Hardware Export, update, then Import Question

[KendraF]

The hardware asset import spreadsheet does not contain all of the fields in the hardware record.  I am being asked to do a full export of the assets so they can update fields and to import it back in.  I do not believe this can be done this way or should be done this way but I have to ask the question so i can respond back to their question.

The problem is trying to update hardware assets after our upload since there are many fields missing that would need to be manually input.  Right now we have a spreadsheet with all the extra information that couldn't be uploaded into Flexera and are trying to figure out the best way to update thousands of records.

Has anyone else ran into this?  What did you do?  What are our options?  We asked our Vendor from installation and they told us that we could not add any other fields to the upload template.  

Thank you.

[kclausen]

@KendraF - I am not sure I understand what is meant by the "Asset Import Spreadsheet".  Can you elaborate?

If you are looking to update Hardware Assets (not Inventory Devices), then by using a Business Adapter you will have much more flexibility to map your own spreadsheet to the FNMS/ITAM data model for Hardware Assets.

[KendraF]

We are using SCCM for our source and do not have Flexera end points out in our environment.  For example, large purchases of computers we use a template to import them into the Flexera system to create ASSETS.  We have also used this for adding in our inventory records to then link with the Flexera Inventory.  

The adapter sounds awesome but the information we are missing is Corp Unit, Location, etc.  things that are not available from building an adapter.  Ideally, we would get this from AD but we unfortunately are not prepared to do that so we have to manually fill it out for each asset.

Hope this helps explain.

[kclausen · Accepted solution]

It sounds like someone build a Business Adapter in the past based on the requirements at that point in time.  From the original requirements, an Excel spreadsheet "template" was created and a Business Adapter created.

You will need to have some experience with the Business Adapter Studio, but you can simply add additional columns to your existing spreadsheet (such as Location and Corp Unit), and then update your existing Business Adapter to process the additional fields.

[KendraF]

Ok that makes sense.  Going to see if I can get that looked at.  

Thank you.