It Asset Management Harvard University

Summary

IT ASSET
MANAGEMENT
www.servicenow.com
WHITE PAPER IT ASSET MANAGEMENT
IT ASSET MANAGEMENT
A modern MODERN IT ASSET MANAGEMENT
ITAM solution Traditionally, IT Asset Management (ITAM) systems have seldom lived up to their potential. This has
not stopped organizations from pursuing the dream of having a centralized system to house all the
allows data and provide functionality to support the entire IT asset lifecycle. There is simply too much to
gain by controlling inventory, avoiding massive unplanned expenses, increasing productivity and
organizations having easy access to information to make strategic decisions

to consolidate When done properly, ITAM can also reward organizations with stronger vendor discounts that have
a direct impact in lowering both hardware and software spend. Having better control of the IT asset
legacy lifecycle also helps drive standards into organizations, which will improve efficiency and reliability

systems into The reason ITAM systems rarely deliver on their potential is not a functional one – most solutions
one system offer more bells and whistles than many organizations would care to deploy. The main reason for not
delivering success can be blamed on the difficulties of integrating them into the overall IT ecosystem

of record and For one, they are typically a collection of many disjointed asset applications often with incompatible
automate technologies. Secondly, they often rely on canned adaptors and bulk loaders that limit the number
of touch points they can access. Lastly, and most important, the workflow components included
the asset in these systems do not tie into other workflow systems used by IT. This effectively limits the
possibilities of process automation to just a handful of simple use cases. Organizations cannot
lifecycle. advance in maturity due to the inability to tie together processes that cross multiple disciplines

REQUEST STOCKROOM DEPLOY MANAGE
• Provide service portal • Store standard assets • Automate provisioning • Discover inventory
• Browse service catalog • Fulfill requests • Link assets to CMDB • Plan maintenance
• Trigger workflows • Replenish inventory • Assign assets to users • Track asset history RETIRE
• Dispose assets
• Refresh hardware
PLAN PROCUREMENT FINANCIAL IT GOVERNANCE • Update records
• Plan service portfolio • Enforce standards • Aggregate costs • Document policies
• Define standards • Consolidate vendors • Allocate expenses • Check compliance
• Support projects • Negotiate contracts • Track budgets • Track corrective action
IT Asset Contract Software Service Incident Change Release CMDB Discovery Runbook Cost Governance
Mgmt Asset Catalog Mgmt
Mgmt
Complete IT asset management lifecycle with functions and activities
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If all of this sounds familiar, it is. This is the exact challenge IT faces when trying to figure out what
to do with all of the outdated service management systems scattered throughout the enterprise

One of the
Using ServiceNow, organizations have been able to consolidate these into a single system of record
that fully supports process automation. ServiceNow also includes a modern ITAM solution that
most exciting
allows organizations to consolidate legacy ITAM systems and fully automate the ITAM lifecycle. aspects of
ServiceNow has already proven itself in the enterprise with some of the largest organizations in the
world. It runs on an advanced, cloud-based, high-availability architecture that provides speed and
having ITAM on
reliability that often surpasses what organizations can economically do in-house. ServiceNow also the ServiceNow
provides users with a modern experience that is easy to use and personalize. This helps drive
adoption and keep training costs low. Since ServiceNow is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, platform is
it can be deployed much more efficiently and quickly than legacy applications. This dramatically
increases the chances of completing a project successfully. being able
ONE SYSTEM OF RECORD
to use the
Organizations that deploy ServiceNow IT Asset Management are often transitioning from stand-alone graphical
ITAM and Software Asset Management (SAM) point solutions to a fully integrated suite of applications
sharing a common interface and database. Forgetting features and functions for a second, just this
workflow editor
transformation alone opens the door to incredible value by having data and processes merged
together on one platform. This section will explore some specific areas where organizations can
with other ITSM
realize even greater value from using ServiceNow. processes

ITAM and ITSM Are Stronger Together
IT Service Management (ITSM) and ITAM work very closely together. Naturally, it makes sense for
them both to be managed in one system of record. ITSM supplies a lot of data around asset failure
and performance that is quite valuable for asset managers. Understanding which asset models
perform best, or worst, can help IT determine the best asset standards that will help increase the
reliability of services over time

ITAM collects inventory details that are very useful to the service desk. This includes information
about an end-user’s machine, where they are located, and what software the end-user is entitled to
have. Having ITSM and ITAM together also helps organizations make more informed decisions and
design better processes by using technical data from the Configuration Management Database
(CMDB) and business data from the IT asset repository. Imagine the value of having a change risk
calculator that factors in asset details such as the age of the assets being changed or whether it
was due to be returned from a lease expiring in sixty days. These examples are just a glimpse of
what is possible with ITAM and ITSM together
ITAM and Workflow
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of having ITAM on the ServiceNow platform is the ability to
use the graphical workflow editor to automate activities together with other processes. This can
include something as simple as notifying a purchasing group to replenish low stock or something
more advanced like identifying when unauthorized software has been installed and offering some
instructions for correcting the violation

It is important to note that the workflow engine can access any data in ServiceNow needed for a
process. For instance, an organization using ServiceNow Project and Portfolio Management can
create a workflow for requesting asset resources for a project that captures the required assets
and sends the approval request to the project managers

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Runbook ITAM and Service Catalog
Automation Organizations use service catalogs to offer all types of goods and services to their users. Standard
asset models and product bundles make it easier to create a smarter service catalog. Asset inventory
enables capabilities allow for advanced workflows that can check inventory in stockrooms before issuing a
purchase request. ServiceNow Software Asset Management (SAM) completely transforms what can be
expensive, done in a software request. For example, after a software request is approved, the workflow can check
available licenses and then automatically create an entitlement record under that license to record the
slow and approval. Multiple assets can be grouped into order guides to streamline the user experience

error-prone
manual
tasks to be
transformed
into
automated
tasks
processed by
the workflow
engine

Service Catalog new hire order guide that automatically assigns assets to a user
ITAM and Runbook Automation (RBA)
Organizations looking to get the most cost savings and increased efficiency elect to enhance
ServiceNow ITAM with ServiceNow Runbook Automation (RBA). RBA enables expensive, slow and
error-prone manual tasks to be transformed into automated ones processed by the workflow engine

Sample workflow to provision a virtual machine
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RBA is also extremely flexible in that it can interface directly with virtual machines or integrate with
configuration tools that an organization may already have. Looking at the example of the software
Agentless
request above, the process can be fully automated so that after approved entitlement is granted
to a user, RBA will install the software directly on the user’s machine or pass information to another
discovery
tool that can do the installation. The result is a fully automated process that saves lots of time and removes the
dramatically improves the end-user experience

ITAM and Analytics
complexity
The ServiceNow reporting engine makes it easy to access and analyze any piece of information
of collecting
from throughout ServiceNow. Any authorized person can create their own reports and dashboards
without the need of report designers. This means that questions can be answered much faster and
configuration
decisions made sooner. Something that used to very time-consuming with legacy ITAM systems, details and
like creating a report showing software compliance, can be completed in seconds and even
scheduled and shared with managers and capacity planners instantly. mapping
relationships

ServiceNow includes an easy to use report builder
ITAM and Discovery
One of the key challenges facing ITAM projects is data integrity. Projects that use multiple legacy products
and separate technologies need to spend a lot time and effort determining how to reconcile, normalize,
synch, replicate, and identify data. ServiceNow allows you to bypass that extra effort by providing a robust
agentless discovery tool on the same platform as all other ServiceNow applications. This removes the need
to build complex integrations leaving more time to extract value from the collected data

ServiceNow Discovery collects configuration details and maps relationships in the CMDB. An asset
administrator can easily define which configuration classes also need to be tracked in the IT asset
repository. Once defined, the records are automatically kept synchronized. Discovery can be used at
any stage of the asset lifecycle to streamline a process. For instance, after an asset is unboxed, it can be
immediately scanned and recorded into the IT asset repository. After new software is installed, discovery
can be triggered to validate the installation on the target machine as well

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Organizations SOFTWARE ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR THE FUTURE
that choose Software asset management (SAM) is an important part of the ServiceNow ITAM solution that includes
many innovative and compelling features to help organizations reach higher levels of process maturity

ServiceNow SAM and Virtualization
to manage all Many organizations use the ServiceNow Service Catalog and ServiceNow RBA workflows to provision
resources on VMware and Amazon EC2. Determining the correct cost of these virtual offerings can be
their software difficult since software license models and costs are often not well understood or ignored altogether

license needs There are significant cost implications from all the software licenses that are deployed in a virtual
environment including operating systems, applications, tools, clients and plug-ins. VMware vSphere
are future- and vCloud Director licenses are expensive as well. Amazon EC2 billing is calculated by usage, which
can lead to a massive bill that IT has to pay without any way of reconciling if proper software asset
proofing their management and governance is not in place

investment. One important way that ServiceNow helps organizations with virtual environments is by managing
their entire lifecycle on one platform. The same service catalog that contains descriptions and pricing
information for the virtual resources can also contain the software license entitlements that need to be
approved with the request. The same workflow that drives the creation of a virtual resource can also
kickoff a discovery task so that the technical and software installation information is populated in the
CMDB. This allows SAM to compare the software license and entitlement data against the discovered
information in the CMDB. This results in organizations having an automated process to manage costs
and maintain software license compliance

In addition to tracking virtual technologies, ServiceNow also tracks business information, such as
contracts, in the asset repository. For example, when an Amazon EC2 instance is provisioned, a
discovery task can update the CMDB and the system will automatically create a related asset record

A relationship between the asset record and the contract can also be created. This gives organizations
the information needed to reconcile the bill when it arrives

SAM and SaaS
Every year, SaaS solutions such as ServiceNow continue to prove their superiority over legacy, premise-
based solutions, leading more and more organizations to subscribe to cloud-based applications. Not
surprisingly, the popularity of these applications has led to challenges controlling and managing the
growing number of subscription licenses. Indeed, the future world may have very few applications
installed on customer premises. Even Microsoft now offers a cloud-based version of their Office suite

Tools that are entirely based on scanning local networks and searching hard drives for licenses are
quickly becoming obsolete. Organizations that choose ServiceNow to manage all of their software
license needs are future-proofing their investment

ServiceNow supports many software license models and types
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ServiceNow SAM helps organizations stay on top of their SaaS compliance requirements by
providing full support for subscription models. Starting with the software license contract, all of the
Planned
important details of the agreement are kept in ServiceNow. The software license record tracks the
number of users that an organization is permitted to have. The integration capabilities built-into
compliance
the platform allow organizations to bring in data directly from SaaS vendors for tracking software provides
usage. Finally, software counters inform software administrators about their immediate and planned
compliance levels. information
organizations
to get ahead
of vendors and
optimize future
license spend

Counters help track software license compliance
By combining the ServiceNow Service Catalog, RBA, SAM, and workflow, an organization can
offer a cutting-edge requisition process that allows users to request SaaS applications. The license
approver has access to the number of licenses on hand and the user’s profile before approving
the license entitlement. Workflow and RBA can also drive the process automatically by informing
stakeholders of the SaaS application request and creating the transaction to add or remove the user

This type of advanced automation can even be worked into the process for new hires. It is also
important to consider that when an employee leaves an organization, it is also necessary to have
a solution that can identify all of the software licenses and subscriptions that can be removed and
recycled for other users

SAM and Entitlements
ServiceNow SAM offers levels of depth and usability not commonly found in other software asset
management systems. For example, entitlements are not just about recording the names of employees
that are entitled to use a software license. Software contracts have many restraints that must be
considered to determine if a user or workstation should be entitled

Some of these constraints reflect the details of a contract, such as a site license, that limits the
entitlement of users to a specific geographic location. Other constraints could be external, such as
government laws that prohibit certain software to be distributed in certain countries. Having a solution
that is smart enough to keep organizations from making mistakes that may result in serious penalties
reflects the progressive nature of ServiceNow

Entitlements in ServiceNow also reflect the general desire in business today for people to be
accountable for what they do or spend. Software counters in ServiceNow SAM offer the option to
break down the distribution and usage of licenses to various levels of the business. This allows IT to
hold the business more accountable at different levels including department, cost center, business or
location. Asset managers can drill down to further levels to explain why there is a compliance violation
and supply a list of unauthorized users

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Optimizing is ServiceNow provides more than just reports and counters of entitlement data. Notifications can be
added to workflows that alert users and even their managers as soon as unauthorized software is
designing and discovered. This notification can provide all the information and links needed to become complaint –
all without any human contact from the asset manager

consistently
executing
automated
processes that
enforce company
Color-coding provides a quick summary of software license compliance levels
policies and
Many organizations primarily focus on finding non-compliant software and calculating the amount
reduce waste. of licenses that need to be purchased to meet current compliance requirements. ServiceNow has
an innovative feature called planned compliance that uses entitlement data to help understand what
should actually be purchased to be compliant with planned goals. This allows organizations to finally
get ahead of vendors and optimize future license spend

OPTIMIZING IT ASSET MANAGEMNET
“Optimization” is a common buzzword in business. Sometimes, it can be mistakenly depicted
as an imaginary finish line that an organization races to cross. In reality, organizations are always
optimizing through ongoing small tasks and process improvements to reduce spend and increase
efficiency over time. ServiceNow includes significant functionality that allows organizations to
optimize their operations. The following section shares examples

Go from Showing to Doing
Many IT asset management systems are typically only able to collect data and generate reports and
dashboards. While this helps organizations to make decisions that drive actions, a person or another
system must actually perform the action. For example, a list of unauthorized users of Microsoft Project
provides a software license administrator a starting point for taking action. However, the administrator
then has to find out more information about the unauthorized users and track them down one by one
to determine if access to the software should be revoked or replaced with something cheaper. This is
not an optimal solution

ServiceNow allows organizations to automate this activity. Instead of waiting for a report and
manually tracking people down, the system can initiate a workflow as soon as an unauthorized user
is discovered that automatically notifies the user of the situation and presents a survey to learn what
functionality the person really needs to do their job

Workflow can also follow logic to determine the appropriate corrective action, such as:
• Have a manager approve the software license for the user
• Issue a software entitlement record for the user
• Remove the software using RBA
• Offer the end-user less expensive software of the same category
• Offer the end-user the latest standard software of the same category
• Install a free viewer that will allow the user to view the files
• Inform the software admin that their attention is needed
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ServiceNow
arms vendor
managers
with
important
data and
tooling to help
determine the
optimal mix of
Sample workflow to uninstall unauthorized software
vendors

This example demonstrates that optimizing is more than just showing data in reports that tell you
where you could save money. True optimizing is designing and consistently executing automated
processes that enforce company policies and reduce waste. Optimizing is in the doing

Looking at Software Usage to Lower Costs
Another optimizing scenario is removing expensive software from authorized users who do not use
the software frequently or at all. ServiceNow has placeholders to store usage information. This can
include the last time the software was used, the amount of time the software spent in the foreground
or background of a user’s desktop, and the amount of times that the software was accessed in a given
period

A similar workflow to the unauthorized usage example can be used to notify authorized users they are
consuming a license that is being underutilized and give them an opportunity to complete a survey
justifying why they need to keep the software or choose to uninstall it which returns the license to the
pool. The user can also be presented with options to replace the expensive software title with free
viewers or less expensive software from the same category

An organization could also choose to enforce a stronger policy that automatically removes expensive
software from users based on a condition such as not using it for the last nine months, so the license
can be re-issued. If the organization already has a good software requisition process, it would be a
relatively painless procedure to have the user request Microsoft Project if they need to use it again

Optimizing Vendors
By far the most direct and significant way that organizations can reduce hardware and software spend
is to receive a higher discount from their vendors. ServiceNow arms vendor managers with important
data and tooling to help determine the optimal mix of vendors. The overall strategy is to consolidate
vendors by understanding the overlap of similar products across all asset categories. By standardizing
and removing redundant products, organizations can focus on purchasing more from fewer vendors,
which should earn the right to a higher discount. One or two percentage points of discount with a
major vendor could yield millions of dollars, depending on the size of the organization

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ServiceNow
makes it easy to
define standard
product
bundles and
make them
available
through the
service catalog

Personalized cost management homepage
ServiceNow ITAM tracks all of the hardware and software models and their usage. This offers an ideal way
to understand how many different vendors are used in each asset category and how many of each product
model is actually deployed over time. Since all ServiceNow data lives in a single system of record, it is easy
to track demand of each model and vendor through the service catalog request history. It is also easy to
report the number of incidents, products, defects, changes, and outage records by model and vendor. All
of this data ensures that vendor managers can negotiate from a position of advantage

Standardizing on fewer vendors and models is an effective way to increase purchasing power

However, consolidation can be difficult in organizations that exercise very little control of the
requisition process. To help address this, ServiceNow makes it easy to define standard product
bundles and make them available through the service catalog. Organizations can design product
bundles to only include models from preferred vendors. A great use for product bundles is defining
a set of product models by role. As people refresh their equipment, they can only request from the
bundles that fit their role, which will optimize the vendor mix over time

Sample standard product bundle
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Optimizing the Refresh Cycle
ServiceNow
Once vendors and models are standardized, it becomes easier to determine what equipment should
be stored in stockrooms and where those stockrooms should be located. Having equipment nearby enables truly
allows requests to be fulfilled quickly. ServiceNow helps organizations maintain these optimal
inventory levels automatically. As supplies are consumed, stock rules can trigger transfer orders to
transformational
replenish inventory from a central warehouse or directly from a vendor. Rather than process individual
orders that take time to process and ship, replenishments can be consolidated into bulk orders to get
service
better vendor discounts. automation that
Equipment refreshes are a necessary part of doing business. When done manually, they can be very
time-consuming and disruptive. ServiceNow provides the information and technology that allows
breaks down
organizations to automate much of the equipment refresh cycle saving time and productivity. the silos that
For example, ServiceNow can use asset aging to determine when to purchase equipment in bulk
and distribute it to stockrooms. A workflow can track individual assets and notify the user when their
have prevented
equipment is ready for replacement. The notification can contain instructions on how to get help and organizations
prepare for the refresh. This workflow can also include additional steps to reserve new assets for
the user and create work tasks for IT personnel to manage the physical replacement. Workflow can from fully
automatically transfer license entitlements from the old machine to the new one. ServiceNow RBA can
be added to handle many of the technical parts of the refresh to save even more time and to reduce optimizing their
disruptions even further

IT and business
These examples provide only a brief glimpse of how organizations are using ServiceNow to move
further along in their IT transformation journeys. The common thread is that having a single system operations

of record allows ITAM and every other ServiceNow application to work closely together. In addition to
having a common database, workflows provide organizations the ability to automate activities that drive
accountability and efficiency. ServiceNow enables truly transformational service automation that breaks
down the silos that have prevented organizations from fully optimizing their IT and business operations

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Service Catalog new hire order guide that automatically assigns assets to a user Sample workflow to provision a virtual machine ITAM and Runbook Automation (RBA) Organizations looking to get the most cost savings and increased efficiency elect to enhance ServiceNow ITAM with ServiceNow Runbook Automation (RBA). RBA enables expensive, slow and

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Frequently Asked Questions

How can we improve the quality of harvards administrative data?

Pursue the next phase of Administrative Data Management to improve quality and usability of Harvard’s administrative data. Execute strategy to enhance user experience to improve ease of access to and use of Harvard’s systems and information.

What is the harvard cio council?

In 2012, the CIO Council defined—for the first time—a shared vision for IT across Harvard's schools and departments, and a unified IT Strategic Plan to guide our collective efforts. The plan outlined a bold set of initiatives that taken together aimed to transform , modernize, and greatly simplify our IT landscape.

How can we improve user experience at harvard university?

Execute strategy to enhance user experience to improve ease of access to and use of Harvard’s systems and information. In partnership with facilities community, clarify policies and support model for operational technology across the University to mitigate risk.

How can we improve the security of the universitys network?

Continue to invest in information security efforts related to awareness, risk assessment, and operations. Define and encourage adoption of a University-wide enterprise architecture consisting of technical principles, standards, and supporting resources. Evolve and refine the shared service model and service delivery.