How to automate a clear hardware refresh plan

InvGate allows you to automate tasks within your hardware refresh plan. This helps you anticipate your organization’s hardware needs and avoid unnecessary costs and disruptions.

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Here are some of the things you can do to automate and streamline your hardware refresh plan:

  1. Create a smart tag to identify assets for decommissioning.
  2. Configure an automated email notification.
  3. Create a dashboard to monitor your hardware refresh plan.

#1. Create a smart tag to identify assets for decommissioning

Start by creating a smart tag that automatically identifies assets ready for decommissioning. This will help you keep track of aging or underperforming devices without manual effort.

General settings

  1. Go to Settings > General > Tags.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Fill in the following fields:
    • Name: Enter a name for the tag (e.g., "Assets to be decommissioned").
    • Description: Optionally, add a short explanation of the tag’s purpose.
    • Color: Choose a color to visually identify the tag.
    • Smart tag: Enable this option if you want the tag to be assigned automatically based on predefined rules.

Note: The difference between a regular tag and a smart tag is that regular tags must be manually assigned to each asset, whereas smart tags work dynamically. They automatically include assets as soon as they meet specific, predefined criteria.

Select the rules

  1. Select All in Asset types.
  2. Set up the conditions to automatically assign the tag to the right assets; for example:
    • Depreciated assets - Select: Assets > Current price > is equal to or less than > 25% of the Acquisition Price.
    • Expiring warranties - Select: Assets > Warranty expiration date > is exactly in (days) > 30.
    • Assets older than 5 years - Select: Assets > Acquisition date > before (days) > 1580.
    • Low battery health - Select: Computer > Battery health status (%) > is less than or equal > 75.
  3. When you’re done, click Save in the top-right corner.

Note: These conditions reflect common criteria used in hardware refresh plans, but they can (and should) be adapted to fit your organization’s specific policies and lifecycle strategies.

#2. Configure an automated email notification

Once the smart tag is created, you can take it a step further by setting up an automated email notification. This ensures that the right people are informed when an asset meets critical conditions (without having to check manually).

Here’s how to set up a notification for assets with warranties expiring in 30 days:

  1. Go to Settings > CIs > Automations.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Fill in the following fields:
    • Name: 30-Day Warranty Warning
    • Description: Sends an email when an asset is 30 days away from its warranty expiration.
    • Event: Select “Scheduler”.
    • Date: Set the current date and time when you want the automation to start.
    • Repeat: Choose “Every day” to check daily for assets that meet the condition.
  4. In the conditions section, configure:
    • Expiring warranties - Select: Assets > Warranty expiration date > is exactly in (days) > 30.
  5. Scroll to the Actions section and click Add action.
  6. Fill in the email details:
    • Type: Send email.
    • To: Select the recipient (e.g., your Procurement or IT Manager).
    • Subject: Warranty expiring soon – 30-day notice.
    • Body: Briefly describe the issue and include the variable CI_LINK, which will automatically insert a direct link to the affected asset in your inventory.
  7. Click Save to activate the automation.

Note: This is just one example of how to automate communications around asset conditions. You can create as many emails as needed to support your hardware refresh plan. Just make sure each one adds value and avoids unnecessary noise.

#3. Create a dashboard to monitor your hardware refresh plan

Once you’ve created your smart tag and email notification, the final step is to build a dashboard that brings everything together in one place. This will help you track key asset metrics, identify trends, and plan your next refresh cycle with data to back your decisions.

Create a custom dashboard

  1. Go to Dashboard in the left-side menu.
  2. Click the "+" icon to create a new dashboard.
  3. Apply filters for relevance:
    • Owner: Filter by the person responsible for the assets.
    • Location: Narrow down results to specific sites or regions.
    • Tags: Use smart tags (like "Assets to be decommissioned") to include only relevant assets in your refresh cycle.
  4. Fill in the following fields:
    • Name: Hardware Refresh Plan – Dashboard.
    • Description: A visual overview of key metrics to support refresh planning.
  5. Add relevant charts. We recommend the following:
    • Active assets with an expired warranty.
    • Assets with warranty expiring soon.
    • Assets by warranty expiration.
    • Assets by purchase month.
    • End of life by month.
    • Assets with battery health below 75%.
    • Assets by depreciation percentage.

    6. Note: You can configure each chart by choosing the visualization style (bar, column, pie, etc.), selecting the metric to display, setting aggregation levels, and applying filters to refine results.

  6. You have lined up all the charts that you need, Save the dashboard.

    7. Note: A dashboard is only as powerful as the metrics it contains. Consider including performance-related data such as CPU load, RAM usage, or average incident volume per device type. This information will help you refine your refresh schedule and prioritize replacements more effectively over time.