Published 10 Jul 2023
What is an IT Asset Management Checklist?
An IT asset management checklist is a document that aims to help in the overall management of Information Technology (IT) assets such as hardware, software, and anything else that contributes to an organization’s systems and values. It is an essential part of ensuring the lifecycle of your assets is prolonged for as long and as efficiently as possible.
In this article
- Importance and Benefits
- What Should Be Included in an IT Asset Management Checklist?
- Where to Use It
- FAQs about IT Asset Management Checklist
- Manage Your IT Assets with a Digital Solution
- Related IT Asset Management Checklists
Importance and Benefits
IT asset management refers to the process of ensuring an organization’s IT assets are properly accounted for and maintained. Common IT assets that need to be managed include hardware and software for Information Security and daily operations, as well as licenses, servers, and the like.
Managing IT assets can be demanding, as there are many moving parts, hence the necessity for a checklist. An IT asset management checklist can help organize operations and their order more efficiently, as well as track the movement of people and assets more accurately.
An IT asset management checklist can also help with the following tasks:
- Schedules
- Machine calibration
- Preventive maintenance
- Reports
- History and service tracking
- Lifecycle management
Using an IT asset management checklist is also essential in conducting overall audits on IT systems.
What Should Be Included in an IT Asset Management Checklist?
A typical IT asset management checklist has sections for the following:
- Date of the audit or inspection
- Name of person conducting the IT asset management
- Status of hardware assets
- Status of software assets
- Status of ongoing projects
- Budgets and trends being monitored or followed
- Status of contracts and licenses essential to the organization
- General status of all operations at a glance
- Points for improvement in asset management and usage
- Sign-off
An asset IT asset management checklist can be done in a traditional pen-and-paper format, but it’s best to create and manage yours on a digital platform. Going digital can save you time, improving productivity and work operations. Using a digital asset management solution also helps streamline other aspects of your daily operations, as you can integrate other work software into your IT asset management tasks.
Here is a sample IT asset management checklist in use as a reference on how to use one:
Where to Use It
Asset management, by definition, covers a wide range of tasks, goals, and needs. An IT asset management checklist can thus be used for the following audits and tasks:
- Watching over the movement of your IT assets as they are used by others
- Managing hardware assets such as laptops, phones, printers, plugs, electrical wiring, and the like in order to increase efficiency and life expectancy
- Managing software assets such as digital solutions, accounting software, security providers, and the like to ensure their licenses and systems are up-to-date and still usable
- Maintaining, managing, and IT asset lifecycles, including asset acquisition, assignment, usage, upkeep, and disposal if necessary to ensure all systems are working properly as intended
- Creating, sharing, and documenting work orders and jobs done on IT assets as a whole, including but not limited to maintenance, repair, and inventory
- Documenting and reporting incidents and instances of non-compliance with certain standards and regulations
FAQs about IT Asset Management Checklist
There is usually a dedicated manager who conducts IT asset management audits. However, in some cases, other authorized personnel may manage and use the checklist, depending on organization policy.
An IT asset inventory checklist is an asset management checklist specifically designed for inventory use. Compared to an IT asset management checklist, an IT asset inventory checklist focuses more on logging an asset’s storage, location, license, purpose, sales, and other essential details.
A good IT asset management checklist can only be used efficiently if its users know how it works. Some of the best practices for using one include:
- Establishing a centralized asset management and tracking system and including it in the checklist
- Assigning unique asset identifiers before and during inspections so each IT asset can be easily identifiable and tracked
- Tracking assets wherever they may be from within your checklist
Manage Your IT Assets with a Digital Solution
IT asset management can be a tedious and complicated task depending on your needs and organization. However, it can be simplified with the help of technology.
With SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor), you can streamline your IT asset management more efficiently, improving productivity and processes. SafetyCulture is a mobile-ready that you can use to digitize your daily asset management tasks and other related processes, empowering you and your team to work more efficiently and address issues immediately. With smart forms and checklists, you can better manage your documentation, problem-reporting and solving, and overall management.
To get started, you can download a premade customizable IT asset management checklist template from the Public Library or create your own from scratch. After, you can access your checklist and reports from the cloud, anytime and anywhere. You can also use these offline, ensuring you can do your IT asset management tasks whenever necessary.
SafetyCulture allows you to do the following:
- Schedule regular IT asset management inspections and audits
- Report issues and create actions to address them as they happen
- Train employees on proper IT asset management practices
- Manage and track IT assets even if they are far from you
- Communicate with team members from anywhere with Heads Up
- Monitor lone workers handling IT assets with SHEQSY by SafetyCulture
- Generate analytical reports in PDF, Excel, Word, or Weblink format for sharing
Related IT Asset Management Checklists
ISO 27001 Information Security Checklist
Use this checklist template to manage your IT assets in line with ISO 27001 regulations with Information Security to ensure a safe, secure, and efficient asset management procedure. In the process, you can also prepare for ISO certification.
Basic Asset Management Template
This basic asset management template aims to help asset managers for any industry track the important details of their company assets and indicate the schedule of maintenance tasks for each asset. Upon completion, the template can be signed off digitally to verify that the details provided are accurate and up-to-date.
