Best Practice for Managing Asset State \ CI Status

[Robin Hearne]

I have a question for all you process experts out there.   Before I begin, this isn't about what you could do, this is about what is the best thing to do from a process and tool perspective.   I always try to be guided by what ServiceNow provides out-the-box and try to understand how the product was intended to be used before making any changes.

We are planning our Asset and Config Management deployment and are trying to make a decision on how to manage Asset state \ CI status.   The primary consideration is how the desktop support techs will update the record(s) to show when the asset\CI is in use, in maintenance, returned to a stock room etc.

The OTB experience is that the Status field isn't even exposed on the CI form, which leads me to think that the intended use is to manage it there and let the mapping feature take care of updating the CI status.   Also, previous ServiceNow documentation states "As a best practice, ServiceNow, Inc. recommends updating status on the asset form" (although this is from 2015 and this doesn't seem to be included in the latest documentation).

However....

This somewhat contradicts ISO\ITIL "best practice" which recommends that IMAC is part of the Configuration Management process, rather than the Asset Management process.   Also, the ITIL role only has read permission to the Asset record, so the desktop support techs would need the 'asset' role, which is arguably inappropriate given that they aren't really involved in the Asset Management process (just Configuration Management).   From a tool perspective, in order to manage IMAC in Configuration Management would require a number of changes on the CI form, such as adding the Status, plus exposing other fields such as Location, Stock rooms etc.   Which whilst simple to do, still suggest to me that this isn't how ServiceNow was intended to be used.

I'm leaning towards managing Asset State and either assign the Asset role or add an ACL to allow ITIL users to update the Asset State, Location etc, but I'd welcome other options before making a decision.

bsweetser - Hoping you might be able to give your opinion on this?

Thanks in advance.

Robin

[Damhoej]

bsweetser is it possible you have a process diagram for the proces prior to Request?

That will complete my world 😉

[Community Alums]

Hi Jens,

Are you asking about the process to create catalog items that can be requested? What gets it to the point where you can request it? If so, here is some considerations:

• Model Management - focus on the Models in your environment first. Good Model information supports a good catalog (among other things)
  • Have a process by which Models are selected and approved/certified in the environment
  • Include the Manufacturer's end of life information in the Model to determine when a Model should be "retired"
• Create catalog items from the Model - this supports Asset Management
  • Determine if something is already in stock
  • Automatically create Asset records for newly procured assets

Ben

[Damhoej]

Hi Ben.

I have read all your blogs about model management, but I am struggling with the division of model categories and CI classes and asset classes.

So I am confused with where to start. Do I start with asset classes in order to structure my assets, or ?

I am also looking for a good practice in the use of Asset Tags and CIs

[Community Alums]

Hi Jens,

Have you seen the Ask the Expert session: Ask the Expert: Live Chat | Assets and Models and CIs, Oh My! ? This might help you address your questions around some of this. If not, perhaps you could submit a new question and tag me on it? It is a good question that others might have, and I would hate for it to get lost in the replies from a different question.

Thanks,

Ben

[Damhoej]

bsweetser no I have not seen it.

I will dig into it right away, and ger back in a new question (if necessary)