When do we know if our inventory is complete?

Given that Active Directory should (in a well-maintain network, at least!) contain a list of all the devices on a given domain, it should provide a highly accurate reference point for the inventory information.

A question I’m often asked by customers is

“How do I know if I’ve inventoried all the relevant assets on our network?”. 

The answer, somewhat frustratingly, is “it depends!”.

It’s not the nicest answer to have to give, but it’s a fair once, since determining whether you’ve inventoried all the IT assets on a network actually requires both a number of steps and a conscious decision on what’s an acceptable ‘hit rate’.

That’s not to say it’s a question best not asked.  Far from it.  Relying on an incomplete picture of hardware and software assets can lead to some bad decision making and potential risks (in terms of financial, compliance and security).

So, although a tricky question, it’s also an essential one. My advice to organizations is that in order to find the answer, they need to address the three key requirements highlighted below:

To look at each of these points in a little more detail:

Given that Active Directory should (in a well-maintain network, at least!) contain a list of all the devices on a given domain, it should provide a highly accurate reference point for the inventory information.

Where a device identified in Active Directory is not present in an inventory, it suggests that perhaps not every device on the domain has had a client deployed to it, or perhaps that client is not able to successfully report back to the inventory server, or even the machine may have been retired without Active Directory being updated. 

Whatever the cause, it needs investigation. Where a machine is discovered by the inventory solution but not included in the Active Directory system, well that suggests the Active Discovery information isn’t being well maintained and that’s a discussion for another day and another blog post!

Ultimately, the point at which an organization says ‘we’ve got everything’ is actually something of a judgment call and should ideally be included in the parameters of the SAM project plan (we often see plans with a target coverage rate of 95-98% of total devices, for example).

That said, by following the three steps highlighted above, there is no reason that even organizations with complex IT infrastructures should not have confidence that their inventory repository is as accurate as could be realistically expected.