Why you should be using the Hardware Asset Workspace

[Dave Aiken]

The Hardware Asset Workspace (new in San Diego) has been on my mind a lot lately.  I had some questions about its purpose and why we should use it over the existing Asset Workspace.  The answer I received was surprisingly simple – the Hardware Asset Workspace was designed specifically with Hardware Asset Management (HAM) in mind while the older Asset Workspace was designed for ITSM Asset Management, or the older way of managing hardware assets before HAM was released in Paris.

There are dozens of things to explore in this workspace, but if you’re looking for quick wins, I have some tips.  This is by no means an all-inclusive list of features.  It’s meant to be a snapshot of a few things that I’ve found to be helpful.

NOTE:  You will need to install the Hardware Asset Management application from the ServiceNow Store to have access to the features described below.

Avoid Preventable Issues with Proper Lifecycle Planning

As original equipment manufacturers release new models, it becomes increasingly more expensive to support older ones.  Instead, the focus on maintenance and support shifts to newer hardware assets, making support quite expensive if it’s available at all.  That’s why you should identify these issues early and take action to avoid unnecessary costs.

We can do this with the “Model Lifecycle Overview” widget which is located on the Hardware Asset Overview and Model Management tabs.  Click on a lifecycle category in the widget to bring up a list of all Models within that lifecycle phase.  I recommend starting with “End of Life”, as it would represent the most immediate concern.  Next work on “End of Sale” and finally “End of Support”.

To make informed decisions, you must have End of Life (EOL) dates recorded in ServiceNow.  There are a few ways to do this, but the easiest, and most accurate, is to leverage the Content Library and Hardware Normalization – included with a HAM subscription.  This will provide lifecycle dates (among many other details) automatically as ServiceNow does the data collection for you.  You should only enter dates manually when there is no way to import or automate the process.  Additionally, you should be recording all support contracts in the Contract Management application so that all your information is in one place facilitating automation and reducing swivel chair actions.

Replacement is typically preferred to keeping assets that are at the end of their useful life, but if you must keep some EOL assets, then you should obtain 3^rd party support or plan to maintain them with internal resources.  Assets identified for disposal should be handled using the Disposal Order process which is discussed in the next section.

Ordering newer, supported assets can be initiated through Request Management and resolved through Procurement Service Management.  This all happens within ServiceNow, once again allowing for automation and reducing swivel chair actions.

Streamline the Asset Disposal Process

Use the Disposal Orders widget as your pathway to creating and viewing disposal orders without leaving the workspace.  This widget can be found in either the Quick Links section on the Hardware Asset Overview or on the Inventory tab.

This is where you should be recording the potential sale, donation, or recycling of hardware assets.  I suggest managing your asset disposal process in ServiceNow due to the included workflow which adds touches of automation and reduces human error.  The workflow comes with the HAM application and includes tasks for device removal, transport, and chain of custody ownership.

One of the workflow steps even includes creating a disposal documentation task that will allow you to attach a certificate of disposal.  This ensures compliance and gives you an auditing trail with supporting documentation should you ever need it.

If you’re not already doing so, I strongly suggest looking into the ServiceNow Agent App for mobile devices.  You can use the mobile app to increase the accuracy of asset disposal departures with barcode scan verification.

Pinpoint High Priority Tasks with ‘Important Actions’

The Important Actions cards will appear at the top of each dashboard within the Hardware Asset Workspace.  The overview tab shows a combination of recommended actions across all dashboards (Inventory, Asset Estate, and Model Management). 

These action cards will notify you in case of immediate concerns.  A few of these (which are also important to the lifecycle planning and disposal activities mentioned earlier) include records with missing information in the following fields:

• Useful life
• Model number
• PO Number
• Location
• Assignment group

You should act on these issues as soon as possible to prevent further issues arising from decisions made as a result of incorrect or incomplete data, otherwise known as data erosion.  Bad data leads to bad decisions, which leads to more bad data.

Once bad or missing data is found, resist the urge to enter it by hand even when dealing with a single record.  The initial effort may be much easier, but you’re still injecting human error into the equation not to mention the lack of scalability.  One record is fine, but when do data issues ever stop at a single record?  We need a way to automate this process, which is why we turn to the Content Library and Hardware Normalization.  By allowing ServiceNow to provide this information, we ensure that it’s both accurate and up-to-date – two things that are near impossible to do manually at scale.

ServiceNow provides multiple data quality checks out-of-the-box.  Additional ones can be created to meet specific organizational needs, but due to the complexity of creating these, I would leave them alone and just focus on the ones already provided.  But if you really want to peek under the hood and take a stab at creating some Important Action cards of your own, you can check out the Important Actions Setup [sn_itam_recomm_setup] table as this is where they're all stored.

Moving Forward

Prior to my research, the Hardware Asset Workspace was overwhelming and had me going back to my comfort zone with the Asset Workspace.  Don't be like me.  Embrace the progress as ServiceNow continues to improve and refine its capabilities!