REAV

Glossary

ITAD

IT Asset Disposition

The controlled process of retiring IT equipment so that data is destroyed, value is recovered and disposal is documented.

ITAD covers everything that happens to a computer, phone or server after its first working life ends: collection, inventory, data sanitisation, testing, grading, repair, resale, parts harvesting and, only as a last resort, recycling.

The discipline exists because retiring equipment carries two liabilities at once. A laptop leaving a company still holds data, so it is a data-protection problem; it also still holds value, so writing it off destroys an asset. A structured ITAD process answers both, and produces the paperwork that proves it.

ITAD operators are measured on three things: how completely they can prove data destruction, how much resale value they recover per device, and how much of the flow they keep out of the shredder. Repair capability is what moves the second and third numbers: a device that is repaired sells for several times what its materials are worth.

How the REAV ERP tracks an ITAD flow serial by serial

Related terms

  • Chain of custody The unbroken, documented record of who held a device, when, and what was done to it, from collection to final disposition.
  • Erasure certificate The auditable record proving that all data on a specific device was destroyed, by a named method, at a known date.
  • Device grading The standardised assessment that assigns a used device a cosmetic and functional condition, driving its price and its route through the workshop.
  • R2v3 The SERI certification standard for electronics reuse and recycling facilities, covering data security, environment, health and safety.

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