The asset inventory : everything you own
"Asset inventory" page
The equipment list shows machines fitted with an agent. The inventory goes further: it records everything that matters, computers, servers, containers, online services, certificates, including things you cannot install anything on.
Everything you own, counted: workstations, servers, software, accounts.
The difference fits in one sentence: the equipment list says "who is talking", the inventory says "what exists".
Five counters, five questions
| Counter | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Assets | How many things do we own, all told? |
| Critical | How many are vital to the business? |
| High | How many are important without being vital? |
| Certificates < 30 d | Which certificates expire soon? |
| No owner | What is nobody responsible for? |
The last two counters are the most useful day to day. An expiring certificate takes a website down without warning, and it is always on a Sunday. An asset with no owner is an asset nobody updates. Bringing those two figures to zero is an excellent quarterly goal.
The table
Each line carries the name, the type, the address, the criticality level, the owner, where the information came from and the date last seen. Part of it fills in by itself from the agents; the rest, chiefly the owner and the criticality, is entered by hand, and that is exactly where the page earns its keep.
At Les Ateliers, the inventory holds 21 machines, 8 connected vehicles and the website certificate. Camille has put her name against the certificate, and the expiry date will not slip past her again.
In closing
The estate says who speaks, the inventory says what exists. The difference matters: you only protect what you know about, and the gaps almost always hide in what was never listed.
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