Tracking end of life data for consumable assets

[damianflack]

Hi Team,

Looking for some advice from the community on tracking the lifecycle of consumable assets.

We currently track our laptop docking stations as Assets, which comes with a significant process overhead. 

My question, how does SNOW handle replacement of consumables that have reached end of life? By that, I mean, if we become aware that a laptop docking station has reached end of life, how do we locate the laptop hubs if we don't track them as Assets?    

[Runjay Patel]

Hi @damianflack ,

Consumables are typically low-cost items, bought in bulk and distributed upon request. In addition to the devices you mentioned, common consumables include printer toners, laptop chargers, USB cables, and batteries.

consumable Item? 

1. Mouse - usually
2. Keyboard - usually
3. Headset - yes
4. Monitor - sometimes depending on value
5. Anything else? - adapters, cables, batteries

The main purpose of consumable management is to store cost and financial data for tracking expenses and facilitating chargebacks. Therefore, it’s sufficient to maintain inventory to monitor available quantities and costs for each model.

Since consumables are managed in bulk, individual serial numbers aren’t tracked. If an item requires individual tracking with a serial number, it should be managed as a hardware asset rather than a consumable.

Here are some best practices for managing consumables:

1. Consumables are managed in bulk with minimal attributes, such as location, stockroom, model, cost, state, and substate. In ServiceNow, all consumables fall under the same model category (consumable).

2. Key considerations for tracking items as consumables include:
        Value: Typically low-cost items
         Shelf Life: Consumables are used up or expire, unlike durable assets (e.g., printer toner).

3. Frequently needed consumables should be listed as catalog items for easy ordering by users.

4. Proactive tracking of certain consumables’ stock levels is essential to avoid shortages (e.g., printer toner, which is crucial in organizations that frequently use printed documents).

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Regards
Runjay Patel - ServiceNow Solution Architect
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RunjayP
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/runjay

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[damianflack]

Thanks for your response. 

So from what you're saying, you can't track something as a consumable if it requires proactive/lifecycle replacement. Consumables can only be "consumed" on a break/fix basis, is that accurate? 

So my next question, what's the consensus, are laptop docks a consumable or straight asset?