Introduction to Loaner Asset Orders in ServiceNow
With Laurence Tindall
In this article, you’ll learn how to log a loaner asset order request in ServiceNow. Before we go into the system, let's explain what a loaner asset is and why having them in your IT asset management practice is beneficial.
A loaner asset is an asset that has specifically been made available for users to request and use for short periods. Typically loaner assets are devices like mobile phones, laptops, or tablets. Loaner assets are usually issued to contractors, temporary employees, or employees who only require them for a few days or weeks. Loaner assets are great to have, as they allow you to fulfill temporary requests without having to purchase additional brand-new assets.
Now that we've covered what a loaner asset is, let's go into ServiceNow and make a request for one. Please note, that since this feature is part of the HAM Pro licensable application from ServiceNow, you won't be able to access this feature from your personal developer instance. The only way to access this feature is if the plugin is enabled in your paid ServiceNow instance.
Logging a Loaner Asset Request
In this example, we’re going to log a loaner asset request for an Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch laptop, which is currently in stock and available in the southern California warehouse. Please note, when logging a request for a loaner asset, you can only find and select the asset from the request form if the asset state is in stock and the asset function is set to loaner. If an asset record doesn't meet this criteria, then it won't appear in the model field on the request form. Now that we've covered this important information, let's go ahead and create a loaner asset request.
The first thing you'll want to do is open up ServiceNow, go into the application navigator, and type in service catalog. Next, click on the service catalog module located under the self-service application; you'll now be taken to the service catalog. in the search bar located in the top right of the banner frame, type in loaner asset request and click on the search suggestion. Now click on the catalog item for the
loaner asset request; you’ll then be taken to the loaner asset request form.
In the first field, we have requested for; this field is used to define who is requesting the loan asset. You can either select for me, for company user, or for third party user. If you select the for company user option, you'll be required to select the user who will be using the loaner asset. If you select the third-party user option, you'll be instructed to enter the third party user details in the justification field. For this example, we are going to select the for me option.
Next, we have the location field; this field is used to define where the requested asset needs to be provided. Please note, in this field, you need to select the location record that is associated with the stockroom in which the in-stock loaner asset is located in. For this example, the southern California warehouse location is 615 North Bush Street, Santa Ana, CA. If you selected a location that didn't have any loaner assets available, then a message would display, informing you that no models are available at the location. The next section is field model; this is the hardware or consumable model of the asset that you're wanting to request a loaner for. In today's example, we are going to select the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch laptop.
Then, we have the start date and end date fields; these fields are used to specify the start date and return date in which the loaner asset will be first used and returned. For these two fields, we will select tomorrow as the start date and the last day of this month is the return date. The final field, justification, is used to specify the reason why you require this loaner asset. In this field, we are going to enter the following: I require this laptop for a short period of time since I need to use some applications that only run on Apple devices, and I use a Windows device.
Assigning and Preparing the Request
We will submit this request by clicking on the submit button; as you can see a request record has been created. Let's take a look at this request and fulfill it. We are going to simply copy the request number and enter it into the global search field.
In order to start fulfilling this asser order, we need to work on the loaner asset tasks that have been automatically created as part of the asset order workflow. If you scroll down to the bottom of the form, you can see the first task is to assign and prepare a loaner asset. We will click on this task to open it. This task is used to assign and prepare the asset for deployment.
The asset field is where you'll want to select the asset that you'll be deploying as the loaner asset. For this example, when we click on the magnifying glass you can see we have several Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch laptops available. We are going to select one; please note, when closing this task the state and sub-state of the asset will automatically change to in-stock pending install and the reserved for field will be set to the user who this loaner asset request was made for, in this case ourselves.
Closing the Task
Now that we've assigned and prepared the asset, let's close this task. We do this by clicking on the close task button. Now that we're back on the loaner asset request record, you can see that another task has been generated for deploying the loaner asset to the user, open this task. This task is typically completed by a member of the IT service desk.
For our example, let's close this task since the asset has been deployed; please note, when closing this task the state of the asset will automatically change to in-use, and the assigned user field will be set to the individual for which the asset was requested for. In this case, it'll be assigned to us. As you can see (reference video at 6:40), the status of the asset loaner request has now been set to deployed, and there's a button called reclaim in the banner frame of the request.
For demo purposes, let's pretend that the user has finished using the loaner asset and he or she is ready to return it. To process the return simply click on the reclaim button; a modal will now display. From here we can specify that the asset has been returned by selecting yes in the asset return field.
The next field is the stockroom in which the asset is being returned to. For this example, we will select the San Diego south warehouse stockroom, and for the returned on date field, we will select today's date. We will now click on the OK button, and you can see the state of the loaner asset order request has now been set to completed, and the asset has been set back to in-stock and available.
Please note, if we didn't click on the reclaim button to process the reclamation of the loaner asset, then two days before the return date, an email notification about the reclaim would have been sent out to the user who requested the asset. In addition to this email notification date, a task would have also been created one day before the return date to reclaim the loaner asset. This task record includes the following fields: stockroom, return date, state, assigned to, asset returned (yes or no), and asset functional, which allows you to select the functional state of the loaner asset upon return. As mentioned previously, because we process the reclamation of this asset more than one day before the expected return date, the task wasn't created in the loaner asset tasks related list.
Did you find this Introduction to Loaner Asset Orders in ServiceNow helpful? Are you ready to start your journey with ServiceNow? If you want to find out more information about GlideFast Consulting and our ServiceNow implementation services, you can reach out to us here.
About GlideFast Consulting
GlideFast is a ServiceNow Elite Partner and professional services firm that provides tailored solutions and professional services for ServiceNow implementations, integrations, managed support services, application development, and training. Reach out to our team here.