foreign asset management or ham helps to automate and support life cycle management and strategic decision making for your it environment this helps to provide a clean and complete listing of your organization's assets and the tools to maintain relevant data related to those assets low code workflows are immediately ready to use and will automate time-consuming asset updates as they move throughout their life cycle minimizing errors and reducing time and effort for asset related tasks ham identifies what you already have in order to avoid unnecessary purchasing of duplicate assets it also helps to mitigate exposure to risks by uncovering and securing unknown assets to comply with regulatory standards and security policies the hardware asset overview acts as a central hub for all Hardware assets from here you have quick access to actionable reports important actions and relevant kpis clicking on any widget or chart lets you view detailed information and take appropriate actions the inventory view shows all inventory related activities and provides access to Quick links and actionable reports simplifying Inventory management by helping you manage assets that aren't in use the acid estate view is the central repository for all Hardware assets and the current related tasks it uses important actions to highlight asset records that require investigation and Remediation to help ensure data accuracy the ham workspace also contains the Model Management view to create and manage product models and view the normalized model information procurement view which gives visibility into Hardware asset procurement and financial reporting the contract management view which highlights recommendations actions and data for Hardware contracts and Renewables and the content lookup portal which provides an easy to use interface to search the millions of model records and life cycle dates in our content service Hardware Asset Management helps to drive the end-to-end life cycles of all your assets with base system workflows to accommodate additional requirements flow designer further lets you proactively govern devices both on and off Network by using low code workflows that are built for efficiency eliminating the need to manually manage active CIS as an example flow designer can be used to create an asset flow for a standard Hardware asset request that allows end users to request any published Hardware model the flow can be customized to contain all the tasks required such as approvals sourcing preparation and deployment this way as the asset moves through the life cycle several asset details are automatically updated as each task is closed this gives transparency for the requester and reduces time and effort for the fulfiller this also provides accurate and auditable data to help keep the asset as state accurate and relevant as an asset moves through its life cycle it will merge with other asset flows that allow the organization to improve operational efficiencies speed up service deliveries and reduce costs and risk to the business the following are some of these workflows bulk stock request allows inventory managers to maintain stock levels RMA facilitates all the actions involved when working with a vendor to get defective inventory repaired or replaced reclaim automates the Reclamation process for redundant Hardware or during the employee off-boarding process Hardware asset refresh is a scalable process to proactively plan and refresh Hardware from sourcing to deployment and ensuring Legacy equipment is collected for retirement contract renewal is a guided experience for renewing your Hardware related contracts lease contract expiration is a prescriptive process that helps customers avoid Financial penalties and settlements by executing the return buyout or extension of leased assets loaner asset request supports the deployment and Reclamation of temporary use assets asset donation gives devices a second life by moving them into the hands of Charities that have a pressing need for it Hardware with an auditable process that will retire the assets from the organization and improve ESG scores and Disposal orders streamlines processes to retire end-of-life assets with audit-friendly tasks details and documentation when used with other parts of the platform Hardware Asset Management leverages asset lifecycle automation into processes that are not focused on it asset management but can benefit from clean actionable data one example of this is our asset tasks certain ham features have been integrated into itsm incident and change management processes once an incident or a change request is resolved the asset records are automatically updated relieving technicians of the need for manual updates at no risk to data quality normalization helps get the data needed to verify what assets you have and be able to prove it automatic and continuous normalization standardizes models by category with unspsc data to maintain a perpetually clean cmdb this removes the need for manual updates saving time and errors by automating the asset life cycle and providing a centralized and clean asset estate with normalized data asset managers can spend their time proactively managing their assets this will reduce the overall level of effort required to manage assets which will be reflected by better use of resources and reduced exposure to risks Associated to an unmanaged estate for more information see our product documentation or knowledge base or ask a question in the servicenow community