Autocheckout in AssetSonar

AssetSonar’s Autocheckout feature streamlines custody management for organizations by allowing IT administrators to automatically checkout devices to users using the data collected through the device integrations provided by other software applications (Intune, Jamf, Google Workspace etc.). This feature makes custody management more efficient by automating the recurring process of checking out devices separately — ensuring minimal manual effort and accurate custody updates.

Here is how this Autocheckout can add value to your IT processes:

Bulk provisioning: If your organization is going through mass recruitment or if you have procured a large number of IT assets in one go, Autocheckout can help you reduce manual labor. Instead of updating custody information for every device manually, you can automatically assign the new users based on their information fetched from an integration. This makes your IT assets custody efficient, allowing you to handle mass provisioning.
Compliance and audit readiness: By ensuring that your device custody information is up to date at all times, you can provide a clear record of asset custody, facilitating any external or internal audits.
Accurate asset tracking: This feature enables tracking of assets based on their primary users and also tracks changes in location. This allows for better asset tracking, reporting, and decision-making.

Enabling Autocheckout
1.1 Enabling Automatic Checkout
1.2 Checking out retired devices
Location Assignment Rules
Autocheckout use case
Autocheckout Report

Now let’s dive in to see how the feature works:

1. Enabling Autocheckout

Autocheckout feature helps streamline the assignment and checkout of devices when new users and devices are added to AssetSonar through a third-party integration. To enable Autocheckout, go to Settings → Add Ons → Auto Checkout and click ‘Enabled’.

Once enabled, you’ll be able to view two more options on the Autocheckout setting.

1.1 Enabling Automatic Checkouts:

Click on ‘Enable Automatic Checkouts’ to make sure that every new device that is being discovered from an integration and has a primary user associated with it, is checked out automatically to the primary user.

The Autocheckout feature provides the opportunity for users to allow automatic checkout of devices in the following cases:

1. If a new user comes onboard AssetSonar

2. If a new device is provisioned into AssetSonar

1.2 Checking out retired devices:

If a primary user is associated with a device that is already retired, it will not automatically get checked out. You can check out the device if you make it available beforehand. Check the option in the settings section to enable this feature.

Note: Autocheckout feature doesn’t allow you to check out devices that are in maintenance.

2. Location Assignment Rules

You can create assignment rules for devices that have been brought in AssetSonar through any discovery source. Checking the location assignment rules option in the Autocheckout setting ensure that the assignment rule you have previously created is being followed and will also ensure that the location of your asset is updated in the following cases:

When a new device is being brought in to AssetSonar.
When the custody of the device is being changed.

To create a new assignment rule for automatically checking out devices, click on ‘Assignment Rules’ from the Provisioning detail page.

Click on ‘Add Rule’ to create a new rule for auto checkouts.

3. Autocheckout use case

Once you have imported the updated device and user data from an integration, you can then checkout a device to their provisioned user. Click on Quick Checkout icon on the top right and a new dialog box will appear.

Add the device name or ID along with the associated primary user’s name under the ‘Checkout to’ option. Similarly, the location details will also appear since they have already been fetched from the discovery source. You can change the check-in date on the dialog box and then hit ‘Checkout’.

The device will automatically be checked out to the detected user. You’ll also receive an email notifying you that the AutoCheckout has been successful.

4. Autocheckout Report

From Reports, go to Check-in/out Events report. In the report you can see that some devices are listed as Automation Users under the ‘Action Taken’ column. These are the devices that have been fetched from a discovery source and are automatically checked out.

To create a new report that is filtered for automatically checked out devices, go to the Provisioning details page and click on the Auto Checkout tab. Click on the ‘Automatic Custody Sync Logs’ button on the top right to create a new report.

Click on the filters icons and choose the action taken to be an automation user. You will be able to view a filtered report on the main Autocheckout details page.

Read more: Quick checkouts in AssetSonar