Apple Asset Manager Overview

The Asset Manager is a web-based system that you should use to assist with tracking all of the devices deployed to your school as part of the MLTI project. Devices deployed include MacBook Air 13”, MacBook Air 11”, Student iPad, Teacher iPad mini, Mac Mini Server, Apple TV and wireless network equipment. The Asset Manager is the official record of project inventory - you should be sure that you can locate each of the assets in your list, because your school will be held responsible for them when the project ends. All of the devices (except Network equipment) have an asset tag and will appear in the asset manager. The Asset Tag is found on the bottom of the device. All of the asset tags look like the picture below.

MLTI Assett Tag Descriptive Image

 

The picture above is an asset tag for an MLTI 2009-2013 MacBook. 

You can use the Asset Tags to help you identify which MLTI deployment the equipment is from. All current deployment (2013-2017) have a seven number asset, where all previous MLTI deployments only have a six character asset tag. Although the tags look the same, the asset tag number begins with a different number depending on which MLTI project it belongs to: 


MLTI 2013-2017 All Participating Apple MLTI Schools:
MacBook Air 11" -- 2000000-2999999
MacBook Air 13" -- 3000000-3999999
iPad Retina -- 4000000-4999999
iPad Mini -- 5000000-5999999
iPad Air —8000000-8999999
iPad mini with Retina Display —9000000-9999999
Mac Mini Server -- 6000000-6999999
AppleTV -- 7000000-7999999


Listed below are the previous deployment asset tag ranges for reference:
MLTI 2009-2013 All Participating Schools (MacBooks): 600000-699999
MLTI 2007-2011 High School Teachers (MacBooks): 500000-599999
MLTI 2006-2010 Middle Schools (iBooks): 300000-399999
MLTI 2004-2008 High Schools (iBooks): 400000-499999
MLTI 2002-2006 Middle Schools (iBooks): 200000-299999

Important Things to Remember

Verify the Contact Information section is correct Apple requires a single official technical point of contact at each school, as well as the Superintendent, Principal, Assistant Principal, Technology Director and lead teacher name. Many features of the program are not available to you until this information is complete and correct. See the Contact Information section for more information and detailed instructions. 

Set Aside your Spare Assets When loading asset data into the asset manager, Apple assigns several of the devices as "Spares." You are not able to assign these assets to students or teachers in the asset manager. Please locate your spare devices among your devices and set them aside in a safe place. Do not hand them out to your staff; they are meant to be used only as temporary replacements in case an "in use" device needs to be repaired.

To understand more about spares and how to use them, please refer to the Spares section of this document.

Update your email address of the Apple supplied username and password in the Your Info section. Providing this information will help you retrieve your password later if you lose it.

Logging In

 

School User

To Log In, enter your username (Nickname) and password in the Login block, at the left-hand side of the screen. If you do not know the login, please contact the Apple Project Office at 207-688-4501. The system will also prompt you for a "Security Code". The Security Code is printed directly above the text box and has a cross-hatched background. The security code is designed to prevent automated scripts from trying to break into the asset manager by guessing usernames and passwords.<

To Retrieve a Forgotten Password, click the link at the bottom of the Login block that says "Forgot Password." You will have to go through several steps to complete the password retrieval process:

  1. Enter your Nickname in the area provided and click "Send Password". At this point, you DO NOT need the confirmation code.
  2. The Asset Manager will send the confirmation code to the "Real Email" address listed in "Your Info" (click on "Preferences" in the upper-right of the asset manager and then the "Your Info" icon). The email will come from donotreply@assets.mlti.org. If you do not receive the email, be sure to check your school's spam settings. Also check the spam box in your email client.
  3. Copy the confirmation code from the email, go back to the "Forgot Password" screen, and type your Nickname (again) and enter your Confirmation Code. Then, click on the "Send Password" button.
  4. The asset manager will email the password to the same email address.
  5. Go back to the login block, enter your Nickname, new password (from the email), and the security code (if required).

If you did not enter your email address in "Your Info" before losing your password, or don't have access to that email address, please call the MLTI Help Desk 1-800-919-2775, access code 4MLTI and ask to have your case escalated to the local project office. Please see here for more details on calling the MLTI Help Desk.


Asset Tracker
The Asset Tracker Module is a list of all the MLTI computing devices at your school. In this list, you will find all of your MLTI devices that are deployed at your school. It is important that the information in the Asset Tracker Module is accurate, because at the end of the project, your school will be accountable for all of the assets in your list. If you see any inconsistencies between the Asset Tracker module and the actual devices you have at your school, please use the link at the bottom of the asset tracker module to report the assets in question.
The top of the asset tracker module shows a summary of your assets. The bottom shows the complete list of assets, which may be several pages long for larger schools. You can sort the list by clicking on the column headings: Click once to sort ascending and a second time to sort descending.
If you'd like to download a list of all your assets, you can click on the Download Report: "tab delimited" link. This will provide you with a list of assets and their associated details that can be opened with most spreadsheet applications.

The Asset Tracker Module provides several different types of information, some that you can edit, and some that you cannot. Generally, the fields you cannot edit are specific to the asset hardware. The fields you can edit help you manage assets as you assign them to students and send them away for repairs.

The following is a description of each of the fields you cannot edit: 
 

  • Type: This may be MacBook Air 13” & 11”, Student iPad, iPad mini, Mac Mini Server and Apple TV.
  • Tag: The asset tag number is a silver tag that can be found on the device.
  • Serial: the serial number is a unique number Apple assigns to each piece of equipment it manufactures.
  • Ethernet ID: the MAC address of the ethernet card, helpful in identifying the computer on a network.
  • Airport ID: the MAC address of the wireless card, helpful for identifying the computer on a network.
  • Admin: this field specifies how the MacBook should be used, and is either "in use" or "spare". If the Admin Assignment is set to spare, you cannot adjust the Assignment field. This is to encourage use of this asset as a spare and not as an in-service device.
    Initial Assignment: the asset's original purpose at the beginning of the contract. This could be spare, buffer, or in use.


The fields that you can edit to assist in tracking assets in your school are:

  • Assignment: Choose from Student, Staff, Faculty, or Unassigned. You can only change this field if the Admin assignment is set to In Use.
  • Status: This field is used to track the physical location of the MacBook. You can choose from: In Use, In Transit, or Out for Repair During transfers, this field is automatically set to In Transit and back to In Use when the transfer is completed.
  • User ID: Use this field to associate the asset to an individual at your school
  • Location: If you have more than one building, you can use this to differentiate asset locations or use this field in other ways that are useful to you.
  • Custom: Use this field in any way that is useful to you.

To edit these fields, you may select an asset and click on the "detail" button on the right side of the list or, to edit multiple assets at once, click on the "Bulk Update Page" link. In both cases, be sure to click the "Update" button when you are finished.

In addition to the fields discussed above, the asset details also provide all of the past comments, assignments, and other history associated with this device. Using the Comments to track repairs or other notes is a great way to keep data about a specific device all in one place. To create a Comment, just type in the Comments field and then click on "Update".

Contact Information The School Contact Information Module displays the official MLTI contact information for your school, including the school address, Superintendent, Principal, Assistant Principal, Technology Coordinator, MLTI Tech Lead, and MLTI Lead Teacher. At the beginning of the project, each school was responsible for entering the names of the five official MLTI contacts, their email addresses, and their phone numbers. Because these individuals, and especially the tech lead, have the ability to incur charges on behalf of your school, a single point of contact who is verified by the school administration is required. 

Changing the MLTI Contact Information

To make changes to any items on this page after the page has been locked, please email mlti_assets@group.apple.com

Network Assets

The Network Assets Module allows you to view all of the equipment installed to support your wireless network and includes information for network troubleshooting such as IP addresses, mac addresses, and more.

After clicking on the link for the Network Assets Module, you should see a list of all of the network devices in your school. This may include Cisco Access Points, switches and controllers. At the top of the page, you will also see the Wireless Network Name and Password, and both the as-designed (Eval Map) and as-installed (Network Map) network configurations, superimposed over your school floor plan.

You can see more details for each network device by clicking on the "Detail" button to the right of the device. On the Device Details page, you can see a photo of the device when it was installed. The network details also show the various IP and mac addresses, serial number, and the patch panel number associated with the device. Finally, you can download the Installation test results, which were performed during the installation, to show that the device and cabling was working properly.


Preferences
The Preferences Module takes you to a page with three icons, Your Info, Your Home, and Logout/Exit. The one you'll want to pay attention to is Your Info. This is where you can update your "Real Email" address (which is where your password will be sent if you forget it), name, and other optional items.

Be sure that the "Real Email" and "Your School Code" fields are populated with the correct information. The school code should be your 4 digit school code. 


Tech News Module
The Tech News module allows you to search and browse all of the MLTI Tech News articles published by Apple. Since the Tech News contains valuable information, it is a good tool for referencing past articles. 

When first posted, Tech News articles also appear on the asset manager home page. Anyone can read the Tech News articles that appear on the home page without logging in. Only authenticated users may view the Tech News module with all of the Tech News articles. 

To browse, simply click on a month and review the articles. To search, enter a term in the Search box at the bottom of the screen.

Search
The Search Module provides editable search areas so that you can perform searches across identified modules in an effort to locate specific assets, collaboration users, and more.

Use the drop-down menus to select different fields for searching and for selecting different search methods. 

Repair Depot
The Repair Depot Module provides a link to the MLTI Repair Depot, where you create dispatches and print shipping labels to send your MacBooks and iPads in for repair.

 

Transferring a Device Between Schools


As students move from one school to another, assets are sometimes moved around to accommodate the change in student population. 

*PLEASE NOTE*: Before transferring a device to another school, please verify that the receiving school's device solution matches your own. For example, do not transfer a student iPad to a school that only has MacBook Air units in their deployment. The best way to find this out is to contact the school prior to initiating the transfer. You can look up each school's contact information in the Contact Information section of the Asset Manager.

You can use the Asset Transfer feature to move devices out of your asset list and into the list of another school. The transfer must be initiated by the school sending the device, which is also the school that has access to this device in the asset manager.

To transfer the device to the student's new school, find the asset in your list and click on the "Detail" button. Then click on the "Transfer" button.

You will then need to select the school that will be receiving the asset, add any appropriate comments (for example, the name of the student moving to the school) and click "Request Transfer".

You should now be able to see that your requested transfer is pending approval by an administrator by clicking on the "View" button in the Asset Transfer Notifications block near the bottom-left of your screen.

If the transfer button is "missing" from the screen, check to be sure that this asset is not in one of the following situations:
1) The asset is a spare - you cannot transfer a spare asset.
2) The asset status is "In Transit" - you can change the status to "in use" and then you will be able to transfer the asset, provided none of the other situations apply.
3) The asset is already in the transfer process - Check your Asset Transfer Notificiations to see if the asset appears in the list. If it does, and you need to transfer the asset to another school, click "Cancel Transfer". You will have to start the transfer process over again.

4) The asset is from a different cohort of devices (2015 v 2016) than the cohort at the school you're trying to transfer it to.

Once the approval is complete, the asset will appear in the incoming transfers list of the other school. To view your incoming transfers list, click on the "View" button in the Asset Transfer Notifications block near the bottom-left of your screen.


Once you accept a transfer by clicking on the "Accept" button, the asset will appear in your asset list. You should only accept a transfer if you have physically received a device and have verified it is in good working condition. If you do not have the device, but it is in your incoming transfers list, contact the school sending the device to find out where it is. Do not accept devices that are broken when you receive them. If this occurs, contact your administrator or the school who provided the device to you. Once you click on the "Accept" button, the device is your responsibility.

Note that if you have pending transfers that are over a week old, the tech lead listed in the contact information section of the asset manager will receive daily emails directing them to accept or reject the transfer.

Transferring Multiple Devices Between Schools (Bulk Device Transfer)

The Asset Manager supports the bulk transfer of devices between schools. Some situations where you would want to transfer multiple devices are:<br>
- 8th graders in a middle school moving to 9th grade in a 1to1 high school, and you want the devices to follow the students.
- Graduating seniors' devices in a 1to1 high school being transferred to the middle school for a 7th grade class.
- School consolidation or school closing.

To perform a bulk transfer, follow these steps:
1. Log into the Asset Manager and open the Asset Tracker module
2. Click the Bulk Device Transfer Page link
3. Check the box beside each asset that you want to transfer. Please note that you cannot transfer any asset currently marked as In Transit (circled in purple).
4. Click the Transfer button at the top of the page. Select the receiving school from the drop down list. Enter a detailed reason for the transfer. A list of the assets you are about to transfer is shown below the Cancel and Transfer buttons.
5. Once you click the Transfer button, the receiving school will see the devices show up in the Asset Transfer Notifications block. Once the receiving school accepts the devices, they will be moved from your asset list and into the receiving school's asset list.
 

District Level User

 District level accounts have the ability to look across all of their assigned schools and be able to see summary data for all or one school. District level accounts are not set up by default in the asset manager. A user will need to escalate through the MLTI help desk to the local Apple project team in order to have a district level account created. A list of the schools being requested will need to be verified by the Department of Education before the account will be approved.

 

Requesting Replacement Asset Tags

Generally, the MLTI Local Depot will replace missing asset tags when the device is sent in for repair, or if the repair requires a new bottom case. However, if a tag is removed at your school, you can request a replacement tag by emailing mlti_assets@group.apple.com. Make sure to include the device's serial number and asset tag number (from the lost tag) in your correspondence. 

You may also email this address. if you notice that you have an asset that is not listed in your Asset Manager, or if you do not have an asset that is in your Asset Manager list. Clicking on the "Report Asset Data Inconsistencies" link in the Asset Tracker module will launch an email as well.