Anyone know any good books on Asset Management?

ObdurateObdurate Member Posts: 108
In particular IT Asset Management?

Seems that is the way my job is taking me -- plus I got myself screamed at by my boss and his boss for poor documentation.

Oh the joy of being the low man on the totem pole.

Thanks in advance,

~Obdurate~

PS While I am at it -- any certifications for IT Asset Managment?

Comments

  • Hyper-MeHyper-Me Banned Posts: 2,059
    I dont think there is that much to it, that would require a cert or even full books.

    Basically, determine what information you need, find a product that does that and implement it.
  • forkvoidforkvoid Member Posts: 317
    Hyper-Me wrote: »
    I dont think there is that much to it, that would require a cert or even full books.

    Basically, determine what information you need, find a product that does that and implement it.

    The question is more about the processes involved. What he's asking for is real-world experience, essentially. For example, what sorts of things need to be tracked? What details about those things need to be tracked? What systems exist for assisting in tracking these items? What's some best-practices for asset management?

    To the OP: I have nothing else to add to this thread; I'm curious as well, though.
    The beginning of knowledge is understanding how little you actually know.
  • earweedearweed Member Posts: 5,192 ■■■■■■■■■□
    I looked on Books 24x7 (I have access) and found a really small book on IT asset management. It's mostly about keeping track of equipment/software and documenting everything. Most of it was templates for log sheets.
    IT Asset Managementby Mike Sisco MDE Enterprises, Inc. © 2002 (40 pages) CitationWith frequent changes taking place and exposure to risk with unlicensed software becoming more severe, it is a requirement CIOs to keep track of the technical assets of the company. This book tells you what to track and provides several tools to help.

    Unless you have books 24x7 this would be of no help as it's not on amazon and may not be in print anymore. As for what needs to be tracked and documented you could probably get more info by studying/reviewing a sec+ book. The Sybex book was pretty good about this.

    As far as what needs to be documented: servers/software ( to prove not violating licenses)/network equipment
    No longer work in IT. Play around with stuff sometimes still and fix stuff for friends and relatives.
  • eMeSeMeS Member Posts: 1,875 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Hyper-Me wrote:
    I dont think there is that much to it, that would require a cert or even full books.

    Basically, determine what information you need, find a product that does that and implement it.

    Just when I think you've become wiser, you post something like this....

    To the OP:

    Amazon.com: Implementing ITIL Configuration Management (9780132425933): Larry Klosterboer: Books

    And

    Amazon.com: Service Transition Book (Itil) (9780113310487): Shirley Lacy; Ivor Macfarlane: Books

    Configuration Management is above and beyond traditional asset management. There are many similarities, with the major difference being that in Configuration Management you are concerned with the relationships between the items whereas in asset management you are more focused on tracking items above a certain value.

    MS
  • HeroPsychoHeroPsycho Inactive Imported Users Posts: 1,940
    Hyper-Me wrote: »
    I dont think there is that much to it, that would require a cert or even full books.

    Basically, determine what information you need, find a product that does that and implement it.

    You could oversimplify anything in IT using what you just said almost verbatim.

    "Hey, I'd like to implement a geocluster, but that looks complicated!"

    "Naw, all you gotta do is determine what your needs are, find a product that does that, and implement it!"

    If that were that easy, we wouldn't have jobs... icon_lol.gif
    Good luck to all!
  • eMeSeMeS Member Posts: 1,875 ■■■■■■■■■□
    HeroPsycho wrote: »
    You could oversimplify anything in IT using what you just said almost verbatim.

    "Hey, I'd like to implement a geocluster, but that looks complicated!"

    "Naw, all you gotta do is determine what your needs are, find a product that does that, and implement it!"

    If that were that easy, we wouldn't have jobs... icon_lol.gif

    With the exception of email; it really is just moving 0's and 1's to the right place, isn't it?

    Just determine your needs, buy a product and you're done! :)

    MS
  • ObdurateObdurate Member Posts: 108
    eMeS wrote: »
    Just when I think you've become wiser, you post something like this....

    To the OP:

    Amazon.com: Implementing ITIL Configuration Management (9780132425933): Larry Klosterboer: Books

    And

    Amazon.com: Service Transition Book (Itil) (9780113310487): Shirley Lacy; Ivor Macfarlane: Books

    Configuration Management is above and beyond traditional asset management. There are many similarities, with the major difference being that in Configuration Management you are concerned with the relationships between the items whereas in asset management you are more focused on tracking items above a certain value.

    MS


    Thanks for your help all -- I am going to go with the first book suggetion above; the second one is a tad too expensive ($125).

    ~Obdurate~
  • Hyper-MeHyper-Me Banned Posts: 2,059
    HeroPsycho wrote: »
    You could oversimplify anything in IT using what you just said almost verbatim.

    "Hey, I'd like to implement a geocluster, but that looks complicated!"

    "Naw, all you gotta do is determine what your needs are, find a product that does that, and implement it!"

    If that were that easy, we wouldn't have jobs... icon_lol.gif

    Sometimes it IS that easy. I seriously doubt dude is needing to gather data on more than maybe even 100 machines. At this level I dont think one necessarily needs to go all ITIL crazy and stuff. Things are a lot more self explanatory and easier to implement when its on a tiny scale.

    If he were managing systems for a multi city/state/country company with tens or hundreds of thousands of users and pieces of equipment, it would be a different story.
  • earweedearweed Member Posts: 5,192 ■■■■■■■■■□
    IT Asset Management By: Mike Sisco ( I referenced this book earlier) Found it on the authors site.
    $29.95
    http://www.mde.net/cio/page10.html
    It's available on Books 24x7 if you had access. Simplifies it down to what you need to keep track of in an IT environment and give templates of "log sheets" for documenting your IT Assets.
    No longer work in IT. Play around with stuff sometimes still and fix stuff for friends and relatives.
  • eMeSeMeS Member Posts: 1,875 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Hyper-Me wrote: »
    Sometimes it IS that easy. I seriously doubt dude is needing to gather data on more than maybe even 100 machines. At this level I dont think one necessarily needs to go all ITIL crazy and stuff. Things are a lot more self explanatory and easier to implement when its on a tiny scale.

    If he were managing systems for a multi city/state/country company with tens or hundreds of thousands of users and pieces of equipment, it would be a different story.

    Typically when the term "asset" is used it's never a tiny scale. Furthermore, effective and efficient processes work well whether it's 1 or 1,000,000 assets that need to be managed.

    Asset implies something with a depreciation schedule, which in turn interfaces with other higher-level accounting processes, even in the smallest organizations. Just tracking things you own in a spreadsheet is not asset management.

    Think of ITIL as a menu at a restaurant. When you go to a restaurant you don't eat everything on the menu, do you? My point is that anyone can take whatever they need from the collection of best practices, be it 1 guideline or 1000. In many ways ITIL is a reflection of what many organizations already do. Even if you are a small organization, it's easy enough to pull one thing out of the collection of best practices that can help you. Only people who don't get "it" ("it" being everything under the sun) think in terms of all or nothing. Very little of the stuff that we (royal We) do or talk about on a daily basis is all or nothing.

    Do you know why I don't respond to posts over in the Cisco forums? Because compared to many of the people here, I don't know anything about that stuff. You're welcome Cisco guys!

    You really don't have to reply to every post someone makes. You have a tendency to reply to topics about which you seemingly know little or nothing. Your lack of insight is obvious, because you tend to minimize or belittle the activity or the effort involved. You've done this many times here, and it comes across not as knowledge or wisdom, but some form of posting diarrhea.

    MS
  • HeroPsychoHeroPsycho Inactive Imported Users Posts: 1,940
    Hyper-Me wrote: »
    I seriously doubt dude is needing to gather data on more than maybe even 100 machines. At this level I dont think one necessarily needs to go all ITIL crazy and stuff. Things are a lot more self explanatory and easier to implement when its on a tiny scale.

    If he were managing systems for a multi city/state/country company with tens or hundreds of thousands of users and pieces of equipment, it would be a different story.

    Sweet! Didn't realize you were psychic and knew exactly what his needs are. My bad!
    Good luck to all!
  • Hyper-MeHyper-Me Banned Posts: 2,059
    HeroPsycho wrote: »
    Sweet! Didn't realize you were psychic and knew exactly what his needs are. My bad!

    Its more likely that its a handful of machines rather than a global companys entire IT assets.

    I guess I have terrible little experience with it. We needed "asset management" at my lost job. We outlined what data we wanted to harvest. Evaluted a few products. Puchased one. Installed it. and low and behold we had our data! Rather than reading a bunch books about it or taking a certification test on it, I focused on more important things...like keeping all that equipment working properly.
  • HeroPsychoHeroPsycho Inactive Imported Users Posts: 1,940
    Hyper-Me wrote: »
    We outlined what data we wanted to harvest. Evaluted a few products. Puchased one. Installed it. and low and behold we had our data! Rather than reading a bunch books about it or taking a certification test on it, I focused on more important things...like keeping all that equipment working properly.

    Glad that worked out for you.
    Good luck to all!
  • eMeSeMeS Member Posts: 1,875 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Hyper-Me wrote: »
    We needed "asset management" at my lost job.

    Freudian slip? Did your approach to asset management have anything to do with this?

    MS
  • Hyper-MeHyper-Me Banned Posts: 2,059
    eMeS wrote: »
    Freudian slip? Did your approach to asset management have anything to do with this?

    MS

    No icon_rolleyes.gif
  • rwwest7rwwest7 Member Posts: 300
    By asset management, do you mean keeping track of serial numbers/asset tags? If so than Microsoft Excel is the program for you. Need to document your network layout, meet Microsoft Visio.
  • eMeSeMeS Member Posts: 1,875 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Hyper-Me wrote: »
    No icon_rolleyes.gif

    Just saying...you know, because the "a" and the "o" are pretty far apart on a QWERTY keyboard....

    MS
  • eMeSeMeS Member Posts: 1,875 ■■■■■■■■■□
    rwwest7 wrote: »
    By asset management, do you mean keeping track of serial numbers/asset tags? If so than Microsoft Excel is the program for you. Need to document your network layout, meet Microsoft Visio.

    Respectfully, one might use Excel to analyze information from an asset management system, but Excel in and of itself would not make a very effective asset management system.

    There are attributes in addition to serial numbers that are related to those asset tags you see on computers.

    MS
  • historian1974historian1974 Member Posts: 59 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Obdurate wrote: »
    In particular IT Asset Management?

    Seems that is the way my job is taking me -- plus I got myself screamed at by my boss and his boss for poor documentation.

    Oh the joy of being the low man on the totem pole.

    Thanks in advance,

    ~Obdurate~

    PS While I am at it -- any certifications for IT Asset Managment?


    Resurrecting an old thread, but I am heavy into asset management at my job as well... and it looks like my career is haded that way too, but I enjoy the work.

    As far as certs go check out:

    IAITAM provides knowledge, training & advice to IT Asset Managers worldwide


    And there are a lot more (and better) tools than Excel, though it is a good starting point.
  • DevilsbaneDevilsbane Member Posts: 4,214 ■■■■■■■■□□
    rwwest7 wrote: »
    If so than Microsoft Excel is the program for you.

    Excel would do a pretty good job if you are working in a small company with only a hundred or two items to keep track of. I don't think excel would work well to document a thousand+ items.

    I used to use excel to keep track of the computers brought into the computer repair program at my former school. Worked fine because it only needed to log 20-30 computers at a time, and being that it was a free program at a community college, money wasn't exactly falling from the ceiling.
    Decide what to be and go be it.
  • N2ITN2IT Inactive Imported Users Posts: 7,483 ■■■■■■■■■■
    rwwest7 wrote: »
    By asset management, do you mean keeping track of serial numbers/asset tags? If so than Microsoft Excel is the program for you. Need to document your network layout, meet Microsoft Visio.


    I love HP asset manager too. I was in asset management for several years. I never really considered it IT, it was more well...... it
    's asset management :)

    The best advice I can give to you is learn your tools and learn the processes in which you work with. Dealing with procurement and other teams will be challenging at least it was for me.
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