Installed Applications Linked to Technopedia

FlexNet Manager Suite 2020 R2 (On-Premises)

Note: The Installed Applications Linked to Technopedia report is only available when all of the following are true:

• You have both FlexNet Manager Suite (version 2020 R2 or later) and Technopedia (either the stand-alone library, or the component of Data Platform v5) installed in your enterprise
• You have downloaded and installed the additional reader folder on your batch server – or in smaller implementations, the server hosting that functionality (for details, see the topic Download and Install the Reader Code in the Technopedia connector section of the on-premises edition of the FlexNet Manager Suite Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference, available through the title page of online help in either PDF or HTML format)
• You have set up the Technopedia connector on a suitable inventory beacon, running FlexNet Beacon version 16.0.0 or later (this is the version of the FlexNet Beacon software that shipped with 2020 R2)
• You have successfully run your first import from Technopedia, and uploaded the results to your batch server, where they have been loaded into your compliance database
• You have successfully run your nightly imports and compliance calculations, so that there is a known listing of applications installed on inventory devices within your computing estate (which may include physical and virtual devices, both on-premises and in the cloud).

This report lists those applications, known to be installed within your computing estate, that are linked to application records published in the Application Recognition Library (ARL) (in contrast, applications known only through locally-created application records that are not published in the ARL are not included in this report). Further, if those applications that have an associated FlexeraID can be matched with records imported from Technopedia with the same FlexeraID, the details recorded in the Technopedia library are also listed. This allows you to check your installed applications against both sets of normalized data – because of different sources used, there may be differences between those two data sets.

Generating the report

1. In the Reports Index, navigate to Reports > License Compliance > Applications > Installed Applications Linked to Technopedia.
2. Click Run report to display results that combine:
   • The installations recognized at the last license consumption calculation (reconcile) time. with
   • The Technopedia data most recently imported through your Technopedia connector.

Tip: Depending on the number of installations in your environment, this report may take a few minutes to calculate results for display.

Reading the report

As this report may be large (both wide with many column, and long with many installations), it may be most useful to filter or group the report, for example to investigate one or two products at a time.

The following columns are available, although some may be in the column chooser.

Similar columns are displayed for the two data sources (ARL, labelled as Application, and Technopedia). For clarity, in the following table the properties are grouped by their source, and then listed alphabetically.

Action

Indicates your assessment and processing of an application. It can have any of the following values:

• Authorized
• Deferred
• Ignored
• Inactive
• Unmanaged.

This property is shown in application properties as Status.

Category

The broad function of the application, by default from the UN Standard Products and Services Code.

Classification

The type of software, especially as it relates to licensing (freeware, commercial, component, and so on).

Edition

The edition of an application, as specified by the publisher of this application.

Note: Many applications do not specify an edition.

Evidence capability

Most application evidence is used to identify whether an application is installed on a device. Some evidence may identify whether the application was accessed by a user. This column identifies the kinds of evidence so far linked to the application, with the following values:

• Installation
• Access
• Installation and Access — There is evidence available for either purpose, or both.
• None — The application has not been linked to any evidence records (by default, there is also an alert displayed on the application name highlighting the same short-coming). You should try to remedy this situation, as without evidence, consumption for any license linked to this application cannot be calculated.

Flexera ID

A generated code that uniquely identifies all application records, and can be used for integration between products from Flexera.

Installations (number)

The count of installations of this application, calculated from evidence matched in the last imported inventory. This includes the count of installations in containers.

Tip: This is the count of installations in Active inventory devices. In other words, this count excludes any installations on inventory devices for which the Status has been set to Ignored (either manually in the General tab of the inventory device properties, or automatically because the inventory device is linked to an asset that is either Disposed or Retired).

Name

The application's name, which may be:

• Set by the Application Recognition Library, and not editable (for applications with Source: Flexera)
• Derived from the evidence values for Product, Version, and Edition properties (when generated by FlexNet Manager Suite), and editable to suit your corporate standards.

Click the application name to navigate to the application properties recorded in FlexNet Manager Suite. In the application properties, the Devices tab allows you to inspect the individual installations of the particular application.

Product

The basic name of the application, excluding the publisher and references to versions or editions.

Publisher

The name of the publisher of this software, responsible for its development and distribution.

Source

The origin of this application record.

In this report, only two values are available:

• Flexera — Shown when the application is downloaded in Application Recognition Library (if so, you cannot edit any of the application’s properties, but can link it to additional evidence).
• Flexera (Extended) — Shown when an operator added additional evidence to the original record from Application Recognition Library.

Status

Indicates your assessment and processing of an application. It can have any of the following values:

• Authorized
• Deferred
• Ignored
• Inactive
• Unmanaged.

Suite

Displays Yes if this application is a suite (that is, contains child applications), and otherwise No. Remember that a non-suite (has no children) may itself be a member of a suite. For example, Adobe Creative Suite® is a suite, Adobe Photoshop is not, and Photoshop can be a member of Creative Suite.

Version

The release number (or release identifier) of an application.

Brand/Family

The overarching group to which this product belongs. Often this displays the same value as the Product listed in Technopedia. However, when a product (such as Adobe Photoshop) is part of a larger grouping like a suite (such as Adobe Creative Suite), this may show the suite name.

Component

If the row of data refers to a sub-component of a larger product, the component name is displayed here. Most often, this column remains blank.

Edition

The edition of a product release, as specified by the manufacturer/publisher of this application.

Note: Many products do not specify an edition.

Is major version?

Displays Yes for major versions and No for minor point releases.

Manufacturer

The name of the publisher of this software, responsible for its development and distribution.

Corresponds with the Publisher value in application properties.

Patch level

If a manufacturer/publisher issues a patch for a release, the level may be indicated here as either Critical or Optional. More often, a service pack is identified by its number (such as SP1 or SP2). Most often, this column is blank.

Product ID

The unique numerical identifier for a product (across multiple releases). Combine with the Release ID to uniquely identify a particular application (which, in FlexNet Manager Suite, takes account of the version and, where available, the edition).

Product

The basic name of the application, excluding the publisher and references to versions or editions.

Release ID

The unique numerical identifier for a particular release of a product.

Subversion

The various stages towards release, such as Beta, RC1 (for release candidate 1), RTM (release to manufacturing), and so on.

Version

The manufacturer's release number for the product. Typically this has at least major.minor numbering, but may have further partitioning, even down to build number.

Version group

The main part of the version (or release) number, which may collect together several minor releases. May also be used for a marketing release number, where that is separate from the product release part number (for example, Windows 7 had version numbering around 6.1, so that Version group displays 7). Filtering for a value in this column allows you to examine all the related minor releases.