Explore HAM Lifecycle through GSDC Certification

 Hardware Asset Management (HAM) Certification is a process that involves the planning, procurement, deployment, tracking, maintenance, and eventual disposal of an organization's hardware assets. The HAM lifecycle typically consists of several stages:

1.      Specify
2.      Acquire
3.      Deploy
4.      Service
5.      Retire

1. Specify

Hardware planning is usually driven by two perspectives. On the one hand, there is data from business or customer side that is indicative of strategy and demand that influence capacity and type, while on the other hand there is technical aspects driven by evolution, incidents, problems, and continuity factors.

A hardware asset plan will capture these two perspectives, and consolidate the information into a concise approach that meets the priorities of the organization.

Once you’ve identified the priorities, budgeting is the next logical step. Of course, the business plays the bigger role in the decision-making process based on how much funding is available for hardware assets.

Budget will also be determined by preferred acquisition role as upgrades and leasing are considerably cheaper compared to outright purchase.

(See how capital and operating expenses play out over time.)

2. Acquire

Following the budget, the procurement process kicks in.

In this phase, you’ll have to write specifications for hardware to a sufficient detail in order to:

Ensure the selected vendors understand what you need

Guarantee that your organization receives bids that meet its needs.

Key determinants of which vendors you’ll select usually include:

Compatibility with other assets, existing or planned

Warranty

Technical support

Procurement will ensure the contract captures elements of support under the service level agreement (SLA).

One alternative to acquisition is to bring your own device (BYOD). In this model, users provide their own computing devices, which will be:

Logged by the corporate body

Provided access to internal systems subject to the relevant information security policies

Upon receipt of the hardware assets, your organization must log them in a fixed asset register for financial reasons. This ensures that the financial value from the asset is:

Captured for financial reporting

Depreciated year on year

You’ll also tag the asset with the appropriate tagging mechanism, then store the asset in preparation for dispatch and assignment.

3. Deploy

The next step, before dispatching and assigning the asset, is to capture the hardware asset as a configuration item

in the relevant IT service management system or register. This supports and device servicing, when necessary, by logging the information needed to support monitoring and maintenance activities by designated IT and vendor support teams.

For end user hardware assets, deployment means either:

Configuring, dispatching, and assigning assets to the user at their designated work area, including home for purposes of remote work.

Having the users collect their devices from IT.

For security reasons, you might.

Issue asset passes to facilitate movement in and out of buildings

Require users to sign an acceptable use policy before handing over the asset

For corporate hardware assets, deployment means:

Moving the assets from storage.

Using the change management process to configure, install, and integrate assets into the live environment.

IT specialists or vendors would conduct these deployment activities. Internal teams, including security specialists and systems audits, then handle the validation process.

4. Service

At this step, you carry out maintenance of the hardware asset. This usually happens either as:

Scheduled maintenance carried out by IT specialists or vendors in line with contract SLAs.

A response to events, incidents, and problems that require remedial actions.

To support maintenance, an essential activity is spares management, ensuring that faulty parts can be restored quickly and effectively.

Servicing will also include necessary upgrades and patches, which are subject to the existing change management process.

Financial management will track the usage of the asset and compute depreciation as part of annual statutory financial reporting.

5. Retire

Once the hardware asset reaches its useful end of life or is unserviceable, it will then be decommissioned, and then considered for disposal as a logical final step. Decommissioning can also be triggered by:

Employee exit (considering BYOD)

Security or audit advisory regarding vulnerabilities or compromise

Decommissioning is a sensitive process when it comes to corporate hardware assets. As such, manage decommissioning using the existing change management processes. Status of the asset should be updated in the IT service management system or hardware asset register.

Before disposal, a security check is required to ensure that the asset is wiped of any corporate information. Specialized techniques might be required to ensure that any data contained in drives is irrecoverable.