Feature Request : Accessories assignable to locations (and assets?)

[swift2512]

Describe the solution you'd like You should be able to assign accessories, consumables to locations (and assets?).

Describe alternatives you've considered I have to create a person for every location with an accessories or consumables in it.

Additional context Conference rooms, class rooms, etc. have accessories (usb flash drives, cheap earphones, webcams, speakers,etc.) which we do not track by serial number.

[snipe]

It's unlikely that we will implement this. We didn't really want to allow checkout to location (or assets) in the first place, since an asset or a location cannot be held responsible for a thing.

[gilesytheking]

I agree that there is a lack traceability & responsibility when assigning any item to a location or another asset. However there are certain assets that we would consider "fixed Assets" which remain permanently in a specific location (e. Whiteboards, projectors, Plotter Printer).

There are also different types of accessories/licences which is vital to the function of a specific asset and as such should be assigned to the asset and not a user.

I have suggested before to add email notifications sent to users when an asset is checked out to a location they manage. Thus informing them. The location manager is responsible for that location and any assets it contains, even if the asset is not directly checked out to them.

EG. HP Plotter printer - ID. ABCDE has been checked out to a location you manage. Date, Time, Assigned by...

A similar notification could be sent to users when an item is checked out to an asset that is already assigned to them.

EG. Accessory - Logitech Keyboard has been added to an asset assigned to you. Asset ID, Date, Time Etc.

Or to include any child assets/accessories/components/licences in the checkout email when the parent asset is checked out.

EG. HP Desktop ID 12345 has been checkout to you. Components assigned to this asset; i7 cpu 8gb ram 128gb SSD Licences assigned to this asset: Windows 10 Pro Accessories assigned to this asset: Logitech Wireless Keyboard & Mouse

Furthermore a global setting to allow Admins to select where different types of items (asset, accessories licences etc) can be checked out to.

EG. Allow Assets to be checkout to; Users - Y N Assets - Y N Locations - Y N Allow Accessories to be checkout to; Users - Y N Assets - Y N Locations - Y N

Snipe- IT has proven to be a vital tool for many businesses and various use cases, not just IT applications. Adding more settings/options for admins to configure their snipe-IT install to their use-case can only be a step forward.

[Lensman89]

I would also be interested for this as i have equipment as assets, which is for example Cabinet Racks andi'm getting as an extra accessories the shelves or the rack power switches etc. and i'm not able to assign them (Checkout) to a location or asset.

And it would be time consuming to create a rack shelve for example as an "Asset" in order to be able to assign it to a location.

If this is not possible to happen, there is a chance to implement something similar or something different ?

Thank you

[alecgarcia]

This would be great for us. We have sales centers that have monitors, keyboards, mice, etc. that we count as accessories. The sales team moves around from location to location but the equipment stays. We as well had to create a "user" for our location and assign the items to the fake location user.

[anthonyrettig]

We too would really appreciate this. We have locations in the business where the person is interchangeable, and we need to assign mice, keyboards, monitors, etc. to a location. Currently we are awkwardly working around this by creating locations for people.

[snipe]

Checking out assets to location has been a miserable product feature that I wish I hadn't written, to be totally honest with you, and it's counter to what this system was meant to do, since a location cannot be held responsible for anything. I'd be hard-pressed to make this misfeature worse by expanding it out to additional item classes.

[alecgarcia]

Checking out assets to location has been a miserable product feature that I wish I hadn't written, to be totally honest with you, and it's counter to what this system was meant to do, since a location cannot be held responsible for anything. I'd be hard-pressed to make this misfeature worse by expanding it out to additional item classes.

@snipe how would you recommend to handle the situations where the inventory is truly assigned to a location then? For a university that has Labs of computers, keyboards, mice, monitors, etc. Nobody owns that except the location it is in. I could think of plenty of other situations. I absolutely agree that something should be assigned to a person every time you can. However that can NOT be the case for every situation. You just have people using the system definitely the wrong way by having to duplicate locations as users and assign the assets to the location and the accessories to the fake location user. That and for consumables, it would be super nice to check them out to the asset itself in the case of something like toner. If we have a big copy machine, I would like to see how much toner the machine is using. Not how much I the person that has to put toner in 5 different machines is using. Again if you have some clarity on how some of this should be handled, I am all ears! Thank you for all the work you have put into this @snipe!

[sigmarcus]

+1 for this as well. We don't track some accessories to users since there are multiple users or turn-over is high. I would rather an accessory be checked out to an asset so I can see all associated items to that workstation or laptop.

[swift2512]

Few real situations from top of my head. No.1: Old desktop PC, monitor and half-dead printer in the garage waiting area. There's always someone from the staff, but this equipment is not assigned to anyone - it would be too much hassle to rotate (checkin/checkout) this equipment between 3 staff members 2-3 times a day. SnipeIT only allows assets to be assigned to locations, so I had to create a fake user for this location because that old PC needs wireless USB adapter (an accessory) and half-dead printer needs toner.

No.2: Equipment becomes unusable because it reaches EoL, gets damaged, is lost or stolen, etc. and ends up in big brown wooden box. While I can change status of assets to Undeployable and mark them as "located in wooden box", I can't do the same with components or accessories and I can't assign these accessories or components to this "wooden box" location. Once again, I had to create a fake user just to be able to assign all broken/lost assets, keyboards, headphones, usb sticks, hard drives, etc. to it. When this wooden box becomes full, I just generate "Assigned to wooden box" report, edit html to make it look nicer and send it as PDF to our accounts team. Accounts remove that equipment from their books, we take that wooden box to local recycle centre, edit asset statuses and accessory/component numbers accordingly.

No.3: Our company has few offices located in different cities, but all IT equipment is received and stored in main office. There is no IT staff in the offices of other cities. (Unfortunately, that's the way it is and will be.) With assets everything is simple - you set it as unassigned ("Deployable") and mark it's location "City A storage closet", but you can't track location separately for a batch of 50 headphones you bought 6 month ago and distributed to employees in different offices.

Employee (call her Emma) from main office was given laptop (asset), headphones (accessory from batch of 20), usb drive (accessory, batch of 100) and wireless mouse (accessory, batch of 20). Emma was relocated to City A office after 3 month and took all this equipment with her. After another 6 months Emma left the company and all her equipment in City A office. Once again fake user "City A storage closet" to the rescue - all free accessories are assigned to it. Yes, we could pay for shipping it back to main office. Yes, we could create new entries in accessories table, split and move inventory accordingly, but with 200 employees and 4 different locations we would need to hire someone who's only work would be editing accessory list to represent current situation (locations, quantities, etc.). Fake user is way simpler and cheaper: employee leaves the company and all accessories (or even assets) are assigned to this fake user. That way you can see what free equipment is in "City A storage closet" and what can be reassigned to new or current employee in City A.

[spiffyguy]

Checking out assets to location has been a miserable product feature that I wish I hadn't written, to be totally honest with you, and it's counter to what this system was meant to do, since a location cannot be held responsible for anything. I'd be hard-pressed to make this misfeature worse by expanding it out to additional item classes.

Sorry to comment on this issue after so many months but I just recently started using Snipe IT at work and ran into this thought as well.

I want to say first that I hear what you are saying, I understand (and agree) that we can't have a "room" responsible for equipment and assets. But I do consulting for a number of companies and the reality of "organizing IT Assets" is some accessories & equipment will be assigned to a room (unrelated to features of this software) so here is a thought to help provide a solution but also "rein in" things assigned to an unresponsible location.

When you create/edit a location currently, there is an optional field called "Manager." I think we utilize that to be required if you want to assign items (any items) to the location. So you cannot assign assets/accessories/etc to a location without a person responsible to accept/approve the items assigned.

The same accept/decline rules that work for a person can just "pass through" the location and go to the person assigned as manager to the location. They will sign for the items and it will be on their reports to audit, etc.

(Yes I am also suggesting this person responsible applying to Assets as well. I want to always make sure there is a person that "signs" the location assignment.)

[MatthiasKloepperQC]

We utilize a roaming desk policy in our office. All our office desks are fitted with a monitor, mouse and keyboard. Whenever one of our employees comes to an office, he choses a free desk, attaches his laptop to the monitor and starts working. IMHO the assets "mouse" and "keyboard" are definitely assigned to a location (the office) instead of to daily (our hourly) changing users. With the monitors (configured as assets) this works very well. And since every location has a responsible manager I don't see any real issues with checking out accessories to locations. I definitely vote to implement this feature. Thanks in advance @snipe

[alexmf23]

We also need this feature. In my case we have 2 warehouses and multiple fixed locations. Assets and accessories will move from warehouse to location x, let's say 2 workstations, 5 cameras, 10 lights which are the assets and 15 lights stands, 2 keyboards, 2 mouses are the accessories. I am able to checkout assets to location x but not the accessories which for us is a downside. :/ An implementation of this feature would be awesome.

[gromain]

Just commenting on this to signal that this would be a great feature.

However, I understand @snipe point of view. I think @spiffyguy solution is a great way to move this issue forward and fully support something similar (even retroactive to apply to existing assets checked-out to locations or other assets.

Also, for the assets checked-out to assets, a great way to solving this would be to be able to link assets together. I use this (the checkout to assets) to link together stuff that are both needed for the system to work (for example a machine and its support, it's two manufacturers, two different models, but checking out one without the other doesn't make sense, they're in the same case).

[mikeroq]

• 1 Just to comment I also would like to have accessories be able to be checked out to locations/assets. Possibly consumables as well. Say I have a copier and I want to check the toner out to it since it's a shared device, instead of having to check it out to a user.

[MSWork79]

Think this is a duplicate of #5140

[conorkelly-sfi]

Just want to add my support for the addition of this feature. We have monitors, docks, keyboards and mice that are assigned to individual hot-desks and I would like to be able to keep track of these accessories in Snipe-IT (not an excel spreadsheet, as is the current solution)

[psmalley-ati]

I am hoping this feature request is implemented soon.

I have many locations where fixed assets and their accessories are assigned to a location. It is vital to us to be able to track that the asset is assigned to a user, or it is assigned to a location or asset, meaning it is shared.

This is common in shared areas like conference rooms, or in manufacturing areas where users don't have set desks or positions, but rather they move around and use the equipment at the location they are assigned to work for that day.

[killzone111]

@inietov, What is the current progress on this? Any idea when it might be released?

[inietov]

Sorry, I don't really have a set deadline for this. Seeing the responses I think it could be a useful feature for some people, but our main focus is on other improvements/features targeting v7 of Snipe-IT. We probably gonna reorganize our next movements after we release it. Thanks for your interest in this feature, and specially in this project!

[opus-nbonenberger]

I think it's time to ask the question again. Is there any chance this feature gets into v6? :)

[kale1d0code]

I also have a use case for this.

I need to be able to assign a pen to an interactive board. the pen doesn't have a serial number and I think that's the distinction between accessories and assets.

I suppose I could create it as an asset instead and leave the serial number blank.