Practical Management of IT Assets

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_asset is the base asset table. Everything an organization owns financially extends it.
• alm_hardware extends alm_asset and represents physical IT hardware (laptops, servers, mobiles, network gear).
• Sibling extensions include alm_consumable (bulk, non-serialized items consumed from stock) and alm_license (software entitlements, owned by SAM).
• An asset is a financial/contractual record. A CI (cmdb_ci and its children, e.g. cmdb_ci_computer) is the operational/service record. They are distinct but synchronized one-to-one: the asset's ci field points to the CI, and the CI's asset field 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, Disposed. 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 → Disposed), 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.