IT Asset Management System for UL-Software Engineering

Software Engineering Project-EE6421
IT Asset Management System
For
University of Limerick
Prepared by students of (Group-12)
Due date- 17th
Nov, 2014
Lecturer Name: Thomas Newe
Student Name Student ID
Shiva Kumar Koppad 14043513
November 16, 2014 1

Introduction
1.1 Description and Purpose of the Project
Technology has been advancing very fast. With it the complexity of IT infrastructure too. Different
companies and organization look forward to gain competitive advantage at the same time. The
complexity of IT infrastructure must be resolved somehow. To suppress the complexity and for
advancement of technology in the market the IT asset management software has been evolved.
The IT asset management application on an organizational basis is developed to monitor activities and
business practices relating to the management of software, hardware, and workstation warranty. Assets
include Servers, Routers, Switches, Cables, Computers, and Peripherals etc. Any organization
(specifically Institute, University) can use this project to take an inventory of their existing
Hardware/software stocks. They can manage their vendors, categories and users and Labs. The system is
also extensible for other types of assets.
Asset management is a business discipline, which describes the management of technical infrastructure
for business operation. Asset management activities permeate to many levels of an organization, and are
not confined to a central group. For this reason we shall use the term Asset Management Function as a
flexible descriptor for the activities involved, and apply the term Asset Manager to those involved
significantly, but not necessarily exclusively, in asset management activities.
The purpose of the IT Asset Management Function is to provide resources and expertise to support the
acquisition, in-service support and disposal of the physical assets required by the organization. The
function is to clarify how a given standard of service will be provided using designated assets in a
manner that is both optimal and justifiable. The term "optimal" attempts to describe a scenario where a
superior standard of service can be best achieved at a minimal overall cost. Justifiability, on the other
hand, has to do with a full presentation of all the costs and benefits for scrutiny purposes so as to gauge
the activity's effectiveness and efficiency.
This application is suppose to minimize the human effort by providing an electronically manageable
application which keeps track of a number of assets that can be borrowed by the borrower and provide
various functions. In this new acquired assets are added, obsolete assets are deleted and availability of
November 16, 2014 2

assets is updated by the administrator.
1.2 Mission and Goals
The IT asset management project has three main modules which are implemented as logical aspects:
I. Procurement of standard resources: to reduce the process time and needed man power
for the delivery of e.g. PCs, monitors, switches, cables etc.
II. Software License management: matching of used and available licenses on windows computers.
III. Common central repository for IT devices: to track and configure all IT devices within one
information system.
1.3 Scope of the project
The IT Asset Management System that is to be developed provides the users and the administrator with
assets information. The E-Asset Management System has the following features.
 Management of physical components form acquisition through disposal including desktop, laptop,
servers, LAN and WLAN electronics, wireless voice and communications equipment. 

 Software license management. 

 Standardization of images and contractual compliance. 

 Assets availability. 

 Asset compatibility. 

 Asset current location. 

 Current assets user. 

 Asset history. 

 Authenticate the user/administration. 

 Administration can generate a unique id for every asset. 

 Administrator adds details of the new asset into the database, remove details of the asset that are
obsolete from the database and moved to the asset history database. 
November 16, 2014 3

 Identify the user who failed to comply assets policy (damage or loss). Send a message to the user. 

 Assets can be returned. 

 Updating the table accordingly for every transaction. 

 Creating reports for transactions that are committed on basis of day/month/year. 
2 Project Initialization
2.1 System overview
 Asset database management. 

 Report on the state of IT assets at given point in time. 

 Track IT assets and determine the total cost of ownership throughout the assets life cycle. 

 Ensure software license optimization and compliance. 

 Establish an initial, current and disposal value for the IT assets. 

 Common central repository of assets. 
2.1.1 Asset issuance outline
I. User enters the login portal.
II. Now, if user wants to issue a new/replace asset, he/she will go to the asset search option.
III. Here availability of different type of assets will be displayed. Two things can happen:
i. If the product is not available, it will prompt the user to raise a request to admin.
ii. If the product is available then after selection of specific asset request could be raised for the
approval of asset by entering personal details to the approving authority.
IV. A unique id number is generated for the user to track the status of the raised request.
V. Request will be reviewed by the authority and an automated e-mail will be generated to notify the
user for the collection of asset.
November 16, 2014 4

2.1.2 Software rollout request
1. User will login using his id and password.
2. To raise a request for new software or wants to upgrade the existing one, user has to add details
of the software and system specification so that compatibility could be check by admin.
3. Once the request is raised a ticket no will be generated for further notifications.
2.2 Stakeholders
Before beginning of any technical work stakeholder management is of utmost important. Stakeholders are
important because they can have a huge influence on the success or otherwise of your ITAM programme.
Managing stakeholders effectively is vital for maintaining the momentum of your programme. Senior
stakeholders are often only interested in ITAM when there is a crisis. Less senior stakeholders can easily
slip back into old ways of doing things if not regularly reminded about the importance of new processes and
encouraged to carry out the low priority, tedious administration tasks without which ITAM cannot function.
Stakeholder management can be an important tool for embedding change within organizations and
minimizing the likelihood that the new way of working will be a failure. The heart of stakeholder
management is communication – determining what, how much and with whom we should communicate our
activities. Everybody, no matter what their role, already engages in a degree of stakeholder management –
discussing activities with line managers, picking up the phone to discuss a problem with colleague,
publishing formal reports are all ways of managing stakeholders, however,
“Stakeholder Management” aims to formalize this process by identifying and analyzing all stakeholders
in order to define and implement a communications plan that will maximize their support and minimize
potential hostility.
November 16, 2014 5

Stakeholders in project
i. Customer.
ii. Vendor/Supplier.
iii. Project manager.
iv. Asset manager.
v. System analyst.
vi. System designer.
2.3 Constraints on the system
 The information of all the users must be stored in a database that is accessible by the IT-Asset
Management System. 

 The IT-Asset Management System is connected to the server and is running all 24 hours a day. 

 The users access to it asset management system from any computer that has internet browsing
capabilities and an internet connection. 

 The penalty system is connected to the IT-asset management system and the database used by
the penalty system must be compatible with the interface of the ITAM. 

 The users must have their correct usernames and passwords to enter into the ITAM. 

 After every 4 minutes, the system page expires i.e., time out. 

 The system must have data backup facility in case of data loss. If data loss occurs, the
system is able to recover from the data backup. 

 The asset information such as hardware identification number, name, and description must
be maintained by the asset management. 

 A real time analysis framework 

 The system shall be efficient to handle user requests. 
November 16, 2014 6

3. Business case for the project
The software aims at reducing the manual work by providing an electronically manageable
application and a framework of tracking, managing and documentation of the organizational assets
such as peripherals, software applications, network devices, PC’s, severs, laptops software license,
hardware etc.
Benefits Gain Control
 Aware about the asset location. 

 Who is using them and how. 

 What software is being installed? 
Reduce Risk
 Proactive approach towards a software compliance audit. 

 Easily auditing of IT assets to meet regulatory requirements. 

 Displays the IT risks existing in the network. 
Reduce Costs
 Removal of obsolete software licenses. 

 Track licenses, contracts using supporting documents. 
Improve productivity
 Ensure users are using the authorized assets. 

 Detect unproductive software (games, p2p tools etc). 
November 16, 2014 7

3.1 Feasibility of the project
I. Economic feasibility
With maintenance cost rising and software audits becoming more frequent, managing IT assets
has become a high priority. Organizations that implement IT Asset Management will enjoy cost
savings of around 30% in the first year alone, as a result of:
 Retire obsolete assets. 

 Eliminate Redundancy. 

 Resolve Risks. 


II. Technical Feasibility 
The main challenge in integrating Asset Management as an application is the gathering of
detailed hardware and software inventory information from managed assets inside the corporate
network (LAN).
Two basic approaches for network discovery can be followed: agent and agentless.
The traditional approach involves installation of agents on all computers from which data is
required. An agent is a software that runs on a computer with the purpose of collecting
information and pushing it over the network to the server.
In the agentless approach, data is collected from computers without installing additional agents.
This is accomplished by obtaining data from the software that is already installed on the
computer, including the operating system, as well as previously installed products or the details
can be fetched into the system by using the barcode scanner to scan the barcodes of previously
installed assets.
November 16, 2014 8

III. Security Feasibility
The system have to be secure because it deals with the organizational asset database which cannot
be disclosed to any unauthorized personnel. The database access system must be secure to prevent
any active as well as passive attacks.
The security requirements can be handled using the unique ID and password combination which
will set the things right for the ITAM system. Furthermore the database information transfer will
take place through an encrypted channels to avoid any kind of attacks.
4 Quality function deployment analysis
The QFD analysis is used to translate actual customer requirement into functional requirement.
The customer voice and need is defined in terms of design to deliver a quality end product. The
QFD framework helps in in the requirements elicitation. The aim is to prioritize the customer need
into technical design that characterizes the customer demands and to build a quality product
focusing on business functionalities to gain the customer satisfaction.
Quality function deployment (QFD) is a planning tool used to fulfill customer expectations. It is a
disciplined approach to product design, engineering, and production and provides in-depth evaluation
of a product. An organization that correctly implements QFD can improve engineering knowledge,
productivity, and quality and reduce costs, product development time, and engineering changes.
Quality function deployment focuses on customer expectations or requirements, often referred to
as the voice of the customer. It is employed to translate customer expectations, in terms of specific
requirements, into directions and actions.
From the QFD framework presented in the figure below. The highest priority requirement in Asset
management system is the Availability of system and with proper data protection. The key
requirement and the focus point is the availability of system with all protected data.
November 16, 2014 9

5 Test Scenarios
Analysis of a proposed software system to determine the extent to which it meets desired quality
criteria is desirable.
a. Request raise
Employee login in the system using Unique ID and password combination. After successful
verification the portal will be displayed and the employee would be able to browse through the
November 16, 2014 10

ITAM portal. The various menus will be displayed like search asset, raise request, Audit data,
Network summary etc.
The employee has the ease of searching the required asset through the search dialog box.
Search the required asset from the database using the keywords and system will return a list of all
the assets that fulfill the search criteria and display the availability as well. Employee will filter
out between hardware or software assets according to the needs and the ITAM system will return
a narrowed down list of the searched assets.
The employee will then raise a request through the system to lock an asset as per requirement.
The employee can select the right asset by viewing details displayed by the ITAM for a particular
asset For Example:-
I. Hardware asset
 Processors 

 Motherboards 

 Hard Drives 

 Hard Drives 

 Physical Memory 

 Video Adapters 

 Peripherals 
There can be further sub categories to ease the selection:
 Manufacturer 

 Type 

 Capacity 

 Speed 

II. Software Asset
 Software Title 

 Version 

 Publisher 

 Serial number 

 License 
Sub categorization
 Manufacturer 

 Compatibility 

 System requirements 
After selecting the asset in the raise request field the user will be asked to provide details.
Successful completion of the request will return a unique registered request ID.
Using the above generated unique ID the user can track the status of the request.
b. Request deploy
As soon as the employee raise a request through the ITAM system and a unique ID is generated for
an asset the request is sent for approval/rejection to Asset Manager. The Asset manager logs in the
system using his ID and password. Reviews the request form and approve/ reject the request, ITAM
generates an automated message which is sent to user for the notification purpose that the request is
approved by Asset Manager. After approval the request is with the admin to perform the required
action e.g. if the software update is requested by the user so he will log onto the server and release
the update from his end and also modify the database to reflect the new changes. The ITAM system
will then sent an automated message to the employee that the update he requested was successful.
In case of failure the notification is sent to admin to try rolling out the update again. All this
happens in the background or even outside office hours to minimize the impact.

c. Report generation
The report generation is a very handy option provided by the ITAM tool. Report generation helps in
maintaining the database up to date and also helps in auditing.
Different types of reports can be generated:
I. Customized reports
 Detailed customized report 

Detailed report is built using the data from the regular asset reports, they look the same, but
will contain only the fields and data selected by the user. 

 Tabular customized report 



Tabular report looks like any of pre-defined reports with nodes as rows and their properties
as columns, user can choose which nodes and which properties he would like to have in the
tabular report. 
II. Predefined reports
 Inventory Based report 

 Brand based 

 Configuration based 

 Disk usage 

 Services 
The Asset Manager and Admin has the rights to generate reports which can be extended to users as
well if it’s required in their BAU activity.
The system collects the data from the database maintained by the Admin and provides the report as
desired and no modification is done to the existing database. Asset manager can do a quick version
control from the reports, similarly Admin can update database records by pulling out and obsolete
asset report.

6 Specific system requirements
a. Functional requirement
The IT Asset Management System provides information about the assets available in the system and
the user information. The functions of the system include the system providing different type of
services based on the type of users [Employee/Administrator/Asset Manager].
 The system shall provide the users with logon capabilities. 

 The must be able to browse through the assets repository. 

 The must able to search assets using keyword through search dialog box. 

 Assets can be issued/requested using an asset request form. 

 Generation of unique request ID. 

 User should be able track the status of the request. 

 User must be able request an update of any domain specific software (can only get an update for
his software which is linked to his/her current role). 

 The user should be provided with the updated information about the assets. 

 The admin should be able to get the information about the members who have raised a request
for the asset. 

 The admin should be provided with interfaces to add/delete/update the assets available in the
asset catalog. 

 The admin should be able to generate and add a new user ID to the database. 

 The admin must holds the access to the server for rolling out the software updates. 

 Admin must be able to generate reports suiting to his needs. 

 Asset manager should be able to approve/reject the request logged by the user in the system. 

 Asset manager must be able to create new Asset ID and inform admin to add it to the asset
database. 

 Asset manager must also be able to generate reports which facilitate the process of keeping a
check on the Assets current status. 

 Automated email notification must be sent after the completion of designated steps. 

 The system must alert the Administrator or the user in case of any changes in the assets via
email notification. 

 Report generation can be extended to a user as well if it’s required according to his/her current
role. 


b. User characteristics
The users of the system are user, admin and asset manager of the IT Asset Management System and
the administrators who maintain the system. The user and the admin are assumed to have basic
knowledge of the computers and Internet browsing. The administrators of the system to have more
knowledge of the internals of the system and is able to rectify the small problems that may arise due
to disk crashes, power failures and other catastrophes to maintain the system and also register new
borrowers if required. The asset manager must have the knowledge of asset management policy and
standards also ensures that the asset management methods and processes are properly approved and
communicated to staff before being implemented. The proper user interface, user’s manual, online
help and the guide to install and maintain the system must be sufficient to educate the users on how to
use the system without any problems.
c. Non-functional requirements
I. Usability
 The system shall allow the users to access the system from the Internet using HTML or its
derivative technologies. The system uses a web browser as an interface. 

 Since all users are familiar with the general usage of browsers, no specific training is required. 

 The system is user friendly and self-explanatory. 

II. Reliability
The system has to be very reliable due to the importance of data and the damages incorrect or
incomplete data can do.
 Availability 
The system is available 100% for the user and is used 24 hrs a day and 365 days a year. The
system shall be operational 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
 Accuracy 
The accuracy of the system is limited by the accuracy which the users of the E-asset management
system use the system.
III. Supportability
The system designers shall take in to considerations the following supportability and technical
limitations.
 Internet protocols 
The system shall be comply with the TCP/IP protocol standards and shall be designed
accordingly.
 Information security requirement 
The system shall support the information security.
IV. Interfaces
 User interfaces 
Will make use of the existing Web Browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape.
The user-interface of the system shall be designed as shown in the user-interface prototypes.

7 Details of ITAM portal
The below two figures shows the hardware and software search page of the ITAM. There are
options to select like the “New Asset”, “Network Summary”, “All Software”, “All Hardware”,
“Search Software”, “Group”, “Mark as” etc. from the search pages.
Fig. Hardware search page of IT asset management system

Fig. Software search page of IT asset management system
The below diagram shows the report generation screen from where the users can generate different
type of reports according to their use.
Fig. Report generation

8 Design details
8.1 Architecture
IT Asset management system Architecture diagram

9 Use Case Diagram
Use case diagrams are used to impart information about how entities interact with the system. The
entities are employee, admin, asset manager, project manager. These diagrams are used to examine how
system will work and helps in conceptualizing the design.
Fig. User use case

Fig. Admin use case
Fig. Asset manager use case

This diagram shows combination of all different use cases and tells how different entities communicate
with the system.

9.1 Use case Description
The use case description describe how the entire system work contained in the use case diagram

9.2 Class diagram of ITAM

9.3 Class inheritance diagram of ITAM

9.4 Sequence diagram

10 State diagrams
10.1 State diagram for database

10.2 State diagram for browse and raise request

10.3 State diagram for asset manager

10.4 State diagram for admin

11 Communication diagram
11.1 Admin communication diagram

11.2 Asset manager communication diagram

11.3 User communication diagram

12 Management charts
12.1 List of personnel and skills

12.2 Gantt chart

12.3 Staff allocation chart

12.4 Activity chart
List of activities
13 Risk Assessment
13.1 Risk management
It describes the related risk in our project. Traditionally risk management has related to emergency
management and to areas relating to liability of one kind or another. However, a risk management
approach is a sound element of project management and of all quality management processes.
13.2 Purpose
This part portrays how we will perform the job of managing risk throughout the project. It will
define the roles and responsibilities for every member in the risk processes, the risk management
activities that will carried out, as well as the schedule for the risk management activities.

13.3 Project manager
The project manager will meet other staff members of the Project Management team (Programmer,
User Interface Designer, Database Administrator and System Analyzer) to discuss and identify the
potential risk for each department. Redefine the project’s risk level and survey the status of all risk,
and discover the best solution for the risks.
13.4 Team
The team will be having the following responsibilities and authority: Coordinating risk
identification and analysis activities, maintaining the project’s risk list, notifying project
management of new risk items, and reporting risk resolution status to administration.
13.5 Change control board
The development team should come to the realization that their idea of the product specifications
differs from those of the customer, the customer should be immediately notified and whatever steps
necessary to rectify this problem should be done. Preferably a meeting should be held between the
development team and the customer to discuss this issue.
13.6 Developer
The members who doesn't have the most experience in a specific area will be required to help those
who don’t come to the attention of the team. Code remark quality start to drop, time must be made
accessible to bring remarks up to standard. Careful monitoring will minimize the impact of poor
commenting. Any problems are resolved by adding and refining comments as necessary.
13.7 Database
The organization would call a meeting and talk about the reasons for the database instability, along
with possible solutions.

14 Risk identification

15 Risk planning
Risk avoidance strategy

16 Risk Contingency
17 Risk monitoring
A schedule has been established to monitor project status. Falling behind timetable would
demonstrate a potential for late conveyance. The schedule will be followed closely during all
development stages. The meetings with the customer should ensure that the customer and our
organization understand each other and the requirements for the product. At the point when dealing
with the item or documentation, the staff member should always be aware of the stability of the
computing environment they’re working in. Any changes in the stability of the environment should
be recognized and considered important. The software will be developed with the end user in mind.

IT Asset Management System for UL-Software Engineering

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