Is There A Streamlined Solution to log Laptop Purchases, Assigned to, Laptop Service tag, etc. in SN

[BenFan]

Hi,

Someone within my organization is responsible for purchasing new laptops whenever users submit a hardware request. The person purchasing the laptop must then log the hardware request task ticket, including the laptop's assigned user, cost center, service tag, model, and any additional peripherals or software in Excel. Does SN offer a streamlined solution that allows the purchaser to log all that information within SN without having to create an Excel workbook to log that info? Preferably, I would like this purchaser to be able to create a report and dashboard tracking all this data.

[Ryan S · Accepted solution]

Hello BenFan,

Out of the box capabilities with Flow Designer and ITSM Asset Management can be leveraged to provide a streamlined solution and avoid using Excel.

1. The Hardware Request being submitted (it's being submitted directly in ServiceNow, correct?) should capture all the elements the user knows to indicate what type of laptop they want. This could be integrated to your product catalog so the user is selecting from a predefined item or simply be variable choice lists and checkboxes to indicate what software/peripherals are needed.
2. The workflow for this request should generate a task for the person doing the purchasing. They shouldn't have to enter any information already captured on the submission form (such as 'assigned user') as that is already known. Cost Center may be associated to the user or the user could have entered it on the submission form. There could be variables on this task that allows the user to capture additional information.
3. If the asset being assigned to the user is already owned, it should be in ServiceNow and selectable in the previous step and workflow would automatically assign it. If it's needing purchased, then you can decide how much of the workflow you build out for those steps, but ultimately when the device is received (think separate task) you can then populate the Asset Tag and Serial Number, assign the device to the user and get it delivered.

I didn't get too detailed in all the steps, but hopefully enough to showcase how what you're describing could be accomplished with a workflow and the existing data model. If you have Hardware Asset Management and/or Software Asset Management, the business process is far more complicated but those products also include prebuilt workflows that streamline the activities in ServiceNow.