Working with the Asset Repository

This chapter provides an overview of information technology (IT) assets and the asset repository, and discusses how to:

Set up software in the asset repository.
Compare asset repositories.

Understanding IT Assets and the Asset Repository

This section discusses:

IT assets.
The asset repository.
Assets, asset types, and asset subtypes.
IT subtypes.

IT Assets

IT Asset Management compares the expected state of IT assets—the state reflected in the Asset Management database (asset repository)—to the state reported by a the third party inventory process. IT Asset Management integrates with a third-party application that performs the inventory, and reports the results to IT Asset Management. IT Asset Management posts the data to cache tables in the asset repository.

This provides two images of the IT assets within the enterprise:

The IT assets that you add to the asset repository using PeopleSoft applications.

These assets reside in tables in the asset repository.
The IT assets that are discovered and stored in the cache tables.

IT Asset Management enables organizations to track their IT assets and reconcile discrepancies between the IT assets maintained in the asset repository and the actual IT assets discovered in the enterprise. Specifically, IT Asset Management:

Identifies the IT assets that exist in your enterprise (using a third-party search and inventory application).
Compares the discovered IT assets to the IT assets stored in asset repository.
Provides an interface for addressing and reconciling asset discrepancies.

PeopleSoft software tracks IT assets in the same way that it tracks other assets: it stores the attributes of each asset as an entry in the asset repository.

The Asset Repository

The majority of the transactions between IT Asset Management and the asset repository occur as the result of scheduled IT Asset Management processes that you define during setup. IT asset data is stored in the asset repository, for both known IT assets and IT assets discovered by your third-party application. IT Asset Management queries this data to report discrepancies. These discrepancies are then posted to Manage Exceptions, where you can reconcile them as appropriate for your enterprise.

Some of the identified discrepancies may require reconciliation; others may not. It is up to your organization to determine which discrepancies to reconcile, and which (if any) to ignore.

The third party inventory application periodically inventories IT assets (or their absence) some of which require some financially-related action to reconcile. For example, an asset listed in the asset repository may have been taken out of service, or transferred from one business unit to another. If, after researching the discrepancy, the IT Asset Management user determines that a financial attribute for an asset must be updated in the asset repository, they can issue a request for the update. This request becomes a worklist item, routed to an appropriate Asset Management user. These indirect changes to the asset repository can include moving an asset to inventory or requesting that an asset be retired. ITAM also facilitates direct changes to the Asset Repository for some reconciliation actions.

The asset repository stores data about all known enterprise assets, including IT assets and represents the most current information Asset Management has about the IT assets present in the enterprise.

In addition to the asset tables, there are cache tables dedicated to IT assets. These tables provide a temporary storage space for IT asset data discovered and transmitted by your third-party inventory application. IT Asset Management compares the data in these cache tables to the data stored in the asset tables, and identifies discrepancies. You can then use IT Asset Management to reconcile these discrepancies and update the data stored in the asset tables.

Note. The data in the cache tables is not persistent. Once IT Asset Management has reconciled the data discrepancies, it empties the cache tables in preparation for the next inventory cycle.

You can compare and reconcile the following attributes:

Business Unit
Department
Custodian
Location
Manufacturer
Model
Serial Number
Software
User-defined fields

See Understanding the Asset Repository.

Assets, Asset Types, and Asset Subtypes

The purpose of the asset repository is to store records of all enterprise assets. This includes not only IT assets, but all items in the possession of the enterprise. These can include items as small as chairs, and as large as buildings. Each is equally an asset, but a different kind or type.

The asset repository differentiates between the various types of assets by assigning them unique asset type and asset subtype attributes. Asset Management includes a predefined set of asset types, and each asset recorded in the asset repository has an asset type attribute. To support IT Asset Management, the asset repository includes two asset types devoted to IT assets, IT Hardware and IT Software. Typically, an Asset Management user would also create asset subtypes beneath the IT Hardware asset type, in order to distinguish between different kinds of hardware. For example, the IT Hardware asset type might have asset subtypes of DESKTOP, LAPTOP, and SERVER. Asset subtypes provide a means to differentiate in the asset repository between different kinds of assets that fall under the same general asset type.

Note. You predefine asset types in the asset repository, and you can only create asset subtypes using Asset Management (as opposed to IT asset subtypes, discussed below).

See Establishing Asset Processing.

IT Subtypes

IT asset subtypes differ from asset subtypes in two ways—where they are defined and how they are used:

Asset subtypes describe assets recorded in the asset repository, and you create them in Asset Management.
IT asset subtypes are used to reconcile the IT assets reported by the third party inventory application with the assets stored in the asset repository, and you create them in IT Asset Management.

IT asset subtypes make it possible to compare the IT assets in the asset repository to the IT assets discovered in the enterprise.

Note. The IT asset subtypes that you define in IT Asset Management must match the asset subtypes defined in Asset Management

Setting Up Software in the Asset Repository

This section provides an overview of software setup and discusses how to:

Define software titles.
Associate Stock Keeping Units (SKU) with software titles.
Define software contracts.
Define software inventory.

To set up software in the asset repository, use the Define Software Titles/Users (IT_SFTWR_DEFN), Associate SKU with S/W Title (IT_SFTWR_SKU), Define Software Contract (IT_SFTWR_CNTRCT), and Define Software Inventory (IT_SFTWR_ASSET) components.

Understanding Software Setup in the Asset Repository

To set up software in the asset repository, you must:

Define software titles.
Associate Stock Keeping Units (SKU) with software titles.
Define software contracts.
Define software inventory.

Pages Used to Set Up Software in the Asset Repository

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Define Software Titles/Users	IT_SFTWR_DEFN_01	IT Asset Management, Software Attributes, Define Software Titles/Users, Define Software Titles/Users	Define new software titles to be recognized by IT Asset Management.
Associate SKU to Software Title	IT_SFTWR_SKU	IT Asset Management, Software Attributes, Associate SKU/Software Title, Associate SKU to Software Title	Associate an SKU with one or more software titles, particularly in cases where a single license applies to a software bundle.
Define Software Contract	IT_SFTWR_CNTRCT	IT Asset Management, Software Attributes, Define Software Contract, Define Software Contract	Add a new software contract or update an existing one.
SKU/Contract	IT_SFTWR_ASSET	IT Asset Management, Software Attributes, Define Software Inventory, SKU/Contract	View and drill into the list of IT software assets.
Software Title	IT_SFTWR_TITLE	IT Asset Management, Software Attributes, Define Software Inventory, Software Title	View software title details.

Defining Software Titles

Access the Define Software Titles/Users page.

Software Title

Displays the title of the software asset.

Software Publisher

Enter the name of the software publisher or select a vendor ID from the vendor table.

This value may be different from the Purchasing Vendor ID since the software may not have been purchased directly from the publisher. The publisher of the software may be a vendor as well.

License Type

Select either Installation or User to specify the license type.

With a per-seat or per-device license, you pay for every machine on which the software is installed, regardless of how many people actually use the software. With a per-user license, a specific individual is allowed to use the software for each license you purchase. There may be a restriction on the number of machines on which the user can install the software.

Installations Per User

Enter the number of installations allowed per user. This field is required if User is selected for the license type.

Track Requisition

Tracks requests to install the software, and identifies how many licenses are required. If you select this option, the software title appears on the Pending Requisitions pagelet.

Permission Required

Indicate if authorization is required for the title. If this checkbox is selected, the Software Authorization grid is displayed.

Only software that requires permission is tracked on the Software Inventory Monitor metric.

Note. When both Track Requisition and Permission Required are turned off, the associated Software Title data will be deleted during the next Compare Asset Repositories process. The data associated with the Software Title will be removed from both the comparison error table (IT_RECON_SFTWR) and the software cache table (IT_SFTWR_CACHE).

Software Authorization

Authorize	Select either Employee or Group to specify whether only an individual user has authorization to install the software, or any user in the employee group.
Value	Select or enter the Employee or Group ID of the employee or group authorized to install the software.
Description	Displays the description of the selected employee or group.
Licenses Per User	Enter the maximum number of licenses authorized for the selected employee or for an individual employee within the selected group. The default is 1. IT Asset Management processing compares software installations reported from third party inventory with IT Asset Management software authorizations, first by individual employee, then by employee group. Licenses per user is important for both an individual employee and a group. Enter the number of licenses for a specific title a user is allowed to have, either as part of a group or as an individual. If a user exceeds that license count on the same asset (for example, by installing the same product in multiple locations on the same computer) IT Asset Management will detect the licenses and recommend an "Over the limit" warning. If a user has exceeded the license count by installing on multiple IT assets, IT Asset Management identifies the IT Asset Serial ID that has the lowest software usage record, if software usage is tracked. Lowest software usage is also the metric by which IT Asset Management selects machines to target when the number of licenses in a group exceeds the total allowed for the group. In the unlikely event of identical software usage data, IT Asset Management makes a random selection from the identical set. For Software Authorization Groups, IT Asset Management provides the ability to email the group owner with a request to initiate action.
Allowed Licenses	Enter the number of available licenses for the group. This field is displayed for employee groups only.

Note. When an employee is neither authorized individually, nor as a part of the group, and has a Software Title installed, the employee gets an 'Unauthorized Install' warning.

Associating SKUs to Software Titles

Access the Associate SKU to Software Title page.

Software Title

Enter the title of the software associated with the SKU.

No of Licenses (number of licenses)

Enter the number of licenses available for the SKU.

Defining Software Contracts

Access the Define Software Contract page.

Contract Id

Enter the unique identifier for this contract.

Renewal Notice

Enter to specify the number of days in advance of contract expiration that IT Asset Management should display the software title on the Software Renewal portlet.

Business Unit

Enter the business unit with which the contract has been made.

Inception Date

Specify the date on which the contract comes into force.

Contract Type

Select or enter to specify the type of the contract.

Expiration Date

Specify the date on which the contract expires. Expiration date is required if renewal notice days are not equal to zero.

Vendor ID

Select or enter the vendor ID for the contract. This may be different from the software manufacturer or publisher.

Defining Software Inventory

Access the SKU/Contract page.

Note. The search dialog displays the complete inventory of your software titles.

Asset ID	Displays the asset ID for the selected software asset.
SKU	Enter or select the SKU of the software asset in the inventory.
Quantity	Enter to specify the number of items (one for each instance of the SKU) present in the inventory.

Contract Information

Select a contract to associate with the software title.

Comparing Asset Repositories

This section provides an overview of the comparison process and Compare Asset Repositories process and discusses how to compare asset repositories.

Use the Compare Asset Repositories (IT_RECON_RUN) component to compare asset repositories.

See Understanding the Asset Repository.

Understanding Comparison

The third-party integration process includes a run control page that enables you to request the data to be returned to ITAM for comparison. This process may also be scheduled to run at specific intervals, for example, nightly. You can run the comparison process for all assets that you have already identified as reconcilable, or you can run the process by IT Asset Type—hardware or software. You can narrow the asset selection further by specifying asset sub types for hardware, or specific titles for software. In this way, you can structure the process to refresh the manage exceptions lists based on your business needs. For example, you might want to reconcile only those asset discrepancies that were created by a mass rebuilding of old laptops. Using the appropriate comparison setup, you can do this without running a complete asset comparison.

The comparison creates the initial discrepancy information that populates reconciliation transaction tables. A portlet displays the comparison transaction summary by the business rules that you define. This high level summary portlet allows you to drill down to see the details of the comparison exceptions. The assets that are found to be in discrepancy based on your business rules will show as exceptions in the detail manage exceptions pagelet. To reconcile the differences generated by the comparison of the Asset Repository and the inventory tool, you access Manage Exceptions.

If no differences are found between the asset repository and the third party database, the asset is considered in balance and is not added to the reconciliation transaction tables. Assets found to have difference are grouped together with their counterpart from both the third-party database and the asset repository and added to a header reconciliation discrepancy table. The sub-component or attribute in discrepancy is added to a detail exceptions table that tracks the assets' individual comparison exceptions, including the comparison rule that was broken.

The comparison process is dependent on accurate and up-to-date information about an employee such as job, department, supervisor, name, language, and e-mail addresses. This information is brought into IT Asset Management via a full-sync message from PeopleSoft's HRMS application and the third-party applications. The comparison process is also dependent on definitions and the status of business rules. The Compare Asset Repositories process applies all active business rules to generate the list of exceptions.

As part of system data, business rules data has been delivered to identify exceptions for the following attributes:

Business Unit
Department
Custodian
Location
Manufacturer
Model
Serial Number – for assets that are not discovered by third party software but exist in the Asset Repository.
Serial Number – for assets that have been discovered by third party software but do not exist in Asset Repository.
Software – Unauthorized Install and Over Limit Installs.

Understanding the Compare Asset Repositories Process

The Compare Asset Repositories process, when run by itself, performs a portion of the Load (IT_LOAD_PROC) process to bring back assets that had validation or translation errors but have since been corrected. When the Compare Asset Repositories process is run as part of a streamlined process, immediately after Load process, the portion of the Load process mentioned above is not performed.

This process cleans up prior exceptions for assets that have been corrected and identifies new exceptions or prior exceptions that are yet to be corrected, and records them. These transactions are referenced on the Manage Exception page. If this process is run as a part of a streamlined process, it initiates a run of Metrics process to present the latest picture of inventory exceptions.

Note. The Compare Asset Repositories process provides users with the ability to process multiple streams in parallel. Users can divide the processing load between different IT subtypes so that one stream can process all Desktops, a second can process all Laptops, and a third can process all Servers.

Page Used to Compare Asset Repositories

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Compare Asset Repositories	IT_RECON_RUN	IT Asset Management, Asset Discovery and Validation, Compare Asset Repositories, Compare Asset Repositories	Compare discovered data with asset repository data.

Comparing Asset Repositories

Access the Compare Asset Repositories page.

Streamline Batch Process

Select this option to automatically create the run control for the Generate Metrics process. If you select this option, a dialog gives you the choice of creating the run controls automatically or manually.

If the run control for Metrics is created automatically, it is created with same Run Control ID, in the example given above ABC. Conversely if you choose to create the Metrics Run Control manually, then in order for Streamline Batch Process to work, the new run control for Metrics must be have same Run Control ID.

Process Frequency

Select the frequency for the process to be run. Select Always to allow the process to run every time it is called. Select Once to allow it to be run one time only, after which it resets to Don't, preventing restarts.

Reconcile Delta Only

Select this option to reconcile delta discoveries only. During the comparison process, assets that have been processed are marked. When reconcile delta discoveries is selected, the comparison processes only the changes that were made in the Asset Repository. If changes have been made to assets, or if mapping errors have been corrected, this option cleans up those items without doing a complete reconciliation.

When Reconcile Delta Only is selected, the comparison process only processes rows that have never been processed before. When this option is not selected, the system processes both sets of rows, those that have been processed before, as well as those never processed.

Asset Type

You can select Hardware or Software to narrow the reconciliation. If you select Hardware, the IT Subtype field is available. If you select Software, the Software Title field is available.

If the Asset Type is left blank, the Compare Asset Repositories process reconciles all available IT assets in the cache tables. It evaluates both hardware as well as software related business rules. This can greatly impact performance.

When the Asset Type is Hardware and the IT Subtype is left blank, then all hardware assets are processed. All active business rules are applied to determine exceptions. When an IT Subtype is specified, then all active business rules are applied to hardware assets belonging to the specified IT Subtype. Software rows are not evaluated for possible exceptions.

When the Asset Type is Software and Software Title is left blank, then all software rows, that require permission or authorization to install, are evaluated for exceptions. When a Software Title is specified, then all rows belonging to the specified software title are evaluated. When the asset type is Software, business rules for hardware attributes such as Model, Manufacturer and so on. are not evaluated.

IT Subtype

Indicate which IT Subtypes are to be processed. If you do not select a specific IT subtype, all hardware assets are processed.

Software Title

Indicate which software title should be processed. If you do not select a specific title, all software titles are processed.

Software Title	Displays the title of the software asset.
Software Publisher	Enter the name of the software publisher or select a vendor ID from the vendor table. This value may be different from the Purchasing Vendor ID since the software may not have been purchased directly from the publisher. The publisher of the software may be a vendor as well.
License Type	Select either Installation or User to specify the license type. With a per-seat or per-device license, you pay for every machine on which the software is installed, regardless of how many people actually use the software. With a per-user license, a specific individual is allowed to use the software for each license you purchase. There may be a restriction on the number of machines on which the user can install the software.
Installations Per User	Enter the number of installations allowed per user. This field is required if User is selected for the license type.
Track Requisition	Tracks requests to install the software, and identifies how many licenses are required. If you select this option, the software title appears on the Pending Requisitions pagelet.
Permission Required	Indicate if authorization is required for the title. If this checkbox is selected, the Software Authorization grid is displayed. Only software that requires permission is tracked on the Software Inventory Monitor metric.

Software Title	Enter the title of the software associated with the SKU.
No of Licenses (number of licenses)	Enter the number of licenses available for the SKU.

Contract Id	Enter the unique identifier for this contract.
Renewal Notice	Enter to specify the number of days in advance of contract expiration that IT Asset Management should display the software title on the Software Renewal portlet.
Business Unit	Enter the business unit with which the contract has been made.
Inception Date	Specify the date on which the contract comes into force.
Contract Type	Select or enter to specify the type of the contract.
Expiration Date	Specify the date on which the contract expires. Expiration date is required if renewal notice days are not equal to zero.
Vendor ID	Select or enter the vendor ID for the contract. This may be different from the software manufacturer or publisher.

Streamline Batch Process	Select this option to automatically create the run control for the Generate Metrics process. If you select this option, a dialog gives you the choice of creating the run controls automatically or manually. If the run control for Metrics is created automatically, it is created with same Run Control ID, in the example given above ABC. Conversely if you choose to create the Metrics Run Control manually, then in order for Streamline Batch Process to work, the new run control for Metrics must be have same Run Control ID.
Process Frequency	Select the frequency for the process to be run. Select Always to allow the process to run every time it is called. Select Once to allow it to be run one time only, after which it resets to Don't, preventing restarts.
Reconcile Delta Only	Select this option to reconcile delta discoveries only. During the comparison process, assets that have been processed are marked. When reconcile delta discoveries is selected, the comparison processes only the changes that were made in the Asset Repository. If changes have been made to assets, or if mapping errors have been corrected, this option cleans up those items without doing a complete reconciliation. When Reconcile Delta Only is selected, the comparison process only processes rows that have never been processed before. When this option is not selected, the system processes both sets of rows, those that have been processed before, as well as those never processed.
Asset Type	You can select Hardware or Software to narrow the reconciliation. If you select Hardware, the IT Subtype field is available. If you select Software, the Software Title field is available. If the Asset Type is left blank, the Compare Asset Repositories process reconciles all available IT assets in the cache tables. It evaluates both hardware as well as software related business rules. This can greatly impact performance. When the Asset Type is Hardware and the IT Subtype is left blank, then all hardware assets are processed. All active business rules are applied to determine exceptions. When an IT Subtype is specified, then all active business rules are applied to hardware assets belonging to the specified IT Subtype. Software rows are not evaluated for possible exceptions. When the Asset Type is Software and Software Title is left blank, then all software rows, that require permission or authorization to install, are evaluated for exceptions. When a Software Title is specified, then all rows belonging to the specified software title are evaluated. When the asset type is Software, business rules for hardware attributes such as Model, Manufacturer and so on. are not evaluated.
IT Subtype	Indicate which IT Subtypes are to be processed. If you do not select a specific IT subtype, all hardware assets are processed.
Software Title	Indicate which software title should be processed. If you do not select a specific title, all software titles are processed.