How do you handle mobile devices in asset management?

[HugoFirst]

My Service Desk manager needs to track mobile devices in the asset management app.   So I need to add a new category of "mobile device".

So far so good.   There is an issue however, because the category needs to be associated with a CMDB table, and I'm not entirely comfortable with the choices available.

And while I could create a new table to extend an existing table, I still need to decide which table to extend.

I have seen the article at this link: Re: CMDB, Mobile, Plotter, Monitor, Scanner

It recommends the use of the cmdb_ci_comm table.   While this table will certainly fill my immediate needs, I'm nor sure it's the best fit for my situation in the longer term.

I'm looking at the cmdb_ci_computer table because it tracks more information about the device than cmdb_ci_comm.

So I'd like to hear how other people are doing this and what worked well.

[Brad Tilton]

Hi Steve,

The cmdb_ci_comm table is the standard cmdb table for mobile devices so I would use that one. If there are attributes you want to track that are not already part of that table you could add them.

[eferringtonFP]

More to the point, you would configure the model category to device whether a mobile device is an asset a ci or both.

That would drive record creation on the appropriate record table and would require data population as it applies to the asset record & ci record.

[Paul Coste2]

Hi Brad,

I am in the process of implementing mobile device tracking as well.

While I agree on one hand with using the out of box class for this, the down side of that is that, the line between one device type and another is very thin and subjective (is a BlackBerry a Cell Phone?   Is a large phone a Tablet?   Is a Tablet a Computer?   These are arbitrary distinctions.)   For instance, an Application "runs on" a Computer.   A Computer is a Hardware device and has hardware status/substatus, which is more detailed than install status.   Hardware product models have "compatibility" attributes in the Product Catalog.   Computers have operating systems.   So depending on how you are using the device, as a phone, as a computer, etc., you may have different requirements.   A tablet that is used as a computer but does not have phone service should hardly be considered a communication device any more than a laptop is.   In some cases the very same model device could be a communication device or not, based on how it is used.   For these reasons I have opted to extend the cmdb_ci_computer table into a u_cmdb_ci_mobile_device table.   This allows the mobile device to have operating system fields to define the OS, version, etc.   It allows it to have the full hardware asset tracking capability of any other device.   In this new class I have added the Phone Number field, and have also defined a separate class and reference field for tracking the actual Mobile Data Service (if any) that is assigned to the device.   That way, you can simply look at a Mobile Device of type "Tablet" and see if it has a Data Service on it, find out the carrier of the service, and any other details you need.

Bottom line is that for me, practically speaking, most mobile devices these days are just a different type of Computer, just as a Desktop, Laptop, or Server is.   What you do with it determines what should be tracked, but the classification of these devices seems to be most succinctly stated as a Computer that is a Mobile Device, and because it is Mobile, can have a phone number and/or a data service and service carrier associated with it.

Aside from the principle of using out-of-box class for its own sake, what are the benefits of using cmdb_ci_comm for Mobile Devices?

[HugoFirst]

Thanks for the advice Brad.     Do you include things like tablets with your mobile devices?