This guide focuses on keeping a reliable inventory of your business’s IT assets. It is different from the purchase, repair and retirement steps for individual devices; see the device lifecycle management guide. A controlled spreadsheet is often a practical place for a small business to start.
Free download: IT asset inventory Excel template
Record company devices, software and cloud services, along with users, owners and renewal dates. The workbook includes an inventory, instructions and a change log; it contains no customer data.
What should you include?
Start with four groups: employee computers and phones; infrastructure such as servers, routers, firewalls and access points; operating systems and business software; and cloud platforms, SaaS subscriptions and external IT services. Record the online services your business depends on, not only physical equipment.
Choose fields that are easy to maintain
- Asset or service name, category and purpose.
- User, business owner and technical administrator.
- Location, supplier and management portal.
- Purchase, warranty, licence or renewal date.
- System version or service status, and last checked date.
- Importance, related systems and notes.
Keep information that supports decisions. Do not store passwords, recovery codes or other sensitive credentials in a general asset register.
Assign an owner and a review routine
Appoint one person to maintain the overall register, and ask each department to report changes to its equipment or services. New purchases, added or cancelled subscriptions, supplier changes and staff transfers are good prompts to update it. Review a sample monthly or quarterly, then expand coverage over time.
Compare the register with reality: does the device still exist, is the owner correct, is the subscription still used, and is a renewal approaching? Mark unknown or unclaimed items for follow-up instead of deleting them without checking.
Use the register to support decisions
A clear list helps answer practical questions: Which devices are out of warranty? Which cloud services are due for renewal? Which accounts need a new owner when an employee leaves? Who should contact the supplier if a system fails? It can also support upgrade planning and IT budgeting.
The NIST Cybersecurity Framework includes inventories of hardware, software, systems and services as part of asset management. A business can begin with one owner-maintained list and expand it as needed.