Additions and Changes
xAssets tracks every change made to every asset, enabling you to report on additions, moves, modifications, and disposals over any time period. This is essential for audit compliance, change control, and understanding how your infrastructure evolves.
Why Track Changes
- Audit compliance -- demonstrate what changed, when, and by whom
- Security monitoring -- detect unexpected changes (new software installations, unauthorised hardware modifications)
- Capacity planning -- understand how your estate grows and changes over time
- Troubleshooting -- correlate asset changes with incidents (e.g., "this server started failing after a memory change last Tuesday")
Accessing History Reports
Navigate to Asset > Asset Inventory Dashboard and select the Additions and Changes or Asset History sections:
The Asset History sub-dashboard provides more specific reporting, including recently updated assets:
Category-Specific Reports
More focused change reports are available from the category dashboards:
- Desktop > Desktop Dashboard > Additions and Changes -- changes to desktops and laptops
- Server > Server Dashboard > Additions and Changes -- changes to server infrastructure
These filtered views help you focus on the asset types most relevant to your role.
Types of Changes Tracked
The system automatically records changes detected by discovery scans, manual edits, and import operations. Common change types include:
| Change Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| New assets | A new computer appears on the network for the first time |
| Hardware changes | Memory upgrade, disk replacement, CPU change |
| Software changes | New software installed, software removed, version upgrade |
| Location changes | Asset moved to a different site or building |
| Status changes | Asset deployed, stored, disposed |
| Ownership changes | Asset assigned to a different custodian or department |
Tips
- Review the additions and changes dashboard weekly to stay aware of infrastructure changes
- Use change reports to validate that planned changes (e.g., a memory upgrade project) were actually carried out
- Combine change reporting with email notifications (see Email Notifications) for proactive alerting
- For a more structured view of infrastructure changes, see IMAC Reporting
Related Articles
- Asset History — viewing the complete editing history of a specific asset
- IMAC Reporting — structured installations, moves, additions, and changes report
- Email Notifications — automated change alerts