The purpose of the Asset Management process is to control all assets owned by the IT endeavor throughout their life cycle and to maintain accurate information about them in an Asset Register. The aspects of asset control under this purpose include inventory, contractual (licensing, maintenance), ownership and location

ITIL® provides the following definitions:

• asset
• Asset Register

The definition of 'asset' is much broader than those in widespread usage within the IT industry. In this model, many of the types identified are controlled by other processes specialized for the management issues which pertain to them.

• Items Management, Organization, Process are the subject of the IT Governance and Management System category of processes
• Knowledge Management is a process in its own right
• People are recruited, developed, and assigned to responsibilities by the Workforce Management process
• Financial Capital is under the custodianship of the Financial Management process, with interfaces to this process where Asset activities have an impact on financial valuation (for example, by a decision to dispose of an asset or to transfer ownership to a new owner).

The technology object types Information, Applications, Infrastructure are all covered by this process, where each individual item can qualify for any of the asset control purposes in scope. For example, it is not unusual for accessories for PCs (such as keyboards, mice) to be excluded from asset control.

Read the Asset Management Key Concepts.

Important links

• Asset Management Tool Mentors
• Tivoli® Open Process Automation Library Extensions for Asset Management
• Asset Management Implementation Services

Outcomes

 As a result of the successful implementation of the Asset Management process:

• Value is maximized from technology assets over their lifetime
• Assets are provided in an accurate and timely manner to supply, movement or other requests
• Accurate and timely information about technology assets supports informed IT decision making, at both strategic and tactical levels
• Exposure to risks relating to IT assets is minimized
• IT assets are managed in compliance with legal, industry and corporate standards and requirements
• Governance of assets drives the right trade-offs in investments in asset and usage of assets
  

Scope

Asset Management has dual responsibilities:

1. To control each asset from initial creation (such as receipt from suppliers) through all life cycle events (such as change of location, transfer of ownership, change of use) until eventual retirement or disposal.
2. To identify, collect, maintain, control, and report inventory and financial information about IT assets throughout their lifecycle
   

Includes

• License management (including software license compliance)
• Lease and maintenance administration of each asset
• Inventory management (includes physical components and specifications)
• Allocation of available assets to meet approved requests
• Physical logistics (such as transportation) of assets
• Retirement of outdated assets
• Triggering requisition for the procurement of additional assets (for example, if a policy of maintaining minimum inventory stock levels for standard, frequently needed asset item is in place)
• Financial life cycle of assets (including valuation)
  

Excludes

• Risk Management
• Contract and Supplier Management (including Procurement) (Supplier Management)
• Configuration Management (logical relationships)
• Managing the security of an asset (Facilities Management, Security Management)

Key performance indicators

• Number of asset requisitions overdue
• Number of assets disposed
• Number of assets replaced
• Return on investment
• Percent reduction in unused assets
• Ratio of used licenses against total licenses

Relation to other processes

• Asset Management works with Financial Management to control the costs of assets and track their value to the organization.
• Compliance Management ensures that IT assets comply with licensing, security, and other compliance issues.
• Supplier Management purchases assets. Asset Management must make sure ordered assets are listed in the Assets Database before they arrive.
• Asset Management works with Configuration Management to make sure the assets in the Assets Database match configuration items in the Configuration Management Database. In addition, an asset audit can affect a configuration audit, as well as the reverse.

Further reading

Read Asset Management in the ITIL documentation. 

Also, see the IBM® Service Management Web page.