Hello and welcome to lecture two of how to start an IT asset department. A Practical course for busy executives. Please give me a few seconds to adjust the video camera so that you can see me. Good, let us start. Hello and welcome to lecture two of how to start an IT asset department. A Practical course for busy executives.

I am TJ Racine was lecture to starting an item team. An ITSM team is a unique combination of technical financial and commercial members and consists of one supervisory or managerial staff accountable for all the IT assets of the organization. To field employees who can handle technical installations build issue and recovery of an asset And other onsite activities for managing it assets. Three, a software asset tracking tool or a database to handle purchase record assets, manage inventory, update user duties, generate alerts and reports and so on. For desk staff who can handle stores maintain paperwork, update the software asset to run the audit, generate reports and so on. file, a service level agreement and it asset management policy for the organization.

Now, what each team will do supervisory or managerial staff. This should preferably be a senior manager who has technical and financial knowledge of the assets being managed. This manager will be involved with vendors Negotiations preparing and managing budgets, forecasting requirements, approving invoices, initiating purchase orders, reviewing stock, handle user escalation, deal with senior management, manage contracts, higher manpower, optimize costs and so on. Finished stuff technical. These are members who can assist in the basic technical needs and installation of an ITSM. For example, if a company buys hundred new desktops or laptops, then these employees can do the initial loading of the operating system, word processor, antivirus and other software tools necessary for end users continued.

But these staff must not be involved in day to day support of end users. For example, they should not get involved in resetting passwords for users. The boundaries of technical support of the asset team must be clearly drawn even though they may know how to do it. Finish stuff for issue and recovery. These are employees or contractors who will run around the building for issuing and recovering items from staff. For example, once the hundred new desktops or laptops are built, the staff can take over and start their physical distribution to identify the end users around the building.

They can also get the basic paperwork like acceptance document signed off from end users to prove they have issued a particular computer installed in a particular location to a specific user. They should also get involved in equipment relocation activities. They should also be able to look at least items for return at the current time asset tracking tool. This is a software asset tracking tool or a database necessary to maintain inventory of all IT assets. This tool will be used to handle purchases, record assets, manage inventory, update usage details generate alert and report and so on. More information on this tool will be provided shortly.

Desk staff, these are employees to manage it stores maintain and update inventory, generate reports, replenish stock, tag equipment and so on. They should be housed in a secure area to protect the equipment from theft and misplacement also no field employees or even senior managers should be allowed to take any equipment out of the stores without the desk employees knowledge or approval. Now let us talk about it asset lifecycle. This consists of the following areas. First one is planning, strategy and decisions about what type of assets are required by the organization how to procure them, who will fund them, etc. The second part is procurement.

This involves acquiring the assets through various means like purchase lease or licensing. The sales team can either do the purchase themselves, or take the help of the company purchase department and buying assets needed for their organization. The next one is commissioning. This introduces or deploys the acquired assets into the network, and includes activities like installation documentation, providing user access, etc. For example, if 100 new computers are acquired, then they have to be built with software distributed to various users and locations along with the documentation necessary for issuing and recovery later. Maintaining once an asset is commissioned, it needs maintenance, upgrades, repairs and so on.

For example, it may be necessary to upgrade memory On a number of systems because of new software that is getting uploaded, this activity should also be done or coordinated by the asset team. retiring at the end of an assets useful life, it must be properly decommissioned and disposed. Retirement includes transitioning users to newer systems transferring their old data and licenses to the newest systems, updating the asset and finance records canceling lease and support agreements for the old systems, training users on the new systems and so on. Rotating assets must be done in its original invoiced condition. Now, let us come to the summary of item activities, issue and recovery. provision and reposition of all equipment should be handled by this department.

For example, if a new employee joins the organization, then he or she should first be escorted to the asset team, by the content manager or the HR department to receive their desktop or laptop Or if you user resigns from the organization, then the asset department should ensure that user return all the assets that were issued to him or her. Tracking, the asset department should know the exact location and user of each and every as it is it used in the organization. For example, if the company has purchased the server two years ago, then the asset team must know where exactly the server is installed. Which department is using this, whether it is still under warranty or maintenance by the vendor, when it should be decommissioned, how it should be disposed, etc. movement of the equipment must also be handled by the asset team. For example, if 20 users move from one floor to another, then the field employees must get involved in the relocation and proper recording of the new locations.

End Users must not be allowed to move equipment on their own without involving their setting. Otherwise it will be very difficult to Equipment later. audits. The asset team must also conduct periodic audits to ensure that the equipment is being used only by the exact staff they were assigned to. For example, if a laptop is sent to your user, then he or she must not learn or exchange it with some other user without informing the asset team. When does support dealing with it, vendors for support and maintenance should also be handled by this department.

For example, if the hard disk of a laptop has failed, then the society must know which vendor to contact to get the disk repaired or replaced. warranty info, the warranty and support details of all IT equipment must also be known to the asset team. For example, if the company has 5000 computers then it should know how many systems are within warranty. And how many of you expect for the expert systems. The department should have either a maintenance extension contract, or have plans to dispose and purchase new ones. paperwork, the department should maintain the paper and electronic records of all it purchases and contracts.

This should include existing as well as all historical records for audit purposes. Finally, the disposal disposal of unused and obsolete equipment is also the responsibility of this department. For example, if a bunch of computers have gone out of warranty and no longer usable, then this department must make arrangements to dispose the items to suitable external vendors who deal with electronic waste. This disposal must be done in liaison with the finance department to update the records and right of the equipment. Loss of assets lost Deaf damaged and misplacement of assets must also be handled by this department. For example, if the laptop of a user gets stolen or missing list, then the asset team must assist the user in getting another laptop and fulfill the other polies finance and commercial formalities.

Now, what I attempted will not do it SF team should not be considered us as technical support team even though they may have the required technical knowledge. For example, staff should not call the asset team for resetting a password or ask for help on the software functionality. But users can contact the asset team for upgrading the memory or disk on their computer or buy a new software or hardware. Now let us talk budgets. IT budgets for an organization can be classified into two broad categories. First one is a standard budget.

The second one is the business unit specific budget. Standard budget is used for purchasing assets, hardware, software and services that are coming mainly used by all employees of the organization. Example of search items or standardized desktop laptop storage and mail servers, network cabling, routers hubs, standard software like MS Office antivirus, maintenance contracts, telecom costs etc. business units specific budget is used for purchasing assets that are required only by their department. For example, the finance department may require 10 licenses of a specific accounting software or the engineering department may require a special design software and high end workstations for usually by that department. So the budget for purchasing and maintain this finance and design software must come from the respective departments as these tools are not standard or common software used by all employees of the company.

Now who controls the budgets? The standard budget should be controlled by the asset team. The business unit specific budget should be controlled by the respective department heads to avoid any blame games later. However, the purchase orders and material management for both standard and business unit specific purchases must be handled by the asset team, as most departments may be unable or unwilling to indulge in such commercial activities and its paperwork. Now, let us come to the it request types. It request can also be classified into two broad categories.

First one is a standard demand to meet the organization's current and future demands. Second one is the business unit specific demands. Both these demands must be handled by the asset team. An example of a standard demand can be the management decision to add 500 new employees to the organization. This demand must be met by the standard budget or if that is insufficient Then additional funds must be sought from the management. An example of business unit specific demand is the request for upgrading the memory and disk beyond the defaults for 10 computers in the engineering department.

This demand must be paid by the engineering department budget. How item can handle requests to handle requests, the asset team can have a simple web portal that users can log on and request the items required. The portal can be configured with all the basic information needed like type of items that can be ordered, budget recourse authorized approvers timeframes for delivery and so on. For example, if a staff member requests a memory upgrade, he or she can request it via the portal then the asset team can action the request. However, no department or employee should be allowed to buy or manage it. Any assets on their own.

For example, if the finance or engineering department needs 10 extra computers, then they should not go ahead and purchase them on their own even if they have the budget or the knowledge. Or an employee should not order an external disk via the internet using their credit cards and then demand reimbursement. This process may lead to conflicts and office politics, as many senior managers may want to have full control and independence over their purchases. But this should be strictly controlled as allowing everyone to buy their own equipment will lead to chaos loss and misstatement of company assets. We now come to the end of lecture two, please proceed to lecture three to continue the course. Thanks for listening