2.13 Institutional Asset and Device Naming Standard

Effective Date: August 13, 2025
Revised Date: September 17, 2025

1. Purpose

This document establishes a standardized institutional asset naming convention for all Arkansas State University (A-State) owned devices and applicable technology assets. The goal is to create a clear, consistent, and scalable system for identifying devices based on departmental ownership, type, and operating system, ensuring efficient inventory management, technical support, and integration with enterprise systems such as Microsoft Intune and TeamDynamix (TDX).

2. Scope

These standards apply to all A-State owned computers, servers, virtual machines, and other institutional technology assets that are managed, tracked, or supported by Information Technology Services (ITS). This also applies to all assets supported by decentralized campus technicians across administrative and academic departments.

The naming convention must be followed by all departments when commissioning, reassigning, or reimaging an institutional device. This standard may also be extended to other asset types (e.g., printers, POS systems) to promote uniformity across the enterprise.

3. Responsibilities

All university personnel involved in the provisioning, deployment, and configuration of institutional assets are responsible for following this naming standard. This includes:

• Hardware Services: Responsible for ensuring that all newly procured and reimaged devices are named in compliance with the standard before being issued to end users.
• Campus Technicians: Required to apply the correct naming convention during on- site setup, troubleshooting, or when reimaging/redeploying devices within their assigned departments or units.
• Other Authorized Personnel: Any individuals with delegated authority to configure or rename institutional assets must always ensure compliance with this standard.

Non-compliance with these standards may result in corrective actions, including mandatory renaming of devices and possible audit findings during ITS asset reviews.

4. Naming Convention Schema

All standard device names will follow the structure below:

Department Code – Device Type & OS Code – Serial Number

Where:

• Department Code:Uses the official department code list provided in Appendix A. As new departments form, this appendix will be updated by ITS to accommodate this.

• Device Type Code: 

  • D = Desktop
  • L = Laptop
  • S = Server
  • K = Kiosk
  • V = Virtual Machine
  • DS = Digital Signage 

• Operating System (OS) Code:

  • W = Windows
  • M = Mac
  • L = Linux
  • If Device Type Code = DS, Skip adding OS Code. 

• Serial Number: Manufacturer’s serial number (may be truncated if necessary to meet system name length restrictions). For Apple devices and other platforms with shorter limits, truncation is expected to ensure the full name is 15 characters or fewer.

Example Device Names

• SYS-DW-2X518M2 → Windows desktop at the ASU System Office

• ABI-LW-2X518M2 → Windows laptop in the ABI department

• SYS-DM-H2WGM0LF → Mac desktop at the ASU System Office

• ITS-DS-H87UFC8 → Digital Signage in the ITS Building

Note: All device names will be in uppercase. No lowercase characters are allowed.

Note: Device type code for Virtual Machine will be applied if an asset is both a VM and a server.

5. Naming Schema Special Considerations

Assets such as virtual machines (VM) and servers may differ slightly in naming scheme when compared to a standard asset such as a desktop or a laptop. Due to the nature of these resources, no serial number is required and can instead be supplemented with additional device information for ease of identification.

All alternative device names will follow the structure below:

Department Code – Device Type & OS Code – Alternative Code

Example Device Names

• ITS-VL-PV-PD-01 → Linux VM that is an ITS resource. This is a private and production resource.

• UPD-SW-WATCHGUARD01 → Windows Physical Server that is a UPD resource. It

  hosts the Watchguard resource and is the first of these servers.

A full list of alternate codes for VM's and Servers can be found in Appendix B of this document.

6. Justification for Asset Naming Convention

• Immediate Identification – Enables ITS staff and departmental support teams to quickly identify the departmental owner, device type, and operating system, streamlining troubleshooting and support.

• Simplified Inventory Management – Reduces complexity in tracking devices across Microsoft Intune, TDX, and other asset management systems.

• Scalable and Sustainable – Supports institutional growth without ambiguity, enabling uniform standards across all campuses and departments.

• Cross-Platform Consistency – Eliminates naming conflicts and promotes uniform standards, even when devices are managed by different teams.

7. Implementation and Compliance

• All new devices entering the institutional asset inventory must follow the standard naming format at the time of deployment.

• Existing devices must be renamed to align with the convention during reimaging, reassignment, or major system updates.

• ITS will verify compliance during asset audits and periodic reviews of device inventory in Intune and TDX.

• Devices utilizing the alternate codes laid out in section 5 of this document must have full written documentation, such as a referenceable spreadsheet, of their purpose, criticality, serial number (if not a VM) and functional ownership to be considered in compliance with this standard.

• Exceptions to this standard must be approved in writing by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) or their designee.

8. Standards Review

This document will be reviewed and reaffirmed annually, or upon significant changes to university IT governance, systems, or regulatory requirements.

Effective Date: August 13, 2025
Next Review Date: August 13, 2026
Version: 1.1

Appendix A – Official Department Codes

The following table lists the approved department codes for use in the naming convention. This list is maintained by ITS to ensure consistency with institutional records.

Appendix B – Alternate Virtual Machine Codes

The following table lists the approved virtual machine codes for use in the naming convention. This list is maintained by ITS to ensure consistency with institutional records.