IT asset management
Keep every laptop and device accountable to a person
Track the devices your staff carry, who they're assigned to, and their whole lifecycle — with the custody and audit trail IT teams need.
IT asset management here means the physical side: which device is assigned to which person, signed for at onboarding, recovered at offboarding, and tracked through repair and replacement. There is no network discovery or software inventory — Stackroom covers the equipment, including everything that never touches a network.
The pain
Sound familiar?
- Laptops are assigned informally and drift off the books.
- Onboarding and offboarding device handover is manual and error-prone.
- You can't prove which device a person has when they leave.
How Stackroom helps
Everything you need, in one place
Devices assigned to people
Every device tied to a person with a signed handover, so accountability is never in question.
Roles & access
Configurable, DB-driven roles control who can view, assign and edit across your fleet.
Audit-ready
Cycle counts, custody history and exports keep your fleet clean for security and finance reviews.
How it runs
What this looks like day to day
- 1Onboard
Issue on day one
A new starter is assigned their laptop, monitor and peripherals against their name, with a signature, so ownership is established from the first day.
- 2Operate
Keep the estate current
Assignments, moves between departments and repairs update the record as they happen, so the register does not drift out of date between audits.
- 3Renew
Stay ahead of warranty and licence dates
Hardware warranty and software renewal dates warn in advance, so decisions are planned rather than forced.
- 4Offboard
Recover before the last day
A leaver's page lists everything outstanding, so equipment and licences come back on schedule instead of months later.
In detail
The questions that come up next
How does this differ from an MDM?
An MDM manages the device's configuration and security posture. Stackroom tracks the asset as property: who holds it, what it cost, what it is worth, when its warranty ends and whether it came back. The two answer different questions and are commonly run alongside each other.
Can we track software licences too?
Yes. Licences and subscriptions can be tracked with renewal dates and seat counts, so the renewal is a decision rather than a surprise invoice.
What about equipment for remote staff?
Assignment is to a person rather than a desk, so home-based equipment is tracked exactly like anything else, which is usually where estates lose visibility first.
Does it help with insurance and finance?
Yes. Purchase values, depreciation and totals by department give finance the figures they ask for, without a separate spreadsheet maintained in parallel.
The half a discovery tool cannot see
Network discovery finds what is connected and reports what is installed on it. It is blind to a laptop in a drawer, and blind by design to monitors, docks, adaptors, headsets, keyboards and phones — which in most organisations outnumber the networked estate and account for far more of the quiet loss. Those items need a register and a holder, not an agent.
Onboarding and offboarding are the two moments that matter
Almost all of the value of an IT asset register is realised twice per employee. At onboarding, handing over a device against a signature, so the person knows what they have and the organisation has a record. At offboarding, producing the list of what they hold so recovery is a checklist rather than an investigation. Everything in between is bookkeeping; these two are where equipment is actually saved or lost.
Shared devices behave differently from assigned ones
A laptop belongs to a person. A loan pool, a demo device, a trolley of tablets or a spare handset belongs to whoever booked it. Assignment-only tools handle the first well and the second badly, because shared equipment needs availability and reservations rather than an owner field.
Where Stackroom stops
No agents, no network discovery, no installed-software inventory, no licence reconciliation, no CMDB relationship modelling and no service desk. If those are the requirement, a dedicated ITAM platform is the right answer, and many organisations run one alongside Stackroom — our REST API keeps serial numbers and models in step.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can we import from our existing asset spreadsheet?
Yes. Export to CSV and import it. Categories, locations and custom fields map across, so you are not re-keying an estate that already exists.
Does it only handle laptops and phones?
No. Teams run the same register for lab instruments, AV equipment, tools and test equipment. Anything with a serial number and a person responsible fits the same model.
How do we handle equipment shared by a team?
Shared items can be assigned to a department rather than an individual, and bookings handle the case where several people need the same item at different times.
Can helpdesk staff see the estate without editing it?
Yes. Roles control who can view, issue, edit and retire, so support staff can look up a device without being able to change the register.
What happens to an asset at end of life?
Retire it with a reason and a date. It leaves the active register but stays in history, so past audits and depreciation records remain intact.
Does Stackroom scan our network?
No. There is no agent and no discovery. Assets are registered by import, by REST API, or by scanning a QR label. For discovery, run a dedicated tool and feed it in through the API.
Can we track warranty and repair on devices?
Yes. Warranty dates warn before they lapse, and a fault becomes a ticket with a status, a cost and a service history — which is what tells you whether a machine is worth repairing again.
How does offboarding work?
Everything the person holds is listed on their record. Each item is checked back in with a condition record, and the clearance can be signed and exported as a PDF for HR.
Can IT and other departments share one register?
Yes, and it is usually the point. Departments and configurable roles let IT, facilities and a lab each manage their own equipment inside one organisation without seeing each other's.
Ready to know where every asset is?
Start free — tag your first 100 assets and run a real checkout in your first session. No credit card required.