Inventory Device Matching
Note:The page may not include every hardware record imported from every inventory source. Instead, it focuses only on those imported records that were merged with existing (or other incoming) records, so that you can track both which records were merged together, and why they were merged – using what data-matching rule, which also identifies the matching properties of the inventory devices. (In general, if there is an incoming inventory record that does not match anything else on its first appearance, it is used to create a new device record in the compliance database, and does not appear here on that first day. However, the same inventory record imported the next night now matches the inventory device record created yesterday, and the match appears in the new day's listing.)
The page combines data from three different sources to assist your investigations:
| • | Existing database records of inventory devices—These reproduce entries found (for example) in the All Inventory page, and these columns are grouped under a heading of Inventory device properties. A single inventory device database record may appear multiple times in this listing, once for every incoming inventory record that was matched to it. (Other records from your All Inventory page may be missing from this listing if they have not been matched by imported inventory – for example, manually-created computer records, computers imported through a business adapter, or inventory devices automatically created to match imported asset records.) |
| • | Imported inventory—Grouped under the heading Raw inventory device properties, these records are "raw" in the sense of being original and untouched, as received from the inventory source. No normalization has been applied to these columns (for example, if different inventory sources report properties of the same inventory device in different ways, you can see all those differences in these columns). In general, there is a simple mapping between a "raw" attribute and the "normalized" attribute in the inventory device record (for example, the Raw chassis number after import and possible merging appears as the Chassis number in the Inventory device properties). To save space and repetition, only summary notes are given below for the raw attributes, and for more details, you may look back to the equivalent in the first set. |
Tip:As always, the set of imported data includes all imports, including your historical import results, as updated by the most recent import on the date of the last reconcile. In this way, even if there is a device that temporarily misses out on inventory gathering, its previous inventory still contributes to the inventory device matching and record updates.
| • | How these two data sets were matched—The columns that (by default) are in between the above two data sets, grouped under Rules results, explain several aspects of the process: |
| • | What processing rule matched the incoming and existing data |
| • | For some cases, the particular properties matched |
| • | If the top priority/best quality match was not available, what weaker rule was used to give the best available result under the conditions. |
Some understanding of the process helps you interpret the Rules results in particular. In summary:
| 1. | All the incoming inventory records are compared with each other, using the various matching rules in order. They are grouped into “clumps” of records that match each other, representing the same device. |
| 2. | Each existing inventory device (technically, each record in the ComplianceComputer table) is then tested against the incoming inventory records. When any match is found, the match is recorded against every incoming record in that same clump of matching inventory imports. |
| 3. | The properties of the incoming clump of inventory records are checked against the current inventory device (ComplianceComputer) to see whether any additions or updates to its properties are required. |
In this way, incoming inventory records are merged to make (or update) the ComplianceComputer table of inventory devices. However, this may mean that a complete understanding of a merge requires that you read a chain of matched results.
Tip:Keep in mind that, in step 1 when incoming inventory records are compared, a match may be direct, based on a “first quality” match of properties held in common; or a match may be transitive, meaning that it goes through a “third party”. For example, suppose that imported device A and device B are a top-quality match by name and serial number. But now device C is imported from a poor quality inventory source that does not include the serial number or even the device name; but it turns out that both device B and device C have the same (hidden) property of host identifying number, and the same manufacturer. Devices B and C are therefore counted as matched; and as a result, device C is now counted as matched to device A transitively, through their 'mutual relationship' with device B. All three imports, A, B, and C, are now included in the same “clump” of matched records; and as soon as any one of these imports is matched to an existing inventory device, they are all counted as matched. This example results in three rows in the Inventory Device Matching listing:
| • | The existing inventory device record is repeated in each row in the first set of Inventory device properties |
| • | Imports A and B each get a row where they populate the Raw inventory device properties (and there are no “secondary” values required or shown) |
| • | Import C also has a row in the Raw inventory device properties, but since it was only matched through device B, this row shows that intermediary device B as a “secondary” device under Rules results, as explained in the columns below. |
Because this listing of matches can include almost all your inventory device records, multiplied by all the inventory sources that each one appears in, the total number of results can be unmanageable in even a reasonably-sized environment. The page is not intended to be read as an unfiltered mass, but used as an investigative tool to probe individual devices through searching and filtering.
One particularly effective way to focus your investigation is to start from the All Inventory page, where you can add the Matched raw devices column from the column chooser. This displays the number of matched inventory records as a hyperlink to this page – when you click the hyperlinked number, this page appears pre-filtered to show only the incoming inventory related to the existing inventory device database record you originally selected. You then have a large number of properties available here in the column chooser, both for the existing database record and the original inventory sources, which you can pick and choose to assist your investigation. (For the existing database records, the properties are not limited to those available in the All Inventory page, but include others from the inventory device properties page.)
Properties Displayed on the Inventory Device Matching Page
For detailed information on the properties displayed in this list, see Inventory Device Matching Listings Property Reference.
Note:Most lists in IT Asset Management only show a selection of the properties in the underlying database. Some columns are displayed by default and others can be displayed using the column chooser control, including any custom properties that you have added. For information on using the column chooser, see Managing Columns in a Table.