Raw Software Usage

IT Asset Management (Cloud)

The Raw Software Usage page provides detailed information about software usage in your organization.

Note: This page is populated only by imports from the FlexNet Inventory Agent, and not from any other data sources. In addition, it requires that the FlexNet Inventory Agent has the application usage tracking component enabled (by default, it is disabled). To enable tracking for inventory devices managed by policy downloaded from an inventory beacon, go to the Discovery and Inventory Rules page and click the Targets tab, and ensure that each intended inventory device is included in at least one target that has Allow application usage tracking on these targets selected (and conversely, is not included in any target where Do not allow application usage tracking on these targets is selected, since this 'deny' would override any and all 'allow' settings). Remember that this setting is deployed to targeted inventory devices whether or not the target is used in any rule.

You can use this information to decide whether you need to procure new software licenses, or you can recover some existing unused licenses when you get a new software license request. This page enables you to search for software usage details for a particular application license.

This usage data is 'raw' because it is not yet filtered by the settings in the Usage tab of each application's properties. Content in this page is displayed directly from the inventory database. For this reason, it is possible that an application may appear in this listing as used on a particular device, but might still display No in the Used column of the Devices tab of the application properties for the same inventory device. Content in those application properties is displayed after import into the compliance database (usually as part of the nightly import and compliance calculations), and is then moderated by the settings in the Usage tab for the same application. Here's a comparison of the two data displays:

Raw Software Usage page	Devices tab of application properties
Data from inventory database.	Data from compliance database.
Available immediately after upload and ingestion.	Available only after full inventory import and license compliance calculation (typically overnight).
Not affected by settings in Usage tab of application properties.	Moderated by settings in Usage tab of application properties.
Data only from FlexNet inventory.	Data from all sources providing application usage data to import (for example, Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (previously Microsoft SCCM), FlexNet inventory).

Why is it blank?

For some entries in this listing, it is possible for the Software name and Version columns to be blank. This happens in either of the following cases:

• The software publisher has not included these details in the installer database (either the Microsoft Windows Installer database, or the Add/Remove Programs listing, or equivalents for UNIX-like platforms)
  Tip: If this data is important for you, you might choose to update the installer package with the extra details, and then update the installations. This fixes the problem at the source, and IT Asset Management can then report the facts you have recorded, and report application usage correctly.
• In either the Microsoft Installer database or Add/Remove Programs, the software publisher has recorded ambiguous or duplicate information for the application's installation path, such that several different installed products are incorrectly listed with the same installation path (for example, C:\Program Files\Publisher, but missing the sub-folder for the individual product). Because the publisher has not provided the complete and unique path, the FlexNet Inventory Agent cannot resolve which application record truly applies to the incomplete path. In this case, FlexNet Inventory Agent returns just the file evidence for usage, and this page cannot display the missing software name/version.
  Tip: There are two possible outcomes from this information gap:

  • It can be corrected automatically during the nightly import from the inventory database to the compliance database, so that the usage metering is reported correctly in the application properties.
  • It may be 'lost', and never attached to any application properties.

  The thing that decides between the good or bad outcome is whether your compliance database includes an application record that identifies the matching executable file name. The executable name can be added to the application record either through the Application Recognition Library, or by manually editing the application properties (on the Evidence tab of the application properties when you select the File category of evidence). So, to correct cases where poor data from the application publisher prevents proper usage metering, update the appropriate application properties with the correct executable file name. Notice that this data fills the usage gap only in the compliance database, and therefore the usage is correctly visible in the application properties; but since the inventory database is not backfilled, the blank software name/version persists in this Raw Software Usage page, as your symptom of poor data from the application publisher.

The listing

For more information about using lists, filters, and other UI options, see the topics under Using Lists in IT Asset Management.

The Save view as feature of IT Asset Management enables you to create customized management views of a page by saving the applied user interface settings. For more information, see Creating Saved Views.

This page displays the following columns (listed alphabetically). Some columns are displayed by default and others can be displayed through the column chooser. To manage columns and other UI options, see the topics under Managing Columns in a Table.

Computer name

The host name that the inventory device self-reports in its uploaded files for tracking application usage.

Domain name

The domain for this inventory device, as reported in its uploaded application usage tracking files.

Executable name

The name of the executable file, linked to the current application, that is being monitored to record when the application is used.

Run time

Total time in hours and minutes for which the application was running within the selected reporting period.

This value is automatically collated by IT Asset Management from the uploaded application usage tracking files.

SAM account name

The logon name of the user account, as reported in the uploaded application usage files.

The value of this field is automatically reported by IT Asset Management.

Sessions

The number of sessions in which the application was run in the selected reporting period.

The value of this field is automatically reported by IT Asset Management from the uploaded application usage files.

Software name

The name of the application reported in the uploaded files for tracking application usage.

Total active time

Total time in hours and minutes for which the application was active (was the top window) during the time it was running.

Note: For most applications, this column displays a zero. This is because for UNIX-like platforms, it has always been impossible to identify when an application is displaying the top window; and for Windows, security improvements after Windows XP removed this capability as well. Therefore this column only displays a non-zero value when you are tracking usage for heritage applications running on Windows XP or earlier versions of the operating system.

The value of this field is automatically collated and reported by IT Asset Management.

User name

The user name reported in the application usage tracking file as the account running the tracked software.

The value of this field is automatically reported by IT Asset Management.

Version

The release number (or release identifier) of the application, as self-reported in the uploaded file for tracking application usage.

Weeks

The number of weeks within the reporting period in which the application was used by a user.

The value of this field is automatically calculated by IT Asset Management from imported application usage files.