One of the reports I suspect few people know about is the Activity Log.  It’s actually one of the oldest reports found within Express Software Manager, dating back to version 3.0, when it was still a pure software metering tool!  Little known to many of our customers, the Activity Log is a fantastic troubleshooting tool that can be used in any number of situations (some of which are described below). 

The Activity Log summarizes application usage based on license unit(s), machine(s), user(s) or server(s), with a level of detail that you won’t find in any other of Express Software Manager IT asset management reports.  This can be used to pinpoint applications being launched on specific machines or by specific users, as well as what remote devices and/or users are accessing applications on your Citrix or terminal server.  With usage data such as start and end time, idle time, and total time launched, you can zero in on all kinds of activities taking place on your network that are extremely useful from a troubleshooting standpoint. 

Here are some ways our customers have used the Activity Log report.

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If you need to review detailed network inventory information across your organization, the Custom Hardware Inventory report is the place to find it. 

Prior to running the Custom Hardware Inventory report, you’ll be asked to select the attributes you wish to report on (Screenshot 1).  The Fixed Attributes column to the left shows the default hardware attributes Express Software Manager collects.  The Custom Attributes column shows additional hardware or software values that can be selected by the administrator to include within the report.  These items are collected by a variety of methods including WMI, the registry, imported list, or manual entry of data. 

Our featured Express Software Manager report this month is the “Suite Application” report.  At its highest level, this report helps you determine what components of suite products are actually being utilized, so you can ensure your software budget is being wisely spent.

Here’s a real-life example of how this information can be useful.  Let’s say that your company has 1000 employees, each of whom has a license for Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Plus.  The Professional Plus version of the 2007 Office suite is comprised of eight individual components.  We know that most people take advantage of Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  But what about the other four components:  Access, Publisher, InfoPath, and Office Communicator?  (Based on what we hear from customers, a majority of most organization’s users don’t use any of these components – and come on, do you know anyone who uses Communicator?) 

Now, let’s assume that half of your users licensed for 2007 Professional Plus are not using Access, Publisher, InfoPath, and Communicator–meaning they could get by just fine with the Standard edition.  The delta between the MSRP of the Professional Plus and Standard editions of Office is around $100, which means you could save something to the tune of $50,000 by renegotiating your software contract.  Not a trivial amount when your boss is telling you there’s no budget for the Windows OS upgrade.

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When you think about reporting found within Express Software Manager, you probably think of IT asset inventory reports relating to hardware and software installations, application usage, and purchasing information. Did you know the Express Reports Console also contains reports that shows important administrative details about the machines you’re managing using Express Software Manager? For example:

• Which machines are using an Express Client license?
• Which machines don’t have the Express Client installed?
• Which machines are connected via terminal server?
• Which machines haven’t been inventoried recently?
• Which machines haven’t checked in recently?
• Which Express Clients haven’t been upgraded to the current version?

All these questions, and many more, can be answered using the “Express Client Status” report, found within “Administrative Tools” section of the reporting console.

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The following article was authored by Grant Brierley, Express Metrix’s VP of EMEA Sales & Marketing, for GovToday, the UK’s premier online resource for the public sector.  The column relates to the UK National Health System’s (NHS) recent decision to abandon its massive Microsoft Enterprise License Agreement in favor of decentralized purchasing among individual agencies.  Mr. Brierley outlines five practical steps for the NHS to optimize its license agreements, and will be delivering a master class on this topic jointly with FAST Ltd at an NHS event on 15 February in Westminster.  We believe his advice can be applied to any organization looking to “right-size” its volume software purchases and implement an effective software asset management program.  Enjoy!

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