New Enhancements Released in BigFix Inventory

We are pleased to announce the general release of BigFix Inventory (BFI) 10.0.12.0, which contains multiple enhancements requested by customers (through our Ideas portal) that will bring greater functionality and value to the product. As we move the UI to a more contract-centered approach, contract enhancements are now under All Contracts instead of the legacy All Metrics panel.

Microsoft licensing updates

We have delivered functionality to allow our customers to utilize the most recent licensing changes for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft SQL.

The following metrics have been added to BigFix Inventory:

• Microsoft Windows Server Physical Processor Core,
• Microsoft Windows Server Virtual Processor Core,
• Microsoft Windows Server Standard Physical Processor Core,
• Microsoft SQL Server Virtual Processor Core.

These are in addition to the previously delivered metric Microsoft SQL Server Physical Processor Core.

Along with new Microsoft metrics, ready-to-use Microsoft Reports were adjusted:

• License compliance reports, for Microsoft SQL Server and Windows Server in All Contracts.
• New inventory reports, for Microsoft SQL Server and Windows Server, are based on Software Classification panel with adjusted set of visible columns to help with Microsoft license optimization.

Improved contract management in All Contracts.
The “All-Contracts” panel has been enriched with Publisher and Software Product filtering capability which allows users to quickly and easily narrow down the scope of managed software. It is possible now to define custom reports for a particular Publisher or Software Product.

The enhanced recalculate option enables a simple “what if’ analysis as users no longer must wait for recalculation until the next data import.

Note: Recalculation is narrowed down to computer groups assigned to user. For example, if a user has visibility of only one department, then only this department is calculated upon clicking the button. This approach can be useful when distributing work between different Software Asset Managers.

Enhanced package data reporting (Microsoft Windows only)
Many BFI customers find enormous value in our Package Data report to examine the installed software on managed endpoints discovered through a package manager (such as RPM, or the Add/Remove Program capability on Windows).

Based on two popular Ideas requests ([BFINV-I-193] and [BFINV-I-43]) we have now added support for installation dates and the installation path for Microsoft Windows endpoints.

• The installation date information is based on exact system data collected from endpoints in comparison to Computer: First Seen and Software Classification: Discovery Start that are related to BigFix Inventory data import time.
• Package Data report is extended with installation date and installation for Windows-type entries. The actual installation date helps in ensuring license compliance, while package installation path improves software discovery verification.
• The new information is based on system registry data as provided by the package vendor, and Microsoft Installer (MSI) packages. Additionally, the installation date and path are collected for Windows operating system packages.

For additional details on new enhancements to this release, please read the release notes documented here .

For complete information on BigFix Inventory visit here. For general information visit HCLBigFix or Contact Us.