Locality Switch

If you’ve got more than a couple of computers and a few bits of software, then you need some sort of asset management system. Something which will allow you to keep track of every bit of hardware and software in an organised and easy to use manner.

We’re not talking about a simple spreadsheet, although that may be useful for very small-scale solutions. You need Kwok; Kwok Information Server.

Kwok allows you to keep track of all of you assets, the hardware and the software. Don’t store all of your information in one person’s brain – keep if all stored in a collaborative system.  Here’s what Kwok can do for you:

• Hardware management: register every bit of hardware in the system, and then assign it to users or a specific location. Keep track of who is using what
• Software management: register all of your software licenses, and then link these to specific computers. It’s easy to see how many licensees you have for each piece of software
• Issue tracking: log all issues experienced with your equipment, and then use it to track updates and assign a resolution. No more “oh, I forgot about that problem!”
• Knowledge base: log important pieces of information regarding your systems or policies. Have some computers which require some special attention? Add an article about it before you get hit by a bus

This is a very powerful feature set. Combine it with LDAP Integration (so you can link it to your Active Directory), email updates, vendor contact details, and a whole set of other features, and you have one very powerful system!

What would make this whole system even better for you is investing in asset labels – stickers identifying the owner of the hardware and containing a unique identifier. Whack one on each bit of hardware, and log that number against the asset in Kwok. It’s a simple way to keep track of the correspondence between physical assets and records in Kwok.

Kwok is a web based system which is open source. It requires Apache Tomcat and PostgreSQL to run, but the package includes the whole system. Just plonk it in a folder on your server, and step through the provided instructions.

There’s a few things I find troublesome with Kwok. Firstly, there is a lack of delete button in several sections, such as ‘issues’. Secondly, the interface can be a bit slow to move around if you’re new to it – for example, it took me a while to find the pagination section on the hardware screen.

Overall, this is a great concept for a system, and a reasonable implementation. If you don’t have any sort of asset management, then this could be just what you need to get organised. Don’t wait until you have a specific reason to document everything – do it now!

(By the way, if you are looking for some asset labels to stick on everything, try Avonlea Labels. Our ones look fantastic, and are quite strong)