How do you "receive" assets that are then reconciled by Discovery?

[roy_walton]

What's the best procedure for pre-creating an asset, that is then reconciled by Discovery once it's on the network?   Specifically, using a desktop example, I want the guy that manages incoming stock to be able to input certain information (serial number, asset tag, SAP number, etc.), presumably in the asset table since that's where the SAP and other financial-related fields reside, and then have Discovery reconcile with that asset record when it creates the CI. But that's not what happens -- if I create a new asset (rather than CI), Discovery creates a second asset record, even though the serial number matches.

Now, Discovery does reconcile the asset records if I pre-create the PC in the CMDB -- it matches on the serial number.   But then setting the SAP information is an additional step, once creation of the CI generates the corresponding asset record.   Ideally, I'd like to simplify the procedure so the guy who receives the physical desktop enters the information into one table (whether manually or by importing it), and then Discovery reconciles it once the PC is on the network.   And bonus points if he can add it to a Stockroom (which, again, seems to be related to the asset rather than the CI) as "in stock", and then Discovery flips it to "in use" and set the Location once it's on the network.   It seems like that's how it should work , but I can't quite figure it out.

I hope that's all clear -- any help would be appreciated.

[casey_stinnett]

The first thing to check would be what the difference is in the records that you are creating. When you create the asset or the ci, are you sure that you have the serial number in each when you create them? If you don't have the serial number in each, then Discovery will definitely make a duplicate.

Under your computer model category, is both a CI and an asset class listed? Meaning, is the CI class listed as cmdb_ci_computer and the Asset class listed as alm_asset in the model category list?

Another thing to think about is when you are creating the asset, are you specifying the model category to be computer?

If all of that is true, when you look at the newly created corresponding CI after creating your asset, is the serial number appearing there as well?

[Ankush13]

Best is to compare what was manually entered and what was discovered. I believe there is a difference in what is entered manually.

[alan_death · Accepted solution]

We do this by using 2 different transform maps on the import. The first one creates the CI, with just some basic information (serial number, asset tag, model, etc.). If your model categories are set up correctly, the creation of the CI will automatically create an asset. The second transform map adds the asset specific information (PO, cost, purchase date, warranty expiration, stockroom, etc.). Both maps coalesce on serial number, so there's no duplication, and are run in order, CI map, then hardware map. Discovery then updates the CI, which also updates the asset record.

We created a business rule that sets the state to "in use" when assigned to field is populated, and also clears the stockroom.

Hope that helps.

[roy_walton]

Thanks all!

Alan, that's pretty much the conclusion we've come to -- that out of the box, it's a two-step process of creating the CI, which in turn generates the associated asset, and then updating that asset.   We're going to create an import table and set up transform maps and business rules so that the person intaking the hardware can either complete a form or do a bulk import, creating the CI and then the asset.   Then Discovery will match the CI once it's on the a user subnet, and complete the rest of the info we're interested in.

And, similarly, we'll do a business rule to flip the asset state to "in use" once it's discovered.

Thanks again everyone!