Three lists, three answers
Ask how many devices a client has. The RMM says forty-one agents, four of them offline for months. The PSA has thirty-eight configuration items, including two laptops that were replaced last year. The documentation tool lists thirty-five, because nobody updated it after the last refresh. The contract bills for thirty-six devices, the number agreed at onboarding.
Each list is right about something. None of them is right about everything. When the engineer is on a call about 'Sarah's laptop', they check the wrong asset. When the account manager prepares renewal, they use the contract figure. And the security tool is licensed on yet another count.
How the lists drift apart
Every tool is updated by a different event, and none of them notices when the others change.
- New devices get an RMM agent but no PSA record.
- Retired devices are unplugged but never removed from the RMM or documentation.
- Replacements are recorded as new devices without the old ones closed off.
- Devices change owner when staff leave, and the user field stays the same.
- The contract seat count is only updated at renewal.
Clients add to it themselves. A manager buys a laptop on a company card, a member of staff connects a personal device to the tenant, a new site gets a printer the MSP never heard about. Each is legitimate from the client's side and invisible from yours until something breaks.
What drift costs you
| Drift | Effect |
|---|---|
| Unbilled devices | Managed and licensed but not charged for |
| Retired devices still counted | Security and RMM licences paid for dead machines |
| Devices without agents | Unpatched machines nobody is watching |
| Wrong owner recorded | Slower support and confused tickets |
| No trustworthy count | Arguments with clients at renewal |
The nightly reconciliation we build
- A nightly pull of devices from your RMM (NinjaOne, Datto RMM, N-able or similar), PSA configuration items, documentation tool and, where relevant, Microsoft Intune or the tenant's device list.
- Matching rules on serial number, hostname and MAC address, so the same device is recognised across tools even when names differ.
- A per-client exceptions list: in RMM but not PSA, in PSA but not RMM, offline beyond a threshold you set, duplicates, and devices with a user who has left.
- One-click fixes where the tool allows, such as creating the missing PSA configuration item or archiving a retired device, always with a person confirming.
- A reconciled device count per client, compared with the billed count on the contract.
- A monthly summary for account managers of changes in each client's estate.
What the service desk and billing see
Each morning, the service coordinator works through a short exceptions list rather than discovering problems mid-call. Devices that went offline months ago are confirmed as retired and removed from the RMM and security licensing. New laptops that appeared overnight get their PSA records. The count billed each month is the reconciled count, or the difference is flagged for the account manager to decide under the contract.
Engineers trust the asset records again, because they match what is actually there.
Hardware refreshes are where the difference shows most. When a client replaces a batch of laptops, the new machines appear in the RMM as their agents go on, and the old ones start ageing on the offline list. The reconciliation pairs them up by user, prompts the engineer to confirm each old laptop as retired, wiped or reassigned, and closes the old records across every tool in one pass. Without it, the old laptops tend to live on in the documentation for years and keep drawing a security licence each month.
It also helps with the security tools that bill per device. The reconciled count gives you a single number to compare with the endpoint protection and backup consoles, so a licence paid for a machine that no longer exists is spotted within days rather than at the annual true-up.
Signs your asset lists have drifted
- Your RMM, PSA and documentation disagree on device counts.
- You pay for security licences on machines that no longer exist.
- Devices appear on the network with no PSA record.
- Contract device counts are only updated at renewal.
- Engineers regularly look up the wrong device for a user.