Assets are things, such as hardware and software, that teams need to procure, allocate, refresh, and retire over time. After IT asset management isturned on, admins can create and configure asset types and then bulk import existing asset data into Zendesk. This data is then available to agents to interact with in the Agent Workspace.

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Create and configure IT asset types and custom fields to manage hardware and software assets. Use hierarchical structures for efficient field inheritance. Track asset locations and bulk import asset data using a CSV file. This setup allows agents to interact with asset records in the Agent Workspace, streamlining asset management and enhancing your support operations.

Assets are things, such as hardware and software, that teams need to procure, allocate, refresh, and retire over time. After IT asset management is turned on, admins can create and configure asset types and then bulk import existing asset data into Zendesk. This data is then available to agents to interact with in the Agent Workspace.

This article contains the following topics:
  • Creating asset types
  • Creating custom asset fields and adding them to asset types
  • Creating and using asset locations
  • Creating and using asset statuses
Related articles:
  • Understanding and turning on IT asset management in Zendesk
  • Editing and managing IT asset types, fields, and locations in Admin Center
  • Bulk importing IT asset records

Creating asset types

Admins can use the Types page to create and manage asset types. You can have a total of 50 asset types.

To create an asset type
  1. In Admin Center, click IT assets in the sidebar, then select Assets > Types.
  2. Click Create type.
  3. Enter a unique Name for the asset type.
  4. If applicable, select the Parent type.

    Asset types can only be nested three layers deep. You can't select an asset type as the parent if it would result in more than three layers.

    Note: The new asset type will automatically inherit the parent type's fields and be nested under the parent asset type on the Asset types page.
  5. Click Create.
  6. Add custom asset fields to the asset type definition and add locations where assets are managed.

Creating custom asset fields and adding them to asset types

Asset fields are the schema for your asset types, defined by standard and custom asset fields, as well as the fields inherited from parent asset types. These fields represent properties of the asset type that you want to store and are used by agents when creating and managing assets.

Understanding the standard asset fields

The following common asset fields are pre-defined by Zendesk. These fields apply to all assets and can't be edited or deleted.

Field name Field type
Asset tag Text
Asset type Lookup relationship
Location Lookup relationship
Manufacturer Text
Model Text
Notes Multi-line
Organization Lookup relationship
Purchase cost Decimal
Purchase date Date
Serial number Text
Status Lookup relationship

(Valid values: available, in use, missing, pending, retired, under repair)
User Lookup relationship
Vendor Text
Warranty expiration Date

Creating custom asset fields

To finish creating an asset type, you must configure it with custom asset fields. Custom asset fields can be applied to all asset types or specific asset types only.

You can have up to 100 asset fields, including standard and custom fields.

To create custom asset fields
  1. In Admin Center, click IT assets in the sidebar, then select Assets > Fields.

    Alternatively, when viewing an individual asset type, click the Field tab and then click Add field.

  2. Click Create field.
  3. Select the field type and enter a unique Display name.
  4. Verify that the Field key is the value you want it to be.

    The field key makes it possible for the API to reference the field. When you enter a name for the field, the field key is automatically populated. If you want the name and key to be different, you must edit the field key.

    Note: You can't change the field key after you create the custom object field.
  5. (Optional) Enter a Description for the field.
  6. (Optional) Select Required if this field must have a value when adding or updating asset records that have this field.
  7. Select which Asset types the field applies to:
    • Add to all types: Apply the field to all asset types. Labeled as All in the asset type column of the field list.
    • Add to selected types: Apply the field to the selected asset types only.

      If you initiate the field creation while viewing an asset type, Add to selected types and that asset type are automatically selected but can be modified as needed.

  8. Set other properties for your field.

    Options vary by field type.

  9. Click Save.

Creating and using asset locations

Tracking the location of physical assets is important. Locations are used in the standard Location asset field, so you can see and manage an asset’s location in the asset record.

You can create up to 10,000 locations.

To create a location
  1. In Admin Center, click IT assets in the sidebar, then select Assets > Locations.
  2. Click Create location.
  3. Enter a unique Location name.
  4. Click Create.

Creating and using asset statuses

There are four asset status types:
  • Available
  • In use
  • Unavailable
  • Retired

All asset statuses are associated with one of the asset status types. For example, there are six standard asset statuses: Available, In use, Missing, Pending, Retired, Under repair. From this list, both Missing and Under repair have the status type Unavailable. Similarly, Missing and Retired both have the status type Retired.

Admins can create additional custom asset statuses to suit their needs. All custom asset statuses are associated with one of the four asset status types because these status types are used to control asset visibility, eligibility for assignment, and billing. Assets must have a status of Available, In use, or Unavailable to be accessible in the IT asset management panel in the Agent Workspace.
Note: Asset records with a status of Retired can't have an assignee and aren't counted towards the account's billable asset records.
To create a custom asset status
  1. In Admin Center, click IT assets in the sidebar, then select Assets > Statuses.
  2. Click Create asset status.
  3. Enter a unique Name for the status.
  4. Select the Status type.
  5. (Optional) Enter a description to help agents understand when to use this as an asset's status.
  6. Click Create asset status.

    Custom asset statuses can be edited or deleted, as needed.

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