A proper decommissioning a data center does not only involve turning off the servers but also requires to keep track of what happens to the assets after the operations are shut down. Without a good inventory of the assets involved, the shift from a productive facility to an empty building results in lack of accountability.

The challenge starts from the existing inventory where inaccurate serial numbers, outdated locations or assets that do not even exist are among the issues to consider. Besides, the facility may also have assets that were not previously added to the asset list while others may have already been taken away in the past. 

Reconciling the physical inventory to the existing one prior to the dismantling helps to set a good baseline and ensure that each asset is accounted for.

After the decommissioning process has begun, tracking must continue through the removal of all assets. The organization should be able to ascertain which assets were removed from the facility, when these assets were removed, and which disposition process was designated for each item. This is critical when there is storage media included in the equipment that requires secure data destruction prior to final disposition.

Furthermore, any equipment that does not correspond to the initial inventory list can be included in the process. Organizations do not have to put any unidentified pieces of equipment into a generic removal process. Instead, they may be identified and a proper disposition process established.

Final reconciliation is the stage at which the organization will be able to confirm whether the project data is complete. The initial inventory can be compared to the assets removed and then matched against disposition data.

In case there is something missing, the differences must become apparent. In case there is another serial number, the documentation should account for this discrepancy. And in case the asset was previously relocated, there must be documentation of the asset removal process.

The idea is to create a clear chain of events from being there → removal → where it was sent and how it was finally dealt with.

This becomes especially important when the data center is decommissioned. Since you cannot physically check this at this stage anymore, the only evidence you have is your documentation.

It is exactly because of that you need to include inventory and documentation as a part of the data center decommissioning process from the very beginning.