a cost-effective and consistent manner.

Benefits include:

• Reduced procurement delays
• Cost-effective vendor management
• Transparency in asset acquisition

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on how to source a hardware asset request. 
• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on how to source a hardware asset request through a transfer order
• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on how to source a hardware asset request from a vendor

Loaner Assets

Loaner assets in ServiceNow provide an efficient way for organizations to manage temporary asset needs, ensuring that employees have access to the necessary equipment for short-term use. The system offers a streamlined process for requesting, deploying, and reclaiming loaner assets, enhancing both asset utilization and user satisfaction. Here are the key benefits of using loaner assets in ServiceNow:

1. Efficient Loaner Request Process

   • Users can easily request loaner assets or consumables for a short period, with a structured workflow that ensures the asset is prepared, deployed, and reclaimed on time. This simplifies the management of temporary hardware needs.

2. Automated Loaner Workflow

   • The loaner request goes through three key stages:
     • Prepare task: Ensures the asset is ready for use (e.g., software installed) before handing it over to the user.
     • Deploy task: Manages the handover or installation of the asset to the user.
     • Reclaim task: Handles the return of the asset after the loan period.

   This automation reduces manual effort and ensures timely processing of loaner requests.

3. Inventory Management and Visibility

   • Loaner assets are tracked separately from regular inventory and are not included in stockroom counts, allowing organizations to manage loaner stock efficiently without affecting overall inventory metrics. The system also provides visibility into future demands through waitlisted loaner orders.

4. Waitlist Management

   • If no loaner assets are available, users can be placed on a waitlist. As assets become available or orders are canceled, the system automatically assigns assets to waitlisted users in the order requests were submitted. This ensures fair and efficient allocation of assets.

5. Flexibility in Asset Assignment

   • Loaner assets can be assigned from any location and in various states (e.g., in stock, reserved, pending install), giving inventory admins flexibility in fulfilling requests and managing the loaner pool.

6. Automated Asset Assignment

   • Loaner assets are automatically assigned to users through a daily scheduled job, reducing manual intervention and ensuring that assets are efficiently allocated to users when needed.

7. Enhanced User Experience

   • With a structured and automated loaner process, users receive assets in a timely manner, ensuring they have the necessary tools for short-term tasks without delays or complications.

In summary, using loaner assets in ServiceNow enhances asset utilization, streamlines the management of temporary hardware needs, and ensures timely and efficient processing of loaner requests, ultimately improving both inventory management and user satisfaction.

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• For detailed information on Loaner assets please click here

Workflow for Asset Disposal

Disposal workflows are designed to automate and control the end-of-life process for assets. This includes ensuring that data is securely wiped, equipment is sustainably recycled or disposed of, and any environmental regulations are adhered to. ServiceNow’s asset disposal workflows can:

• Automate approval processes for asset decommissioning
• Ensure compliance with environmental and data privacy regulations
• Track the entire disposal lifecycle, from decommissioning to final disposal

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on asset disposal
• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on asset donation

Utilizing Asset Refresh

The Asset Refresh feature in ServiceNow Hardware Asset Management (HAM) streamlines the process of replacing aging or underperforming hardware, ensuring that your organization remains efficient, up-to-date, and cost-effective in managing its IT infrastructure. The Asset Refresh feature helps organizations automate, plan, and track hardware refresh cycles, providing numerous benefits.

Key Benefits of Using Asset Refresh in HAM:

1. Automated Identification of Aging Assets

   • The Asset Refresh feature automatically identifies assets that are nearing the end of their lifecycle, based on parameters such as age, warranty status, or performance. This proactive identification helps organizations plan ahead and refresh assets before they cause operational issues or downtime.

   Benefit:

   • Reduced downtime and interruptions by replacing assets before they fail or underperform.

2. Improved Operational Efficiency

   • Asset refresh automates the process of flagging, planning, and executing the replacement of outdated hardware. By automating the refresh process, organizations can ensure timely replacements and eliminate manual efforts associated with tracking asset lifecycles.

   Benefit:

   • Improved efficiency by automating refresh tasks and reducing manual intervention.

3. Cost Optimization and Budgeting

   • The Asset Refresh feature helps organizations manage hardware expenses more effectively by tracking when assets need to be replaced. By planning hardware refresh cycles in advance, organizations can better allocate budgets and avoid unexpected costs related to sudden equipment failures or urgent replacements.

   Benefit:

   • Optimized budgeting through planned refresh cycles, avoiding costly emergency replacements.

4. Enhanced User Productivity

   • Replacing old or underperforming hardware ensures that employees have access to reliable, up-to-date equipment, leading to improved productivity. Outdated hardware can slow down work processes, negatively impacting employee efficiency.

   Benefit:

   • Increased productivity by providing employees with modern and efficient hardware.

5. Better Asset Lifecycle Management

   • With the Asset Refresh feature, organizations can better manage the full lifecycle of their hardware assets. This includes tracking when assets were purchased, when they need to be refreshed, and ensuring proper disposal or repurposing of old assets.

   Benefit:

   • Improved lifecycle management by ensuring that assets are replaced on time and managed throughout their lifecycle.

6. Centralized Tracking and Reporting

   • ServiceNow HAM provides centralized tracking of all asset refresh activities. IT teams can easily monitor the status of assets scheduled for refresh, track completed refreshes, and generate reports on upcoming refresh needs.

   Benefit:

   • Comprehensive visibility into asset refresh statuses and data-driven insights for planning future refresh cycles.

7. Improved Compliance and Security

   • Regularly refreshing assets helps ensure that hardware remains compliant with current security standards and organizational policies. Outdated hardware may no longer receive critical security updates, leaving the organization vulnerable to risks.

   Benefit:

   • Enhanced security and compliance by ensuring hardware remains up-to-date with the latest security patches and standards.

8. Sustainability and Environmental Benefits

   • The Asset Refresh feature helps organizations plan for the responsible disposal or recycling of old hardware. ServiceNow can automate the decommissioning process, ensuring that retired assets are properly managed and environmentally compliant.

   Benefit:

   • Sustainable asset management through proper disposal or recycling of outdated equipment.

9. Seamless Integration with Workflows

   • The asset refresh process integrates seamlessly with ServiceNow workflows, ensuring that tasks such as procurement, deployment, and decommissioning are handled efficiently. This integration allows IT teams to automate various parts of the refresh cycle, reducing errors and improving accountability.

   Benefit:

   • Streamlined refresh workflows that reduce manual errors and improve the speed of asset refresh tasks.

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on using the asset refresh flow

Asset Audits

The Hardware Asset Management (HAM) Inventory Audit feature in ServiceNow enables organizations to conduct regular checks on their hardware assets to ensure the accuracy of asset records. Auditing your hardware inventory is essential to maintaining data integrity, improving accountability, and ensuring compliance with internal policies and external regulations. Here are key reasons to use the HAM inventory audit feature and the benefits it provides:

Key Reasons to Use HAM Inventory Audits:

1. Ensures Data Accuracy

   • Over time, discrepancies can arise between recorded assets in the system and the physical inventory. The HAM inventory audit feature allows organizations to compare the actual hardware assets on hand with their records in the CMDB (Configuration Management Database), ensuring that asset data remains up-to-date and accurate.

2. Improves Accountability

   • Regular audits help keep employees and departments accountable for the hardware assets they are assigned. By conducting audits, organizations can ensure that assets are where they are supposed to be and have not been misplaced, lost, or stolen.

3. Compliance with Policies and Regulations

   • Many industries are required to maintain stringent asset records for compliance with financial, security, or regulatory standards. Regular audits help ensure compliance with internal asset management policies and external regulations, reducing the risk of penalties during audits by third parties.

4. Optimizes Asset Utilization

   • By identifying underutilized or idle assets during audits, organizations can better allocate hardware resources, reducing unnecessary purchases and maximizing asset efficiency. This helps optimize the hardware lifecycle and ensure assets are used where they are most needed.

5. Prevents “Ghost Assets”

   • Ghost assets refer to hardware that is recorded in the system but cannot be physically located. Conducting regular audits helps to identify and eliminate ghost assets, ensuring the CMDB reflects only the assets currently in use or available.

6. Supports Financial Planning

   • Inventory audits provide an accurate picture of asset depreciation, end-of-life status, and overall value, which supports better financial planning and budgeting for future hardware purchases or asset refresh cycles.

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Benefits of Using HAM Inventory Audits:

1. Automated Audit Scheduling and Workflow Management

   • The HAM inventory audit feature allows organizations to automate audit scheduling, ensuring that regular audits are conducted without manual reminders. The built-in workflows guide users through the audit process, reducing administrative burden and improving audit efficiency.

2. Streamlined Data Reconciliation

   • ServiceNow’s HAM audit feature provides automated data reconciliation between the physical inventory and the asset records in the CMDB. This helps detect discrepancies and allows asset managers to take corrective action swiftly, ensuring records stay accurate over time.

3. Comprehensive Reporting and Audit Trails

   • After completing an inventory audit, HAM provides detailed reports and audit trails that highlight any discrepancies, missing assets, or assets that need to be updated in the system. These reports help track the progress of the audit and support decision-making around asset management improvements.

4. Increased Security and Loss Prevention

   • Regular audits help detect lost, misplaced, or stolen assets early on. This improves security by ensuring that critical hardware, especially assets containing sensitive data, is accounted for and that unauthorized asset removal is identified and addressed.

5. Improved Asset Lifecycle Management

   • With accurate audit data, organizations can better manage the lifecycle of their assets, including identifying hardware that needs maintenance, upgrading, or disposal. This ensures that assets are functioning optimally and that older equipment is replaced in a timely manner.

6. Enhanced Compliance and Preparedness for External Audits

   • The HAM inventory audit feature ensures organizations are always prepared for external audits, such as financial audits, regulatory checks, or security assessments. By maintaining accurate records, organizations reduce the risk of non-compliance penalties and streamline the auditing process.

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on performing an asset audit

Associating ITAM with Incident and Change Management

Integrating ITAM with Incident and Change Management modules within ServiceNow enhances visibility into how assets are used and maintained during their lifecycle. When incidents or changes are logged, linking these directly to the relevant assets in the CMDB allows IT teams to:

• Quickly identify any assets related to an incident or change request
• Review the asset’s history and current status
• Track maintenance or upgrade actions that could affect asset performance

This integration enhances efficiency in troubleshooting and managing the impact of incidents and changes, reducing service downtime and ensuring assets remain operational.

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on automation tasks and how to use them

Run Phase: Optimizing Operational Efficiency

In the Run phase, the ITAM program is fully operational and focused on optimizing efficiency. This phase leverages the foundational work from the Crawl and Walk phases to streamline advanced processes, ensure cost-effectiveness, and maintain a highly efficient asset management system.

Shipments

Efficient shipment tracking is essential for organizations that distribute assets between multiple locations. ServiceNow’s shipment management functionality ensures that assets in transit are properly tracked and accounted for, reducing the risk of misplaced or lost assets. The shipment process includes:

• Creating shipment records within the platform
• Associating assets with the shipment for tracking using advanced shipment notifications (ASN)
• Updating asset locations as they move between sites

This improves logistical efficiency and ensures that assets are properly documented during transit.

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on using advanced shipment notifications

Service Locations

Service locations define the geographical areas where assets are stored, deployed, or maintained. By setting up service locations, organizations can streamline asset management processes and ensure that assets are supported and maintained efficiently. This feature is especially important for global or multi-site organizations.

Benefits include:

• Easier asset allocation and tracking
• Optimized maintenance schedules by location
• Faster response times for service and support requests

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on configuring service locations
• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on distribution channels

Asset Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA)

A structured RMA process is crucial for managing defective or faulty assets that need to be returned for repair or replacement. ServiceNow’s RMA functionality ensures that each asset requiring return is tracked throughout the process:

• Creation of an RMA request for faulty assets
• Tracking the return and replacement timeline
• Updating the CMDB with repaired or replaced asset details

This reduces the turnaround time for replacements and ensures that faulty equipment is addressed promptly.

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a tutorial and demo on using the RMA flow to manage return merchandise authorizations effectively

Pallets as Storage Locations

Using pallets for inventory management in ServiceNow offers a structured and efficient way to handle bulk assets within stockrooms, ensuring streamlined tracking, movement, and disposal. Here are the key benefits of utilizing pallets in ServiceNow for inventory management:

1. Efficient Bulk Management

   • Pallets allow you to group multiple assets into a single entity, simplifying the process of moving, tracking, and managing assets. Instead of managing individual assets, organizations can manage them as part of a pallet, which reduces complexity and saves time, particularly when dealing with large volumes of hardware.

2. Simplified Asset Transfers

   • Pallets can be easily transferred between stockrooms using transfer orders. When a pallet is moved, all the assets it contains are transferred together, ensuring that no individual asset is overlooked. Additionally, if there is an issue with the transfer, the entire pallet can be returned rather than each individual asset, streamlining the return process.

3. Asset Tracking and Updates

   • Any updates performed on a pallet, such as asset status changes or movement between locations, automatically apply to all the assets contained within it. This centralized management ensures consistency in asset records and reduces the need for manual updates on individual assets.

4. Simplified Disposal Processes

   • Pallets make the disposal of end-of-life or non-functional assets more efficient. By adding a pallet to a disposal order, all assets within the pallet are included in the disposal process, reducing administrative work. Users can also choose to dispose of the pallet itself, certain assets within it, or the assets alone, giving flexibility in asset disposal management.

5. Improved Asset Consumption in Workflows

   • Assets within a pallet can be consumed as part of various workflows (e.g., Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA), Loaner assets, local stock management). When an asset is consumed in one of these workflows, it is automatically removed from the pallet, ensuring accurate and up-to-date asset tracking within the pallet.

6. Seamless Integration with Other Workflows

   • Pallets integrate with key asset workflows in ServiceNow, such as swap and deploy tasks from IT Service Management (ITSM), RMA processes, loaner asset requests, and the return of leased assets. This ensures that asset movement and lifecycle changes are reflected in the system, improving operational efficiency.

7. Centralized Management for Bulk Disposal

   • When disposing of multiple assets nearing the end of their lifecycle, pallets provide a convenient way to manage bulk disposal orders. This reduces the administrative burden of managing individual asset disposals, particularly in large organizations with high asset turnover.

8. Automatic Asset Removal

   • When assets within a pallet are consumed as part of workflows like RMA, Loaner, or ITSM tasks, they are automatically removed from the pallet. This ensures that asset tracking remains accurate and that the pallet inventory is always up to date.

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• Watch here for a guide on creating and utilizing pallets, aisles, and spaces

Contract Management

ServiceNow's Contract Management capabilities play a critical role in enhancing the effectiveness of an IT Asset Management (ITAM) program by helping organizations track, manage, and renew contracts associated with IT assets. These contracts can include maintenance agreements, software licenses, warranties, and service-level agreements (SLAs). By integrating Contract Management with ITAM, organizations can achieve greater visibility, streamline workflows, and ensure that they maximize value from their IT investments.

Here’s how Hardware Asset Management can utilize ServiceNow Contract Management:

Centralized Contract Repository

ServiceNow allows ITAM teams to store all asset-related contracts in a centralized repository. This means that contracts for hardware, software, warranties, and services are easily accessible and linked directly to the assets they govern.

Key Benefits:

• Improved Access: Contract information is centralized and can be accessed by authorized users across departments, eliminating the need to search through emails, spreadsheets, or paper files.
• Enhanced Visibility: ITAM teams gain full visibility into contract terms, durations, and costs, enabling better asset management decisions.

Automated Contract Renewals

One of the most powerful features of ServiceNow Contract Management is the ability to automate the renewal process. ITAM teams can set up notifications and workflows that alert responsible stakeholders when contracts are nearing their expiration dates.

Key Benefits:

• Avoiding Lapses in Coverage: Automatic reminders prevent contracts from expiring unnoticed, which can lead to service disruptions or unplanned costs.
• Proactive Contract Management: ITAM teams can renegotiate terms or decide on whether to renew, cancel, or modify contracts well in advance of expiration.

Cost Optimization and Budgeting

Contract Management in ServiceNow helps ITAM teams track and manage the financial aspects of asset-related contracts. This includes storing pricing details, renewal costs, and depreciation schedules, allowing for more accurate budgeting and cost forecasting.

Key Benefits:

• Tracking Financial Commitments: ServiceNow allows ITAM teams to track total costs associated with contracts, ensuring that organizations can monitor financial exposure.
• Improved Budgeting: By tracking contract terms and costs over time, organizations can make better decisions about asset refresh cycles and plan for upcoming renewals.

Compliance and Risk Management

ITAM programs must ensure that assets are compliant with legal and contractual obligations. ServiceNow Contract Management helps ITAM teams maintain compliance by linking contracts to assets and ensuring that all terms are followed.

Key Benefits:

• Regulatory Compliance: ServiceNow ensures that ITAM programs adhere to licensing agreements and regulatory requirements by keeping track of usage rights, service terms, and legal obligations.
• Reduced Risk: Automatic tracking of contract terms helps mitigate risks related to non-compliance, such as overusing software licenses or failing to meet service-level agreements.

Lifecycle Tracking

Contract Management supports ITAM by tracking the lifecycle of both assets and their related contracts. As assets progress through their lifecycle, contracts (e.g., warranties, maintenance agreements) can be updated, renewed, or terminated based on the asset’s current status.

Key Benefits:

• End-to-End Management: From procurement to disposal, contracts follow the asset through its lifecycle, ensuring that assets are always covered by relevant agreements.
• Efficient Contract Updates: As assets are upgraded, transferred, or retired, ITAM teams can easily adjust the corresponding contracts to reflect changes in asset status.

Contract and Asset Relationship Management

ServiceNow links contracts directly to the assets they cover within the ITAM system. This means that every asset can have its related contract information attached, providing a full picture of coverage, service levels, and obligations for that asset.

Key Benefits:

• Quick Access to Asset Contracts: IT teams can quickly view and manage contract details from within the ITAM system, eliminating the need to switch between systems.
• Holistic Asset Management: ITAM teams can understand which assets are under contract and ensure that renewals, upgrades, and replacements align with contractual obligations.

Audit and Reporting

ServiceNow’s reporting capabilities allow ITAM teams to run detailed reports on contracts, including upcoming renewals, expiring contracts, and overall contract spend. This visibility is crucial for auditing and ensuring that organizations are complying with all contractual obligations.

Key Benefits:

• Audit Readiness: With all contract data readily available and linked to assets, audits are streamlined, reducing the time and effort required to demonstrate compliance.
• Insightful Reporting: Detailed reports help ITAM teams understand contract performance, financial exposure, and renewal patterns, allowing for continuous improvement in contract management.

By leveraging ServiceNow's Contract Management capabilities, ITAM teams can streamline the management of asset-related contracts, ensure compliance, optimize costs, and avoid lapses in service. Integrating contract management into the ITAM process enhances overall asset lifecycle management and ensures that assets are fully supported and aligned with organizational objectives.

Relevant Demo and Tutorial Content: 

• For relevant information on how to utilize contracts please click here

Total Cost of ownership

ServiceNow's Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) feature provides asset managers with a detailed understanding and tracking of the costs associated with hardware assets throughout their lifecycle. The TCO calculation includes both initial capital costs and ongoing operational expenses, enabling a comprehensive view of asset expenditure and performance. Here are the key benefits of using the TCO feature in ServiceNow Hardware Asset Management:

1. Track and Analyze Expenses

   • TCO allows asset managers to track and analyze the expenses incurred across the asset hierarchy, including both the initial purchase cost and ongoing operational expenses. This provides a complete view of the financial impact of assets over their lifetime.

2. Benchmark Asset Costs

   • The TCO feature enables users to benchmark asset costs against similar assets or asset models, allowing asset managers to compare performance and cost-effectiveness. This comparison helps in making informed decisions on asset purchases, replacements, or upgrades.

3. Enhanced Financial Planning with TCO Reports

   • ServiceNow provides predefined TCO reports, allowing asset managers to create custom reports for financial planning. These reports help in tracking cost trends, assessing asset performance, and forecasting future asset-related expenses, ultimately enabling better financial planning and budgeting.

4. Detailed Expense Tracking

   • TCO tracks all expenses through expense lines, which show the history of costs incurred for each asset, including capital costs and operational expenses. This granular tracking provides transparency into how costs are accumulated throughout the asset’s life.

5. Operational and Capital Cost Management

   • TCO tracks both one-time capital costs (e.g., initial purchase) and recurring operational costs (e.g., maintenance, labor). Expense lines are updated automatically, ensuring accurate cost tracking for serialized assets, child assets, and workflows related to asset tasks.

6. Support for Various Asset Workflows

   • TCO enables asset managers to track costs for various workflow tasks such as asset disposal, refreshes, Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA), and contract renewals. The system captures time worked and costs incurred for each task, providing comprehensive cost reporting for hardware management activities.

7. Rate Cards for Cost Calculations

   • The use of rate cards helps track costs such as labor, materials, and contract-related expenses. Rate cards capture the time worked on asset-related tasks, and the system creates corresponding expense lines, ensuring accurate TCO tracking for all tasks.

8. TCO Benchmarking and Comparison

   • Asset managers can set benchmark costs for hardware models and compare the TCO of different asset groups using the TCO dashboard. This comparison helps identify cost-saving opportunities and assess whether certain assets or models are outperforming others.

9. Normalized TCO for Real-Time Reports

   • TCO reports can be normalized over the asset’s useful life, allowing organizations to compare the TCO of assets or models based on their expected lifecycle. This provides a clearer view of which assets offer the best value over time.

10. Support for Strategic Decision-Making

• By tracking and analyzing the TCO, asset managers can make more informed decisions about asset lifecycle management, including when to refresh, retire, or replace assets based on their cost-performance metrics.

In summary, ServiceNow's TCO feature offers detailed tracking and benchmarking of asset costs, enabling better financial planning, cost management, and strategic decision-making throughout the asset lifecycle. This feature helps organizations optimize their hardware asset management by providing insights into the true cost of ownership for each asset.

[SaaniyaChugh1]

This is a great sum up of everything HAM. Thank you for putting this together!