Feature Request: Autoassign Predefined Asset Tag based on Category/Company/etc

[ryanesizemore]

Love this project, turned out better than all of the paid services I found. I want to suggest the option for Snipe-IT to be able to automatically fill in the Asset Tag info based on a predefined scheme that the admin sets, such as "companynameXXXXX", so that the next asset automatically is set to the next number in the sequence and ready for label generation. Could also be linked to the Categories to have specific Asset Tag generations by Asset Type.

[snipe]

How would that be different than enabling auto-incrementing tags?

[ryanesizemore]

Guess it wouldn't be much different other than assigning to a category.

[therealjoshuad]

We do different prefixes per category, so for instance, assets in the computer category are PC-1000, Printers are PR-1000, so we can't use the auto increment. It leaves room for error because it's relying on looking at the last item created in a category

[faxesystem]

But wouldn't such a tag be against the 1NF? Why would you need the category or the company to be a part of the tag number?

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions!

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions!

[stale]

Okay, it looks like this issue or feature request might still be important. We'll re-open it for now. Thank you for letting us know!

[viclou]

FD#8649 +1

[stale]

Is this still relevant? We haven't heard from anyone in a bit. If so, please comment with any updates or additional detail.
This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Don't take it personally, we just need to keep a handle on things. Thank you for your contributions!

[stale]

This issue has been automatically closed because it has not had recent activity. If you believe this is still an issue, please confirm that this issue is still happening in the most recent version of Snipe-IT and reply to this thread to re-open it.

[Go2ClassPoorYorick]

This would still be a nice feature- hopefully it can be revisited at some point.

[stale]

Okay, it looks like this issue or feature request might still be important. We'll re-open it for now. Thank you for letting us know!

[viclou]

+1 FD 13742

[02ms05]

Just upgraded to new version of server (18.04 Ubuntu, PHP version 7.2.24, Snipe-IT 4.8.0)
Thing is perfect, but one thing bothers me still.

If I have multiple categories in assets section, why can't there be auto-incrementing ID's with following prefix for each category (Pxxx for printer , Cxxx for computer, Mxxx for mobile phones etc.)?

Is there a solution for that ?

[Go2ClassPoorYorick]

Yep! That's certainly reason alone to leave a project like this off the docket for another time/not at all. I'd try my hand at it, but I'm trash with PHP and despite the number of responses to this don't actually have a huge amount of free time on my hands myself 🤣

As for precedence, I don't think there's an answer. Leaving it fully configurable changes this from a quick and dirty hackaround to a relatively tedious task. I think these are things that could ultimately be worked around if enough time was given to developing the concept, but that doesn't mean it's inherently worth that time.

[JamiePhonic]

This is a feature that i'd really like to see.

Would it be possible to have Asset Tag "Styles"? (in the same kind of way Models are defined?)
Then on the "Create Asset" screen, you'd just select the tag style you want to use for that Asset?
It would save the problem of having them coupled to a Company or Department etc
If nothing else, it would be a decent compromise for the time being.

Just my thoughts. i have no idea how this method would actually be implemented.

[Go2ClassPoorYorick]

@JamiePhonic please thumb up the original thread- it helps gain traction and visibility when features are added to projects like this.

[C-Fu]

I was pulling my hair trying to do different prefixes... then I realised that there's only one kind of prefix that we can do. Please please please have this! Just one prefix with multiple asset types seem...... odd, to say the least.

Is there an alternative method in the meantime?

[PetriAsi]

What I read above there good reasons for both cases static assets tags and category/company/whatever based rules.
Static tag keep identifying assets constant from systems point of view. Category based rules are more human friendly.

What if we keep current asset tag system and implement asset naming rules instead? So instead generating asset tag by rules, system will generate asset name. That asset name could be added to printed asset labels.

For me it would fill both needs, treat asset tags as UUID:s and give flexibility of naming rules.

[Prathameshhankare]

I have just started to explore Snipe-IT for the organisation I am working for. I loved this project and convinced my logit team who keeps the asset records to use it and I gave a proper demo. Now, I am stuck with this just because of no category based prefix option available. They have worked with a different prefix for each category till now with the current system in place and I am finding hard to convince them to use Snipe-IT instead just because Snipe-IT doesn't have a category-based prefix option.

I need the category based prefix option to convince my team to use Snipe-IT or else I need to drop the idea altogether.

[Prathameshhankare]

Is it possible to add a prefix option in the create asset form and then add the prefix manually(of course it needs to check in the background for last used number with the prefix the user has entered) and then the form auto-assign the new incremented asset tag with the prefix?

[DomRVA]

could this not be done as part of the asset name, by category? So the Tag is still a unique ID, but auto-increment the number in the asset name, based on category, with an optional prefix. So, a Laptop with unique Tag ID 00054329 (or whatever) would get an asset name, based on the laptop Category, Prefix-##### where the number auto-increments.

[ecim-it]

Hello everybody! Just had following thoughts on that topic, what I think would also help a lot on site...

Yes, a custom prefix would be very helpful, since we have multiple companies to manage on one side, but on the other you have also different devices. For now - if I understand it right - the System will give the next number in line on a created asset despite the brand or company, which is very confusing.

So here me out:

I would imagine a formula-system for the auto-incrementing asset ID, which would look like follows:

1. Defining a prefix for each company (for example max 2 or 3 capitals, for "Company A" CA, for "Company B" CB). This could be accomplished and pre-defined under the details, where you create companies.

2. For each device category you could do this as well (like PR for printer or C for computer) This could be accomplished and pre-defined under the categories.

3. Other formula-options could be implemented as well, like the year, the asset was bought (last 2 numbers of the year)

4. The next number of the ID in the formula (length pre-defined - for example: 5 digits - and looked up in an table by the system)

So in the end, we could create a formula like -> company prefix+device category+year+number

This would look like CAC2100001, the next computer from Company A CAC2100001,
but if next item is the first computer of Company B CBC00001

That way, on-site technicians and helpdesk-employees could have a glimpse of information according the ID without looking up the details.

I'm unfortunately not capable of programing, so I can just share my ideas... :-) Any supporters of that?

[PetriAsi]

@ecim-it Your prefix generation ideas are nice and can be technically implemented. Although it's not usually wise to collect asset information to tags that should be static after creation. If there need to correct, example year device was bought, tag will change.

I'm still seeing this issue can be resolved by rules to generate device names not tags, as suggested earlier here. Rules can be complex if needed and by company / category / etc. Then it's up to user to use device name on sticker instead of tag.

[Alaknar]

Our company has tags based on location and device type so this feature would be amazing to have.

I think the easiest way of implementing that would be to just let us set up the prefix on the asset creation screen. Say, type in the first asset's tag as {DEVLOC}0001 so Snipe-IT could pull whatever's in the curly braces, copy it over and then increment the proceeding number.

[marcoezzy]

We need to create tags with a fix name, category, asset tag and purchase year... so I would also leave a +1 for this feature...

[QveenSi-zz]

Yes, yes, we also have different tag prefixes based on the category.
+1

[mni1000]

+1 on this, any updates?

[jwaller-ecc]

Also +1.

[achuet]

Any updates on this feature, please

[noaht8um]

+1
Use case is asset management for multiple companies as an MSP (Managed Services Provider).

[datavizzard]

I agree with most of the previous speakers here, for me one prefix per company would be enough. Then the asset number would remain the same for the internal system but each asset would be more clearly assignable. That is a real problem. This also affects companies that have several facilities or locations.

This is a real problem and prevents the implementation of Snipe It for some.

[MarcusGHub]

+1 for separate prefix per company and retain the incrementing number.

[snipe]

Once again, I will reiterate that this is much more complicated than it seems, especially based on some of the use-cases presented here. We currently store the "next increment" number in the settings table. To split this out into department, location, model, category, and all of the other things being proposed here adds a ton of complexity (and some of you want the option to switch back and forth between one or the other.) There is nothing stopping anyone from manually entering in those location/dept/whatever specific tags when they create an asset, but when using auto-incrementing, we'd need to maintain increments for each of these different domains. And some folks want the increment to work normally (ignoring the company/dept/etc constraint) and some people don't.

So for example, let's say this was implemented by company (since that seems the most common use case). Some folks want this:

Case 1:

• CompanyA-123
• CompanyB-124
• CompanyA-125
• CompanyA-126
• CompanyB-127

and other folks want

Case 2:

• CompanyA-123
• CompanyB-123
• CompanyA-124
• CompanyB-124

Now read back through the use-cases above and you can see how this is a much messier thing to implement (and then test for) than it seems on the face of it.

At the end of the day, the asset tag itself shouldn't matter. As someone else previously said, it's effectively just a UUID and doesn't (or shouldn't) have any inherent value. Case 1 is much easier to implement, but based on the feedback in this thread, there's a mix of folks who want case 1 and those who want case 2.

[MarcusGHub]

Case 2 would make more sense after reading your detailed explanation. The alternative now is that we may have to spin up separate servers for each company.

[datavizzard]

@snipe
I would welcome the possibility to define a prefix for the tag depending on the site. The implementation with the second scenario makes sense, but I also understand the difficulty behind the decision.

But I would also be in favor of Case 2 like @MarcusGHub, which covers most of the cases I know.

Technically, case 1 makes sense, of course.

[davidebonavita]

I'll add my use case as well.
Our company historically used tags with the format XXX0000.
We've been lucky enough to acquire two companies in the past years, each one with its load of hundreds of assets that we then imported in snipeit using their asset tags, e.g. COA0000 and COB0000.

We can't really change the asset tags for these acquired assets as they're used in several systems and most of them have a physical tag attached to them, so we need to keep using their historical format.

I've added the companies in SnipeIT, so I'm able to select them when I create a new asset. It would be great to have the asset tag prefilled with the right tag prefix (XXX, COA, COB) in the asset creation form, depending by the selected company.

Both cases suggested by @snipe in the previous comment would work for us.

[lucalehner]

I would also opt for Case 2. As an MSP, most of our customers currently use their own asset management systems, each with an auto-incremented number in their CMDB. With Case 2, it would be much easier to migrate existing assets to Snipe-IT, as each asset could retain its unique identifier. By simply adding a unique prefix for each customer, we could efficiently transfer all customer assets into Snipe-IT, maintaining consistency and organization.

Thanks @snipe for checking this feature request.

[carlashley]

I'm not sure I'd personally care if it was Case A or B per #3286 (comment) - fundamentally all we want is something that can allow us to visually distinguish an asset tag for an asset in one company from another.

You can allocate assets to companies in Snipe-IT already, the problem is that asset tags don't have a per comapny configuration, so any asset tag generated for an asset in Company B will have the same asset tag prefix, config, etc, as an asset in Company B, unless you manually change it.

We don't want to manually change asset tags each time we create an asset for a company because this just introduces an additional layer where human error could creep in. We'd love to simply have someone select the right company and then have the asset tag update to use the right prefix and incremented asset number.