Mobile Device Asset Management

Brett_Moffett

The ability to track mobile devices in Asset Management to capture details such as IMIE number, Phone number, SIM Number, PUK number, OS, Carrier etc.

Cory_Tomlinson

There are ways in which this can already be done Brett if you're looking for a way to implement now. A mobile device is just another asset category. We use the IMEI number of the device as the Hardware Asset ID, carrier is the vendor. We track the phone number and associated SIM card as a separate item (then create views to parse them out in the portal)...I've played with both tracking as a Lease and as a Hardware Asset using the phone number as the Lease Name or Hardware Asset ID, and ended up settling on Hardware Asset. Then link the 2 items together as Related Assets. The reason I think it's important to track the device as a separate asset from the phone number is that either can change without impacting the other (also good for devices not purchased from the carrier). For us, devices tend to change more often that numbers do, so it maintains a better record of devices associated with a given number over time. On the backend this also helps me when the invoice comes in. When I create the invoice in AM all of the phone numbers can easily be associated as Related Assets which acts as a sort of monthly check to help ensure we're only paying for wireless service on numbers assigned to current employees.

If anything, what I'd like to see is a separate category called something like "Services" where we can track not only mobile phone numbers, but also landline numbers, fax numbers, and even Internet circuits. These things sort of fit into Contracts, but not really in the sense of the current implementation of Contracts in AM. What are your thoughts on this?

Michael_Baldry

Having a separate category for landline (Skype) numbers would be very useful. We can implement them as a hardware asset for now, but it'd be great to be able to classify them as something closer to what they actually are.

Brett_Moffett

What if there was a class of contract that you could set the "Contract Type"?
Then you could have "Mobile Contract" "Skype Account" "PKI Certificate" "Domain Registration" "Cleaning Contract" etc.
Then you could have a SIM\Mobile number on a contract, that could have the $ value, included calls, download quota, International roaming etc. all recorded against the contract then associate it to a particular piece of mobile hardware.

pzerger

Thanks for the suggestions @Michael_Baldry and @Brett_Moffett. This is now in the backlog. Would love to get your collective take on the most important properties you want to see on a mobile device class AND why you think they would be important to an asset manager.

Brett_Moffett

IMIE Number: Useful as a uniqie identification if the phone is stolen or lost. This allows Asset Managers to remotely shutdown the device to prevent it from accessing the carriers network.
PUK Code: The Unique PUK code may be asked for be the end user to unlock their phone if the incorrect PIN is used too often.
SIM Number: The number of the SIM card allocated to the phone.
Carrier: The carrier that the phone and or SIM are currently contracted to (Tesltra, Verizon, BT, Orange etc.)
Plan: Text field for a description of the type of plan the phone is on. $50 per month. etc.
OS: Version of the operating system that the phone is running.

Many of these fields can be auto poplulated from any MDM solution such as Intune, ZenMobile, Mobile iron etc.

Sharon_Spears

@pzerger -  I would love this option in Asset Management.  Being able to track mobile phone contracts and devices would be a great addition to this module.

The physical phone device, is reasonably (and logically) able to be tracked in Hardware Assets with existing fields with not too much confusion.

Phone numbers and contracts/accounts - is somewhat more problematic as current fields in HWA or contracts don't seem to map so smoothly and logically.  I will keep trying to see how we can manage that - or see if I can develop my own in authoring tool.

These are some of the data fields we would be wanting to store data on.

·         Service Provider (ie Telstra/Optus)
·         Mobile service number
·         Service Password
·         Account #
·         Service type (ie. Cellular, Data, Cellular & Data)
·         Data Plan type
·         Plan details (?)
·         SIM serial
·         Service status (active, on hold, cancelled)
·         Activation/Porting date
·         Cancelled date
·         Sim Pin
·         Sim PUK
·         International Roaming (yes/no)
·         IDD Bar (yes/no)
·         Notes

Jodi

Our company is in the process of evaluating Cireson for Asset Management, it was my understanding that this data (IMEI, SIM, CSN, Phone#, Carrier, etc.) can be tracked by creating custom fields, is that not accurate?  If accurate, any reason or challenges as to why it would not be done this way?  We currently track all of these in our current tool and need to continue to do so. 

Brett_Moffett

Hi @Jodi
You are 100% correct. You can create custom fields to track this information. You could also create a custom class just for Mobile devices.
However, this feature request is about having it as a supported product within the Cireson AM suite. This would then have pretty forms, consistent architecture, associated workflows etc. etc.

SCSM is powerful for customizations. But too many customizations does increase support issues over time.
"Baking it in" to a supported product just helps with that support. 

Hernando_Zambrano

Hi, this is a top feature for us as well, we need to Manage Mobile Devices. 

Required Fields;

Device IMEI Number.
SIM Tel.
SIM Serial.

Thanks

Hernando Zambrano.

Adam_Dzyacky

With the recent status change, would the plan be to leverage SCCM Mobile devices by virtue of InTune synchronization?

seth_coussens

At this time we are just adding mobile device support, meaning we are adding mobile asset fields to the hardware asset class, and a boolean to indicate it's a mobile asset. We are also adding a mobile asset view there as well, but otherwise these devices will flow like hardware assets at this point. This will be released here in a week or two.