Inventory Data Tab
Tip:To access this tab, your operator account must be assigned to at least one role that grants the Allow right to the Configure inventory imports to compliance database, and reconcile feature – and no other role that separately sets a Deny for the same feature. (To access these settings, navigate to Administration > IT Asset Accounts and select the Roles tab.)
Available Actions
On the Inventory Data tab, you can perform the following actions:
Action |
Description |
To show or hide the details about an inventory connection in this list |
Click the header area, or click the light gray expander arrow on the far right of the card. |
To prepare for, or perform, a one-time upload of inventory data in a spreadsheet file |
Click One-off upload, and see Inventory Data One-Off Upload Page. |
To temporarily disable a connection and prevent its data being taken into account in the next license calculations |
Change the Connection status option to Disabled. Switch it back to Enabled to re-enable the connection. More information in the table below. |
To permanently delete a connection (there is no undo) |
Show the details for that connection, click Delete connection, and on the confirmation dialog click OK. This removes the connection record from the central database; and you must also remove the same connection's details from the inventory beacon where the connection operates. Otherwise, the next time that the inventory beacon uploads inventory from the connection, the central record is recreated. Tip:It is not possible to delete the IT Asset Management connection. |
To give one connection priority when there are conflicting inputs |
Click Make primary in that row (more information in the table below). |
To start the installation of a new inventory beacon |
Click Deploy a beacon, and seeInstalling an IT Asset Management Inventory Beacon. |
To manage your own deployment of the Inventory Agent, |
Click Manage inventory agent, and see Inventory Agent for Download |
Summary Items
In the list of Inventory Data connections, the following details and controls are available by default, before you expand any card. Data labels are shown above the card list:
Property |
Description |
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Name |
The larger, blue title at the left end of each card is the name given to the connection. Note: IT Asset Management is the default connection for import of inventory collected by Inventory Agents. |
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Task status |
The latest result of the most recent import on this connection (which may still be running). On this page, the values are rolled up based on the state of underlying sub- tasks. IT Assets Inventory Status System Tasks page also displays the status of the inventory import tasks. The full set of values includes:
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Connection status (Read-Only) |
Determines whether data from this connection is updated at the next inventory import:
To change the Connection status, expand the accordion header and select either Enabled or Disabled from the Connection status drop-down. |
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Make primary |
On the connection that is currently the primary one, the button is grayed out and displays Primary. Click this button on any other row to make it the new primary connection. The primary connection has priority for the import of hardware inventory. Any non- null value from the primary connection cannot be over-written by conflicting data from any secondary source, even if the secondary source was imported more recently. For values that are null (not reported) in the primary connection, secondary connections can provide data, with the most recent secondary import taking priority for this. (The primary connection setting has no effect on the import of software inventory.) |
Expanded Items: Input Details Group
The following additional details are available when you expand any card in the list. Many are read-only values (except as noted). The first set are the Input details group, which cover any currently running import. The fields, in screen order, are:
Property |
Description |
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Source type |
The type of data source declared when the connection was created. For source types available on inventory beacons, see Managing Microsoft SQL Server Database Connections and Managing Other Database Connections. For one-time inventory spreadsheets, or for inventory spreadsheets scheduled for import through an inventory beacon, the value is Spreadsheet.For IT Asset Management, only Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (previously Microsoft SCCM) imports are supported. |
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Task type |
Types of task include:
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Beacon server |
Identifies the inventory beacon where the import runs. The value is blank for one- time inventory spreadsheet imports, as these are handled directly in the user interface without passing through any inventory beacon. |
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Database server |
The server hosting the remote database from which inventory data was extracted. Left blank for inventory spreadsheet imports, and any other inputs (such as from Active Directory) that do not link to databases. |
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Overlapping inventory |
The current rule used for handling overlaps (records about the same endpoint device from multiple inventory tools) between this inventory connection and any other connection, based on whether or not data from this connection should be considered "stale" in comparison to others. This control is intended to help migrate target inventory devices from one inventory source to another (such as from an old to a newer version of your chosen tool, or to move a target device from one location to another that uses a different inventory connection). Values may be:
This is the normal operational setting when you are not migrating target inventory devices between inventory connections.
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Delete connection |
Click to permanently remove this connection. There is no undo. Important:When you remove a connection, any inventory data imported exclusively through that connection (and not duplicated in any other source) is removed from the operations databases. |
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Connection status |
To disable a connection and prevent its data being taken into account in the next license calculations, change the Connection status option to Disabled. Switch it back to Enabled to re-enable the connection. |
Expanded Items: Last Completed Import
The second group show the results of the Last completed import, with the date and time when that last run started shown on the right side. Clearly, since this group is the last completed import, it does not show the results of an import currently running. This is why you may have different values for Status in this section compared with Task status in the current summary, higher on the page.
Property |
Description |
Validation errors |
Relevant only to CSV upload, this field displays the count of errors (if any) during the inventory CSV import. You can click the count to open the page of details about validation errors (see Inventory Upload Validation Errors Page). |
Devices read from source |
The count of inventory device records found in the last import through this connection. |
Devices imported |
The number of inventory device records created, or updated (where those records were previously created from the same inventory source), in the central operations databases as a result of the inventory import. This may be fewer than the number found in the source if, for example, there were duplicate records, if validation failures excluded some records (in case of CSV imports), or if some of the devices already existed in the operations databases as records created from another inventory source. The key idea here is that this figure relates to records from this one inventory source only, regardless of whether the records were new or updated at the last import. |
Devices merged |
The number of inventory device records from this source that were merged with existing records created from another, completely independent connection. For example, suppose you had some inventory collected with Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (previously Microsoft SCCM), and updated some fields with a one-time inventory spreadsheet import. Because these records come from two separate connections, the count is of devices merged (the data being updated according to the Overlapping inventory rule setting). |
Reconciled |
Displays Yes if the imported data has been included in a successful reconciliation, so that results should now be visible in the user interface. If it displays No, either a reconciliation was not included in the process, or there was another problem reflected in the Status field (and you can explore more details in the Task status and history listing). |
Status |
Can display one from the same values as described for the Task status (above). The chosen values may be different if a current import, shown above, has different outcomes than the last completed run, to which this value applies. |
Duration |
How long the entire, end-to-end process took to integrate the source data with the operations databases. This is the time between when the inventory beacon connected to the source, until the resulting data set was uploaded, the data brought into the operations databases, and the reconciliation was completed using the latest data. |
Show/hide task status and history |
Click the link to expose (and subsequently hide) the table listing Task status and history. For details, see the following table. |
Expanded Items: Task Status and History List
When you expose the Task status and history list, the following columns are available. Some are displayed by default, and others are in the column chooser. They are listed here alphabetically.
Property |
Description |
Beacon |
Identifies the inventory beacon on which a particular step was running. If there is a hierarchy of inventory beacons on the site, there may be multiple distinct machines involved in the upload processes. |
Connection type |
Blank for rules, and otherwise shows the kind of connection declared when the connection was first created. |
Created by |
The name of the operator who started the task. |
End date |
The date and time when the task finished. |
Logs |
Provides a link where you can find the log files for the step. |
Server name |
The name of the beacon or IT Asset Management server where this step was executed. Left blank for inventory spreadsheet imports, and any other inputs (such as an Active Directory) that do not link to databases. |
Start date |
The date and time when the task began. |
Status |
The outcome for each item in the list. For possible values, see Task status at the top of this page. |
Summary |
Some explanation of any issues that arose in the task or step. |
Task/Step |
Shows individual tasks with an expander (+) to the left of the name. When the process is importing inventory through a connection (or adapter), the connection name is displayed as task name. When you click the expander to the left of a task, the individual steps are shown. Although inventory beacons are excluded from the hierarchy in this instance, you can identify the inventory beacon involved for each step in the Beacon column. |