Asset management goes far beyond knowing how many computers you have. It means controlling every piece of equipment from purchase to disposal, including maintenance, depreciation and recycling.
The 5 lifecycle phases
1. Acquisition
Register in GLPI: supplier, invoice number, value, purchase date, warranty. Link to the contract and budget.
2. Deployment
Assign to the user, set location and configure the GLPI Agent for automatic inventory. GLPI fills in technical specifications automatically.
3. Operation and Maintenance
During its useful life, the asset generates tickets (incidents, requests). Every interaction is logged in the asset's history. Use the Stock Management module to control spare parts.
4. Depreciation
Configure depreciation under Management > Financial information of the asset. GLPI automatically calculates the residual value based on useful life and the straight-line method.
5. Disposal
When the asset reaches end of life, change the status to "Disposed". Document the destination: recycling, donation or destruction (GDPR/data protection for equipment with data).
Managing in GLPI
- Asset status: In use, In stock, Under repair, Disposed
- Alerts: warranty expiry, contract end, exceeded useful life
- Reports: assets by status, location, age, cost
- CMDB: relationships between assets (server → switch → rack)
Next step
With the lifecycle configured, standardize inventory data and implement software license management.
