Total hardware assets comprise every critical and noncritical physical device an organization owns or manages, including computers, printers, peripherals, servers, firewalls, and medical equipment. section 6.2.1
The metric establishes the denominator for comparing critical hardware with the complete inventory. A critical-to-total ratio shows how much of the hardware estate requires priority protection. section 6.2.1
Use the inventory to support accountable, risk-focused asset management:
- Audit the inventory so every hardware asset has accountability and unaccounted assets reach zero. section 6.2.2
- Classify assets by criticality, then prioritize updates, patches, and protection for systems essential to operations or patient safety. section 6.2.2
- Monitor the total and critical inventories through dashboards and automated asset-tracking tools, while reviewing them regularly. section 6.2.2
TechMed Solutions
An imaging clinic treats its MRI machine as a critical hardware asset because it supports sensitive patient-data processing. TechMed Solutions found that 80% of its hardware assets were critical, against a 90% target, and used inventory audits, automated tracking, and regular patching to improve accountability and protection. section 6.2.1 section 6.2.2
Figure 6.2 The left side shows TechMed Solutions’ asset management dashboard before managing hardware and software assets. The right side shows the dashboard after implementing hardware and software asset management.
Compare the before-and-after asset management dashboards to see how accountability, criticality classification, and monitoring support risk reduction. section 6.2.2
