Import Evidence and Recognize Applications

IT Asset Management (Cloud)

Because your App-V package naming may be unique to your enterprise, you may need to identify the applications they contain.

If you have many App-V packages, setting up application recognition may be a significant effort on the first import from your App-V server adapter. Once the initial work is done, it is a simpler task to maintain recognition as new App-V packages are put into production.

This procedure continues from the work just completed at the inventory beacon where the adapter runs. Move now to the web interface for IT Asset Management.

To import evidence for application recognition:

  1. Ensure that the upload of data from the App-V server adapter is complete:
    1. Go to the Data Imports page (Data Collection > IT Assets Inventory Tasks > Data Imports).
    2. Select the Inventory Data tab, and select the Show details check box near to top.
    3. Find the App-V server adapter listed for the appropriate inventory beacon, and check its Last import date, Duration, Validation issues, and Status.
      When these are appropriate (in particular, Status is Successful on the appropriate Last import date), continue this procedure. Until then, you need either to remediate any upload problems, or simply wait until the upload is completed.
      Tip: This page does not dynamically update results, but shows the status when the page was opened. Therefore, if you are waiting for an upload to finish, refresh the page (F5) from time to time to see updated information.
    For App-V 5.0 and later, the upload of the .raa file saves the contents into staging tables in the compliance database, awaiting the arrival of usage information. For both App-V 4.6 and 5.0 (and later), the upload of the datafile from the App-V server adapter (on an inventory beacon) queues a job with the batch scheduler. When this job can next be processed, the adapter data (which, for App-V 5.0 and later, is combined in this process with the installer evidence from the .raa file) is imported into the compliance database. Thereafter, either of two results applies:
    • Recognized installer evidence is linked to the application, and shows an installation count for each device on which the evidence was found (and can be further examined on the properties for each of those devices).
      Tip: The next step, showing consumption against an appropriate license, requires both that the application is linked to the license, and that a reconcile has been run, either automatically on schedule or manually.
    • The installer evidence that was successfully imported but not matched to an application record needs your attention to map it to the correct application. (This is more common with the adapter for release 4.6.) To do that, continue with this process.
  2. Identify newly-imported evidence (the App-V packages) that requires a link to application records:
    1. Go to the Discovered Evidence page (Applications & Evidence > Evidence > Discovered Evidence).
      The Discovered Evidence page displays. Ensure that the default Installer evidence tab is selected.
    2. Near the top of the tab, click Add filter, and from the drop-down list select Type.
      A second drop-down list appears, listing the possible values of the evidence type.
    3. Select App-V.
    4. Click Add filter again, and from the pull-down drop-down list select Assigned, then choose the value No. With both filters defined, click the blue check mark (tick) to apply this filter.
      The list is redrawn to show only evidence of type App-V (the list of App-V packages discovered through the adapter) that have not been matched (manually or automatically) to an application.
      Tip: You may have no results when these filters are applied. This is a healthy state, meaning that all your App-V evidence is successfully matched to applications. When you have no records here, and want further validation of success, you can drill down into the properties of devices that have a record of installation for the appropriate application.
  3. Use your special knowledge of the App-V packages to link each piece of unassigned evidence to an application record. You may do this either by:
    • Clicking the Name of the evidence, which opens the property sheet for this evidence where you can work on the Applications tab
    • Following these guidelines to edit locally, still on the Discovered Evidence page:
    1. Click anywhere else in a row (other than on the Name) to select that App-V package from the list.
      The action buttons above the list become active.
    2. Click Assign.
      A blue editor Assign evidence to an application appears above the tabs.
    3. Click in the search field, optionally enter a few characters from the application name, and click Search.
      The editing area expands to include a list of application results matching your search. These applications include any previously created in your enterprise, together with all matching applications from the Application Recognition Library regularly updated by Flexera.
    4. Select your chosen application from the list, and (above the list) click Add.
      The search field is updated to show the name of the application you selected.
      Tip: If you cannot find the correct application in the search results, you may create a new application record by clicking Create an application, and completing the details in the application properties (the App-V package is automatically listed in the Evidence tab of the application properties).
    5. Click Assign.
      • The blue editing area closes.
      • The App-V package is linked to the application you chose (the App-V package now functions like installer evidence to show consumption against any license linked to the application).
      • In the list of evidence, the Assigned column is updated to Yes, showing that this package has been linked (or assigned) to an application. (If you currently have a filter on the Assigned column to show only rows with a No value, the evidence you just assigned must disappear from the list.)
        Tip: This links the evidence to the application as an exact match across publisher, name, and version records. To protect against future upgrades of the App-V package, you may wish to generalize the version number with a % wild-card. For example, if the original version was 1.0, manually editing the Version property of the installer evidence to 1.% means the link to the application remains valid through all the minor upgrades of this package.
  4. If the selected application is not yet linked to a license, you can:
    1. Double-click the App-V package in the evidence list (or, while it is selected, click Open).
      The evidence property sheet opens.
    2. Select the Applications tab.
    3. In the list of applications, click the name of the one you have just assigned to the App-V package (or double-click elsewhere in the row; or select the row and click Open).
      The application property sheet opens.
    4. Select the Licenses tab in the application properties.
    5. Optionally enter a few characters of a license name (where you know it); click Search.
      The search area expands to show the list of available licenses (matching any characters you entered).
    6. Select the appropriate license from those offered, and click Add license.
      Where a suitable license does not already exist, you may instead create one (for example, go to the All Licenses page (Licenses > License Management > All Licenses) and click the Create a license button).
      Tip: Don't forget to link some purchase records to the license to provide your entitlement count.

IT Asset Management (Cloud)

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