What have you got to lose? - infrastructure-management software as part of a company's strategic asset management - Buyers Guide

Communications News, Nov, 1999 by Pete Pela

Get a handle on strategic asset management using infrastructure-modeling software.

Strategic asset management, the practice of tracking your company's assets, boils down to a few key questions: What do you own? Where do you keep it? What is it worth? When do you replace it?

Each year companies spend millions, if not billions, of dollars purchasing new equipment without fully documenting or using what they already own. This trend is increasing the need for comprehensive documentation of a company's infrastructure, as well as its assets.

A new breed of software is changing the way companies track their assets. It's called infrastructure-modeling (or cabling-management) software, and it enables companies to build elaborate models of their networking, communications, and equipment inventory right down to the contents of each workstation. From there, management may construct a history of the asset's purchase, maintenance schedule, replacement schedule, and even its depreciation.

Before the introduction of infrastructure-modeling software, companies handled the function of asset management--and some continue to do so today--either manually or through the use of spreadsheets. Both methods are woefully inadequate. They are difficult to maintain and totally lack the ability to provide the complex interrelated information that is so crucial to successful management.

To fully understand the benefits of infrastructure-modeling software, one must take into account the evolution of the computerized workplace. Most industries that rely heavily on computing have evolved from centralized processing through large enterprise systems into distributed processing through local area networks. Corporations are finding that the cost to maintain and manage all the components of these networks is astronomical and logistically very difficult.

In many cases, an entirely new process had to be developed to support the new organizational structure that was created by the local area networks and complex communications systems. An important component is the complex wiring and cabling that has resulted from these systems.

Traditionally, the telephone companies managed inside cabling. With the development of local area networks, it has become largely the responsibility of each enterprise to manage building wiring and network links. Most building-management teams are growing smaller and leaner as companies focus on core competencies. In the network, connectivity-related problems account for more than 50% of all downtime, making accurate documentation of the network and physical layer a critical requirement.

Infrastructure-management software equips network administrators with an essential and highly flexible tool for managing inside cabling, providing accurate documentation of the network and physical layer of the office, and making best use of space. This function of documenting the physical layer is intrinsically linked to the very core of the asset-management function--which is carried up through the organization, often, all the way to the chief financial officer.

This software provides a complex relational database that is ideal for tracking an almost limitless number of information fields on any given product. The data can be as detailed or as brief as the company desires, according to the amount of customization the software allows.

Putting this information in an electronic format can save hundreds of man-hours and duplication of purchases that would have resulted if the process had been performed manually. The easy access to the information via a relational database is efficient and logical.

First of all, the asset's information is accessible independently or in relation to where it is in the building. After all, as any IT manager can attest, it's not just knowing that you have the asset that's important, it's knowing where the asset is located. When a workstation moves, all of the contents and history of those contents move with it.

Infrastructure-modeling software also enables managers to do macro planning, or "big picture" planning, including setting up systems from the onset that meet and even exceed future capacity needs.

For companies that are considering the implementation of an infrastructure-modeling software program, it is important to plan company-wide meetings to strategize the entire process. Many departments will be involved in the implementation, and it's important to know at the onset the time and labor commitments that will be entailed to install and maintain the system.

Potential benefits can be difficult to quantity in advance, because very few organizations have the means to calculate the true cost of lost or under-used equipment. However, by using a computerized system that allows company personnel to better pinpoint inventory, use it effectively, implement depreciation schedules, and even track crucial purchasing information, the monetary savings can be realized immediately.

In the past 10 years, we have seen an evolution in infrastructure-modeling software and its role in strategic asset management. This software quickly enables managers to answer the fundamental questions posed here. It also supplies the management team with strong controls for state-of-the-art asset management, tracking, and optimal use of existing resources.