BACKTRACK FROM STRANDWARE HELPS TRACK COMPUTER ASSETS
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - Oct. 29, 2001 - The BackTrack® Group, a division of StrandWare® Inc., today announced a free add-on module for its BackTrack item and asset tracking software application. Designed for Information Technology (IT) environments and called IT Asset Management Tracking, the module helps companies track installed hardware and software through a central database. This information enables managers to make better decisions on upgrading, tracking reliability trends and making purchase decisions.
The IT Asset Management Tracking application uses bar codes to track the installation, maintenance, upgrading, moving and eventual decommissioning of hardware and software components. At the time of installation, the technician applies a bar code to the hardware and records all of the information on components, peripherals, installed software and other system specifics in the BackTrack database. Once part of the database, every action on the computer can be recorded simply by using the keyboard or a hand-held Portable Data Terminal (PDT) bar code scanner and input device.
Each IT asset tracking record can contain information on the acquisition date, location, current value, account billed, purchase order, warranty, maintenance contract, insured value, depreciation schedule and depreciated value. It also makes it easy to create a full lifecycle history of the asset.
The BackTrack IT Asset Management module generates several management reports including:
Acquisitions by year, account and purchase order number
Assets by location
Asset disposal status
Current depreciation amount
Current asset value
Insured asset value
Maintenance contract expiration dates
Warranty expiration dates
"Virtually every organization is wrestling with the issue of IT asset management," said Mike Strand, StrandWare president and CEO. "'Where is it, what's it worth, when did we buy it, when should we get rid of it, do we have it already?' are questions that everyone asks. The response in many organizations is to create a spreadsheet that really doesn't solve the problem and is more difficult to keep up to date. The free BackTrack add-on module, with its pre-formatted database approach, is the way that managers can get a handle on the issue."
BackTrack is a comprehensive, flexible tracking system that includes a label designer, report designer and a series of databases for user, location and transaction history. BackTrack applications also have security settings to allow specific users access to only data and reports that contain the information they are authorized to see. This helps ensure that administrators can appropriately control information to those who have need to know.
StrandWare, Inc., 1529 Continental Drive, Eau Claire, WI 54701-7051. Tel: 715-833-2331; Fax: 715-833-1995.