What is IT Asset Management Policy

IT Asset management policy is a management directive that significantly influences IT asset management processes and procedures.

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ITSM Asset Management Policies are written instructions that specify

• What needs to be accomplished.
• Who is the audience for the policy.
• Why is the policy needed?

An IT asset management policy sample must contain:

• Defined in simple understandable language.
• Implemented by building about awareness and education.
• Periodically reviewed and updated to maintain relevance.

Guidelines for IT Asset Management Policy Operations

Guidelines for Financial Management for IT Assets:

1. Define the procedures for activities like budgeting, accounting, invoicing, etc.
2. Establish a database for tracking budgets and costs associated with assets, accounting details, invoicing details, and auditing details.
3. Define a budget for all assets, comprising software, hardware, facility assets, compliance requirements, etc.
4. Define an invoice payment mechanism to capture the details of the invoices (invoice number, vendor name, invoice date and time, purchase order number, invoice items, quantity, unit price, total price and etc) and payments.
5. Perform accounting on fixed assets, current assets, and intangible assets.
6. Develop depreciation calculation procedures for all hardware and software assets.
7. Consolidate asset values and replacement costs.

Guidelines for IT Asset Procurement

1. Define the policies and standards for all procurement internal activities.
2. Develop supplier management plans like:
   • Escalation process
   • Supplier contingency plan
   • Supplier contract renewal and termination procedures
3. Define the templates for documentations like purchase request (PR), request for quotation (RFQ), request for information (RFI), and request for proposal (RFP’s).
4. Establish a database for procurement that will track all the details and activities of the asset procurement process.
5. Categorize the suppliers and their respective products.
6. Establish a bidding system, defining the procedure for contacting a list of suppliers and selection.
7. Define and negotiate the contracts, service level agreements (SLA’s), and penalization procedures. Key aspects to be considered in negotiation are:
   • Payment frequency and procedure
   • Asset acceptance criterion
   • Contract closure formalities
8. Define a method to submit purchase requests (PR) to the supplier, capturing all the details of the needed asset.
9. Define the conditions and criteria, when a PR should seek approvals from the Procurement lead and IT Asset Manager.
10. Define a team to register, receive, and inspect the assets with respect to the purchase requests submitted.

Guidelines - IT Asset Management Software License:

1. Classify and group the assets licenses into categories based on the license type, agreements, costs, and renewal dates, etc. to define an organized structure.
2. Identify the license life span, and define a mechanism to track the license expiration dates and renewal dates.
3. Define a mechanism to get detailed information on purchased licenses and installed licenses.
4. Define a mechanism to get information on the unauthorized software in the organization.
5. Define a mechanism for tracking the proof of purchase on licenses.
6. Define a mechanism to notify the license expiry details.
7. Define a procedure for optimum utilization of licenses especially for instances like transferred licenses.
8. Define procedures for license renewal and maintenance.
9. Define procedures for license entitlements.
10. Develop a procedure for associating the requested assets with its respective software licenses and entitlements.
11. Develop a standard procedure for attributing software license entitlements and software license installations to the requested assets.

Guidelines for IT Asset Management Inventory:

1. Establish IMIS (Inventory Management Information System) which will track all the IT asset details.
2. Develop inventory documents like stock requisition, stock transfer receipt, stock return, etc.
3. Define a method to group the assets that enable you to understand the context and to manage them easily.
4. Define a method to track and identify the assets and their attributes:
   • Record all hardware serial numbers, model numbers, etc.
   • Record all software names, versions, and editions, etc.
5. Set up assets handling team to receive and register the assets in IMIS (Inventory Management Information System).
6. Define a procedure for communicating with other teams like financial management and procurement in the clearance of the invoices.
7. Define a procedure for the asset handling team to move the assets to the requestor’s premises.
8. Define a procedure to reserve and ship the assets requested through the asset catalog.
9. Define a check-in and check-out policy for all assets being moved from inventory to live environment and vice versa.

Guidelines for IT Asset Retirement and Disposal

1. Target Zero Waste Goal.
2. Define an asset disposal procedure encompassing identification of assets, assessment of assets, approval, disposal methods, and reporting.
3. Define a status snapshot mechanism for an asset to represent whether if the asset is in “stock”, “operational”, “repair”, and “disposal” statuses.
4. Define data security procedures to protect confidential data.
5. Develop Request for disposal (RFD) forms capturing the important details of assets.
6. Define asset disposal methods for assets based on the utilization rate, financial value, asset lifetime, assets category, etc.
7. Implement data security procedures on assets before disposal.
8. Define a procedure for mass asset disposal.

IT Asset Management Policy - Roles and Responsibilities

Responsibilities of IT Asset manager

IT Asset Manager is accountable for the whole asset management practice and its encompassing processes and activities. IT asset manager administers, supports, and manages the contracts for technology spending on IT assets across the organization. He/ She ensures:

1. Definition and facilitation of communication between the organization and its suppliers in order to deliver products and services according to plan and within budget.
2. Providing advice to management and staff on IT Asset Management related processes, models, improvements, and best practices.
3. Continuous improvement of the ITAM-process model framework and alignment with the relevant departments to fine-tune the processes.

Responsibilities of IT Financial Manager

Asset Financial Manager is accountable for the financial management of IT assets process and operations. He/ She ensures:

1. Definition of process, policies, and standards as per business requirements.
2. Execution of financial operations (budgeting, accounting, invoicing, and payments) in sync with defined policies.
3. Appropriate cash flow management to ensure proper funding with minimal financial charges and in line with business requirements.
4. Analysis of opportunities and development of financial models with respect to the strategies defined.

Responsibilities of IT Asset Procurement Manager

IT Procurement Manager is accountable for the asset procurement process and operations. He/ She ensures:

1. Definition of process, policies, and standards as per business requirements.
2. Execution of the procurement operations (bidding, selection of the suppliers, quoting prices, negotiating the contracts and agreements) in sync with defined policies.
3. Developing a long-term procurement strategy of purchasing materials with visibility and alignment with corporate strategy while considering the continuity of supply with a contingency plan.
4. Revenue of bought outs & its associated services as per project schedule on a monthly basis.
5. Identification of suppliers, the establishment of contracts, cost models, and price agreements. It also develops alternate suppliers and solutions.

Responsibilities of Software License Manager

The software license manager is accountable for the software license management process and operations. The software license manager has the goal to utilize software licenses as efficiently as possible and ensure that the organization is in control of its software licenses. He/ She ensures:

1. Definition of the process, policies, and standards.
2. Execution of the operational activities like license distribution, administration, control, and renewal of licenses.
3. Tracking, evaluating, and managing a wide variety of software licenses and usage.
4. Support during audits with respect to software asset licenses.
5. Up-to-date knowledge of developments in the market with respect to software license models and entitlements.
6. Compliance checking to reconcile license usage to plan for renewals.

Responsibilities of IT Inventory manager

The asset Inventory manager is accountable for the complete asset inventory process and operations. He/ She ensures:

1. Definition of process, policies, and standards as per business requirements.
2. Execution of the inventory operations (stocking, stock replenishment, stock inspection, and stock returning) in sync with defined policies.
3. Reviewing all the purchase requests and purchase orders processed.
4. Receiving the goods, physical checking, appropriate storage, and maintenance of records.
5. Conducting physical count regularly and ensure inventory accuracy.
6. Monitoring and reporting of all out of stocks, below safety stocks, and expected out of stocks.
7. Providing demand shaping recommendations.

Responsibilities of IT Asset Disposal Manager

Asset Disposal Manager is accountable for the asset disposal process and operations. He/ She ensures:

1. Definition of the process, policies, and standards.
2. Retirement and disposal of obsolete assets at the right time in the right way to avoid risks and non-compliance.
3. Disposal of garbage in accordance with the waste management plan.
4. Risk-free asset disposal process including packaging, transportation, and warehouse storage.