IT Asset Management System for UL-Software Engineering

Software Engineering Project-EE6421

IT Asset Management System

For

University of Limerick


Prepared by students of (Group-12)

Due date- 17th

Nov, 2014

Lecturer Name: Thomas Newe

Student Name Student ID

Shiva Kumar Koppad 14043513

November 16, 2014 1


Introduction

1.1 Description and Purpose of the Project

Technology has been advancing very fast. With it the complexity of IT infrastructure too. Different

companies and organization look forward to gain competitive advantage at the same time. The

complexity of IT infrastructure must be resolved somehow. To suppress the complexity and for

advancement of technology in the market the IT asset management software has been evolved.

The IT asset management application on an organizational basis is developed to monitor activities and

business practices relating to the management of software, hardware, and workstation warranty. Assets

include Servers, Routers, Switches, Cables, Computers, and Peripherals etc. Any organization

(specifically Institute, University) can use this project to take an inventory of their existing

Hardware/software stocks. They can manage their vendors, categories and users and Labs. The system is

also extensible for other types of assets.

Asset management is a business discipline, which describes the management of technical infrastructure

for business operation. Asset management activities permeate to many levels of an organization, and are

not confined to a central group. For this reason we shall use the term Asset Management Function as a

flexible descriptor for the activities involved, and apply the term Asset Manager to those involved

significantly, but not necessarily exclusively, in asset management activities.

The purpose of the IT Asset Management Function is to provide resources and expertise to support the

acquisition, in-service support and disposal of the physical assets required by the organization. The

function is to clarify how a given standard of service will be provided using designated assets in a

manner that is both optimal and justifiable. The term "optimal" attempts to describe a scenario where a

superior standard of service can be best achieved at a minimal overall cost. Justifiability, on the other

hand, has to do with a full presentation of all the costs and benefits for scrutiny purposes so as to gauge

the activity's effectiveness and efficiency.

This application is suppose to minimize the human effort by providing an electronically manageable

application which keeps track of a number of assets that can be borrowed by the borrower and provide

various functions. In this new acquired assets are added, obsolete assets are deleted and availability of

November 16, 2014 2


assets is updated by the administrator.

1.2 Mission and Goals

The IT asset management project has three main modules which are implemented as logical aspects:

I. Procurement of standard resources: to reduce the process time and needed man power

for the delivery of e.g. PCs, monitors, switches, cables etc.

II. Software License management: matching of used and available licenses on windows computers. III. Common central repository for IT devices: to track and configure all IT devices within one

information system.

1.3 Scope of the project

The IT Asset Management System that is to be developed provides the users and the administrator with assets information. The E-Asset Management System has the following features.

Management of physical components form acquisition through disposal including desktop, laptop,

servers, LAN and WLAN electronics, wireless voice and communications equipment. Software license management.

Standardization of images and contractual compliance.

Assets availability.

Asset compatibility.

Asset current location.

Current assets user.

Asset history.

Authenticate the user/administration.

Administration can generate a unique id for every asset.

Administrator adds details of the new asset into the database, remove details of the asset that are

obsolete from the database and moved to the asset history database.

November 16, 2014 3


Identify the user who failed to comply assets policy (damage or loss). Send a message to the user. Assets can be returned.

Updating the table accordingly for every transaction.

Creating reports for transactions that are committed on basis of day/month/year.

2 Project Initialization

2.1 System overview Asset database management.

Report on the state of IT assets at given point in time.

Track IT assets and determine the total cost of ownership throughout the assets life cycle.

Ensure software license optimization and compliance.

Establish an initial, current and disposal value for the IT assets.

Common central repository of assets.

2.1.1 Asset issuance outline

I. User enters the login portal. II. Now, if user wants to issue a new/replace asset, he/she will go to the asset search option.

III. Here availability of different type of assets will be displayed. Two things can happen:

i. If the product is not available, it will prompt the user to raise a request to admin.

ii. If the product is available then after selection of specific asset request could be raised for the

approval of asset by entering personal details to the approving authority. IV. A unique id number is generated for the user to track the status of the raised request. V. Request will be reviewed by the authority and an automated e-mail will be generated to notify the

user for the collection of asset.

November 16, 2014 4


2.1.2 Software rollout request

1. User will login using his id and password.

2. To raise a request for new software or wants to upgrade the existing one, user has to add details

of the software and system specification so that compatibility could be check by admin.

3. Once the request is raised a ticket no will be generated for further notifications.

2.2 Stakeholders

Before beginning of any technical work stakeholder management is of utmost important. Stakeholders are

important because they can have a huge influence on the success or otherwise of your ITAM programme.

Managing stakeholders effectively is vital for maintaining the momentum of your programme. Senior

stakeholders are often only interested in ITAM when there is a crisis. Less senior stakeholders can easily

slip back into old ways of doing things if not regularly reminded about the importance of new processes and

encouraged to carry out the low priority, tedious administration tasks without which ITAM cannot function.

Stakeholder management can be an important tool for embedding change within organizations and

minimizing the likelihood that the new way of working will be a failure. The heart of stakeholder

management is communication – determining what, how much and with whom we should communicate our

activities. Everybody, no matter what their role, already engages in a degree of stakeholder management –

discussing activities with line managers, picking up the phone to discuss a problem with colleague,

publishing formal reports are all ways of managing stakeholders, however, “Stakeholder Management” aims to formalize this process by identifying and analyzing all stakeholders

in order to define and implement a communications plan that will maximize their support and minimize

potential hostility.

November 16, 2014 5


Stakeholders in project

i. Customer.

ii. Vendor/Supplier.

iii. Project manager.

iv. Asset manager.

v. System analyst.

vi. System designer.

2.3 Constraints on the system

The information of all the users must be stored in a database that is accessible by the IT-Asset

Management System.

The IT-Asset Management System is connected to the server and is running all 24 hours a day.

The users access to it asset management system from any computer that has internet browsing

capabilities and an internet connection.

The penalty system is connected to the IT-asset management system and the database used by

the penalty system must be compatible with the interface of the ITAM.

The users must have their correct usernames and passwords to enter into the ITAM.

After every 4 minutes, the system page expires i.e., time out.

The system must have data backup facility in case of data loss. If data loss occurs, the

system is able to recover from the data backup.

The asset information such as hardware identification number, name, and description must

be maintained by the asset management.

A real time analysis framework

The system shall be efficient to handle user requests.

November 16, 2014 6


3. Business case for the project The software aims at reducing the manual work by providing an electronically manageable

application and a framework of tracking, managing and documentation of the organizational assets

such as peripherals, software applications, network devices, PC’s, severs, laptops software license,

hardware etc.

Benefits Gain Control

Aware about the asset location.

Who is using them and how.

What software is being installed?

Reduce Risk

Proactive approach towards a software compliance audit.

Easily auditing of IT assets to meet regulatory requirements.

Displays the IT risks existing in the network.

Reduce Costs

Removal of obsolete software licenses.

Track licenses, contracts using supporting documents.

Improve productivity

Ensure users are using the authorized assets.

Detect unproductive software (games, p2p tools etc).

November 16, 2014 7


3.1 Feasibility of the project

I. Economic feasibility

With maintenance cost rising and software audits becoming more frequent, managing IT assets

has become a high priority. Organizations that implement IT Asset Management will enjoy cost

savings of around 30% in the first year alone, as a result of:

Retire obsolete assets.

Eliminate Redundancy.

Resolve Risks.

II. Technical Feasibility

The main challenge in integrating Asset Management as an application is the gathering of

detailed hardware and software inventory information from managed assets inside the corporate

network (LAN).

Two basic approaches for network discovery can be followed: agent and agentless.

The traditional approach involves installation of agents on all computers from which data is

required. An agent is a software that runs on a computer with the purpose of collecting

information and pushing it over the network to the server.

In the agentless approach, data is collected from computers without installing additional agents.

This is accomplished by obtaining data from the software that is already installed on the

computer, including the operating system, as well as previously installed products or the details

can be fetched into the system by using the barcode scanner to scan the barcodes of previously

installed assets.

November 16, 2014 8


III. Security Feasibility The system have to be secure because it deals with the organizational asset database which cannot

be disclosed to any unauthorized personnel. The database access system must be secure to prevent

any active as well as passive attacks.

The security requirements can be handled using the unique ID and password combination which

will set the things right for the ITAM system. Furthermore the database information transfer will

take place through an encrypted channels to avoid any kind of attacks.

4 Quality function deployment analysis

The QFD analysis is used to translate actual customer requirement into functional requirement.

The customer voice and need is defined in terms of design to deliver a quality end product. The

QFD framework helps in in the requirements elicitation. The aim is to prioritize the customer need

into technical design that characterizes the customer demands and to build a quality product

focusing on business functionalities to gain the customer satisfaction.

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a planning tool used to fulfill customer expectations. It is a

disciplined approach to product design, engineering, and production and provides in-depth evaluation

of a product. An organization that correctly implements QFD can improve engineering knowledge,

productivity, and quality and reduce costs, product development time, and engineering changes.

Quality function deployment focuses on customer expectations or requirements, often referred to

as the voice of the customer. It is employed to translate customer expectations, in terms of specific

requirements, into directions and actions.

From the QFD framework presented in the figure below. The highest priority requirement in Asset

management system is the Availability of system and with proper data protection. The key

requirement and the focus point is the availability of system with all protected data.

November 16, 2014 9


5 Test Scenarios

Analysis of a proposed software system to determine the extent to which it meets desired quality

criteria is desirable.

a. Request raise

Employee login in the system using Unique ID and password combination. After successful

verification the portal will be displayed and the employee would be able to browse through the

November 16, 2014 10

Software Engineering Project-EE6421 ITAM portal. The various menus will be displayed like search asset, raise request, Audit data,

Network summary etc.

The employee has the ease of searching the required asset through the search dialog box.

Search the required asset from the database using the keywords and system will return a list of all

the assets that fulfill the search criteria and display the availability as well. Employee will filter

out between hardware or software assets according to the needs and the ITAM system will return

a narrowed down list of the searched assets.

The employee will then raise a request through the system to lock an asset as per requirement.

The employee can select the right asset by viewing details displayed by the ITAM for a particular

asset For Example:-

I. Hardware asset

Processors

Motherboards

Hard Drives

Hard Drives

Physical Memory

Video Adapters

Peripherals

There can be further sub categories to ease the selection:

Manufacturer

Type

Capacity

Speed



II. Software Asset

Software Title

Version

Publisher

Serial number

License

Sub categorization

Manufacturer

Compatibility

System requirements

After selecting the asset in the raise request field the user will be asked to provide details.

Successful completion of the request will return a unique registered request ID.

Using the above generated unique ID the user can track the status of the request.

b. Request deploy

As soon as the employee raise a request through the ITAM system and a unique ID is generated for

an asset the request is sent for approval/rejection to Asset Manager. The Asset manager logs in the

system using his ID and password. Reviews the request form and approve/ reject the request, ITAM

generates an automated message which is sent to user for the notification purpose that the request is

approved by Asset Manager. After approval the request is with the admin to perform the required

action e.g. if the software update is requested by the user so he will log onto the server and release

the update from his end and also modify the database to reflect the new changes. The ITAM system

will then sent an automated message to the employee that the update he requested was successful.

In case of failure the notification is sent to admin to try rolling out the update again. All this

happens in the background or even outside office hours to minimize the impact.



c. Report generation

The report generation is a very handy option provided by the ITAM tool. Report generation helps in

maintaining the database up to date and also helps in auditing.

Different types of reports can be generated:

I. Customized reports

Detailed customized report

Detailed report is built using the data from the regular asset reports, they look the same, but

will contain only the fields and data selected by the user.

Tabular customized report

Tabular report looks like any of pre-defined reports with nodes as rows and their properties

as columns, user can choose which nodes and which properties he would like to have in the

tabular report.

II. Predefined reports

Inventory Based report

Brand based

Configuration based

Disk usage

Services

The Asset Manager and Admin has the rights to generate reports which can be extended to users as

well if it’s required in their BAU activity.

The system collects the data from the database maintained by the Admin and provides the report as

desired and no modification is done to the existing database. Asset manager can do a quick version

control from the reports, similarly Admin can update database records by pulling out and obsolete

asset report.



6 Specific system requirements

a. Functional requirement

The IT Asset Management System provides information about the assets available in the system and

the user information. The functions of the system include the system providing different type of

services based on the type of users [Employee/Administrator/Asset Manager].

The system shall provide the users with logon capabilities.

The must be able to browse through the assets repository.

The must able to search assets using keyword through search dialog box.

Assets can be issued/requested using an asset request form.

Generation of unique request ID.

User should be able track the status of the request.

User must be able request an update of any domain specific software (can only get an update for

his software which is linked to his/her current role).

The user should be provided with the updated information about the assets.

The admin should be able to get the information about the members who have raised a request

for the asset.

The admin should be provided with interfaces to add/delete/update the assets available in the

asset catalog.

The admin should be able to generate and add a new user ID to the database.

The admin must holds the access to the server for rolling out the software updates.

Admin must be able to generate reports suiting to his needs.

Asset manager should be able to approve/reject the request logged by the user in the system.

Asset manager must be able to create new Asset ID and inform admin to add it to the asset

database.



Asset manager must also be able to generate reports which facilitate the process of keeping a

check on the Assets current status.

Automated email notification must be sent after the completion of designated steps.

The system must alert the Administrator or the user in case of any changes in the assets via

email notification.

Report generation can be extended to a user as well if it’s required according to his/her current

role.

b. User characteristics

The users of the system are user, admin and asset manager of the IT Asset Management System and

the administrators who maintain the system. The user and the admin are assumed to have basic

knowledge of the computers and Internet browsing. The administrators of the system to have more

knowledge of the internals of the system and is able to rectify the small problems that may arise due

to disk crashes, power failures and other catastrophes to maintain the system and also register new

borrowers if required. The asset manager must have the knowledge of asset management policy and

standards also ensures that the asset management methods and processes are properly approved and

communicated to staff before being implemented. The proper user interface, user’s manual, online

help and the guide to install and maintain the system must be sufficient to educate the users on how to

use the system without any problems.

c. Non-functional requirements

I. Usability

The system shall allow the users to access the system from the Internet using HTML or its

derivative technologies. The system uses a web browser as an interface.

Since all users are familiar with the general usage of browsers, no specific training is required.

The system is user friendly and self-explanatory.



II. Reliability

The system has to be very reliable due to the importance of data and the damages incorrect or

incomplete data can do.

Availability

The system is available 100% for the user and is used 24 hrs a day and 365 days a year. The

system shall be operational 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Accuracy

The accuracy of the system is limited by the accuracy which the users of the E-asset management

system use the system.

III. Supportability

The system designers shall take in to considerations the following supportability and technical

limitations.

Internet protocols

The system shall be comply with the TCP/IP protocol standards and shall be designed

accordingly.

Information security requirement

The system shall support the information security.

IV. Interfaces

User interfaces

Will make use of the existing Web Browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape.

The user-interface of the system shall be designed as shown in the user-interface prototypes.



7 Details of ITAM portal The below two figures shows the hardware and software search page of the ITAM. There are

options to select like the “New Asset”, “Network Summary”, “All Software”, “All Hardware”,

“Search Software”, “Group”, “Mark as” etc. from the search pages.

Fig. Hardware search page of IT asset management system



Fig. Software search page of IT asset management system

The below diagram shows the report generation screen from where the users can generate different

type of reports according to their use.

Fig. Report generation



8 Design details

8.1 Architecture

IT Asset management system Architecture diagram



9 Use Case Diagram

Use case diagrams are used to impart information about how entities interact with the system. The

entities are employee, admin, asset manager, project manager. These diagrams are used to examine how

system will work and helps in conceptualizing the design.

Fig. User use case



Fig. Admin use case

Fig. Asset manager use case


Software Engineering Project-EE6421 This diagram shows combination of all different use cases and tells how different entities communicate with the system.



9.1 Use case Description

The use case description describe how the entire system work contained in the use case diagram



9.2 Class diagram of ITAM



9.3 Class inheritance diagram of ITAM



9.4 Sequence diagram



10 State diagrams

10.1 State diagram for database



10.2 State diagram for browse and raise request



10.3 State diagram for asset manager



10.4 State diagram for admin



11 Communication diagram

11.1 Admin communication diagram



11.2 Asset manager communication diagram



11.3 User communication diagram



12 Management charts

12.1 List of personnel and skills



12.2 Gantt chart



12.3 Staff allocation chart



12.4 Activity chart

List of activities

13 Risk Assessment

13.1 Risk management It describes the related risk in our project. Traditionally risk management has related to emergency

management and to areas relating to liability of one kind or another. However, a risk management

approach is a sound element of project management and of all quality management processes.

13.2 Purpose

This part portrays how we will perform the job of managing risk throughout the project. It will

define the roles and responsibilities for every member in the risk processes, the risk management

activities that will carried out, as well as the schedule for the risk management activities.



13.3 Project manager

The project manager will meet other staff members of the Project Management team (Programmer,

User Interface Designer, Database Administrator and System Analyzer) to discuss and identify the

potential risk for each department. Redefine the project’s risk level and survey the status of all risk,

and discover the best solution for the risks.

13.4 Team

The team will be having the following responsibilities and authority: Coordinating risk

identification and analysis activities, maintaining the project’s risk list, notifying project

management of new risk items, and reporting risk resolution status to administration.

13.5 Change control board

The development team should come to the realization that their idea of the product specifications

differs from those of the customer, the customer should be immediately notified and whatever steps

necessary to rectify this problem should be done. Preferably a meeting should be held between the

development team and the customer to discuss this issue.

13.6 Developer

The members who doesn't have the most experience in a specific area will be required to help those

who don’t come to the attention of the team. Code remark quality start to drop, time must be made

accessible to bring remarks up to standard. Careful monitoring will minimize the impact of poor

commenting. Any problems are resolved by adding and refining comments as necessary.

13.7 Database

The organization would call a meeting and talk about the reasons for the database instability, along

with possible solutions.



14 Risk identification



15 Risk planning

Risk avoidance strategy



16 Risk Contingency

17 Risk monitoring

A schedule has been established to monitor project status. Falling behind timetable would

demonstrate a potential for late conveyance. The schedule will be followed closely during all

development stages. The meetings with the customer should ensure that the customer and our

organization understand each other and the requirements for the product. At the point when dealing

with the item or documentation, the staff member should always be aware of the stability of the

computing environment they’re working in. Any changes in the stability of the environment should

be recognized and considered important. The software will be developed with the end user in mind.


IT Asset Management System for UL-Software Engineering

Documents

Transcript of IT Asset Management System for UL-Software Engineering