IT asset initialization overview
The Maximo® database maintains two kinds of data about IT assets or items: authorized asset data and deployed asset data. The IT asset initialization process lets you use deployed asset data stored in the Maximo database to create IT asset records in the database.
Authorized assets
Authorized IT asset data is data that you recorded about what you acquired and installed. This data represents your authorized inventory, how things should be and what is planned. You manage data about hardware assets in the Assets application. Software licenses are also authorized IT assets, which you manage in the Licenses application.
Deployed assets
Deployed asset data is information that a discovery tool collects about objects deployed in your enterprise. To gather this data, discovery tools, such as IBM® Tivoli® Asset Discovery for Distributed, scan computers, network devices, and network printers deployed in your enterprise. Information is then recorded about the hardware and software installed on those assets. Integration Composer imports the collected data into the Maximo database. You view this data in the Deployed Assets module applications – Computers, Network Devices, Network Printers, and Deployed Software.
IT asset initialization
Using deployed asset data to create IT asset records is an efficient way to create a baseline set of records when you first implement IT asset management.
To create a baseline set of IT asset data, you perform the following tasks:
- Collect data from devices installed on your network using a discovery tool, such as IBM Tivoli Asset Discovery for Distributed.
- Import data from the discovery tool database into Deployed Assets using the appropriate Integration Composer adapter.
- Migrate data from Deployed Assets into Assets using the IT asset initialization components with Integration Composer.
To facilitate the asset initialization process, IBM provides several components for creating IT asset records.