ITSM Asset Management 2024
ITSM Asset Management 2024
Configuration
Management in Jira
Service Management
Contents Placeholder for style reference
13 Why does getting this right matter for the evolution of ITIL, ITSM,
ESM, and DevOps in your organization?
15 IT asset management
24 Key terms
25 Object schema
26 Object type
28 Attribute
31 Object
31 Reference
33 Status
34 Role
36 Service registry
38 Assets reports
42 Automation
43 Assets Discovery
166 Appendix
167 Implement
Foreword
IT asset management and service configuration management are both critical
components for excellent IT service management (ITSM). Similar to other
ITSM practices (e.g., incident, problem, change, etc.), IT asset and service
configuration practices are well-established and, at the same time, continuing
to evolve. This juncture of traditional concepts and innovative, modern tools
produces a new landscape for users to explore and develop.
You may want to think of this document as a travel guide. Read the sections
that match where you currently are on your journey and skip over the parts you
already know or have seen. The document will walk you through the basics of
IT asset and service configuration practices, describe the structures of Assets
in Jira Service Management, lay out a solution for a common ITSM use case,
and provide a high-level checklist to implement your own IT asset and service
configuration management strategy.
6
01
Atlassian’s approach to IT asset and
service configuration management
· Laptops
· Servers
· Phones
· Monitors
· Software
· Network equipment
· Laptops
· Servers
· Virtual machines
· Software
· Network adapters
· Databases
Just like with assets, configuration items can expand beyond IT.
Examples include employees, procedure documents, vendors, and more.
Plan
Retire Acquire/develop
You can avoid investing in IT asset and service configuration management and
not employ the practices at all; however, you will probably pay in other ways:
· Slow response time to customers because staff doesn't have quick access
to available equipment data
A software glitch prevented the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) from
processing stock trades for almost 90 minutes.
The financial markets felt the impact even beyond the NYSE trading floor.
Since investors couldn’t calculate market indexes without NYSE data, trading
also stopped at the American Stock Exchange and some futures and options
markets. Trading also slowed on the NASDAQ Stock Market, due to investor
reluctance to do business without information on NYSE trading.
A new software installation caused the problem. The NYSE had installed the
software on 8 of its 20 trading terminals, and the system was tested the night
before go-live. However, on the following morning, a total of 8 installations
failed to operate correctly. The NYSE tried to switch back to its old software,
but was unable to do so before the opening of the trading session.
As you can see from the diagram below, it's crucial to think through how you
plan, build, run, and govern processes and data transactions. By combining
ITIL, ITSM, and DevOps approaches, teams broaden their scope beyond just
developing and delivering new features. They also prioritize the ongoing
performance of these functionalities during live operations and recognize the
value they bring to customers.
Govern
COBIT/ISO
Policy
Executive
Dashboard
Plan
PMLC
Build Run
Process
Management
SDLC ITIL
Reporting
DevOps
Decision making requires data. Effective decision making requires reliable data.
1 Gartner, Inc. “Break the CMDB Failure Cycle With a Service Asset and Configuration Management Program.”
Published 5 May 2020.
There are plenty of ROI calculations that you can apply to your business. The
metric is cost avoidance in areas such as:
· The effort and cost for a system/network engineer to handle IT asset and
service configuration management processes manually.
The benefits of IT asset and service configuration management flow into all
these activities. These activities take time, and time is money.
These processes enable organizations to not only respond to security threats, but
also run IT Operations effectively. When a cybersecurity event, like BlueKeep, occurs,
the first question we ask ourselves is “what is impacted?”. Not having a quick,
definitive, concise answer spins up another unwarranted crisis — a desperate search
for the “right answer.” At that time, rightfully so, everyone volunteers, causing more
chaos because everyone brings forward a different version of the “truth.” In the end,
when all the crises have been overcome, we reflect to realize that the price tag — the
cost of business disruption, overtime, extra work, vendor fees, etc. — is enormous
and unaffordable.
PLATFORM
Automation & orchestration, reporting & analytics, and APIs
With Jira Service Management on the same platform as Jira Software, all
assets and related issues are stored in one place and teams can easily
understand how assets relate to their workloads. You’ll know the reason for
acquiring the hardware, who it’s assigned to, and its past history. Whether
it’s a trouble ticket, new hire requisition, or purchase order, Jira Service
Management and Jira Software enable seamless communication, visibility, and
reduced friction between dev and IT teams.
Teams can:
· Track IT resources and gain visibility into the relationships between critical
applications, services, and the underlying infrastructure
· Discover and track assets which aid with planning, audits, and compliance
· Manage assets outside of IT, including in HR, sales, legal, facilities, and
other functions
INFRASTRUCTURE Hosts
HOSTS Host
HOST
Name centos-srv-7
SERVICES
Status RUNNING
IT ASSETS Serial number 564d79
Operating system CentOS Linux 7
FACILITIES ... ...
OS HOST
OS Host
Name debian-srv-9
Manufacturer RUNNING
Version 75fc0h
Build number Debian GNU
... ...
Each object schema holds unique information in the form of object types,
objects, attributes, icons, references, and statuses. An object schema also has
its own set of permissions and automation, which allows you to hide or show
different information and perform various actions for different users or groups.
Object schemas work like maps that hold all of your assets, CIs, and resources
together. You can have many object schemas and refer to objects inside them
from your issues and requests.
Note: The Services object schema is a special case – it contains services that
your site uses across multiple projects. The Services object schema will be
covered in a later section.
PRO TIP
· Which groups will access, own, and maintain the data? For
example, if the IT team updates server data and the HR team
updates employee info, you should create different object
schemas for these data types.
· Business services
· Hosts
· Laptops
· Software
· Vendors
· Locations
· Employees
· Medical equipment
PRO TIP
PRO TIP
Default – Represents text, boolean, integer, float, date, date time, URL,
email, text area, select, IP address, etc.
User – Enables selecting a user from a Jira group and connecting objects
to users
Group – Enables selecting a Jira group and connect objects with the user(s)
in specified Groups
Status – Defines the statuses that should be allowed, and left empty
means all statuses allowed
Suffix - For default type "Integer" and "Float" you can set a suffix for the
attribute. An example is "$" for an attribute "Salary"
Show sum - For default type "Integer" and "Float" you can choose to add
the values and display the sum of the attribute values
Filter objects - For attribute of type "Object" you may filter objects to be
selected by AQL (Assets Query Language). By using this filter it is possible
to create dependencies to other fields when creating/editing objects.
Include children - For attribute of type "Object" you may include child
objects in the reference
Using object actions, you can keep your physical assets in check by printing
labels and QR codes, view their dependencies with other objects, and see
which Jira issues they're on.
Reference
A reference is a connection between two different objects. Each object can
be related to many other objects and dependencies defined resulting in a
dynamic and powerful network of assets and CIs. References have a color and
a name for better identification. This capability helps users to have meaningful
graphs during impact analysis or dependency mapping, etc.
Object schema graph — see how all objects are knitted together using references.
· Outbound references point from the current object to another object (e.g.,
from printer asset to cubicle location)
· Inbound references point from another object toward the current object.
(e.g., from stockroom to all assets stored in the location)
PRO TIP
Assets in Jira Service Management includes a set of default statuses, but you
can also add new statuses to represent the different states of objects in
your environment.
Statuses can be global, or they can apply only to a specific object schema.
Each status includes an optional description and a general category - active,
pending, or inactive.
Global - Allows you to configure the entire Assets application (Jira admin)
Role Description
Assets This role can perform all actions in Assets in Jira Service
Administrator Management. This includes:
· Configuring Assets globally
· Managing individual schemas
Note: Assets Administrator is a role given to all Jira
Administrators by default. It is not possible to revoke
this permission.
Assets This role means builders or creators, rather than e.g. software
Developers developers. It can execute the following tasks on an
object schema:
· View objects
· Search objects using basic and advanced search
· Create and edit objects
· Export objects
· Print QR codes and labels
· Any user — even those who are not licensed for Jira Service Management
or any Atlassian products — is granted a temporary “User” role when an
object custom field is added to a request type that can be accessed by
end-users on a portal. This allows them to view the object fields and
their values.
· Jira Software, Jira Service Management, and Jira Work Management users
can have temporary "Object Schema User" roles that allow them to view
and edit the contents of an object custom field within issues where they
already have existing edit permissions.
These roles will not count toward the total number of users on your license.
PRO TIP
· If you want users to work with object types (and objects), you need to
grant them permissions for object types, but also for the schema (at
least User permissions, so they can view it). Without giving them any
permissions for the schema, they won't be able to access it.
· If you don't specify permissions for object types, they will be inherited
from the object schema.
Learn more
How services work with Assets in Jira Service Management
This is useful for incident management because you can use the graph to
traverse through dependencies and understand where things have gone
wrong. It’s also useful for change management because it allows you to see
the bigger picture and evaluate risk — easier to do when you can see what
depends on the item you’re making changes to.
Learn more
What is the Assets Object field in Jira Service Management?
The following asset-based reports are available with Assets in Jira Service
Management Data Center/Server application. Out-of-box issue-based
reporting is also available in Jira Service Management.
PRO TIP
If you use Assets in Jira Service Management and include all of its data in
an Atlassian Data Lake connection (along with Atlassian Analytics), you can
utilize the starter dashboard that comes with that Data Lake connection;
see the link for details:
You can create automation rules that automatically perform actions (for
example, notify users) based on specific events (for example, object updates)
for all objects, or only a group of objects in a schema. When an asset
meets certain criteria, you can update an asset, create issues, send email
notifications and execute a script or an HTTP request.
The following Jira automation components are available for Assets:
· Create issue (If the rule is triggered by an object, you can select Insert
object to automatically add the triggered object via AQL)
· Edit object
· Lookup objects
Rules can be tailored to your needs using the Asset Query Language (AQL).
Use post functions to trigger automatic actions that follow Jira workflows. For
instance, automatically assign the issue to a service owner upon confirmation.
Leverage powerful automation tools to further slash down resolution time and
boost operational efficiency.
Object schemas
Use object schemas to organize the
structure of your object types, objects,
and attributes.
Object types
Use object types to specify assets/CIs
by defining attributes and references
between other object types.
Objects
A specific instance of an object type.
E.g. ‘Laptop’ would be an object type
and ‘MacBook-4523’ would be
an object.
Attributes
Use attributes to manage what kind
of information is stored for each
object type.
References
Use references to define how objects
are related to one another.
User Roles
Use roles to manage object schema
permissions for different users
and groups.
Imports - CSV
Bring data into Assets from CSV and
JSON files. Normalization for Normalization for
duplicate entries duplicate entries
Imports - JSON
CSV Bring data into Assets from CSV
and JSON files. Normalization for Normalization for
duplicate entries duplicate entries
Asset Discovery
Network scanner that can be used
to discover IP-enabled assets/CIs
and bring them into Jira Service
Management.
Integrations
Integrate with a third party tools to
keep data up to date. Includes:
· Cloud providers (AWS, Azure,
Some integrations are
Google Cloud)
available today via
· Mobile device and software
Atlassian Marketplace.
management (JAMF, SCCM, Snow)
This is a priority area
· Other CMDBs (ServiceNow,
for future development.
Device42)
· Atlassian ecosystem (Jira &
Bitbucket, Confluence, Tempo)
· Others (NVD)
Export objects
Export data from Assets as a backup
or to be used in other systems.
Object graph
Use the object graph to view the
relationship and hierarchy between
different objects and object types.
AQL search
Use AQL (Assets Query language) to
search Assets for specific objects (e.g.
what computers are not assigned to
a user).
Note: this was previously IQL (Insight
Query Language) and will continue to
function following the rebrand
to Assets.
JQL search
Use the Assets JQL function to
search for Jira issues that have
objects linked to them.
Reports
View your Assets information in
myriad different ways. Via Atlassian Analytics
(Enterprise only)
Via integration with analytics
tool available from Atlassian
Marketplace
Widgets
Use an Assets widget to view
Assets information within a Jira
Dashboard or on a
Confluence page. Via Confluence Macro
Print QR Codes
Generate printable QR codes for
each object in Assets.
Automation
Workflow Transitions
Automate Assets related tasks
when a particular transition in a Uses Assets specific Uses Jira Automations rather
workflow is triggered. post-functions than post-functions. Similar
functionality to Data Center.
Object Automations
Create rules that automate
simple tasks in Assets. Rules are Uses Assets specific Uses Jira Automations
automatically triggered upon automations rather than Assets specific
certain events. automations. Similar
functionality to Data Center.
Scripting
Ability to extend automation
actions with Groovy scripting. Uses Assets specific Can use Jira Automations or
automations ScriptRunner instead
REST API
GARTNER, INC. “BREAK THE CMDB FAILURE CYCLE WITH A SERVICE ASSET AND CONFIGURATION
MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.” PUBLISHED 5 MAY 2020.
3 Gartner, Inc. “Break the CMDB Failure Cycle With a Service Asset and Configuration Management Program.”
Published 5 May 2020.
Use the ITIL 4 Guiding Principles to observe and understand the services,
practices, people, and tools that you already have.
· Focus on value
The team’s playbook should outline the business value of IT asset and service
configuration management using the following items:
· Stakeholders (Who)
For example:
Who
· Service desk
· DevOps
· SecOps
· Enterprise architecture
What
IT ASSET
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How Why
· Improved perception of IT as
an enabler of the business
IT ASSET
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Activity 2
· What type of IT devices are important · What are the top services that are
for us to track and manage? important to our business?
· What do we need to understand · Who manages these services?
about our IT devices to track them · What percentage of services are
effectively? deployed to the cloud (AWS, Azure,
· What do we need to track when Google etc.)?
onboarding and offboarding employees · Do we have a good understanding of
and contractors? the service taxonomy (the supporting
· What types of software licenses do we service applications/infrastructure and
track (cloud vs physical)? Do we have a their relationships)?
good understanding of the subscription · What types of information do we
license purchased versus assigned? need to track to support compliance
· How can leadership and IT teams find requirements?
the total assets deployed, who owns
or is assigned the assets, where is
the asset’s associated purchase order
and contract data, etc. to make key
business decisions?
· What types of information do we need
to track to support financial audit
requirements?
If you can’t easily answer these questions, then you likely have blindspots in
your asset and service configuration oversight. If you have unused licenses,
maybe you’re paying too much for your software agreement. If you’re not
sure which operating systems you have running, how do you make sure every
device is updated if there’s a security patch required?
This information will determine what data you need to answer your questions
and help solve your problems and are the foundation for your initial use cases
to be included in the team’s playbook. Identify your critical service and the
supporting infrastructure, specifically, the applications and the related servers.
You can then prioritize developing these use cases based on the value the
functionality will bring to the business and ease of implementation. You’ll
get a quicker and more visual realization of the available benefits, and the
rest of the business will quickly notice the positives, such as quicker incident
resolution, fewer failed changes, and less downtime.
After your initial use cases are defined, the next action is to consider what
data asset and service configuration management must provide to other
processes (incident, change, request fulfillment, etc.).
· Model · Location
· PO
This data will be the attributes for your assets/CIs. Include only the attributes
you need to support the data needs of the use cases and determine the
source for the information. Some customers may have configuration data
available through current discovery tools and other asset data tracked in
various spreadsheets or databases across separate organizations. Use your
existing data as the baseline for Assets implementation and document which
attributes require manual entry and which ones can be updated automatically
via discovery.
Also, outline the workflows and roles between processes so that everyone
knows how they should be working with each other and who owns the data
completeness and accuracy.
For example, incidents can be created only for servers that are connected to
the company network and operational. The data center team is responsible
for receiving the server and updating asset data, the server support team
installs the server, and a discovery tool detects the new server and sets the
configuration status to operational.
IT ASSET
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Activity 4
Outline your asset/configuration dataset
In our experience, companies typically start with tracking infrastructure assets
they need to support incident and change management as well as service
requests. These items typically represent IT components such as:
Decide which asset types and attributes you need to support your use cases.
Again, we recommend that organizations start simple and make incremental
improvements as they gain experience.
PRO TIP
You can show value to the organization by tying back to the goals and
objectives the team set earlier. The value to the company is that you can
provide a link between strategic business drivers to the services offered to
your customers to the operational infrastructure used to deliver your services
and the associated total cost of your services.
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59
How do I build assets using Assets in
Jira Service Management?
Assets is included in Jira Service Management
Premium, Enterprise, and Data Center plans,
allowing teams to track their assets, CIs, The following link provides
and resources to gain visibility into critical more information about
relationships between services, infrastructure, Jira Service Management
and other key assets. Assets is built on Jira Cloud Premium and
Service Management, giving teams a simple provides an option to start
and quick way to tie assets and CIs to service a free trial.
requests, incidents, problems, changes, and Jira Service Management
other issues to gain valuable context and Cloud Premium
the ability to automate workflow to boost
operational efficiency.
Whether you use a default project or create a new project, note the
project’s Key data because we will use the information later when
creating a custom field.
The Key field will automatically populate based on the project name; however,
you can update the data if you would like. Whether you use a default project
or create a new project, note the project’s Key data because we will use the
information later when creating a custom field.
If your organization does not need to track multiple buildings or facility data,
skip to Step 5.
If you want to skip the data structure building steps, you can use Assets
object schema templates to generate object schemas that support your
organization’s resource tracking. These templates contain a variety of
object types based on your needs, giving you a head start as you build
out an effective data repository.
Enter “Facilities” in the Schema Name field; the Key field will automatically
populate based on the project name. Click Create Schema to generate the new
object schema.
Configure the new object schema, and select Allow others to select objects
from this schema because the facility data should be referenceable by other
objects. Then click Back to Facilities view.
When you are creating a new object, you can enter details about that
object in the Create Object dialog box. These details could include
text or numerical information, or even references to other objects. If
you Enable quick creation of referenced objects you can both create
and reference an object in one action, simply by entering a new label
into any object reference field on the Create Object dialog box.
PRO TIP
Add new icons as you wish and use for object types. This way you
can have your organization's colors/theme and improve readability of
asset data.
For the Name attribute, select the Name field then update the data to
“Building Name.” Then click the ellipsis icon and select the Configure option.
Configure the Building Name attribute to be unique, so you avoid duplicate
building names.
You can easily reorder attributes by selecting the grid icon and
dragging the item to a different location.
Add building data, select Create another to create multiple records using the
same window, and create the record.
Note: You can adjust the columns displayed in the List view by clicking on the
Columns option, selecting columns to display/hide, and dragging columns to
change their display order.
Add your primary building data; additional building records can be created
when needed.
Create an object type for Floors and select Buildings as the Parent.
Select the Attributes option for Floors object type and add the
following information.
For the Building Name attribute, you can use an existing value or enter a
new reference value; simply click on the item to enter the value. If you enter a
new reference value, the data is automatically added to the Facilities object
schema Reference types where you can add more information and update
the color.
Select the Attributes option for Rooms object type and add the
following information.
Click the Schema Graph option to display the object types and their
relationships. As you can see in the relationship arrows, Rooms are part of
Floors, and Floors are part of Buildings.
Display the Create schema window then select the Create a blank
schema option.
Atlassian Account
User
ID
HR
IT
Finance
Department Default Select
Marketing
Operations
R&D
Reference
Skip this
attribute if your
Location Object Buildings
organization does
not need to track
multiple buildings
Full-time
Employment Type Default Select Employee
Contractor
Employee start
Start Date Date
date
Status Status
· Finance · Marketing
· HR · Operations
· IT · R&D
· Full-time Employee
· Part-time Employee
· Contractor
PRO TIP
Do not enter a Type Value for the Status field so that all values
are allowed. We will be developing additional functionality for the
Employees object type and want the flexibility to add more status values.
Add your primary team member data; additional employee objects can be
created when needed.
Click the Object Graph option to display the object and relationships.
You can quickly update, export, delete, and print QR codes for assets
through the bulk actions function. Query for the objects you want
to modify, then click on the Bulk actions option to display the bulk
action options.
If your organization does not need to manage business partners at this level,
skip to Step 9; the functionality can be added and data updated when needed.
Create a parent object type when you have similar data sets with
different sources and/or uses. Using a parent object type, you can
create multiple child object types and maintain the same structure.
As you add or update attributes in the parent object type, the
attributes will also be added/updated to the child object types.
Conversely, you can add attributes to child object types without the
attribute being included in the parent object type.
Note that all attributes will be copied from the parent object type
and cannot be modified in the child object types. If an inherited
attribute is deleted from the parent or child object types, the
attribute is removed from all the object types in this inheritance tree.
Technical Account
Default Text
Manager
Customer
Default Text
Success Manager
Customer
Default Text
Support Contact
Account
Default Textarea
Information
PART 3: GOOD PRACTICES FOR IT ASSET AND SERVICE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT 100
Create an object type for Suppliers and select Business Partners as
the Parent.
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All attributes are copied from the parent object type to the children. If you
want to track more information in children object types, additional attributes
are simple to include.
Select the Vendors object type, click on Attributes, and add another attribute,
Vendor Category. Because we configured the Vendor object type to pass all
attributes to child object types, any changes to the Vendor Category will be
passed along to any future children object types.
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Add your primary vendor data; additional supplier and vendor objects can be
created when needed.
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Step 9 - Create an object schema for IT Assets
Now, we will create an IT Assets object schema that will reference information
in the Employees and Manufacturer object types.
Display the Create Schema window, select the Create a blank schema option,
enter IT Assets object schema information, then configure the object schema
to select Allow others to select objects from this schema.
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PRO TIP
PART 3: GOOD PRACTICES FOR IT ASSET AND SERVICE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT 105
Select the Statuses option for IT Assets object schema and add the
following data.
PART 3: GOOD PRACTICES FOR IT ASSET AND SERVICE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT 106
PRO TIP
For this use case, we are focusing on status values for assets;
however, Assets allows us to extend functionality as the
organization’s needs change and grow. For example, we can include
additional status values (or use existing values) to track asset/CI
operational statuses and link the value to discovery operations.
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Step 10 - Create an object type for Hardware
Create an object type for Hardware and configure the object type with Pass all
attributes to child object types and Set this object as abstract settings.
PART 3: GOOD PRACTICES FOR IT ASSET AND SERVICE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT 108
Select the Attributes option for Hardware object type and add information
important to your organization.
Maintenance
Default Text
Contract
Last Scan
Default Date time
Date/Time
PART 3: GOOD PRACTICES FOR IT ASSET AND SERVICE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT 109
Ordered
In Transit
In Stock
Asset Status Status In Use
Missing
Retired
Disposed
Operational Running
Status
Status Stopped
For the Name attribute, update the name data to “Asset Name.”
For the Asset Name, Asset Tag, and Serial Number attributes, click the
ellipsis icon and configure the attributes to be unique, so you avoid
duplicate asset data.
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For the Unit Price attribute, configure the suffix to include a currency symbol.
For the Assigned User attribute, you use an existing reference value or enter a
new reference value; simply click on the item to enter the new value.
PART 3: GOOD PRACTICES FOR IT ASSET AND SERVICE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT 112
PRO TIP
Although this use case does not include software IT assets, we can
copy and update the Hardware object type for future use managing
software assets.
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Configure the Software object type and update the Icon and
Description values.
Select the Attributes option for Software object type, include relevant
information, and delete any unnecessary items.
PART 3: GOOD PRACTICES FOR IT ASSET AND SERVICE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT 114
Name Type Value Additional Value
Maintenance
Default Text
Contract
Maintenance
Default Date
Renewal Date
Last Scan
Default DateTime
Date/Time
Ordered
In Use
Asset Status Status
Retired
Disposed
Running
Operational Status Status
Stopped
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Additional object types can be created for Desktop Software and Applications,
when needed.
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Step 11 - Create an object type for Laptops
Create an object type for Laptops and select Hardware as the Parent.
There is no need to add or modify any attributes because the data was copied
from the parent object type.
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Step 12 - Define an import structure for the IT Assets object
schema and import laptop data
Before starting the data import steps, please ensure that the required
reference data is available.
1. Update the attached .csv data file and change the Assigned User data to
match your Jira users.
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Select CSV import type and click Next.
Enter a name for the import and select your CSV file.
Deselect Automatically create object types and attributes because you have
already defined the Laptops object type and attributes.
Note: If your data is complex, there are additional options for defining the data
import structure (e.g., delimiters, date format, etc.).
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Click Create Import, and your import definition is created.
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The next step is to select Edit mapping and click Create mapping for the
import definition.
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To build the object type mapping for the import definition, select Edit
attributes mapping, add data from source file mapping to attributes.
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Create the attribute mappings for relevant items.
Model ID Model ID
PO PO Number
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For the Manufacturer, Vendor, and Assigned User mapping, you want to
create a relationship between the laptop data and the data you created earlier.
The AQL syntax is Attribute=${Name of placeholder}; the placeholder is the
column label in the external data source.
To enable the object type mapping, select the ellipsis icon and click Enable.
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To enable the import structure, select the ellipsis icon, click Edit import
structure option, then save the import structure.
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The data is now ready to import, so click Import data.
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When the data import is complete, click Read details to view the results.
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The laptop data is now available.
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And linked to employees.
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Step 13 - Create a custom field to store laptop data in
a request
The next step is to connect the laptop assets to service requests, so select the
Jira Service Management Setting cog option and select Issues.
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On the Custom fields pane, click Create custom field.
In the Select a Field Type window, click All, select Assets objects, then
click Next.
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Enter Name data for the custom field and create the new field.
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Search for your project and associate the new field to the request and incident
screens in your project, then click Update.
In the Custom fields pane, search for the new field then update the Context
and default values.
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On the Issues pane, click Edit Assets object/s field configuration to update
the configuration context.
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To configure the custom field, select IT Assets as the Object schema.
To limit the data list to laptops assigned to the issue reporter, include
"Assigned User." "Atlassian Account ID"=${reporter} in the Filter issue scope
field.
Include the relevant values in the Allow search filtering by these attributes
field:
· Assigned User
· Asset Name
· Asset Name
· Serial Number
· Assigned User
· Refresh Date
· Asset Status
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The custom field is available in the specified project screens.
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PRO TIP
This basic AQL query would return all objects for which the Owner
is "Ted Anderson". Note the quotations around "Ted Anderson", since
there is a space in the value name.
Dot notation
Note that since the referenced attribute contains spaces, it has been
enclosed with a pair of double quotes.
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Step 14 - Associate the new custom field with a
project request
Select Projects option in the Jira Service Management main navigation bar
and select View all projects.
Click on the ellipse icon for your project and select Project settings.
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Select Request types in the service project sidebar, filter on “hardware” then
click on Request new hardware link.
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Use the field search function to locate the new custom field in the Fields pane,
drag-and-drop the field to the Request new hardware form, click Save, then
click View to see the updated request form.
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Step 15 — Create automation for updating a laptop asset status
With the Affected laptop(s) field associated with the Request new hardware
form, we can create automation to update assets when requests are submitted.
In this step, we will create another custom field and define the automation steps.
For this use case, we will update a laptop’s status if it is reported as lost
or stolen.
In the Request new hardware form window, click on the Create new custom
fields link.
In the Custom fields window, click the Create custom field button.
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In the Select a Field Type window, search on “select”, select Select List (single
choice), then click Next.
In the Configure ‘Select List (single choice)’ Field window, enter Name and
Options data for the custom field, then create the new field.
Assets lost or
Options New projects
stolen
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Search for your project and associate the new field to the request and incident
screens in your project, then click Update.
Return to the Request new hardware window, drag-and-drop the new field to
the form, click Save, then click Preview to see the updated request form.
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Now that we have created a custom field to track the reason for requesting
new hardware, we can build the automation for updating the status in related
asset record if a laptop is stolen or lost.
Select your project from the Jira Service Management main navigation bar
then select Project settings in the service project sidebar.
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Creating a new hardware request will be the trigger for the automation, so in
the Create a trigger pane, select Issue Created, then click Save.
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We will add a few conditions for triggering the automation by creating
components.
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To define the first condition, select Issue fields condition in the Add a
condition pane.
Enter the following data in the Issue fields condition pane, then click the
Save button.
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To enter the second condition, we will add another component then define
the condition.
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In the Issue field condition pane, enter the following data, then click the
Save button.
Field Condition
To enter the third condition, we will add one more component and define
another condition.
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In the Issue fields condition pane, select the custom asset field and enter
Condition data, then click Save.
PRO TIP
Triggers are a powerful tool for keeping your Jira issues synchronized
with Assets data. We recommend that you configure triggers within
individual project automation (rather than globally) and define
specific conditions to ensure the automation rule works reliably and
only in expected conditions.
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Now that the trigger conditions are defined, we will create the
automation action.
In the Add an action pane, filter on “attribute”, then select Edit Assets
field attributes.
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In the Edit Assets field attributes pane, Affected Laptop(s) is pre-populated
as the Asset field value, so click on the Choose attribute to set option, then
select Asset Status.
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Enter Missing in the Asset Status field and click Save.
In the Add component pane, select THEN: Add an action, filter on “comment,”
then select Comment on issue in the Add an action pane.
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In the Comment on issue pane, enter an informational message, ensure
the checkbox for Prevent duplicates by only adding this comment once to
a particular issue is selected, select Share with customer in the Comment
Visibility field, then click Save.
{panel:title=INFO|borderStyle=dashed|borderColor=#ccc|titleBGColor=#F7D6C1
bgColor=#FFFFCE}The stolen/lost laptop ‘{{issue.Affected Laptop(s).Asset
Name}}’ was updated in the IT Assets schema and the Asset Status is set to
Missing.{panel}
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PRO TIP
For more information about Jira automation and Jira smart values,
visit the following links:
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The automation rule is complete, so add a name for the automation and click
Turn it on.
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Step 16 - Create a request for an employee laptop
Now you can test the automation by creating a request for an employee,
selecting the employee’s laptop, and providing a reason for the new
hardware request.
Note: Ensure you have assigned a laptop asset to yourself before testing the
automation.
In the Help Center, select Computers then click Request new hardware.
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Enter information in the
Summary field, select “Asset
lost or stolen” in the Reason
for new hardware field, select
an Affected Laptop(s) value,
enter information in the Why
do you need this? field, then
click the Send button.
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Note: Automation rules may take a couple of seconds to complete, so you may
need to refresh your browser screen. You can also view the automation audit
logs for more information.
To learn about Jira automation audit logs, visit the following link:
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You can view the issue by selecting the issue ID and see the request details,
note about the asset record update, SLAs for issue response and resolution,
etc. Additionally, you can click on the asset field Show details toggle and see
that the Asset Status is set to Missing.
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Appendix
Checklist of next steps
This list is designed as a high-level overview of next steps to take when
embarking on your ITAM and service configuration management journey.
By starting small and focused, we’ve seen organizations implement a valuable
asset and/or configuration system in just a few months.
Assemble a team to tackle this problem. The team members you choose
will depend heavily on the business problem.
Consider which teams interact with the problem area and pull
stakeholders from each relevant team.
Build a business case using the problem statement and goals to get
buy-in from stakeholders and budget approval.
166
Understand what data you need
Understand what information you need to solve your chosen problem.
List relevant asset and CI categories (e.g. laptops, servers, databases) and
what information (attributes) you need to know about each category.
Decide what data to leave in its current tool and what should be
moved entirely into the CMDB. It’s definitely time to leave those
spreadsheets behind.
Understand which integrations to third party tools or file imports you will
need based on the above.
Implement
Carry out any relevant product training for your team members that will
be building, maintaining, and interacting with your chosen tool.
Learn about data modeling best practices. There are plenty of resources
available, even in-depth YouTube lectures.
Map out the structure you want on paper or a whiteboard. Ensure that
your chosen structure can support the access permissions you require.
Import data and organize it according to your plan. Integrate your assets
and CIs with your service desk.
Set up relevant automation rules to keep data up to date. Trial and iterate.
167
Whether you’re already in the
Atlassian ecosystem or you’re making
a switch from legacy CMDB tools,
Assets in Jira Service Management
can help you modernize your asset and
service configuration management
practices.
Further resource
Atlasssian’s approach to ITSM and ESM: