Quick asset qty multiplier option

[ryanmerolle]

It would be ideal, especially for cables and optics to have a way to quickly add x number of the same asset to a location.

IE add 30 of the Proline SFP-10G-SR in the Alaska datacenter.

It would be ice to do the same thing in a purchase order. The reality is that most companies do not track the serials or asset tags for these sort of consumable assets.

[matejv]

We were discussing this kind of use cases internally as well.

To me it would make sense to have a "Consumables" model separate from the current Assets model. That model would not have an asset tag nor a serial field, but it would have quantity. It might be doable to add quantity field to existing Asset model, but that might things messy, not sure yet.

[lordspirit]

Hello there,

Im up for this as well. And I dont even mind to have serial and asset tag as consumable fields since they would not be * fields (can receive null perhaps?!)

[ryanmerolle]

Hello there,

Im up for this as well. And I dont even mind to have serial and asset tag as consumable fields since they would not be * fields (can receive null perhaps?!)

That's already possible in the current model. It's not possible to set a qty, you have to enter in one asset at a time.

[lordspirit]

Tudo I know mate. Thats why Im with you with the quantity field. I was justo saying that for me it would work as it is plus the quantity field either in asset creation as in purchase order. A remove quantity option with a comment field would be gold over blue as we say here.

[ryanmerolle]

Tudo I know mate. Thats why Im with you with the quantity field. I was justo saying that for me it would work as it is plus the quantity field either in asset creation as in purchase order. A remove quantity option with a comment field would be gold over blue as we say here.

My bad I misunderstood your comment.

[jalmargyyk]

Consumables would be a good idea. Currently this plugin is good for actually tracking devices and other more expensive equipment. @matejv have you looked into implementing consumables type?

[matejv]

Haven't had time to really think about the design of this feature recently. There are things to consider like, do we want to track purchases with consumables. Do we track quantity with relation to status (available, used...) or just amount in storage. Do we need to handle warranty info. Do we enable creating inventory items from consumables or not. And probably other stuff to consider.

Having descriptions of various use-cases would be helpful to come up with a decent design. So if you know what you would need from this functionality, please, do write here.

[shepherdjay]

Since serials and asset tags are already not a required field instead of a new type does it make sense to just allow quickly adding multiple assets of the same info in the asset creation screen? I was considering doing something similar when we make purchases via a custom script that would just basically loop through qty amount.

I do see from a UI perspective it would perhaps be easier under a purchase to summarize a qty while providing more detail.

[matejv]

There already is a form for that: http://localhost:8000/plugins/inventory/assets/bulk-add/ When adding an Asset there is a tab "Bulk Create" at the top.

I do see from a UI perspective it would perhaps be easier under a purchase to summarize a qty while providing more detail.

For inventory items, if you add them to inventory item groups, you already have this kind of summary when looking at the group. I suppose we could add this kind of view to purchase ass well.

[shepherdjay]

There already is a form for that: http://localhost:8000/plugins/inventory/assets/bulk-add/ When adding an Asset there is a tab "Bulk Create" at the top.

I'm so used to those add forms being a single tab in netbox that I had no idea this was available. This has changed my workflow thanks.

For inventory items, if you add them to inventory item groups, you already have this kind of summary when looking at the group. I suppose we could add this kind of view to purchase ass well.

I think this is where it would meet the need of most companies without introducing a new model as it would show a quick view of the purchase count that could then be expanded to show the individual assets.

Not opposed to seeing a consumables model either - while I wouldn't personally use it for SFPs since we do add those to devices - if your company doesn't do that or you have other non-serialized consumables to track like cables or something having a pure line item quantity does make a lot of sense.

[alehaa]

Personally, I would prefer a separate model for consumables, because (to me) they are different from regular assets. For regular assets, I want to know what specific asset is where. E.g. a switch has its own identity and lifecycle from delivery to garbage in 10+ years. In contrast, a consumable is kind of generic. I really don't care where a particular SFP is, I just want an overview of when I need to buy new ones. So being able to differentiate between these two types of asset management would be great.