If you are using the purchasing modules of Service Desk Express then the inventory catalogue data is frequently the responsibility of the procurement function. One of the areas that many procurement functions struggle with is determining if an asset is tracked by it’s asset and/or serial number. Frequently, whilst there knowledge of procurement might be second to none, their understanding of the what does and does not constitute an asset or valuable/attractive item in business terms is not so clear. So how can we help?
Normally, the procurement function are also given the task of managing the inventory categories and this is the first thing I would suggest you change. Give ownership of this module to the asset management gurus, who do understand what is deemed an asset or valuable/attractive item.
Using the DB Admin Tool create two boolean fields in the Inventory Category module: Track Asset Suggestion and Track Serial Suggestion as shown below:
Add these fields to the Inventory Category form and get the asset management gurus who now own this module to “suggest” whether inventory catalogue items in a given category should generally be Track Asset and/or Track Serial.
Finally, create a client side business rule in the Inventory Catalog module that prefills the Track Asset and Track Serial fields based on a change of Inventory Category as shown below:
IC – Prefill Track Asset and Track Serial Based on Suggestion By Category
Conditions:
On Data Change of field Category Description with {TR,Category Description} NotEqual <Leave Blank>
Actions:
Populate Current Form – Inventory Catalog – Inventory Catalog setting:
- Track Asset/Tag # = {DB,Inventory Categories,Track Asset Suggestion,”Sequence” = {TR,Seq.Category} DB}
- Track Serial # = {DB,Inventory Categories,Track Serial Suggestion,”Sequence” = {TR,Seq.Category} DB}
Assigns:
Inventory Catalog form.
Now, when procurement are creating an inventory catalogue item and select the appropriate inventory category, the Track Asset/Tag # and Track Serial # boxes will be automatically prefilled based on the suggestion for the category selected. If procurement then wants to overrule the suggestion they can but, they then take responsibility for it.
JOATIT 