Last updated: 2026-10-15
IT inventory management is the practice of keeping one up-to-date record of every laptop, phone, tablet and monitor your company owns or leases: who has it, where it is, what state it is in and when it must be replaced or returned. This how-to shows an office manager or founder how to build that inventory in seven steps, with a ready-to-copy template, then keep it alive without a dedicated IT team. Once the fleet grows, the same record usually moves into an IT asset management platform.
Estimated time: 1 to 2 days for a first inventory of 50 to 100 devices · Level: beginner · Prerequisites: an HR employee list, purchase or leasing records, access to your MDM if you have one · Verified on: CIS Controls v8.1 and NCSC asset guidance, October 2026
What you need before starting
A first IT hardware inventory needs three sources of truth and one owner. The sources are your current employee list, your purchase invoices and leasing contracts, and any device data you already have (MDM console, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 admin). The owner is the person who will keep the record current after day one, often the office manager in a company without an IT department.
Gather the following before Step 1:
Employee list exported from your HRIS or payroll tool, with start dates, departures and countries
Purchase and leasing records: invoices, supplier portals, leasing contracts with their end dates
Admin access to your MDM, if devices are enrolled, or to the device list in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365
A shared spreadsheet (Google Sheets or Excel) with restricted edit rights
One hour with a manager per team, to locate devices that sit in drawers, meeting rooms or with former employees
Step 1: Define the scope and owner of your IT inventory
Decide what goes into the inventory and who is accountable for it. Include every device that stores company data or connects to company systems: laptops, desktops, phones, tablets, plus monitors and docks if you lease or reimburse them. Name a single owner and a backup. The result is a written one-paragraph scope that settles every "does this count?" question later.
Two forks to settle now. First, personal devices (BYOD): if employees read company email on their own phones, record that the device exists and is enrolled, not its purchase data. Second, remote and international staff: their devices are in scope even if you never see them, which is exactly where inventories usually break.
The UK National Cyber Security Centre recommends that every asset has a named owner and that discovery is treated as a continuous process, not a one-off audit (NCSC, identify assets).
How to check it worked: anyone on the leadership team can tell who owns the inventory and whether phones, monitors and BYOD are included.
Step 2: Set up your IT inventory template
Create one row per device and a fixed set of columns that answer four questions: what is it, who has it, is it secure, and when does it leave. Sixteen fields are enough for most companies of 50 to 500 people. Lock the column headers and use drop-down lists for status and ownership so the data stays comparable over time.
Copy this template into your spreadsheet. The example values are illustrative.
Field | Example value | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
Asset ID | LAP-0042 | Unique reference, also written on a label on the device |
Device type | Laptop | Filters by category for budgets and renewals |
Brand and model | MacBook Pro 14" M5 | Identifies specs and repair options |
Serial number | C02XXXXXXX | The only reliable identifier for warranty, theft reports and returns |
Ownership | Owned / leased / BYOD | Decides who handles repair, return and end of life |
Supplier and contract reference | Lessor or reseller name, contract number | Needed for warranty claims and end-of-contract returns |
Start date | 2026-03-02 | Starts the age and depreciation clock |
Warranty or contract end | 2029-03-01 | Triggers renewal or return planning |
Assigned user | Employee name | Accountability, onboarding and offboarding |
Team | Sales | Budget allocation |
Country and location | UK, remote | Shipping, local repair and customs for international staff |
Operating system and version | macOS 26 / Windows 11 25H2 | Spots unsupported systems |
Disk encryption | Yes / no | Basic data protection requirement |
Enrolled in MDM | Yes / no | Shows whether you can lock or wipe it remotely |
Status | In use / in stock / in repair / to return / retired | Shows what is actually available |
Last checked | 2026-10-01 | Shows how fresh each record is |
The CIS Controls v8.1, a widely used security baseline, list a similar core for an enterprise asset inventory, including hardware address, machine name, asset owner and department (CIS Control 1). The template above adds the contract and lifecycle fields an office manager needs on top of the security ones.
How to check it worked: the sheet has fixed headers, drop-downs for status and ownership, and no free-text columns for data that should be standardised.
Step 3: Collect device data from every source
Fill the template by combining what systems already know with what people tell you. Start with exports (MDM, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 device lists, supplier portals), then fill gaps with a short form sent to each employee asking for the model and serial number of every company device they hold. Finish with a physical check of the office and storage cupboards.
Work in this order, because each source corrects the previous one:
System exports: MDM and identity tools give serial numbers, OS versions and encryption status for every enrolled device.
Supplier records: invoices and leasing portals give purchase dates, contract references and warranty ends.
Employee declaration: a two-minute form catches devices that are not enrolled anywhere. On a Mac, the serial number is under Apple menu > About This Mac; on Windows 11, under Settings > System > About.
Physical check: count what sits in the office, in stock and in repair, and label each device with its asset ID.
How to check it worked: every row has a serial number, and every serial number appears in at least two sources.
Step 4: Reconcile the inventory with HR and purchase records
Reconciliation means matching three lists that should agree: devices in your inventory, people on your payroll, and devices you paid for. Every mismatch is either a missing device, a ghost record or a contract you are still paying for. This step is where most of the value of an IT hardware inventory shows up, because it turns a list into decisions.
Look for four patterns:
Employees without a device record: either the device is missing from the inventory or the person uses a personal machine.
Devices assigned to people who have left: the device was never recovered, or it was redeployed without updating the sheet.
Devices invoiced but not found: lost, stolen, or still at a former employee's home. Our guide on handling a lost or stolen business laptop covers what to do next.
Devices found but never invoiced: often gifts from a previous supplier or personal devices used for work.
How to check it worked: the number of active employees, minus agreed exceptions, equals the number of devices with status "in use".
Step 5: Flag the devices that need action
Once the data is clean, sort it to produce a short action list. Filter for devices without disk encryption or MDM enrolment, devices on unsupported systems, warranties or leasing contracts ending in the next six months, and devices in stock for more than three months. Each line gets an owner and a deadline, and the inventory stops being a static file.
Unsupported systems deserve a specific check. Windows 10 reached end of support on 14 October 2025, so any remaining Windows 10 machine should be upgraded to Windows 11 or replaced; see our Windows 10 end of support guide. The NCSC also advises labelling products that have left mainstream support and planning their migration.
Devices that will not return to service go to secure data wiping and recycling rather than a drawer: our guide to recycling business laptops explains the options.
How to check it worked: every flagged device has a named owner and a date in the sheet.
Step 6: Connect the inventory to onboarding and offboarding
An inventory stays accurate only if every arrival, departure and replacement updates it in the same step. Add two lines to your HR checklists: on onboarding, assign a device and fill in the assigned user and start date; on offboarding, plan the return and switch the status to "to return" until the device is received and wiped.
Offboarding is the weak point, especially for remote staff in other countries: devices that are not collected within the notice period are rarely recovered later. Agree with HR that the return is scheduled before the employee's last day, with a prepaid shipping label if they work remotely.
How to check it worked: the last three arrivals and departures appear in the inventory with the right status.
Step 7: Schedule reviews and set the threshold for a tool
Put two recurring reviews in the calendar: a light monthly check of statuses and new devices, and a full reconciliation at least twice a year, which matches the CIS Controls v8.1 minimum review frequency for enterprise asset inventories. At the same time, decide in advance at which fleet size or workload you will move from a spreadsheet to an IT inventory tool or to an outsourced service.
The section below gives the decision criteria. Writing the threshold down now avoids the common situation where the spreadsheet silently goes stale once the company passes 80 or 100 people.
How to check it worked: both reviews are scheduled with an owner, and the switch criteria are written in the inventory file.
How much time does IT inventory management take?
The workload depends on fleet size and how often people join and leave, not on the spreadsheet itself. As a worked example, assume 70 devices, 5 to 10 minutes per device to collect and check data, and two arrivals or departures a month. That gives 6 to 12 hours for the first inventory, then about an hour a month to keep it current, plus a day per full reconciliation.
These are planning assumptions, not benchmarks: a fleet with no MDM, several countries and frequent turnover will take longer, because each device needs a manual follow-up. For an office manager who already runs facilities, HR admin and purchasing, the hours are less of a problem than the interruptions: chasing a serial number or a departed employee's laptop rarely fits in a scheduled slot.
Spreadsheet, inventory tool or outsourcing: which fits your company?
A spreadsheet works while one person can keep the whole fleet in mind. An IT inventory tool becomes worth it when devices are enrolled in an MDM and data can sync automatically. Outsourcing makes sense when nobody internally has time to run onboarding, offboarding, repairs and returns, not just the record. The table summarises the trade-offs.
Criterion | Spreadsheet | IT inventory tool (ITAM software) | Outsourced IT fleet management |
|---|---|---|---|
Typical fleet size | Up to roughly 50 devices, single site | 50+ devices, MDM in place | 50+ devices, several countries or no internal IT |
Data updates | Manual | Automatic for enrolled devices | Handled by the provider |
Who runs onboarding and returns | You | You, with better data | The provider, with your approval |
Main risk | Stale data after a few months | Tool set up but processes unchanged | Dependence on one provider |
Signal it is time to move on | You no longer trust the sheet before an audit | Admin time keeps growing with headcount | Not applicable |
Whichever option you choose, the scope, fields and review rhythm from Steps 1, 2 and 7 stay the same. For the wider lifecycle view, from procurement to disposal, see our article on IT asset management best practices.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Most inventories fail for organisational reasons rather than technical ones: nobody owns the update, offboarding skips the device return, or the sheet tracks names instead of serial numbers. The table lists the five pitfalls that appear most often, with their cause and the fix to apply.
Mistake | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
The inventory is out of date three months later | No owner and no trigger for updates | Name an owner and tie updates to onboarding and offboarding (Step 6) |
Devices identified by user name only | Serial numbers never collected | Make the serial number a mandatory field and label devices with an asset ID |
Former employees still hold laptops | Return not planned before the last day | Schedule the return during the notice period, with prepaid shipping for remote staff |
Leasing contracts end without warning | Contract end dates not tracked | Add a contract end column and review it at each monthly check |
Remote and international devices missing | Physical count only covers the office | Combine MDM exports and employee declarations (Step 3) |
Recap checklist
The eight actions below sum up the procedure, from the first scope decision to the threshold for automating. Run through them for the first inventory, then reuse the last three as a standing routine: assignment and return at every HR event, a monthly status check, and a full reconciliation at least twice a year.
Write the scope of the inventory and name its owner
Set up the 16-field template with drop-downs
Collect data from MDM exports, supplier records, employee forms and a physical check
Reconcile devices with the employee list and invoices
Flag unencrypted, unmanaged, unsupported and end-of-contract devices
Add device assignment and return to onboarding and offboarding checklists
Schedule a monthly check and a full review at least twice a year
Write down the threshold for moving to a tool or outsourcing
Keep your IT inventory up to date with Fleet
The steps above are manageable at 30 devices. At 150 spread across several countries, collecting serial numbers, chasing returns from departing employees, tracking contract end dates and checking encryption status becomes a part-time job for someone who already has one. It can be done by hand, but each manual step adds time, risk of error and devices that quietly disappear.
Fleet runs your device fleet end to end in one platform, across 150+ countries, from the first laptop shipped to a new hire to its return and second life:
Live inventory: every device, user, OS version and compliance status is tracked in the Cockpit dashboard, without a spreadsheet to maintain.
Ready on day one: devices arrive pre-configured through zero-touch enrollment, so they are enrolled and recorded from the start.
Onboarding and offboarding: order, deliver, store, transfer and redeploy devices from one place, including returns from remote employees.
Security: Fleet MDM applies your security policies, with remote wipe when a device goes missing.
Contract and renewal tracking: devices are renewed every three years and Fleet handles their second life.
Warranty and repairs: repairs and a loaner device are included for the whole contract.
Fleet already manages more than 100,000 devices for companies of 50 to 500 people. Book a demo and see how your inventory can update itself instead of depending on one person's spreadsheet.
FAQ
What should be included in an IT inventory?
At minimum, an IT inventory records each device's type, model, serial number, assigned user, location, ownership (owned, leased or personal), operating system, encryption and MDM status, warranty or contract end date and current status. Software licences and SaaS subscriptions are usually tracked in a separate list, because they follow users rather than devices.
How often should you do an IT inventory?
Update the inventory continuously, at every arrival, departure and replacement, and run a full reconciliation at least twice a year. The CIS Controls v8.1 set twice a year as the minimum review frequency for enterprise asset inventories. A monthly light check of statuses keeps the gap between reviews small.
Can you manage IT inventory in Excel or Google Sheets?
Yes, a spreadsheet is a sound starting point for a single-site company with up to roughly 50 devices, provided it has a named owner, fixed columns and drop-down lists. Its limit is manual updating: as headcount and countries grow, records go stale. At that point, an IT inventory tool that syncs with your MDM, or an outsourced service, saves more time than it costs to set up.
What is the difference between IT inventory management and IT asset management?
IT inventory management answers what you have and where it is today. IT asset management covers the full lifecycle around that record: procurement, budgeting, depreciation, renewal and disposal. The inventory is the foundation of asset management, and most companies build the first before formalising the second.
Who should be responsible for IT inventory in a company without an IT team?
In companies of 50 to 200 people without an IT department, the office manager or HR operations lead usually owns the inventory, because they already run onboarding and offboarding. What matters most is a single named owner, a backup, and updates triggered by HR events rather than by memory.
Conclusion
A reliable IT inventory comes from a clear scope, a fixed template and updates tied to every arrival and departure, not from the tool you start with. Build the first version in a spreadsheet, reconcile it twice a year, and decide in advance at what size you will automate or outsource it.
See how Fleet handles this in practice
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