The discovery of software assets plays a critical role in managing hardware assets. With the ability to quickly and efficiently identify versioning standards, software support status, and installation status, software asset discovery enables you to maintain a comprehensive inventory of software assets.
By syncing software assets, you can identify gaps or areas for improvement in your clients' software management. Managing software assets is important for clients looking to optimize their software management, manage costs, and ensure compliance with licensing requirements.
This article outlines the process for discovering and managing software assets using Lifecycle Manager, detailing how to access and utilize the Software console and Client console for optimal software asset management.
Exploring software resources from the Software console
Software asset discovery is integral to maintaining an up-to-date inventory of all software assets across client infrastructures. It provides critical insights into software versions, support status, and installation records, which are essential for:
- Identifying potential vulnerabilities or compliance issues.
- Planning upgrades and maintenance activities.
- Optimizing software expenditures.
See the article How to make full use of the Software console for detailed information.
Discovering software assets from the Client console
From the Client console, you keep track of the clients under your management and take relevant action by viewing and accessing various functions. These include the ability to identify potential hardware replacements, check the status of hardware and software, view the number of managed assets per client, monitor client DMI scores, and track 30-day DMI trends.
Accessing software assets within a specific client
When you click on a particular client, you will access their software asset data. This information includes the product name, publisher, category, installation status (whether it is installed or not), and software status. There are two methods to access the software assets for a client:
- Click Clients in the Top Menu to display the Clients console
- Click on the desired client in the Client column
- From the Client dashboard, click Assets > Software
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Click the number identified in the Software assets column.
In this example, we've clicked into the Cameo Systems client from the previous screenshot. You can download individual PDF reports for each software item listed, view the software information in an asset list view, or download a cumulative Software Summary Report that contains information on all the software items in one report.
Download your Software Summary Report - You can get a customized Software Summary Report, similar to our Hardware Lifecycle Report, which is tailored to your client's needs. To download this report as a PDF, simply click on the "Software Summary Report" option at the top-right corner of the page.
Accessing software asset reports
Accessing Reports:
- Download Specific Software Reports:
- For targeted reports on key software categories like OS, Office suite, Endpoint protection, and RMM, click the Report button of each primary software asset tile.
- Comprehensive Software Summary Report:
- For a holistic view, download the Software Summary Report, which provides details on all software assets, including supported, soon-to-be unsupported, and unsupported versions.
- Clicking on the report download icon in the Software status column also provides you with access to the Software Summary Report.
Software filtering on the Hardware console
Lifecycle Manager, through the Hardware console, offers a refined search experience by enabling you to filter data into smaller and more manageable sets using relevant categories. By selecting one or multiple options from a list of items through the filtering feature, you can drill down your search and obtain a more targeted outcome.
Resembling our Hardware console, you can narrow down your results by using the drop-down menus.
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Software - You can filter your results based on whether a software product is installed/not installed.
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Software category -You can filter search results by software category, such as Endpoint protection software, to obtain more specific and refined outcomes.