Hey everyone! I'm a sysadmin at a mid-sized accounting firm, and I'm struggling with keeping track of our IT assets, especially the smaller items like HDMI cables, USB-C docks, chargers, and mice. While I can easily manage larger items through our RMM, I often find that we're out of essential smaller gear without any heads-up. This becomes particularly tricky during onboarding new hires or offboarding when items often go missing without anyone remembering who had them.
I'm curious about how others handle this day-to-day. Specifically:
- What strategies do you use to track and restock smaller assets?
- Do you consider them consumables, or do you track them individually?
- What's your process for knowing who has what when someone leaves?
- Are you using specific tools, or do you rely on spreadsheets and tickets instead?
I'd appreciate any insights!
5 Answers
Our clients at Siit ITSM have great success with an asset management tool that includes every type of equipment, right down to cables and adapters. They treat smaller items as consumables. Each piece of equipment can be linked to an employee, which makes it easier when someone leaves to ensure everything is returned. It may sound biased, but using a dedicated tool is way better than keeping track with spreadsheets because it helps keep everything in sync and up-to-date! Good luck!
A barcoding system could really help here! You can treat your offices like warehouse locations and perform regular inventories. Sure, it requires some initial setup, but it simplifies tracking and restocking.
When it comes to tracking smaller assets like chargers and cables, a solid asset tracking system should allow you to categorize them as consumables and alert you when stock drops below a certain level. For anything over $150, it’s worth tracking individually. You can check your asset management system to see what's assigned to an employee who's leaving, which can really streamline the process.
I've been using Snipe-IT and it’s made a big difference for me. I also combined it with PDQ Inventory and some PowerShell scripts for automation. For instance, it alerts me if a user has a monitor that doesn’t belong to them, which helps during audits. For offboarding, I set up a script to automatically mark all items for check-in once someone leaves. I don't track small items individually, but I do get alerts when accessories are running low, so I always have what I need ahead of time.
I don’t worry about tracking things under $100 and instead buy sets of everything for new hires, keeping a few extras on hand. This method works for me now, but I wonder how well it would hold up as the company scales.
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