[How-To] SOP - CALS Help Desk - Asset Management

Procedures for managing assets in the CALS Help Desk system

Asset Handling Procedures

For all CALS IT desktop support clients, assets will be maintained within the CALS Help Desk ticket system. Clients or assets that do not consume CALS IT services will not have asset information associated with their accounts.  

Procedures involving new purchases, asset management, and asset reassignment are outlined below:

New Purchases

  1. When a new device is needed, the CALS IT Purchaser procures the items from a vendor. Ordering from a state approved vendor on ShopUW+ is preferred. The Purchaser will track the purchase in a spreadsheet and track the following information:
      • Date of Purchase
      • Vendor
      • Item
      • Item type
      • Quantity
      • Client name
      • Requisition Number
      • PO number
      • Invoice number
      • Price paid
      • Expected date of arrival (if available)
      • Shipping status
    1. Once the equipment has been received, the CALS IT Purchaser does the following:
      1. Update purchase spreadsheet.
      2. Create the asset within CALS help desk system (inventory.cals.wisc.edu). The following information should be included where appropriate:
        • Asset Type
        • ACS Asset Number
        • Model
        • Location
        • Room
        • Department
        • Owner
        • Purchasing Unit (add detail)
        • Purchase Date
        • Status = set to "Operational"
        • Serial Number
        • IP Address
        • Machine Name
        • MAC Address (no dashes) for VOIP Phones and as needed
        • Admin Username
        • Admin Password
        • Notes   
      3. For Macs, add Apple Care documents.
      4. Create asset sticker with label maker of the name of the equipment with the Department and Asset Tag (ex. CALSWK-12345).
        • Print two of these labels, one to put on the equipment and one to put on the equipment's box (preferably on the side rather than the top of the box).

    Asset Management

    1. Throughout the lifecycle of the asset the asset record in the CALS Help Desk system may need updating. If any of the captured asset field values change during the course of the asset's life, it will be the responsibility of the technician to update the asset record accordingly. Fields of particular interest for keeping current include:  room, location, department, client, status.
    2. It is not expected that we will use the CALS help desk system for recording software inventory on assets. BigFix will be our single source for this information since TEM is designed to discover this information on its endpoints.
    3. Notes regarding the asset can be captured as needed.  
    4. There are assets in the CALS help desk system that will not be assigned to an individual but rather to a generic department client.   These include assets such as shared laptops, projectors, network printers, etc. These should be assigned to the generic CALS help desk account associated with the owner department. You can find these generic clients by searching by the first name = "CALS" in the client listing. There are currently eleven generic department accounts created in the CALS help desk system.

    Asset Reassignment

    For assets that get reassigned from one client to another, the technician should perform the following steps in the CALS HelpDesk system:

    1. Reassign the client and remove the former client from the asset.
    2. Update the asset for the new room, location, department and other information as applicable.  

    Asset Status Types

    CALS IT has defined the Status field as follows:

    • Operational = Asset deployed and in use
    • Disposed = Asset sent to SWAP or otherwise disposed
    • Spare = In local storage; used for shared or hot swap devices, or may be target for disposal
    • Broken = Device is broken and needs repair
    • Stolen = Device stolen.
    • Lost


    Keywords:
    ACS, CALS, IT, status, purchase, hardware, lifecycle, procurement, new, new laptop, new desktop 
    Doc ID:
    68549
    Owned by:
    Jordan B. in College of Agricultural & Life Sciences
    Created:
    2016-11-09
    Updated:
    2026-03-17
    Sites:
    College of Agricultural & Life Sciences