Hardware Inventory Management

Hardware inventory management involves tracking and management of the physical components of any IT enterprise like computers, laptops and servers. The connected USB and other peripherals are detected in hardware inventory management if they are connected to the computers, laptops or servers. Similar to a hardware inventory management software, IT asset tracker scans Windows, Mac & Linux systems present in networks to collect and store hardware, computer and server inventory details in the database. This data is presented in the form of reports for ready reference.

The reports provided by the system inventory tool also provides a graphical representation and has a drill-down capability to show more detailed information about the hardware and software details such as warranty management along with their usage metrics for each computer.

Endpoint Central's hardware inventory tool helps unify endpoint management by generating the following reports:

• Computer by OS
• Computer by Manufacturer
• Computer by Memory
• Computer by Age
• Computer by Device Type
• Hardware Manufacturers
• List of Hardware Types
• System inventory management - Alert notifications

Computers by OS

This system inventory tool provides the details of the computers by their operating system such as computer name, operating system, service pack, version, virtual memory, visible memory.

Computers by Manufacturer

The hardware inventory software also provides the details of the computers by their manufacturer like computer name, manufacturer, model, system type, physical memory.

Computers by Memory

This computer inventory tool provides the details of the computers by their RAM size like computer name, manufacturer, model, system type, physical memory.

Computers by Age

This hardware inventory management tool also provides the details of the computers by their year of manufacturing like computer name, year of installation, domain name, and description.

Computers by Device Type

It provides the details of the computers based on their type like laptop, portable, desktop.

Hardware Manufacturers

This tool provides a list of hardware manufacturers along with their product count and installation count. Clicking the product count will display the various hardware devices manufactured by that vendor.

List of Hardware Types

The hardware inventory tool provides the list of hardware detected in the network along with their count and installed copies. Clicking the hardware count shows the different types of the hardware.

System inventory management - Alert notifications

It asset management software enables administrators to get notified through email if any new hardware is detected in the network.

For more details on hardware inventory management refer to the Hardware and Software Inventory topic of the online help documentation.

What is hardware inventory management?

Hardware inventory management is the recording and tracking of hardware assets and IT inventory in an organization. Hardware inventory software is a tool that automatically tracks and fetches all hardware data and provides administrators with a snapshot on the state of hardware in their corporate network. Our hardware inventory tool lets you keep tabs on all your endpoint devices from a single dashboard.

Why should I track hardware and software inventory?

Tracking the hardware and software inventory of an enterprise is vital to ensure security, and compliance, as well as the efficiency of the employees. This enables enterprises to optimize resource allocation, streamline the troubleshooting processes, optimize resource allocation, and mitigate the risks associated with unmanaged assets.

By leveraging hardware inventory tracking software, IT teams obtain centralized visibility into the usage metrics and licenses of the software. This prevents unnecessary spending on redundant or unused resources while ensuring that the essential tools are readily accessible to employees across the enterprise.

How does a computer inventory software work?

A computer inventory software automates the inventory management process by scanning the network to identify all connected devices including laptops, computers, servers, and other peripheral devices connected to the network.

Once scanned and discovered, detailed information about these devices such as hardware specifications, serial number, installed software, uptime, and usage metrics are collected. This data is then centralized and stored in the hardware inventory management system, providing the IT teams with a comprehensive view of all the managed IT assets.

How do you organize hardware inventory?

Using a hardware inventory management system such as Endpoint Central, IT admins can swiftly organize the hardware inventory in the following ways:

1. Scanning and identifying hardware: Obtaining centralized visibility over the hardware in your network is crucial. Hence, the first step is to scan the network and gather details about the hardware in the network (ex. manufacturer, license, operating system, etc.)
2. Categorizing and classifying the hardware: The next step is to categorize the hardware. This can be done based on the department, function, priority of usage, and so on. The discovery and classification of assets can also be automated using pre-defined rules available in a hardware inventory system.
3. Implementing access controls: Enabling multi-factor authentication and applying access controls ensures the security of sensitive data by limiting access to the managed hardware resources. This further improves the security compliance of the organization.
4. Regular maintenance and audits: For optimal performance and compatibility, it is important to perform regular, scheduled maintenance of the hardware assets. In addition, regular audits of these devices can thwart any security loopholes or discrepancies.

Key features of hardware inventory software:

• Easy-to-use interface
• Real-time data with alerts
• Comprehensive reports on various categories
• Managing licenses and warranty details of endpoint devices
• Automating scanning to eliminate manual process
• Prohibiting and blocking unwanted apps

Why is system inventory management important?

System inventory management is crucial to any organisation because of the following:

• It allows administrators to generate customized reports on hardware and software inventory for audit purposes.
• It safeguards corporate data by restricting the access to external devices like USB and several other removable devices.
• One can easily manage licenses and track the warranty details of endpoint devices in the network.
• It eliminates the need for manual tracking and scanning of devices by automating hardware scan based on the end user action.
• It lets you keep tabs on the state of hardware devices at-a-glance and filter them according to the hardware type, manufacturer etc. 

Benefits of a software inventory tool

The following are some of the benefits of using a software inventory tool.

• As stated earlier, it elimiates plenty of manual labour by automating tasks such as tracking and scanning.
• Similarly, customizable reports assist in providing a quick snapshot of current state and also help in audits.
• With accurate inventory data, organisations can save a lot of money by preventing over-licensing and over-spending.
• With a decrease in manual operations, manually induced erros in inventory tracking and maintenance will also go down, leading to accuracy of data and a further depreciation in the cost to the organisation.
• Software inventory tools can provide data security using certain measures such as restricting certain user's data access privileges and providing data rights to certain users/technicans only.
• To summarise, a software inventory tool can save time, human resources, money as well as ensure better data security and integrity.

Learn more about IT Inventory Management