Practical Management of IT Assets
About 30% of the CIS-HAM exam — see all 5 domains.
This is the operational core of HAM Pro: moving a physical asset through its life from request to disposal, and the tables, stockrooms, tasks, and workspace that support it.
The asset data model you must internalize
alm_assetis the base asset table. Everything an organization owns financially extends it.alm_hardwareextendsalm_assetand represents physical IT hardware (laptops, servers, mobiles, network gear).- Sibling extensions include
alm_consumable(bulk, non-serialized items consumed from stock) andalm_license(software entitlements, owned by SAM). - An asset is a financial/contractual record. A CI (
cmdb_ciand its children, e.g.cmdb_ci_computer) is the operational/service record. They are distinct but synchronized one-to-one: the asset'scifield points to the CI, and the CI'sassetfield points back. Serial number or assigned user may coincidentally match but are not the link.
Hardware asset lifecycle
HAM Pro models the asset's life as ordered stages: Plan/Request → Procure → Receive → Deploy (In use) → Operate/Maintain → Retire → Dispose. Each stage corresponds to lifecycle state values on the asset record, and HAM Pro automation (flows) moves assets between states as work is completed.
Key state values (asset State field, sometimes labeled Install status on the asset) include On order, In stock, In transit, In use, In maintenance, Retired, Missing, Build (Build is used while an asset bundle is prepared, not for hardware). Disposed is not a State: it is a substate of Retired. A Substate refines the current state (for example, In stock → Available / Reserved / Defective / Pending repair; Retired → Pending disposal / Disposed / Donated / Vendor credit).
Stockrooms, transfer orders, consumables
- A stockroom (
alm_stockroom) is a logical or physical location holding assets and consumables that are In stock. Stockrooms can be hierarchical and tied to a location. - A transfer order (
alm_transfer_order) moves assets/consumables between stockrooms, with transfer order lines for individual items. Transfer orders track in transit movement and update stock counts on completion. - Stock rules define minimum/target quantities so the system can prompt replenishment (transfer from another stockroom or a new purchase order) when stock falls below threshold.
- Consumables are tracked by quantity at a stockroom rather than as individually serialized assets; issuing a consumable decrements the count.
Asset tasks and the Asset Workspace
- Asset tasks (
alm_asset_task) are the units of physical work (receive, stock, deploy, transfer, audit, retire, dispose). Flows generate them automatically as an asset advances through its lifecycle. - The Hardware Asset Management Workspace (Asset Workspace) is the agent-facing UI where asset managers see queues of asset tasks, manage stockrooms, run audits, and act on assets in bulk. Lists, dashboards, and guided actions live here rather than in classic forms.
Retirement and disposal
Retirement removes an asset from active service (state → Retired); disposal is the final accounting + physical/environmental endpoint (State Retired with the Disposed substate), often via a disposal flow that can record method (recycled, sold, donated, destroyed) and certificate of destruction. Retiring the asset should update the linked CI's operational status accordingly.
Sample questions from this domain
Three of the 83 in this domain, with the reasoning. The full set is in the question bank.
In HAM Pro, what is a stockroom used for during day-to-day asset operations?
- A. Grouping assets by cost center so depreciation and asset cost are charged to the right department
- B. Recording where deployed assets are installed so users can find their assigned devices on site
- C. Storing and tracking inventory of available hardware assets and consumables at a location ✓
- D. Holding retired assets only, so that disposal orders can collect them from one place
Why: Stockrooms hold and track inventory of available assets and consumables at a location for issue, transfer, and replenishment. Cost allocation uses the Cost center field, not stockrooms. Where a deployed asset is installed is recorded in its Location field; the Stockroom field applies only to In stock or Build assets. Stockrooms hold all in-stock inventory, not only retired assets.
What is the primary purpose of a transfer order in HAM Pro?
- A. To order new hardware from a vendor and receive it into the requesting stockroom
- B. To move assets or consumables from one stockroom to another and track the movement ✓
- C. To assign an in-stock asset to an employee and change its State to In use
- D. To return a faulty asset to its vendor for repair or replacement under warranty
Why: A transfer order moves assets or consumables between stockrooms and tracks the movement with lines and stages. Ordering from a vendor is done with a purchase order. Assigning an asset to a user is deployment. Returning a faulty asset to the vendor is a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA).
A transfer order line represents which of the following?
- A. A shipping stage of the transfer order, such as Shipment Preparation or In Transit
- B. The source and destination stockrooms that the whole transfer order moves items between
- C. A specific asset or quantity of consumable being moved within the transfer order ✓
- D. A purchase order line that orders replacement stock for the destination stockroom
Why: Each transfer order line specifies an asset or a quantity of a consumable included in the transfer. Shipment Preparation and In Transit are stages that a line moves through, not what the line is. The source and destination stockrooms are set on the transfer order header. Purchase order lines belong to procurement, not transfer orders.