Hardware Asset Management (HAM)

Hardware Asset Management (HAM) is the discipline of tracking and managing an organization’s physical IT assets — laptops, desktops, servers, mobile devices, network equipment — from purchase through disposal. This course teaches you how to build a HAM practice that improves asset visibility, reduces loss and theft, controls hardware spend, and supports compliance and sustainability goals.

What you’ll learn

• The hardware asset lifecycle: request, procurement, receiving, deployment, maintenance, and retirement/disposal
• How to build and maintain an accurate hardware inventory using asset tags, barcodes, and discovery tools
• Procurement and receiving best practices: purchase orders, vendor coordination, and goods-in verification
• Deployment and provisioning: imaging, allocation to users/locations, and asset check-in/check-out processes
• Maintenance, warranty, and repair tracking to minimize downtime and unnecessary spend
• Secure and compliant disposal: data wiping/destruction, e-waste regulations, and IT Asset Disposition (ITAD)
• Financial aspects of HAM: depreciation, total cost of ownership (TCO), and budgeting for refresh cycles
• How HAM integrates with the CMDB and supports audits, security, and sustainability (e-waste/ESG) reporting

Who this course is for

IT asset managers, procurement teams, desktop/field support staff, and IT operations leaders responsible for physical technology assets.

Course structure

The curriculum is organized into dedicated sections covering the hardware asset lifecycle, inventory and asset tracking, procurement and receiving, deployment and provisioning, maintenance and warranty management, and secure disposal and ITAD. Lesson content for each section will be added progressively.