If your team buys laptops, monitors and docks from CDW, each order already holds what your inventory needs: the items, the serial numbers and the invoice. Even so, when teams talk about CDW Asset Management they usually mean retyping that data into a spreadsheet or an IT Asset Management (ITAM) tool once the boxes arrive, one unit at a time.
This tutorial shows how to connect CDW to InvGate Asset Management so purchase orders and shipments arrive on their own, and how to turn each delivery into assets with the serial and invoice numbers CDW already reported. The integration is activated together with CDW and the InvGate team, so the guide starts with what to prepare before that call.
The gap between buying hardware and tracking it
A hardware purchase moves through several hands before it shows up in the inventory. Procurement places the order, CDW confirms it and ships it in one or more deliveries, and IT unpacks the units and registers each one by hand, copying serial numbers from labels and invoice numbers from emails.
Every step in that chain adds delay and room for error: a serial typed wrong, a partial delivery nobody records, an asset never linked to what it cost. Purchase order tracking organizes the process inside your team, yet the reseller's data still arrives by email. The CDW integration brings that data straight into InvGate Asset Management.
What the CDW integration brings into InvGate Asset Management
Once the integration is active, every order CDW confirms or ships for your account becomes a purchase order in InvGate Asset Management, with CDW set as the vendor. Each order carries the following data:
- Order details: your order number, the CDW order number, and the items with their prices.
- Shipments: each delivery appears as its own shipment inside the order, with carrier, tracking number, invoice, shipping address and the units shipped.
- Serial numbers: the serials CDW reported for each shipped unit, ready to use when you create the assets.
- Order owner: filled in automatically when the email of the CDW account matches a user in InvGate Asset Management.
When the order appears depends on how you buy. If your purchasing system is integrated with CDW, the purchase order is created when CDW confirms the order; if your team orders directly on the CDW website, it arrives with the first shipment. Warranties, services and software bought in the same order show up as items too, so the order reflects the full purchase, and only hardware items can become assets.
How to connect CDW, step by step
The integration works in both directions: InvGate Asset Management reads your order information from CDW, and CDW sends order confirmations and shipments to InvGate Asset Management. Each side uses its own set of credentials, and both are configured during a joint call with CDW and the InvGate team.
Before you start
The CDW integration is enabled together with CDW, so it can't be switched on from the settings alone. Before the call, make sure you have:
- The API credentials (Client ID and Client Secret) provided by CDW.
- A call scheduled with your CDW Account Manager and the InvGate team, where you authorize CDW to send your purchase information and CDW enables the integration for your account.
- The Manage permission on purchase orders, plus creation permission on the asset type, for whoever will create assets from the orders.
The integration brings in the orders CDW confirms or ships after activation. Purchases made before that date stay out, so plan the call ahead of your next hardware order.
Enter the CDW credentials
During the call, start in InvGate Asset Management with the credentials CDW gave you. They let InvGate Asset Management query your order information:
- Go to Settings > Integrations > Purchase order APIs.
- Select CDW.
- Enter the Client ID and Client Secret provided by CDW.
- Click Validate and continue.
If the credentials are correct, the configuration options appear. A wrong value returns a connection error, and an account that's already connected is flagged, so no duplicate integration is created.
Send CDW the endpoints and credentials
After validating, InvGate Asset Management shows two endpoints and a set of credentials it generates for CDW. Their access is restricted to sending purchase orders and shipments:
- Order confirmation endpoint: the address where CDW sends order confirmations.
- Shipment endpoint: the address where CDW sends each shipment and its units.
- Credentials: what CDW uses to authenticate.
Use Copy next to each value and share them with CDW, which configures them on its side. Avoid regenerating these credentials once the integration is running, because CDW stops sending information until it sets up the new ones.
How to turn a CDW shipment into assets
Assets are created from the purchase order, item by item, so your team decides what enters the inventory and when. When a delivery arrives, follow these steps:
- Go to Procurement > Purchase Orders. The Source column shows which orders came from CDW, and pasting the tracking number from the box into the Shipments filter finds the order it belongs to.
- Open the order, go to the Items tab, find the item and click Create assets.
- In Set type, manufacturer and model, select the asset type, manufacturer and model, then click Continue.
- In Create assets in bulk, review the units. Shipped units come with the serial number CDW reported already filled in, and you can edit it if a physical unit doesn't match.
- Select the units to create and click Create (N).
Each asset is created with its serial number, the manufacturer and model you selected, the acquisition cost (the item's unit price), the cost center, the acquisition date (the purchase order date), Bought as acquisition type, the part number, the shipment invoice, and the purchase order and vendor. Serial numbers already used drop off the list, which keeps the same unit from being registered twice.
What changes for procurement and IT after the first sync
Once orders start arriving, the purchase record and the inventory are kept in the same place. When a box arrives, its tracking number leads to the order, and the Items tab shows how many units were bought, how many CDW shipped and how many are already assets, so partial deliveries are followed where they were ordered.
Because every asset carries its cost, invoice, purchase order and vendor, the inventory is ready for depreciation, audits and spend reviews without hunting for paperwork, and assets bought through CDW appear under the CDW vendor profile in Vendor Management. Multiple shipments per order also work for purchase orders you create manually from any vendor, so the same control extends to the rest of your hardware procurement.
Conclusion
CDW asset management works best when the reseller's data reaches the inventory without a second round of typing. With the integration, InvGate Asset Management receives each CDW order and shipment, and your team turns deliveries into assets with the serial and invoice numbers already in place.
To see how InvGate Asset Management handles your hardware purchases, start a free trial. If you already buy through CDW, talk to Sales to plan the activation call.
Frequently Asked Questions
A few questions come up when planning the CDW integration. The short answers below cover what to expect once it's active.
Are orders placed before activating the integration imported?
No. The integration brings in the orders CDW confirms or ships after it's activated.
Are assets created automatically from CDW orders?
No. You create them from the Items tab of the purchase order, with the serial number and purchase data already filled in.
What happens with orders placed on the CDW website?
They arrive in InvGate Asset Management with the first shipment. Order confirmations reach it only when your purchasing system is integrated with CDW.
