Implement Hardware Asset Management
Build IT services value on the foundation of a proactive asset management program.
Your Challenge
- Executives are often aware of the benefits asset management offers, but many organizations lack a defined program to manage their hardware.
- Efforts to implement hardware asset management (HAM) are stalled because organizations feel overwhelmed navigating the process or under use the data, failing to deliver value.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Organizations often implement an asset management program as a one-off project and let it stagnate.
- Organizations often fail to dedicate adequate resources to the HAM process, leading to unfinished processes and inconsistent standards.
- Hardware asset management programs yield a large amount of useful data. Unfortunately, this data is often underutilized. Departments within IT become data siloes, preventing effective use of the data.
Impact and Result
- As the IT environment continues to change, it is important to establish consistency in the standards around IT asset management.
- A current state assessment of your HAM program will shed light on the steps needed to safeguard your processes.
- Define the assets that will need to be managed to inform the scope of the ITAM program before defining processes.
- Build and involve an ITAM team in the process from the beginning to help embed the change.
- Define standard policies, processes, and procedures for each stage of the hardware asset lifecycle, from procurement through to disposal.
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should Implement Hardware Asset Management, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.
1. Lay foundations
Build the foundations for the program to succeed.
2. Procure & receive
Define processes for requesting, procuring, receiving, and deploying hardware.
3. Maintain & dispose
Define processes and policies for managing, securing, and maintaining assets then disposing or redeploying them.
4. Plan implementation
Select tools, plan the hardware budget, then build a communication plan and roadmap to implement the project.
Guided Implementations
This guided implementation is a twelve call advisory process.
Guided Implementation #1 - Lay foundations
Call #1 - Assess current state.
Call #2 - Define scope of HAM program.
Call #3 - Define roles and metrics.
Guided Implementation #2 - Procure & receive
Call #1 - Define standard and non-standard hardware.
Call #2 - Build procurement process.
Call #3 - Determine asset tagging method and build equipment receiving and deployment processing.
Guided Implementation #3 - Maintain & dispose
Call #1 - Define processes for managing and maintaining equipment.
Call #2 - Define policies for maintaining asset security.
Call #3 - Build process for redeploying or disposing of assets.
Guided Implementation #4 - Plan implementation
Call #1 - Discuss tools to help your HAM program succeed.
Call #2 - Discuss best practices for effectively managing a hardware budget.
Call #3 - Build communications plan and roadmap.
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Hardware Asset Management
Build IT services value on the foundation of a proactive asset management program.
This course makes up part of the Infrastructure & Operations Certificate.
Course information:
- Title: Hardware Asset Management
- Number of Course Modules: 5
- Estimated Time to Complete: 1-1.5 hours
- Featured Analysts:
- Sandi Conrad, Practice Lead, I&O Research
- Allison Kinnaird, Research Director
- Now Playing: Academy: Hardware Asset Management | Executive Brief
Book Your Workshop
Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Module 1: Lay Foundations
The Purpose
- Build the foundations for the program to succeed.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Evaluation of current challenges and maturity level
- Defined scope for HAM program
- Defined roles and responsibilities
- Identified metrics and reporting requirements
Activities
Outputs
Outline hardware asset management challenges.
Conduct HAM maturity assessment.
- HAM Maturity Assessment
Classify hardware assets to define scope of the program.
- Classified hardware assets
Define responsibilities.
- Job description templates
Use a RACI chart to determine roles.
- RACI Chart
Identify HAM metrics and reporting requirements.
Module 2: Procure & Receive
The Purpose
- Define processes for requesting, procuring, receiving, and deploying hardware.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Defined standard and non-standard requests for hardware
- Documented procurement, receiving, and deployment processes
- Standardized asset tagging method
Activities
Outputs
Identify IT asset procurement challenges.
Define standard hardware requests.
Document standard hardware request procedure.
Build a non-standard hardware request form.
- Non-standard hardware request form
Make lease vs. buy decisions for hardware assets.
- Procurement workflow
Document procurement workflow.
Select appropriate asset tagging method.
Design workflow for receiving and inventorying equipment.
- Receiving and tagging workflow
Document the deployment workflow(s).
- Deployment workflow
Module 3: Maintain & Dispose
The Purpose
- Define processes and policies for managing, securing, and maintaining assets then disposing or redeploying them.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Policies and processes for hardware maintenance and asset security
- Documented workflows for hardware disposal and recovery/redeployment
Activities
Outputs
Build a MAC policy, request form, and workflow.
- User move workflow
Design process and policies for hardware maintenance, warranty, and support documentation handling.
Revise or create an asset security policy.
- Asset security policy
Identify challenges with IT asset recovery and disposal and design hardware asset recovery and disposal workflows.
- Asset disposition policy, recovery and disposal workflows
Module 4: Plan Implementation
The Purpose
- Select tools, plan the hardware budget, then build a communication plan and roadmap to implement the project.
Key Benefits Achieved
- Shortlist of ITAM tools
- Hardware asset budget plan
- Communication plan and HAM implementation roadmap
Activities
Outputs
Generate a shortlist of ITAM tools that will meet requirements.
Use Info-Tech’s HAM Budgeting Tool to plan your hardware asset budget.
- HAM budget
Build HAM policies.
- Additional HAM policies
Develop a communication plan.
- HAM communication plan
Develop a HAM implementation roadmap.
- HAM roadmap tool
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this Blueprint, and what our clients have to say.
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
McGill University
Guided Implementation
8/10
$6,000
5
Wyndham City Council
Guided Implementation
9/10
N/A
N/A
Platte River Power Authority
Guided Implementation
9/10
$60,484
20
