This extra allows you to plan and execute multiple functions of a hardware replacement plan. The landing page is an overview of all Computers (devices not included at time of release) in a pivot table view based on the chosen criteria. Initially it is likely that this overview will not be encouraging if you have not filled in any of the data it uses to calculate the costs per year per area. By navigating through the extra and setting these values, you achieve a projection of cost per year per grouping to help ensure accurate budget planning.
The first pull down is for the Grouping you want to view by on the left side. Department is likely a popular choice, but it depends on that field being populated in all records. Because of that, Division may be a starting point if you have your computers well organized but not fully asset managed. More advanced options include the Managed By asset field, or the Current Model. The latter will make more sense as you become familiar with this feature set.
Your next choice is the Period to group replacement dates by in the horizontal headers. Years is probably the most popular, but some organizations may find Months or Quarters more applicable. You can use the <> keyboard keys to add or subtract columns from the table.
The last choice is what totals you want to show in each cell of the table. You can choose Cost, Count, or both.
Once you have selected the choices you want, you can begin the process of reviewing each group/period break down and making changes to Computers to have them properly reflect in the table based on replacement date and cost information. You can also download a CSV of the table. Note that like all other components of the platfrom, this extra obeys permissions. As such, a user with rights to see Extras, but only see their Computers and not others, would only see their resulting information instead of the entire organization.
Clicking the gear in the upper right allows for setting some baseline assumptions and workflow automations.
The General options for Desktop and Laptop cost create a baseline in the absence of anything more specific at the Computer record level. That is, if you have not linked a Computer to a Model, or set the Replacement Cost of the Computer specifically, the above setting will be used as a fallback. You can also set an Inflation rate to be figured into future year projections. This is added onto the base cost specified at any of the noted levels.
The Workflow options specify what Lifecycle Stage a Computer will become when you commit the replacement (see below for more on that).
Model Breakdown
From the main table, you can then click on either a Group on the left, a Period across the top, or a Cell in the table. Clicking a cell or group will take you to a list of individual computers and their replacement information. Clicking on a Period will take you to a sub table view where you can see the Models across the top for that period of time. That is, for say a given year, you see every department and the total costs/counts per Model.
Computer List
As mentioned you can view a computer list for an entire Group across all time, or a more focused list for just one time Period for the Group by clicking on a single Cell in the table. This list page has a lot of information on it. The toggle in the upper right allows for a more collapsed view if you're trying to get a better overview without quite all the details.
Each box has the details of one computer, its current model, replacement date, model and cost, and status. The details that are expanded are to help with the decision making of authorizing the replacement or changing it. The User/Owner could be relevant based on job duties. The Utilization indicator could prompt a more or less powerful replacement, or opting not to replace at all. Note the footnote items that indicate where the Date and Cost come from for each computer. As mentioned above, these may be baselines, inherited from the linked Model, or explicitly set in the Computer record. These help inform how closely reviewed the record is, and how accurate the cost estimate is.
Notice that there are links for the Computer and the User. These will open those records in a new browser tab. The User link is a convenience if that record has more details of use in your environment (possibly by way of one of our scripts that would import meta data from AD). The Computer link is useful for reviewing other details and changing the relevant fields on the Purchases pane (replacement date, model, and cost). The last button of note is the Edit in the upper right of each box. This opens up the workflow page for that computer and its replacement.
Replacement Workflow
The replacement workflow window has 5 steps and 2 columns. The Current computer information is on the left, and the Replacement Model and/or Computer information is on the right.
Step One
You can choose the original model of the current computer if you like, as well as verify the Purchase Date. You can set the Salvage value if relevant to your processes. This will be used to calculate a final cost assuming sale of the system by subtracting salvage from cost. The EOL Action allows you to set what is happening to the computer once it's replaced. These options include Redeployment, Resale, Recycling, or just Disposal.
For the Replacement, choose the Model that will be used, and again verify the Date and Cost of replacement. The Status is to Accept, Reject, or opt out of the replacement action.
Step Two
This step is about confirming the system being replaced, and choosing the new computer record to replace it with. This step is for when you have a new record for the new computer. Presumably this means the Model specified in step one has been purchased and you have at least pre-staged the computer record, or it has arrived and already has the KeyAccess agent installed and a full record has been populated. Once you choose the replacement computer, the same basic stats are shown as for the Current, so you can again verify the correlation is appropriate.
Step Three
Because it's likely in a replacement several Asset management fields will need to be the same as for the old computer, this step helps automate that process. You can verify the Lifecycle changes for both the current and new computer, and copy some or all of the asset field values to the new record. If you previously did not have these asset details in the old record, it's an opportunity to specify them for the new computer.
Step Four
Review the list of Software on the current computer to ensure all Products have been added to the Replacement as appropriate.
Step Five
Time to Commit the replacement! This step only shows once a replacement computer record has been selected in step 2. Clicking the commit button will make all the above changes to both records. You can also choose to attach a text file copy of the changes to either or both computer records in their Documents storage.
Wrap Up
As you commit changes to individual computer replacements, the list view updates accordingly. This relates to Status of the replacements, as well as the final cost calculations. And of course this is all reflected on the main table views.
Note that once computers are moved to the Salvaged, Retired, or Disposed lifecycle stages, they are NOT part of this extra anymore. Those records are ignored as they have already been removed from service and therefore do not need replacement. This means that once you commit a replacement and the original computer lifecycle changes, it drops out of the extra because it's "done" being replaced.
Note also that virtual computer records are not shown in the extra as there is no real meaning to replacing them as compared to a host they run on.