Asset Sub-States Changed Over Time

[klf1123]

Why are there extra substates for "Retired". Originally many of the states and substates were very straight forward now there seems to be conflicting options. Why would there be a "pending disposal" substate in a "Retired" State? From an ITAM perspective that does not make sense. I feel from an audit standpoint if something is marked "Retired" it should be gone from the environment. Has anyone had audit issues with marking items "Retired" that are not actually gone?

[HIROSHI SATOH]

In my case, most of my items are leased, so I return them after "Retired" and use the sub-status "Lease return".

Lifecycle Reflection:

From an ITAM perspective, the "Retired" state typically indicates that an asset is no longer being used in production or for its original purpose. However, just because it's retired from active use doesn't mean it's immediately gone. The asset could still be in the disposal process, where it awaits final removal or resale.

Pending Disposal Sub-state:

This substate allows the system to track assets that have been decommissioned but are not yet physically removed or sold off. For example, an asset could be marked "Retired" when it’s powered off or no longer part of the operational environment, but it might be awaiting data sanitization, recycling, or resale, hence the need for a substate like "Pending Disposal."

Audit Considerations:

From an audit standpoint, there’s indeed a concern if an asset is marked "Retired" but hasn't fully left the organization. Auditors might question why an asset is marked as retired when it’s technically still present. However, the presence of a substate like "Pending Disposal" can actually provide clarity by distinguishing between assets that are retired but still physically present and those that are completely disposed of. This granularity can help maintain accurate records during audits.

[klf1123]

Thank you for your reply so I am wondering why ServiceNow did not maintain the "pending disposal" option within the "In Stock" status instead of expanding to "Retired" additionally where I am not sure it makes sense. The definition of retired at the companies I have worked for is that the asset is disposed and not still present in the environment. Not being used for production could be handled with operational status and not necessarily the asset state per se. But I still expect physical devices to be marked "In Stock" if it's present at a location but not on the network. 

[HIROSHI SATOH]

The extra substates for "Retired" in ServiceNow's asset and configuration management likely exist to provide more granular control and visibility into the retirement process. While the "Retired" state indicates that an asset is no longer in use, the substates allow for further categorization and tracking of the asset's disposition.

I understand that if you try to manage this with status, you will end up with a large number of statuses, so it is managed with sub-statuses.ServiceNow uses "Retired" as a broad state to encompass various end-of-life processes, including disposal. If "Disposal" is crucial, organizations can add it through customization.

[klf1123]

My point is the sub-statuses no longer make sense and there are too many. I also have now realized since Washington they added a "pending retirement" to "In Use" additionally. Is there documentation on the best practices for these statuses? It no longer makes sense when to use these anymore.