Over the last couple of months at Esteem the development team I work in have spent a lot of time updating the Intelligent Audit tool to offer a wide range of new features which are easy to use, quick to deploy and agentless (i.e. no software needs to be installed on any machine to be audited).
I thought I would post some high level information about some of the features that we have developed, and a good starter for 10 would be to show how audit data about an organisation’s IT hardware might be of use in various parts of any organisation.
What is Intelligent Audit?
Basically it is a suite of software which can quickly be configured to scan subnets and IP ranges using a repository of logon accounts for SNMP, Active Directory, and Unix. Machines which are located on the network are then assessed automatically to find out what type of device they are, before they are then audited. Adminstrators can then turn these audited devices into assets, which allows them to be assigned to users, departments, and locations, warrantee information can be stored, along with purchase cost, and date. All the configuration and reports are published through a simple to use web interface which provides a focused view of the organisations assets.
Currently we audit any devices on the network if they are found to be SNMP devices, ESX servers, Hyper-V hosts, Windows Desktops and Servers, Printers, Solaris servers, and NetApp storage with more Operating Systems coming online in the next few weeks and months.
The screenshots shown below show how asset management greatly differs from auditing as these examples are designed to give a financial focus of all hardware in the organisation. Traditionally only IT administrators interacted with IT audit data, whilst asset management is now critical to various areas of any organisation: Project Management, Security and Compliance, Finance, and Department or Team Managers will all have varying interests in the financial investment any organisation makes in their IT estate.
One specific area where asset management is essential is when planning for desktop upgrade or refresh projects. Careful consideration of which assets should be replaced, which can be upgraded, and which should work for the next couple of years without issue. Any customer who is considering such a project must use asset management. Without it there is little chance of ensuring that the right equipment is retained and the best value is achieved. In the current financial climate all organisations are desperate to ensure every possible cost saving is maximised, both during the project’s lifecycle and years after completion.
Financial Dashboard
This dashboard details how the finances for the company are split up between departments, office location, by type of hardware, and by condition. This type of data can be critical when ensuring that businesses are covered for insurance, and also planning office consolidations to cut building maintenance and rental costs.
Ageing Asset Reports
This report details the assets which are reaching their end of life. Support costs generally increase as assets become older, and when warrantees expire this can greatly increase general day to day support costs.
Asset Condition Reports
This report details the condition of all assets in a department. This is invaluable information when tracking specific users who might not taking care of their assets. One solution might be to provide cheaper hardware to these users, helping to cut the constant expense of replacing their equipment. This information makes it possible to target hardware replacement to ensure that money is spent on replacing the assets that most need it.
I will send out more updates over the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime you can contact John me through the blog if you would like to have some more information, or if you have suggestions on possible customer development that might benefit customers.
Thanks
John
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