Should monitors be set up as Assets and CIs?

[bdodds01]

Should monitors be set up as Assets and CIs?  Monitor is a model category that has no associated CI class.  It is also listed as a "type" of Peripheral (cmdb_ci_peripheral). Peripherals do have an associated CI class.  Currently, we only track monitors as Assets (not CIs), but we have run into a couple of scenarios where it would be nice to have monitors listed as CIs (being able to check out loaner monitors is one example). Do most businesses treat monitors as assets only or assets and CIs, and why?

[echasteen]

Agree with the other gentlemen. I would use Hardware CI class to track monitors.  Basically you need to track manufacturer, model, company bar code, and screen size.  Depending on the business requirements, the Monitor CI would be related to the user profile and/or the desktop HW CI for the owned, used and managed by relationship for asset, support and financial tracking.  Also monitors or flatscreens are becoming prevalent in conference and training rooms. So location is also another attribute. Brent is correct though that monitors are pretty cheap and you need to make a conscious decision whether to track them.  The higher end flatscreens and larger more expensive monitors are beneficial to track.

If all you care to manage is cheap monitors and not their relationships, peripherals/consumables would be a way to go. Following good Asset Lifecycle Management, entities do need to account for requests/demand for, inventory, distribution and return of monitors using the ServiceNow form instead of the traditional spreadsheet. 

Hope this helps.

Eric

[iaincaldwell]

I was mapping monitors from Lansweeper (which does pick up monitors if they are connected to a computer) into ServiceNow when i saw this post.  With my ITIL hat on I found it very interesting and noting the date I do wonder if your opinions have changed.  The statement of monitors being cheap is far from the case now as is the thought that they might just be simple and dumb.  I wouldn't be surprised in fact that in many businesses the monitor might cost more than the laptop/desktop that's being connected.  Yes i don't think there would be much change or problem management involved but certainly incidents (the are almost as cranky as printers).