Hardware Asset: Primary User vs Custodian

Erin_Murphy

We are using the Asset Excel app to import all our hardware assets after a massive asset audit.

When importing, should we be importing the primary user or the custodian?

And once imported, what gets changed (if anything)?

Our settings are:

Don’t synchronise device Primary User to Hardware Asset Primary User True Also synchronise device Primary User to Hardware Asset Custodian True Synchronise Hardware Asset Custodian to device Custodian True   Remove Hardware Asset Primary User and Custodian if no longer exists on Device False

Nicholas_Velich

Hi Erin,

In most cases, Primary User is automatically set via Device Affinity data from Configuration Manager (who uses the device most often), whereas Custodian is a manually set field. The Primary User is helpful from an operational standpoint to know who is actually using the device, but the Custodian is the individual actually responsible (financially and otherwise) for that device. Often times they can be the same person, but not in all cases.

For your Settings, I would recommend the following:

1. Don’t synchronise device Primary User to Hardware Asset Primary User True False
2. Also synchronise device Primary User to Hardware Asset Custodian True False
3. Synchronise Hardware Asset Custodian to device Custodian True  
4. Remove Hardware Asset Primary User and Custodian if no longer exists on Device False

When importing data, I would recommend not setting the Primary User for any devices on the network, as that info will flow into SCSM via Configuration Manager via the connectors and workflows. I would recommend setting the Custodian upon import, if you have that data available.

Thanks,
Nick