Deprecating Other Connectors

FlexNet Manager Suite 2022 R1 (On-Premises)

When you configure your connection to Flexera SaaS Manager, you may need to delete one or more other connectors that have overlapping functionality:

Connector name	Set up instructions (to help identify the connector)
Microsoft Office 365 (deprecated)	FlexNet Manager Suite Help > Inventory Beacons > Inventory Systems Page > Connecting to External Inventory Systems > Managing PowerShell Connections > Creating Connections to Microsoft Office 365 > Creating Connections using the Microsoft Office 365 (Deprecated) Connector
Microsoft 365	FlexNet Manager Suite Help > Inventory Beacons > Inventory Systems Page > Connecting to External Inventory Systems > Managing PowerShell Connections > Creating Connections to Microsoft Office 365 > Using FlexNet Manager Suite’s Multi-Tenant App to Connect to Microsoft 365
Salesforce	FlexNet Manager Suite Help > Inventory Beacons > Inventory Systems Page > Connecting to External Inventory Systems > Managing PowerShell Connections > Managing Connections to Salesforce.com

If you have any of the above connectors in use, the licenses created from those imports are automatically marked as Retired after overlapping licenses are imported from Flexera SaaS Manager, and the first full inventory import and license reconciliation calculations are completed (typically overnight). The retired licenses no longer contribute to the license consumption calculations, and are replaced in that role by the replacement licenses imported from Flexera SaaS Manager. Therefore, using the 'old' connectors to import updates to the Retired licenses is now redundant, and you might consider removing the old connectors and cleaning up their associated retired licenses.

In some cases, there may also be 'surplus' application records. This is particularly true if you have been using the Salesforce connector, which returns Salesforce 'components', each of which has been created as a separate application record in FlexNet Manager Suite. In contrast, Flexera SaaS Manager returns just the one "Salesforce" application, so that you may also wish to rationalize your application records, as described below.

CAUTION:

Do not delete one of the above connections too early – specifically, do not delete an existing connection until data flow is established from your new Flexera SaaS Manager connection. If you leave your system without any connection for certain inventory items, and the nightly inventory import and license consumption calculations happen when the relevant connection is still missing, all inventory imported from the missing connection is removed from FlexNet Manager Suite. This is because it is assumed that there has been a clean-up in your computing estate, and records are deleted to match the incoming data.

Use the following process to avoid both data loss (from deleting a connection too early) and data redundancy (from leaving overlapping connectors and updating retired licenses).

To manage switching between connectors:

1. Identify one or more licenses created from imports through the connector(s) listed above.
   These are licenses for the SaaS products you are tracking, and are perhaps best searched for by name in the All Licenses page.
2. Set up your connector to Flexera SaaS Manager.
   For details, see the online help under Inventory Beacons > Inventory Systems Page > Connecting to External Inventory Systems > Managing PowerShell Connections > Managing Flexera SaaS Manager Connections. To work from just a summary, see Configuring SaaS Manager Connector in this section.
3. Wait until tomorrow.
   Once the connection is configured and scheduled, collected information is imported into the compliance database of FlexNet Manager Suite during the next full inventory import and license consumption calculations. By default, these are scheduled nightly.
4. Validate that data has been imported from Flexera SaaS Manager.
   1. It's convenient to filter the list of All Licenses by setting the License type column equal to SaaS User (or Named user if instead you are investigating data for Office 365).
   2. Look for pairs of licenses that may be similarly named.
      Tip: Licenses imported from Flexera SaaS Manager initially reflect exactly the license names you created in Flexera SaaS Manager. Licenses imported with older connectors may have different naming conventions. Two techniques may be helpful:

      • Sorting by the Name column
      • Adding the Status column from the column chooser (note that this is a separate column different than the Compliance status column), where the licenses imported from old connectors now display Retired.
   3. Right-click each of the license names, and choose your browser's options to have the two sets of license properties open for comparison, such as in two browser windows. In both cases, select the Identification tab of the license properties.
      Here are the key differences between the two licenses:

      Status field displays Retired. This value is set while processing the import from your new Flexera SaaS Manager connector, and it validates that the process has run.

      Status field displays Active, and certainly not retired.

      Nothing extra in the title area of the license properties.

      The title area of the license properties includes a hyperlink (just above the tabbed area) to navigate to Flexera SaaS Manager and review the same license there.

      The presence of this link validates that this license was created by the import from Flexera SaaS Manager.

      These two checks validate that the overnight processing of the import from has completed as expected.
5. You may choose to edit the name of your new license, for example by adding "from FSM" to the license name, to eliminate ambiguity and reduce possible confusion.

   The license name is not used for matching in future imports, and you may adjust the name as you require.

   Check for any additional data management that you may want to do, as follows.

6. In the properties for the old, retired license, check for attachments or other data that you may wish to transfer to the new license.
   For example:

   • Has anyone manually added Notes on the Identification tab? You may want to copy any important content to the new license.
   • Are any purchases shown on the Purchases tab? You may want to Remove these from the old license, and link them instead to the new license.
     Remember: Purchases linked to a license created from the Flexera SaaS Manager connector are purely informational, and do not affect the available entitlements or the nightly license compliance calculations. Your actual entitlements are recorded in and imported from Flexera SaaS Manager, and displayed in the Compliance tab, either as a distinct quantity in the Extra entitlements field, or as an Entitlements are: Unlimited setting.
   • Similarly for the Contracts tab, you may want to swap any linked contracts to the new license. (As with purchases, linked contracts are informational only on your new license.)
   • Check other tabs for information to copy across (any regular charges on the Financial tab, any managerial or other assignments on the Ownership tab, or less commonly for SaaS licenses, any Group assignment or Restrictions).
7. In both sets of license properties, switch to the Applications tab, and review the applications linked to each license. Decide on your corporate approach to the old application records – do you wish to remove old records that are effectively replaced by new application records created through the Flexera SaaS Manager connector?
   If you plan to remove the retired licenses from deprecated connector(s), you might also delete the application records that are attached only to those licences (check the Licenses tab in the application properties to make sure that the application is linked to just the one license). Such records will be redundant clutter when their related licenses are removed.
8. Depending on your corporate data retention policies, you may wish to do either of the following:
   • Clean up: Close the browser tab displaying the properties of the old, retired license; and then delete the license in the All Licenses page. (Using this option to delete the old licenses, it is especially important to follow through with the later step below to remove the old connector – because if this old connector runs again, it will recreate records for any licenses it finds.)
   • Archive: Edit the name of the old, retired license to make it easier to identify in lists, reducing future confusion of old with new (for example, insert "Retired - " at the start of the license name).
9. Repeat your chosen process for any/all other licenses that have been Retired following the import from Flexera SaaS Manager.
   Tip: You can conveniently identify these in the All Licenses page by adding the Status column from the column chooser (note that this is a separate column different than the Compliance status column), and then filtering that column to show only the Retired value. Once you find a retired license, clear the filter and look for its active replacement, as described in the earlier steps of this process.
10. On the inventory beacon where the old connector(s) were configured, log in as administrator, run FlexNet Beacon, navigate to the Inventory systems page, and delete only the old connector(s).

You have now cleaned up licenses created through the old connectors, validated that your replacement licenses have been created by the Flexera SaaS Manager import, updated these with any required additional data, cleaned up application records as required, and removed the old connectors to remove overlapping data imports.