Assets
Assets are what the organization owns or pays for: laptops and phones, software licences, subscriptions and domains. Each asset has a holder (who uses it), an owner (who answers for it), what it costs, the dates that matter, and the service or configuration item it is for. Its history keeps every change, so the register is also evidence.
Assets come with the Asset Management plugin, which needs Service Configuration. If you don't see Assets under Service Configuration in the sidebar, the plugin is off; an admin turns it on under Platform → Plugins.
Who can use it
| Who | Can |
|---|---|
| Agent, Viewer, Analyst, Auditor | Read the register and the Asset Management dashboard (asset.read). |
| Asset Manager | Everything: add and change assets, assign seats, record disposal and delete an asset added by mistake (asset.write). |
| Platform Administrator, Organization Administrator | Everything. |
The register belongs to the organization, not to a unit: holding asset.read in any unit of the organization lets
you read all of its assets.
The register
Open Assets. Each asset has a key, such as AST-12. The list shows, by default, the assets that are not disposed
of; the Status filter shows others, or Any status. Search finds a name, tag, serial number or key. The chips
above the list count:
- Renewing in 90 days: renewal dates coming up.
- To get back: assets held by people who were disabled.
- In stock: ready to hand out.
- I hold: what you hold, or have a seat on.
New asset (Asset Managers) asks for:
| Field | What |
|---|---|
| Name | What it is, such as "Laptop for Kim" or "Design tool". |
| Type | Hardware, Software licence, Subscription, Domain or Other. |
| Status | Ordered, In stock, In use, In repair or Retired. Disposed is set by recording disposal. |
| Seats | For a software licence: how many were bought. |
| Holder | The person using it. A licence with seats is held by those on its seats instead. |
| Tag, Serial number, Location | How you find it. |
| Owner | Who answers for it and gets its reminders: you, unless you pick someone else. |
| Supplier | One of the organization's suppliers. |
| Cost, Currency, Paid | What it costs, and whether that is Once, A month or A year. |
| Purchased, Renews, Warranty until | The dates. |
| Service, Configuration item | What it is for: a service in the catalogue, or a configuration item when CMDB is on. |
| Notes | Anything else. |
The asset's page shows it all, with its History: who added it, and each change as "Status: In use → In repair".
Seats
A software licence lists who has a seat on it. Assign gives seats to people of the organization; the cross takes one back. Giving out more seats than were bought is allowed, since it happens, and shows as More assigned than bought until you buy more or take some back.
Renewals
An asset's owner gets a notification 30 days before its renewal date or the end of its warranty, once for each date. The dashboard lists what renews or runs out of warranty in the next 90 days.
When someone leaves
When a member of staff is disabled, each asset they hold gets an entry in its history ("Kim was disabled: get it back"), and its owner is told. They show under To get back until someone else holds them, or they are back in stock. Seats are not taken back by themselves: licences with a seat for them show under To get back too, until you take it back on the licence's page.
Disposal
When an asset is sold, recycled, destroyed or a contract ends, More actions → Record disposal asks how. The asset is then Disposed, with who recorded it, when and how; its seats are freed, and it can't be changed again.
Delete is only for an asset added by mistake: one with nothing in its history but being added, no holder and no seats. Anything else is disposed of or retired, so the register keeps it.
The dashboard
The Asset Management dashboard lists what needs you: Renewing soon (renewals and warranties in the next 90 days) and To get back. Its Assets report shows what assets cost A month, in all, On services and Not on a service, and Cost per service: a yearly cost counts a twelfth each month, and one-off costs are left out. An asset linked only to a configuration item counts for the services above it in the Dependency map, shared equally. When assets are paid in several currencies, the dashboard counts in the one used most and gives the monthly totals in the others below.
As evidence
The register is an evidence source, Asset inventory: the population lists every asset that existed in the period, with its owner, holder, dates, cost and disposal; one asset's record adds its whole history and its seats.