The Asset Repository

The majority of the transactions between PeopleSoft IT Asset Management and the asset repository occur as the result of scheduled PeopleSoft IT Asset Management processes that you define during setup. IT asset data is stored in the asset repository for both known IT assets and IT assets discovered by your third-party application. PeopleSoft IT Asset Management queries this data to report discrepancies. These discrepancies are then posted to Manage Exceptions, where you can reconcile them as appropriate for your enterprise.

Some of the identified discrepancies may require reconciliation; others may not. It is up to your organization to determine which discrepancies to reconcile and which (if any) to ignore.

The third-party inventory application periodically inventories IT assets (or their absence), and financial action may be necessary in order to reconcile discrepancies. For example, an asset listed in the asset repository may have been taken out of service or transferred from one business unit to another. If, after researching the discrepancy, the PeopleSoft IT Asset Management user determines that a financial attribute for an asset must be updated in the asset repository, they can issue a request for the update. This request becomes a worklist item that is routed to an appropriate PeopleSoft Asset Management user. These indirect changes to the asset repository can include moving an asset to inventory or requesting that an asset be retired. PeopleSoft IT Asset Management also facilitates direct changes to the Asset Repository for some reconciliation actions.

ITAM also provides a way to reconcile nonfinancial assets in the asset repository with those gathered by discovery. By assigning a physical use status for assets, ITAM reconciles the information stored in the asset repository with that gathered by the discovery application based on Serial Id, thus enforcing uniqueness of Serial Id across all hardware assets that are in physical use. Asset transactions such as Additions, Interunit Transfers, Retirements, and Reinstatements affect the asset's physical use status for comparison with discovery and an alert is provided to indicate a that there is a discrepancy.

The asset repository stores data about all known enterprise assets, including IT assets, and represents the most current information that exists about the IT assets present within the enterprise.

In addition to the asset tables, there are cache tables dedicated to IT assets. These tables provide a temporary storage space for IT asset data discovered and transmitted by your third-party inventory application. PeopleSoft IT Asset Management compares the data in these cache tables to the data stored in the asset tables, and identifies discrepancies. You can then use PeopleSoft IT Asset Management to reconcile these discrepancies and update the data stored in the asset tables.

Note:

The data in the cache tables is not persistent. Once PeopleSoft IT Asset Management has reconciled the data discrepancies, it empties the cache tables in preparation for the next inventory cycle.

You can compare and reconcile the following attributes:

  • Business Unit

  • Department

  • Custodian

  • Location

  • Manufacturer

  • Model

  • Serial Number

  • Software

  • User-defined fields

See Asset Lifecycle Management Fundamentals: Understanding the Asset Repository.