IT Asset Management: By the Numbers - Why Inventory & Audit the Data Center?

Part 3 of 5: Why Inventory & Audit the Data Center?

Why should an organization conduct an inventory and audit of its data center assets? In a word: control. In order to best control the deployment, use and eventual upgrades or decommissions of its technology assets – and to best justify the costs associated in its technology investments – every organization must conduct accurate and up-to-date inventories and audits.

The purpose of conducting a data center inventory is to create a baseline set of accurate information for all the assets in an organization’s data center facility.

Each piece of equipment must be located and accounted for, including recording specific details about each asset. Best practices for the asset information to record include, but are not limited to: manufacturer, model, device type, rack unit (RU) position, and any child or sub-contained -devices that may be connected or related to the asset.

Important features of the data center are often forgotten during the inventory and audit process. Best practices are to include facility as well as IT assets, racks and cabinets should also be tagged and inventoried with care taken to record their accurate location on the floor plan. Connectivity for both power and network connections should also be recorded.

Once an initial inventory has been completed, it is good practice to schedule regular audits of the data center. An audit can either be a spot-check on random racks of equipment or a full detailed audit of an entire data center. If the data center staff is documenting its moves, adds, changes, and decommissions when they occur in the data center, later audits should not be as time consuming as the initial audit.