Consolidated IT Asset Management Interface
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current IT asset management systems lack a consolidated view for users to manage their IT assets across various roles and locations, making it difficult to track hardware attributes and installed software, and ensuring compliance with license requirements.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for providing a consolidated self-service IT asset management interface that aggregates IT assets from multiple sources, allowing custodians to view and manage hardware and software assets, including compliance with license metrics, and enabling reassignment of assets based on actual usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If IT asset information is dispersed across multiple locations for different roles, then each role can manage its specific assets, but it becomes incredibly difficult to manage IT assets and provides no consolidated view
Solution Approach 1:
The patent consolidates dispersed IT asset information from multiple sources and roles into a single unified user interface. The system merges hardware asset data, software asset data, and compliance information that were previously scattered across different locations into one comprehensive view accessible to custodians, eliminating the need to navigate multiple discrete pages.
Solution Approach 2:
The unified user interface serves multiple functions simultaneously: displaying hardware assets, showing software assets, presenting compliance metrics, and enabling self-service management operations. This multi-functional interface replaces multiple role-specific interfaces, allowing a single custodian to manage all their IT assets regardless of the original source or assignment type.
2Loss of information
If current IT asset management systems provide discrete pages for different roles and attributes, then detailed information is available for each role, but a consolidated presentation for the end user is lacking
Solution Approach 1:
The system combines information from multiple discrete sources including hardware attributes, software installations, license compliance data, and assignment history into a single consolidated display. This merging preserves all detailed information while making it accessible in one unified interface rather than requiring users to navigate multiple discrete pages.
Solution Approach 2:
While presenting information in a unified interface, the system segments and organizes data by category (hardware assets, software assets, compliance metrics) and by assignment type (individual assignments, group assignments, device group assignments). This segmentation allows comprehensive information display while maintaining clarity and ease of navigation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If IT asset custodians need to access assets from multiple assignment sources, then comprehensive asset coverage is achieved, but the self service view becomes fragmented and difficult to manage
Solution Approach 1:
The unified user interface is designed to handle multiple types of asset assignments universally: individual user assignments, group-level assignments, and device group assignments. The interface adapts to display and manage all these different assignment types through a single consistent mechanism, eliminating the need for separate interfaces for each assignment type while maintaining comprehensive coverage.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure describes, generally, methods and systems for providing consolidated self service IT asset management. The method includes displaying, on a display device of an IT asset management system, an IT asset management user interface (UI), logging in, by an IT assets custodian, to the IT assets management UI, and displaying, at the IT assets management UI, an aggregated view of all IT assets assigned to the IT asset custodian. The aggregated view of the IT assets is generated from a plurality of IT asset assignment sources. The method further includes providing, the IT asset custodian with the ability to management the assigned IT assets and accurately account for the asset according to its actual use.