Systems Analyst III Hardware-Centric IT Asset Management

Job Description

Job Description

Title: Systems Analyst III — Hardware-Centric IT Asset Management

Location: Onsite Milwaukee, WI. Must be a local; no relocation is allowed.

DESCRIPTION
The Systems Analyst III contractor is a hands-on operational role dedicated to ensuring Milwaukee County has a complete, accurate, and continuously validated inventory of all physical technology assets. This position focuses primarily on field verification, device tracking, hardware lifecycle processes, inventory processes and ensuring that what exists physically across County facilities is fully and precisely represented in ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus (SDP) and the CMDB.
The contractor works closely with the Service Operations Manager and team, Business Analysts, Security team, and Infrastructure teams to maintain disciplined stewardship of desktops, laptops, tablets, printers, POS equipment, networking devices, specialized operational hardware, and other embedded digital systems.

Strategic intent
This hardware-centric position establishes the physical foundation for a mature, accurate, and automated IT Asset Management program. Through detailed fieldwork—tracking, validating, tagging, reconciling, and monitoring hardware across County facilities—the contractor strengthens the CMDB, reduces operational risk, improves troubleshooting efficiency, and supports cost-optimized lifecycle decisions.
Ultimately, this role ensures that every physical technology asset in Milwaukee County is known, verified, properly maintained, and strategically managed.

Core Responsibilities
1. Hardware Discovery, Validation & Reconciliation

• Conduct physical walkthroughs across County offices, departments, and remote sites to locate, inspect, and validate IT hardware.
• Confirm asset tags, serial numbers, physical condition, hardware model, and specific device configurations.
• Reconcile differences between physical hardware and CMDB records; correct inaccuracies and update missing relationships.
• Inventory reconciliation: Execute periodic (weekly/monthly) data reconciliation processes to compare CMDB asset records against active network discovery, cloud management, and endpoint tools.
• Identify systemic flaws in automated discovery or manual data entry workflows and propose permanent fixes to prevent future inventory drift.
• Identify and document orphaned, misplaced, untagged, or non-standard devices.
• Analyze mismatched data points, such as ghost assets, missing serial numbers, and incorrect lifecycle statuses, and trace their root cause.
• Work with IT and department personnel to assign financial charge code information to each asset.

2. Field-Based Hardware Tracking & Placement Accuracy

• Maintain real-time accuracy regarding where each device is physically located—desk, room, building, or operational zone.
• Work directly with site technicians, supervisors, and departmental contacts to confirm hardware placement changes and promote on-going asset management practices
• Monitor and document equipment movement during relocations, renovations, department moves, and lifecycle refresh activities.

3. Device Lifecycle & Hands-On Processing

• Support the full lifecycle of physical IT hardware, including receiving, tagging, imaging assistance, prep for deployment, and retirement.
• Perform intake verification on new hardware shipments—matching POs, confirming specs, ensuring standard compliance.
• Capture warranty status, purchase dates, age, and condition within the asset system of record to support refresh and budgeting decisions.
• Coordinate secure packaging and transport of devices scheduled for repair, return, or disposal.

4. CMDB Accuracy for Hardware Relationships

• Ensure the CMDB reflects correct associations between physical hardware and: assigned users, business units, network segments, installed software, tickets, incidents, and changes.
• Validate that physical asset roles (workstation, kiosk, POS terminal, mobile device, peripheral) are correctly represented.

5. Department Engagement for Hardware Awareness

• Build consistent communication channels with County departments to understand: what hardware they use; where it is deployed; how it supports their operations; what changes or upgrades are planned.
• Identify operational impacts of outdated, damaged, or insufficient hardware.

6. Procurement, Standards & Physical Compliance

• Assist with verifying device requests for compatibility with County standards.
• Validate equipment specifications against approved configurations before purchase or deployment.
• Support procurement teams with hardware-specific data, vendor coordination, and replacement justification.

7. Hardware Governance, Refresh & Replacement Insight

• Maintain structured datasets about device age, support eligibility, warranty windows, and end-of-life timelines.
• Assist in hardware refresh prioritization by providing accurate, field-validated data.
• Identify high-risk devices (e.g., aging POS terminals, unsupported models, damaged equipment) and flag for proactive action.

8. Secure Hardware Disposal & Physical Chain-of-Custody

• Coordinate the physical collection of retired devices.
• Ensure that devices sent for disposal or recycling follow proper chain-of-custody, data wiping, destruction, and vendor compliance.
• Assist efforts to recover residual value from salvageable equipment.

9. ITIL-Aligned Hardware Process Improvement

• Support creation and documentation of hardware standards for end-user devices, peripherals, and specialized digital equipment.
• Contribute to troubleshooting hardware-related issues tied to those standards.
• Participate in governance discussions on hardware selection, approval pathways, and lifecycle processes.

KEY SKILLS

• IT Asset Management, including Hardware Discovery, Validation & Reconciliation — 5 years.
• CMDB data accuracy and Asset Associations — 5 years.
• IT Asset Management process development and documentation — 5 years.

Skill Equivalency Guidance

• Hardware Verification — Direct Match: hands-on physical hardware discovery, inspection, tagging and inventory reconciliation. Potential Functional Equivalent: comparable enterprise hardware asset operations with field validation. Not Equivalent: software license management or desk support without physical inventory ownership.
• CMDB Accuracy — Direct Match: maintaining accurate hardware records and associations in a CMDB. Potential Functional Equivalent: comparable enterprise CMDB platforms and reconciliation practices. Not Equivalent: maintaining a device spreadsheet without configuration relationships. Alternate platforms do not establish SDP experience.
• Process Documentation — Direct Match: developing and documenting ITAM hardware lifecycle processes, standards and governance. Potential Functional Equivalent: comparable enterprise asset lifecycle process ownership using ITIL practices. Not Equivalent: following a runbook without process development respons

NICE TO HAVE SKILLS

• Service Desk Plus reporting and retention of data.