Insights in Lifecycle Manager play a crucial role by linking specific policy-driven criteria with real asset data, simplifying the identification and management of hardware assets. Insights are combinations of policies and their associated values (i.e., age is greater than 5 years old, or manufacturer is Dell).

Bringing insights into the hardware console simplifies communicating what they are (through applied filters) and enables greater flexibility in broadening or narrowing the scope of your search. This article walks you through how to use insights within the Hardware console to streamline asset management processes and how to integrate with strategic initiatives directly.

When you open an insight, we take you to the universal console hardware page.

1. You see that the applied filters on the universal console hardware page match the policies associated with the insight you selected.

   

2. The asset list in the console is pre-filtered according to the policies associated with the selected insight.

   

   1. Policies are used to create insights or filter the console data (i.e., age is greater than, manufacturer is equal to, etc).

3. The displayed columns match the data points associated with the policies for the insight the user selected. Depending on the Insight displayed, the columns adjust accordingly.

   

Switching between Insights

By using the Hardware console, you can switch easily between Insights without having to access the Strategy dashboard.

Insights provide quick access to specific, vital information about affected assets. You can narrow the insight details down with additional filtering options available. This way, you can change the existing Insight query to capture something slightly different without having to create a new insight.

The following two examples show the difference between the listed slow workstations when you expand the age requirement from over 5 years old to over 10 years old.

Filter by Insight

The Insight filter enables you to see a list of Insights so that you can switch to another Insight. The Insights filter dropdown contains all Lifecycle Manager pre-defined insights and any Personalized insights.

Identify assets to be added to Initiatives

Insights help you identify problem assets that need action, and you can determine which assets already have “a plan” or need inclusion in an action-specific initiative.

Did we mention you can also add assets directly to Initiatives from the client hardware console, besides identifying assets that are already included?

Using the example of high-risk servers, selecting the Is not in Initiative filter only displays assets that have yet to be included in an Initiative. The following screen images identify a difference of 21 assets that are being actioned in an Initiative.

Adding assets manually to Initiatives from the client Hardware console

The Hardware console allows you to add assets manually to Initiatives.

Assuming you have been reviewing the “slow workstations” insight, which identifies workstations over 5 years old, you may plan different actions for distinct assets. For example, you may designate some assets identified as slow for warranty renewal instead of replacement. Additionally, if you have a workstation replacement Initiative scheduled for next quarter, some of these identified workstations may already exist in that Initiative, but not all of them.

1. From the detailed Insight asset console, select the Is not in Initiative data point filter

2. From the detailed Client Hardware console, select the desired assets to be added to an Initiative.

3. Click the + Add to Initiative button.

4. From the Take action on this asset dialog, under the Add to heading, click + Existing Initiative and select from the list of existing Initiatives.

5. Once the desired Initiative is selected, click Finish.

Once you add the selected assets to an Initiative, the filtered list adjusts automatically. You can redirect any remaining assets that have yet to be added to an Initiative to a separate Initiative for warranty renewals.

Additional articles to read

• Discovering your assets

• Streamlining asset identification

• Sharing filtered asset views