Merge Last Usage of Software Metering with Asset Intelligence Custom Labels

Software Metering analyzes the usage of any executable files. Asset intelligence inventory and software management are done using a catalogue. So why would we want to merge both? Have a comprehensive view of your software usage to save licensing costs. SCCM can automatically uninstall the application to achieve this goal.

Companies spend a lot of money on unused software licenses each year. Monitoring software usage can save your organization a lot of money.

The problem with Software Metering is that it is based on the executable. It does not always mean that the software is installed on a machine. There’s a way to merge software usage with an accurate installation, and that’s the goal of this post.

First, you need to use custom labels in Asset Intelligence. Second, you must create a link between Asset Intelligence and Software Metering. Third, use reporting to share the usage of each installation in your organization.

Asset Intelligence

In our example, we will use Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.

• Go into Overview / Asset Intelligence / Inventoried Software and search for Lightroom.

Make sure each software is well-tagged. Else, read how to maximize the use of Asset Intelligence with Labels.

The combination of custom labels (category, family, label 1 and label 2) that you previously created will create a custom software name. In our example, the software name will be Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.

Software Metering

The key to the whole process is to create Software Metering rules that match your Asset Intelligence software name.

• Go into Overview / Software Metering and click on Create Software Metering Rule.
• Create Software Metering Rule Wizard will open.

• Enter the custom software name of Asset Intelligence, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5, in the Name textbox.
• Browse and add the selected executable file, and it will detect all information automatically or enter it manually.
• Click Next when finishing

By doing so, you can track unused licences in your organization.

Reports

We created a report for you that shows the software’s last usage by device.

It will help you track your licensing usage and monitor whether your organization is buying too many or not enough licences. SCCM’s automatically uninstall application is great for this.

You can find all the details about Asset – Installed Software with Custom Labels and Last Usage report.

Troubleshooting the last usage

An empty field in the Last Usage column means that the software has not been used more than the number of days configured in the maintenance tasks or unknown data.

• Delete Aged Software Metering Data
• Delete Aged Software Metering Summary Data
• Summarize Software Metering File Usage Data
• Summarize Software Metering Monthly Usage Data

To verify the maintenance task settings, follow these steps:

• In the SCCM console, click on Administration \ Site Configuration \ Sites from the left panel
• CAS doesn’t contain those maintenance tasks, so select a primary site from the list
• Select Site Maintenance from the panel
• Click on a specific task and click Edit

In the next post, we’ll show you how to uninstall unused licences from this process.

Asset Intelligence Blog Series

• Part 1 | Why should you use Asset Intelligence in SCCM 2012
• Part 2 | How to maximize the use of Asset Intelligence with Labels
• Part 3 | Create Custom Reports with Labels of Asset Intelligence
• Part 4 | Merging Last Usage of Software Metering with Custom Labels of Asset Intelligence
• Part 5 | Automatically Uninstall Unused Applications based on Software Metering with SCCM