How IT teams track every laptop without spreadsheets using Rippling IT

What you'll learn

• How to gain complete visibility into your device fleet without maintaining manual logs

• How to automate monitoring, alerts, and lifecycle management for every laptop

• How Rippling eliminates blind spots by tying devices to identity, security, and inventory in one system

What you'll need

• Rippling IT with Device Management

• Rippling Inventory Management to automate shipping and warehouse storage

The problem

Most IT teams still track laptops by hand using spreadsheets, shared documents, or ticketing systems. These records fall out of date quickly. Devices go missing, ownership becomes unclear, OS versions drift. Encrypted and unencrypted devices are hard to differentiate. Even basic questions require manual work.

As companies grow and remote work increases, spreadsheets become impossible to maintain accurately. Multi-device users, remote onboarding, and offboarding across locations add more complexity. Without a real-time source of truth, IT teams lack visibility into device health, inventory readiness, and security posture.

The hypothesis

If device tracking is centralized in Rippling IT, every laptop can be monitored automatically without any manual record-keeping. Rippling updates continuously with assignment status, OS version, encryption, and hardware details.

By replacing spreadsheets with real-time automation, IT teams can reduce risk, identify issues instantly, and scale device operations with less effort.

The solution

1. Use Rippling Device Management as your single source of truth

Rippling Device Management automatically updates device data, allowing you to track your entire device inventory in one place. This creates a dynamic inventory that includes:

• Assigned user

• Serial number and hardware specs

• OS version and update status

• Encryption and security posture

• MDM enrollment status

• Agent connectivity

• Installed software

• Device condition (if you also use Rippling Inventory Management)

Instead of updating spreadsheets manually, Rippling maintains a live dashboard that updates every time a device checks in.

2. Automate laptop tracking from onboarding to offboarding

Rippling keeps device data accurate at every stage of the employee lifecycle.

During onboarding:

• Devices purchased through Rippling arrive ready for enrollment

• Zero-touch deployment can automatically enroll devices through Apple Business Manager or Entra ID

• Required policies and software can install as soon as the device connects

• Device assignment is recorded automatically

During employment:

• Rippling monitors OS versions, encryption, and MDM health

• IT can deploy software or configuration profiles to managed devices

• The device dashboard shows assignment and compliance in real time

During offboarding:

• Admins can lock, soft wipe, or full wipe devices

• If using Inventory Management, Rippling sends return packaging and a prepaid shipping label

• Devices sent to the warehouse are fully wiped, inspected, reimaged, and stored

• Ownership and status are updated in inventory

No spreadsheet needs to be updated at any point.

3. Automate monitoring and alerts instead of checking spreadsheets

Rippling Device Management continuously monitors device connectivity and compliance. You can use workflows to trigger alerts for:

• Devices that stop checking in

• Devices missing required encryption

• Devices on outdated operating systems

• Assigned employees who have not completed required actions

• Devices that require follow-up during retrieval

Notifications can be routed to IT, managers, or employees depending on the issue. Instead of manually checking each device record, IT receives alerts as soon as something needs attention.

4. Track physical inventory without managing it yourself

If you subscribe to Inventory Management, Rippling handles the full physical lifecycle. IT can:

• Ship new devices to employees

• Retrieve devices when employees leave

• Have returned laptops wiped, reimaged, inspected, and stored

• Track device condition, assignment history, and status

• Redeploy devices whenever needed

Devices sent to the warehouse are fully processed within five business days. This removes the need for on-site storage or tracking physical hardware manually.

The impact

✓ Complete, real-time visibility into every laptop across the company

✓ No manual spreadsheets, stale records, or missing devices

✓ Automated compliance tracking for OS updates, encryption, and MDM enrollment

✓ Faster onboarding and offboarding using zero-touch deployment

✓ Lower security risk through proactive monitoring and alerts

✓ Reduced IT workload and fewer repetitive tracking tasks

By centralizing device data in Rippling IT, teams replace manual tracking with automated lifecycle management that scales effortlessly as the company grows.

FAQs