The estimated obsolescence date is the date on which you predict that a piece of equipment will be technologically useless regardless of whether or not it is still functioning. For example, a 286 machine, regardless of how well it is working, would be considered obsolete in today's IT departments.
The estimated obsolescence date of a piece of equipment can be defined in one or more of the following three places:
In the definition of the Device type
In the definition of the Device subtype
In the definition of the Model
Each estimated obsolescence date definition is inherited by the definitions that follow unless a new value is entered.
For example, if you define the estimated obsolescence date of a device type as 12/31/2003, the estimated obsolescence date of all device subtypes associated with that device type default to 12/31/2003. Likewise, the estimated obsolescence date of all models associated with those device subtypes also default to 12/31/2003. If however, you change the estimated obsolescence date to 06/30/2003 in the definition of the device subtype, the estimated obsolescence date of all models associated with that device subtype default to 06/30/2003.