Welcome to syn*det"ech

Asset Inventory Tools

Asset inventory tools provide the foundation for all SAM activity. These can be as straight-forward as spreadsheets, or can be much more extensive and integrated with other infrastructure management tools.  There are three large categories of functionality in this area:

• Tools that store inventory of installed hardware and software, and are frequently integrated with discovery tools.
• Tools particularly designed to track inventory of software licenses. These tools extend basic software inventory functions and add the ability to include linking different types of licenses purchased to the number and type of current licenses available for deployment and use.
• Document Management systems that allow for more precise tracking of physical paperwork and facilitate cross-referencing functions to other database systems.

Discovery Tools

Discovery tools are designed to find hardware and software and the relative details about each. Discovery tools are usually deployed during the initial implementation, and used periodically thereafter during ongoing operations as part of the Verification and Compliance Process. Many software tools have issues related to the method and reliability of software identification which result in subsequent issues relating to the ability to summarize specific application information in a meaningful way.

Metering Tools

Metering tools are design to monitor the usage of specific applications and are crucial for building information about the historical use of the organization’s software application portfolios. This can aid in the decision-making process around business decisions such as redeployment of software to areas with little or no use to other areas where the need is greater – thus facilitating cost-avoidance on the part of the company that would have otherwise purchased new licenses from an external vendor.

Licensing Management Tools

These are possibly one of the most important tools in a SAM implementation. However, the technology in this area is not very mature. Primarily, this functionality allows organizations to:

• Determine and track on a continuous basis (without extensive manual work) the need for each license type based on the appropriate usage criteria.
• Linking upgrade licenses with the underlying full original license to quantify license effectiveness.
• To manage ‘stocks’ of unused licenses held, to facilitate the need to purchase new licenses and/or transfer of existing licenses between disparate operational units.

Contract Management Tools

Contract Management tools need to integrate with License Management information, and most likely will need to be integrated with the financial systems focused on the procurement function. Two primary needs in this area are:

• Automated warnings about contract extensions and maintenance payments due, or deadlines for internally initiated renewals.
• Monitoring of total purchase levels against service agreement to gain visibility into whether or not commitments are being met, or for pricing purposes.

Procurement Tools

Procurement tools help automate the functions of checking for availability of unused licenses as part of the ordering process, first checking with the ‘ordering’ operational unit, then with other affiliated organizations to see if spare licenses are available – then linking those orders to the relevant license for historical purposes.

Security Tools

There are several security issues that are relevant to SAM, and a number of tools available, although there is significant overlap between the functionality that is a benefit to SAM in particular, and the benefits to an organization’s overall security posture.

Protection tools such as anti-virus software and patch management software also should be integrated with the overall SAM processes to ensure the update are distributed quickly and reliably when needed.

Deployment Management Tools

Deployment management tools relate to SAM in the sense that they ensure that deployments are properly authorized, and pertinent data is captured and maintained in the SAM database.

Asset Management Tools

Lastly but not least is the category of tool called Asset Management Tools.  They often combine many of the features noted above either acting as that tool, such as the asset inventory, contract management and software license management tools.  A key difference is an Asset Management tool will have a single repository that unifies all the various sources of the SAM complex data picture into a single organized repository, with dashboards to keep you well informed.  It also goes well beyond simple tracking to provide robust financial information, and  sometimes an internal procurement solution and employee self service catalog to help enforce standards. 

Understanding the roles of tools will help you gain a clear understanding of what you have invested in to date and how it fits in the overall SAM solution while uncovering the role of other tools.

If you have questions about tools or comments and you’d like to add to this posting, please log in and leave your comment.  Additionally under the Discussions forum you can leave a any question anonymously for our panel of expert Authors to provide you answers to your specific question.