1. Page 1
The COE and IT Asset Management;
Taking the Enterprise Architecture down
to the Desktop
Cora L. Carmody
August 2004

2. Page 2
IT Asset Management (ITAM)
The Policies, Processes, Systems
and Controls for the Orderly
Planning, Acquisition,
Deployment, Use, Insight,
Refresh, and Retirement
(Reallocation and/or Disposal) of
all IT Assets (desktop computers,
laptops, etc.)

3. Page 3
ITAM Goals
• lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• increase SAIC’s technological agility
• improve SAIC’s cash management
• Other benefits
– cycle-time reduction in the procurement, payment, and
accounting of IT assets,
– substantial cost savings in software licensing, property taxes,
and stealth (or shadow) support
• The methodology of ITAM is fundamental in implementing a
Common Operating Environment (COE) and the standards
policies, processes and IT architecture associated with
COE
– seamless integration of IT asset information with accounting
asset information with systems management and software
license information.

4. Page 4
Basic ITAM Requirements
• E-Procurement from Hardware Vendors
• Standard Image Load at Manufacturer Site
• Automated Entry into Asset Database
• Hardware and Software Inventory Management
• Real-time Support with Help Desk Access
• Electronic Software Updates
• Hardware Refresh/Disposal
• Software License Management (limit liability)
• Software License Capture/Redeployment

5. IT Asset Management’s
Evolving Goals
and
Phases of
Value Contribution
to the Enterprise
from
“Economic Performance Gains
With IT Asset Management”
Gartner Group

6. Page 6
A s s e t
E n t r y
U s e
I n s ig h t
T e c h
R e f r e s h
A s s e t
R e t ir e m e n t
AssetUsefulLife
A c q u is it io n
C o n f ig u r a tio n
S e t U p
T r a in in g
A c c o u n ts /
P a y a b le
A s s e t
R e g is t r y
P r o b le m
R e s o lu t io n
A p p lic a t io n
S u p p o r t
M o v e s , A d d s ,
C h a n g e s
B a s e lin e
I n v e n t o r y
I n v e n to r y
M o n ito r in g
A s s e t
R e c o n c ilia t io n
F in a n c ia l A n a ly s is /
R e p o r t in g
A s s e t R e f r e s h
S W L ic e n s e
M a n a g e m e n t
T e c h C h a n g e
M a n a g e m e n t
U p g r a d e
A s s e t
R e d e p lo y m e n t
A s s e t
D is p o s a l
E n t e r p r is e
I n te g r a t e d
A s s e t M g t
S y s te m
A s s e t
R e p o s it o r y
D e p lo y m e n t
A s s e t
P la n n in g
I T C a p it a l
P la n n in g
F o r w a r d
P r ic in g
S o f t w a r e
B u ild /
D is t r ib u tio n
C o n tr a c t
M o n ito r in g
P r o g r a m
T e c h
R e f r e s h
C o n tr a c t
M o d s
L e a s in g
M a n a g e m e n t
IT A s s e t
M a n a g e m e n t
S u p p o r t C e n te r
S t d D s k to p
P o lic ie s
Enterprise IT Asset Management
Processes
Patent pending

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Enterprise IT Asset Management Architecture
Concept

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Architectural Aspects
• For a smooth employee on-boarding process,
links can be built from HR to Procurement to Site
support
– Goal; the new employee’s desktop is present and
connected, with accounts, on the first day of work
• The information contained by most accounting
departments is not technologically complete or
accurate to be able to do the necessary migration
planning or patch management deployment.
• The IT asset registry provides both static and
dynamic asset insight

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Static Asset Insight
• Static Asset Insight refers to managing the
accurate asset information at the point the asset
enters the enterprise, throughout its useful life,
from the vantage point of both the fixed asset
accounting system and the infrastructure support
systems.
• When an asset enters the accounting system,
certain information about the asset is recorded at
the baseline inventory.
• Each record in the fixed asset accounting system
includes information on the asset financial owner,
depreciation rate, and so on, including summary
description of the platform.

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Static Asset Insight; 2
• For infrastructure support systems, asset insight is needed
as to the location of the asset and the technical
composition of the asset. This involves more detailed
information than typically is collected in a fixed asset
accounting system. Information such as serial number,
size of memory, size of hard drive, processor speed, as
well as the contents of the initial software build should be
recorded.
• Both the accounting information and the configuration
information represent basically static information and
keeping that static information current involves some
actions during the useful life of the asset. For example,
when a change takes place, such as moving it from one
department id to another id, or physical location, the
information needs to be kept current for accountability
purposes using the Move/Add/Change process.

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Dynamic Asset Insight - 1
• With an architecture that provides dynamic asset insight, it
is possible to maintain and use extended information about
the asset during its useful life from several perspectives.
• Using capabilities for desktop monitoring (hardware and
software) inventory information is periodically validated on
that platform.
• So, for example, if on Thursday Bill Smith has a platform
with 32 megabytes of memory and on Friday the same Bill
Smith now has the same platform but for some reason it
only has 4 megabytes of memory, periodic polling of all the
assets will reveal this information.
• This information is accessible in real time to the support
center staff so more intelligent and accurate problem
resolution can take place over the phone. Diagnostic
discussions can now take place such as “Well, Mr. Smith, I
see why Microsoft Excel won’t run, you now only have 4
mbs of memory. Do you know what happened to the other
28 mbs of memory?”

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Dynamic Asset Insight - 2
• Desktop monitoring keeps the information on the
asset up to date in the IT Asset Repository,
making it available for applications such as
Decision Support.
• Accurate assessments of migration planning –
– for example, knowing the exact cost of moving the
enterprise to a new desktop application or upgrading
versions involves knowing the incidental costs, such as
which platforms need processor or memory upgrades, or
which platform already has some version of the
software.
• Accurate software license management
– enables some avoidance by knowing when an upgrade
license is needed as opposed to buying a new license.
– reduce enterprise liability by being able to detect illegal
copies of software,
– harvest unused licenses and reduce the procurement of
unnecessary licenses.

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Dynamic Asset Insight - 3
• Another application of Dynamic Asset Insight is
the software metering application.
• This can provide such information as what
platforms are actually using the loaded software
applications, and how much time is spent with
different features of the software.
• Decision support
– When to move to server-based concurrent licenses,
where the number of users can be more realistically
calculated,
– Decide what users need more training on the
applications they use most, or on features of the
applications they are not using.

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Summary
• The vision of Enterprise IT Asset Management is
one that reaches from traditional enterprise
business systems down to the desktop
• Reach is both in support processes and
architectural integration to the business systems
• And enhanced by a common culture of IT
excellence