ITAM – Features

The IT Assets Management CMDB has the following features:

  • Based on a Microsoft SQL database 
    • SQL Express 2019 or newer can be used as backend
    • The database is relational, meaning most entries can be viewed in any direction of their relation
    • Any updates made to tables are tracked in a _history table
      • This includes changes made directly in the database, as the history tracking is executed by the SQL server and not the front-end application
      • History entries can be directly access from the application – go to the entry and click the button on the Record Tab
  • LDAP synchronization and LDAP change tracking
    • A Windows Service will synchronize your LDAP users, computers and groups with the database for change tracking
      • Attributes / properties of user, group and computer objects
      • New objects have been created
      • Objects have been deleted
      • Relationships / memberships have been changed
    • Tracks the changes in a separate table, the LDAP Sync log
    • Sends out daily email report with the detected changes
  • IP address management – IPAM – including VLANs
  • MAC address search
    • Search through MAC addresses that you attached to your systems centrally
  • IT supplies / inventory
    • Create an inventory of IT supplies, including their location, purchase information and supply codes
    • Define a minimum in stock value per supply
    • Enter the current amount quickly or engage a printout report to do the inventory
  • add notes to virtually any record
    • Almost every record / entry can have notes added – an unlimited amount of notes
    • Notes can be edited if needed
    • Notes can be searched centrally
    • Notes can be Rich Text including pictures
  • Create checklists and document your processes while partly automating tasks
    • Checklists are based on templates
    • A checklist stays as is at the time of its creation, even if the template is changed later on
    • Checklists can be attached to servers, infrastructure assets, other assets, employees, printers and workstations
    • You can create multiple checklists for each of those assets/entities for various purposes
    • Checklists can be useful for e.g.
      • on-boarding / terminating
      • building / deploying / decommission / retiring systems like printers, servers and workstations
    • Checklists can automatically change the deployment status of the asset
    • Checklist can have text-fields to enter additional data
    • Checklist entries / lines can be mandatory
    • Scripts like cmd scripts and PowerShell scripts can be added and executed
    • Every click or change in a checklist is tracked with date/time and who clicked the checkbox, entered text or click on the script button
    • Additional links can be put on checklist for further references or quick access to the necessary web-service
    • Checklists must be completed before they can be marked as finished
    • Only checklist administrators can unlock / re-open a finished checklist
    • Checklist values can come from tables or defined lists and write back to the source record
  • Workstations
    • Relate to department
    • Relate to employee
    • Relate to monitor(s) (up to four monitors)
    • Relate to software entries
    • Deployment status, date and ticket
    • WMI filled fields like Domain, Operating System, Serial Number, CPU, RAM and local HDDs
    • Basic information like manufacturer, model
    • Purchase and retirement information
    • Loaner / lent out tracking
    • Incident tracking – this has to do with hardware issues that have been fixed by the vendor e.g.
  • Monitors
    • Basic hardware information like make, model and size of the monitor
    • Purchase and retirement information
    • Relations to workstations and servers
  • Servers
    • Physical and virtual servers
    • MAC address tracking in combination with IP assignment / IPAM
    • Basic hardware information like manufacturer, model, serial number, CPU, RAM
    • WMI filled fields like Domain, Operating System, Serial Number, CPU, RAM and local HDDs
    • Relate to monitor(s) (up to two monitors)
    • Incident tracking – this has to do with hardware issues that have been fixed by the vendor e.g.
    • Purchase and retirement information
    • Deployment status, date and ticket
    • Relation to software
    • Relations to databases hosted by the system
    • Warranty information – see upcoming warranty renewals in the main menu
    • Assign to Department
    • Indicator if a backup is needed and status information
  • Infrastructure Assets
    • Switches, Router, Access Points, etc.
    • MAC address tracking in combination with IP assignment / IPAM
    • Basic hardware information like manufacturer, model, serial number, CPU, RAM
    • Incident tracking – this has to do with hardware issues that have been fixed by the vendor e.g.
    • Purchase and retirement information
    • Deployment status, date and ticket
    • Warranty information – see upcoming warranty renewals in the main menu
    • Assign to Department
    • Indicator if a backup is needed and status information
  • Other Assets
    • TVs, webcams, various small periphery
    • MAC address tracking in combination with IP assignment / IPAM
    • Basic hardware information like manufacturer, model, serial number, CPU, RAM
    • Incident tracking – this has to do with hardware issues that have been fixed by the vendor e.g.
    • Purchase and retirement information
    • Deployment status, date and ticket
    • Warranty information – see upcoming warranty renewals in the main menu
    • Assign to Department
  • Printers and toner inventory
  • Software and license tracking
    • Track software with basic manufacturer and version information
    • Add license information including some purchasing information and license details
    • Track back the number of licenses manually assigned to servers, workstations and/or employees
  • Databases throughout the network
    • Track databases available on a server 
    • Define and assign a database TIR level – like development, test, production low and production high
    • Document detailed backup information like agent / script form and which server the backup is executing as well as where the backup is stored etc.
    • Deployment status of the database
    • See on which server they reside from servers to databases and vice versa
  • Incident tracking
  • Vendors and contacts
    • Track basic vendor and additional contact information
    • Put in internal vendor numbers so you can quickly copy them from the purchasing module to your ERP
  • Important and useful links for your team
    • Links show up in the main menu
    • Links can be URLs, but also e.g., executables or file system links
    • Links can be rolled out on different levels like helpdesk, sysadmin and management, while higher levels always see the lower-level links but not vice versa
  • Reminders
    • Create reminders that can even send emails one time or recurring
    • Automatically create tickets for recurring tasks like backup reviews (needs ticketing system with incoming emails)
  • Purchases
    • Track your purchases from the initial request to the final delivery per line item
    • Independent tracking from your ERP solution
    • Define who the original requestor was, as IT often orders on behalf of other departments and employees
    • Purchases can be related to projects or expenses as well
    • Be able to see the total amount of money spend within certain time periods based on the filters you set
    • Track information like PO numbers, CER numbers, paid per credit card etc.
    • Assets like printers, workstations, servers and software can relate back to purchases
  • Expenses
    • Document expenses your IT department has, allowing you to plan for budget and reminding you on renewals
    • See related purchases and assets to the expense
  • Projects and Tasks
    • Create projects for your team
      • you can create projects and define their status – like pending approval, approved, active and finished
    • Assign the projects to specific team members and track their current status
    • Create tasks respective milestones per project
      • Using this automatically updates a percentage finished per project allowing you to very simple track the status of a project
      • Project tasks can be assigned to the project owner or any member of your team (application user)
    • Active and assigned projects and tasks will show up in the main menu per user
  • Phones and phone DIDs
  • Application user rights management
    • Create users in the system and assign rights specific to their functions
    • Read only and Read-Write rights can be assigned per module
  • Responsibility matrix / Owners
    • Track e.g., department folders or applications in the responsibility matrix for authorization approvals
    • Assign those entries to one or more owners and freely define their responsibility
    • Track this back from an employee to the responsibility matrix as well
  • TAG assets and other entries together
    • Create TAGs
    • TAG virtually any database entry together to document their relations to certain processes or application in order to see the bigger picture and improve your documentation
  • DNS entries
  • LDAP groups
    • Relate the synchronized LDAP groups to various asset entries and see who a member of them is
    • Partly helps to document the purpose of a LDAP group
  • WebServer Management
  • Certificate Management
    • Document where certificates are used and make it easier to exchange certificates when they are due
    • Get reminded that you have expiring certificates before they cause isses
  • Multilingual – multiple languages
    • By default, you have English and German available as languages, but the system is prepared for additional translations
    • The language can be set on a per user basis
    • This same functionality allows you theoretically to rename fields in the system to your specific needs

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