Get Asset Information Node

[Jim]

Will there ever be an alternative way to retrieve an asset? I understand the use of an ID but how do we fetch the ID as part of workflow based on an asset that is not linked? its even funkier if several are linked. I feel like its a waste of a node because of this, I would like to fetch an asset based on its name or serial number, and then update its states via the workflow but it is currently not possible with what is available unless I use the API's

[CraigP]

+1 Yes please.

We are desperate for better asset handling in BPM. Relying on assets being linked to interact with them feels so clunky, and as you pointed out, gets complicated when you link multiple assets for different reasons.

In addition to retrieving asset information using the asset name with this node or something similar, I would like to again highlight the need for task capture fields to have the same options as progressive capture forms where possible i.e. can we please have an asset lookup in task capture fields?

[Steve Giller]

6 minutes ago, CraigP said:

I would like to again highlight the need for task capture fields to have the same options as progressive capture forms where possible i.e. can we please have an asset lookup in task capture fields?

While I will never say something is not possible, it is worth pointing out once more that Activities/Tasks are Platform functionality, and Assets are Service Manager.
In the same way that a Project Type capture form is not available to a Service Manager Intelligent Capture, an asset picker (Service Manager) is not available to a Task (Platform) Capture Field.
I'm not aware of any current plans to change this.

As an aside - what would you want to do with an Asset Picker from a Task once you had a result? The majority of the answers I think I'll get back would not be possible.

[CraigP]

19 hours ago, Steve Giller said:

As an aside - what would you want to do with an Asset Picker from a Task once you had a result? The majority of the answers I think I'll get back would not be possible.

Exactly as per this post, retrieve the asset that was picked and update properties on it. I'm aware this is currently done via updating linked assets, but as I believe Jim is saying, it would be useful to have versions of the existing "Update <type> asset" automations that instead accept an asset ID to update that specific asset.

From an automation point of view, I'm just looking to make updating assets as fool proof as possible. There shouldn't be a situation where someone could forget to link an asset, or where some additional asset related to the request might also be linked, and the BPM just carries on with whatever may or may not be there without realising the number of linked assets isn't right. I'd like to ensure the analyst has provided the asset to be updated (which a required lookup field would do), and then have the BPM update that specific asset when they complete the task.

 

[Jim]

I think one of our main problem is that we often have 2 linked assets when replacing assets via a break fix, the incident is logged with the relevant asset, when we decide we need to replace we will link the new asset to the request In doing so we can not update the assets with what is currently available, it would be nice to say well Asset ID x being the original has been returned and Asset ID y has been allocated to the user as the replacement. Currently it will only allow me to update both with user, or both returned Which is well not very useful. A flow that says fetch Asset ID of device name or serial number of X, now update asset with this info, and so on so forth for other assets. I understand Serial numbers or names aren't validated in Hornbill and could not be unique, But at that point I think its up to us as customers to utilise it and manage our own assets how we want. 

 

For our engineers I had to write a tool for them to scan the assets and then update hornbill automatically with preset data, When storing we have shelf ID's etc to manage where our assets are when in storage but ideally the product should be able to manage assets itself much better in the workflows. It would be even better if we could add lifecycle processes to them, similar to what documents have

[Steve Giller]

@CraigP this is as I suggested - none of the requirements are achievable once you have the Asset Id.

There are enhancements around Assets in the list, but as far as I'm aware these are not committed to the 90-day queue at present - when they are they will appear on the internal roadmap as normal, but currently the ability to retrieve an Asset ID is not going to offer any functionality other than using it in a Get Asset Information node.

[CraigP]

  

1 hour ago, Jim said:

I think one of our main problem is that we often have 2 linked assets when replacing assets via a break fix, the incident is logged with the relevant asset, when we decide we need to replace we will link the new asset to the request In doing so we can not update the assets with what is currently available, it would be nice to say well Asset ID x being the original has been returned and Asset ID y has been allocated to the user as the replacement. Currently it will only allow me to update both with user, or both returned Which is well not very useful. A flow that says fetch Asset ID of device name or serial number of X, now update asset with this info, and so on so forth for other assets. I understand Serial numbers or names aren't validated in Hornbill and could not be unique, But at that point I think its up to us as customers to utilise it and manage our own assets how we want. 

 

For our engineers I had to write a tool for them to scan the assets and then update hornbill automatically with preset data, When storing we have shelf ID's etc to manage where our assets are when in storage but ideally the product should be able to manage assets itself much better in the workflows. It would be even better if we could add lifecycle processes to them, similar to what documents have

I literally started a paragraph giving the example of that exact problem with the existing "link based" automation and doing an Equipment Exchange request, but then thought my post was going on a bit long haha.

But yes exactly, from a update history standpoint, both assets need to be linked to the request because that request is the reason their properties are being updated, but as far as I can tell if you want to automate the updates within the BPM, there is only a single "Update Computer Assets" automation option which updates all linked assets with the same properties, you can't differentiate between two different devices of the same type and apply different updates. I imagine exchanging a device is a very common type of request across different organisations?

32 minutes ago, Steve Giller said:

@CraigP this is as I suggested - none of the requirements are achievable once you have the Asset Id.

There are enhancements around Assets in the list, but as far as I'm aware these are not committed to the 90-day queue at present - when they are they will appear on the internal roadmap as normal, but currently the ability to retrieve an Asset ID is not going to offer any functionality other than using it in a Get Asset Information node.

As I said, I'm aware nothing is currently in place, but I've just given an example of the kind of new automation option that would be useful along with the this ability to lookup the asset i.e. the existing "linked asset" automation functionality ported over to a new automation option to do the same thing, just applied to a single asset matching a provided asset ID instead.