Overview
ISO/IEC 19770-4:2017 - "Information technology - IT asset management - Part 4: Resource utilization measurement" defines a standard information structure for recording and sharing Resource Utilization Measurement (RUM) data to support IT asset management (ITAM). The standard is applicable to all organization types (commercial, government, non-profit) and is designed to interoperate with other parts of the ISO/IEC 19770 series to enable automated, authoritative ITAM processes.
RUMs are typically delivered as XML data files (an XSD is provided in Annex A) but may be exposed by other platform-specific mechanisms. RUMs are intended to be generated periodically by IT assets or monitoring tools and provide vendor-neutral, human- and machine-readable usage information.
Key Topics and Requirements
- Scope & Purpose: Standardizes the structure and semantics for resource utilization information to facilitate compliance, optimization, and reporting.
- Conformance: Defines RUM conformance and application conformance requirements (Clause 4).
- Key concepts: Asset identification, measurements, and relationships to other ISO/IEC 19770 information structures (Clause 5).
- Implementation guidance (Clause 6): usage scenarios; unique registration ID (regid) format and examples; XML/XSD usage; time formats; generation frequency; filename, file extension and location; handling file sizes and counts; upgrade/uninstallation; digital signatures; and nesting of XML documents.
- Tool considerations (Clause 7): guidance for vendors and integrators on consuming and producing RUMs.
- Schema elements (Clause 8): minimum required RUM data, element/attribute naming, value types (ResourceUtilization, AssetIdentification, Measurement, Value, Link, Meta, Asset, Instance), and type definitions (Ownership, rel, NMTOKEN).
- Annexes: Annex A contains the normative XML Schema; Annex B provides example RUM files and nesting; Annex C shows linking RUM to related software assets.
Practical Applications
Who uses ISO/IEC 19770-4 and why:
- IT asset managers & SAM teams: for consistent, auditable usage data to support license compliance, optimization, and lifecycle decisions.
- Software and IT asset manufacturers: to produce standardized RUM output from products for centralized consumption or third-party tools.
- Tool vendors and integrators: to aggregate usage data across heterogeneous assets without implementing asset‑specific instrumentation.
- Data center and operations teams: to drive capacity planning, power/thermal optimization (green IT), and near-real-time tracking of resource consumption.
- Compliance and procurement officers: to combine identification, entitlement, and utilization data for authoritative licensing and procurement decisions.
Related Standards
- ISO/IEC 19770-1 - ITAM processes and framework (supported by RUM)
- ISO/IEC 19770-2 - Software identification (alignment with RUM asset IDs)
- ISO/IEC 19770-3 - Entitlement information (works with RUM for licensing)
- Forthcoming parts referenced: 19770-8, 19770-11 (guidance mappings and small org application)
Keywords: ISO/IEC 19770-4, Resource Utilization Measurement, RUM, IT asset management, ITAM, XML schema, software asset management, ITAM standards.
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