We all know how great Jira Service Desk is for helping us track issues as they come up. And many use the Insight Asset Management app from Riada in the Atlassian Marketplace to tie assets or other configuration items in the CMDB to those Change, Incident, Problem, and Service Request issues. And Riada’s Insight Discovery tool, or any discovery solution for that matter, can be used automatically to populate and maintain discoverable data in your CMDB.
But what about those assets, configuration items, or attributes that can’t be automatically discovered? How are assets assigned to a user? How can you verify the data out in the real world against what’s in your CMDB, to be sure it’s accurate and up to date? And how do you audit what’s in your system to be sure everything can be accounted for?
Well, that’s where RightStar’s ScanStar for Insight comes into play! Let me show you how:
RightStar’s barcoding solution ScanStar makes tracking physical assets quick, easy, and accurate while eliminating the risk of human error inherent in manual tracking processes. And ScanStar is integrated with Insight Asset Management for Jira right out of the box, giving you a low-cost, reliable method of ensuring database integrity, especially among movable assets as well as assets that are not easily discoverable.
The ScanStar mobile app, available for both iOS and Android devices, allows you to record the movement of inventory items from one location and/or user to another and provides a record of all actions associated with an item throughout its lifecycle. In addition, ScanStar complements auto-discovery software tools, which can identify inventory items but cannot always locate them or determine ownership electronically.
Once you or your administrator have configured the mapping of ScanStar to your specific Jira/Insight system, you’re ready to start scanning!
ScanStar provides 4 workflows:
- Receive
- Track
- Verify
- Audit
Receive
Using ScanStar’s Receive workflow, when a new shipment has arrived at the receiving dock, authorized users can scan new items into your asset inventory easily and quickly.
First, select the correct CI Type for the items you’ll be scanning into inventory. Note that the CI Types listed will be the Insight Object Types in your system which have been configured for use with ScanStar. In my screenshot, I’ve selected “Laptop” from the list of CI Types configured in my system to begin scanning in a box of new laptops, for example.
Next, enter values in the common attributes which all the items you’ll be scanning share. Here is my screenshot, I’ve entered data common to all the laptops in my box of new laptops in the Manufacturer, Model, Location, Status, and Warranty Expiration attributes, since these are the data elements configured in my system. Your list of attributes will be different and will reflect how your Insight CMDB is configured.
Then, begin scanning the barcodes on each of the new items received. Once the barcode is scanned, the new object is automatically created in Insight.
Track
Using ScanStar’s Tracking workflow, as your assets are relocated or reassigned, you can simply scan any barcoded items to retrieve the related CI from your CMDB and update attributes as needed.
Start by scanning the item’s barcode. And if the item has been configured to have two barcode fields, say an Asset Tag Number and a Serial Number, you can scan either to retrieve the record.
Once ScanStar has displayed the CI, simply edit any attributes as needed to reflect the change to the item. Here is my example, I selected a user from a drop-down list called ‘Assigned To’ and even had the user sign right on my mobile device for the delivery.
Verify
Using ScanStar’s Verify workflow, each asset’s barcode label is scanned and a description of the asset, its owner/assignee, location, and any other pertinent information that has been configured for the workflow is displayed on the scanner’s screen. If the information is correct, no action is necessary as a record of this verification is logged by updating the CI’s last scanned date.
Incorrect information can be changed in the field or, if the asset is not found in inventory, the asset data can be entered into the scanner and a new record is created.
Audit
Using ScanStar’s Audit workflow allows you to easily perform a field audit. ScanStar provides configurable Audit Sets, which are collections of assets to be audited that share common characteristics such as location, cost, type, etc. An administrator can define the audit set configuration for you to upload to your mobile device or you can create and edit your own Audit Sets.
First, use the settings cog wheel at the top right corner of the screen to select an Audit Set to work with.
Next, either select from one of the existing Audit Sets already configured on your device or configure a new Audit Set using the plus (+) button on the top right corner of the screen. In my screenshot, you can see one Audit Set I’ve named “Laptops” which is configured to show all company-owned laptops. Alternatively, you could create a new Audit Set simply by giving it a name, a description, and an Insight Query Language (IQL) statement to limit the CIs returned from the CMDB.
Once you’ve selected an Audit Set, all CIs which are part of that Audit Set are listed in ScanStar. In my screenshot here, you can see some Dell laptops in my system.
Then simply begin scanning the laptops in the field audit one by one. When a CI has been scanned, it will show as checked off in the list. In my screenshot below, I’ve so far audited 3 of the 6 laptops in my Audit Set.
Summary
Because discovery software can only see what is connected to the network at the time the discovery scan is performed, only about two-thirds of your actual IT assets can be found. You don’t get a full picture of exactly what you have and where it is without a physical means of tracking your assets. RightStar’s ScanStar solution fills that gap allowing you to focus on tracking the items and attributes you care about most, all in a completely customizable solution with configurable CI-specific forms.
We hope this was useful!