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AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization 2015 SP1Release Notes26 January 2016

Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 2

New Features ............................................................................................................................................... 2Support for Integration with FlexNet Manager Suite On Premises .....................................................................3Quick Link to Open Application Recognition Service ............................................................................................3New “Superseded” Column Listing Version Metadata ..........................................................................................4New User and Machine Reports Available from Application Listings..................................................................4Direct Link to Targeted Unrecognized Evidence ....................................................................................................6Ability to Manually Set Project Status to Complete ..............................................................................................7Ability to Quickly Filter List of Applications When Creating an Exclusion List ...................................................8New Settings in Configuration File ..........................................................................................................................9

Setting the Default Database Connection Timeout Value......................................................................................................... 9Specifying Automatic Filtering in Lists ............................................................................................................................................10

System Requirements ............................................................................................................................... 11Web Server............................................................................................................................................................... 11Database Server....................................................................................................................................................... 12File Share Server ...................................................................................................................................................... 12End User Computers ............................................................................................................................................... 13System Account Requirements.............................................................................................................................. 13

Legal Information...................................................................................................................................... 14

AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization 2015 SP1 Release Notes (26 January 2016) 1

IntroductionAdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization identifies, assesses, and consolidates an enterprise’s desktop application portfolio to improve the agility of day-to-day application service delivery and to streamline platform migrations. AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization utilizes a regularly updated Application Recognition Service that is the accumulation of 25 years of experience and identifies more than 150,000 applications from over 16,000 software vendors.

Application rationalization is a crucial step in the application readiness process, which includes identifying, assessing, and consolidating applications. Through reducing the number of applications that IT teams must actively support, enterprises can simplify platform migrations, reduce operational costs, and improve the efficiency of day-to-day application service delivery.

AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization helps you achieve your application readiness goals by providing the following benefits:

• Gathers inventory information—AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization continuously gathers windows desktop inventory and transforms it into actionable information. It collects raw inventory data from Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager, and collects users, machines and site information from Active Directory.

• Helps you make informed rationalization decisions—You can use AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization to sort and filter normalized application inventory by vendor, application, category or classification. You can review summarized usage by user or machine and drill into compatibility and testing details.

• Enables you to automatically execute workflows for packaging, testing and deployment—AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization informs you of newer versions of an application not yet deployed in your current environment. Workflows are automatically launched, which help you to ensure that rationalized applications are packaged and ready for deployment.

New FeaturesAdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization 2015 SP1 includes the following new features:

• Support for Integration with FlexNet Manager Suite On Premises

• Quick Link to Open Application Recognition Service

• New “Superseded” Column Listing Version Metadata

• New User and Machine Reports Available from Application Listings

• Direct Link to Targeted Unrecognized Evidence

• Ability to Manually Set Project Status to Complete

• Ability to Quickly Filter List of Applications When Creating an Exclusion List

• New Settings in Configuration File


Support for Integration with FlexNet Manager Suite On Premises

The Rationalization Manager component of AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization obtains a normalized and consolidated application list from the Application Recognition Service component, and uses that information to perform application rationalization projects.

Starting with AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization SP1, you can now integrate Rationalization Manager with an installation of FlexNet Manager Suite On-Premises, which provides not only all of the functionality of the Application Recognition Service, but also its full suite of comprehensive hardware and software asset management, license optimization, and license compliance solutions.

Quick Link to Open Application Recognition ServiceYou can directly access several pages of the Application Recognition Service by clicking on links in the Rationalization Manager component:

• Unrecognized Evidence page—Click Unrecognized App in the Product column of the Analyze Applications page (or Select Actions to Rationalize Applications panel of the Rationalization Wizard).

• Corporate Units page—Click the Create or Edit Corporate Units button on the Identify Project Scope panel of the Rationalization Wizard.

In AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization 2015 SP1, you can now open the Application Recognition Service site from any page in the Rationalization Manager component by clicking on the new quick link on the right side of the navigation bar.

Figure 1: Quick Link to Application Recognition Service

When you click this link, the Installed Applications page of the Application Recognition Service website opens, which lists all of the installed applications recognized in your enterprise.


New “Superseded” Column Listing Version MetadataAdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization SP1 includes new metadata for applications that will enable you to define version support policies. For example, you might want to define your version support policy as “the current version and n previous versions”.

To enable you to implement this type of version support policy, the Analyze Applications page (and the Select Actions to Rationalize Applications panel of the Rationalization Wizard) includes a new column, Superseded, that lists a number that identifies how many more recent versions of this same application have been released.

For example, in the following image, Google Chrome Version 46 has a -3 in the Superseded column, while Version 49 has a 0 in that column. This indicates that Google Chrome Version 49 is the most recent version, while Version 46 has been superseded by three more recent versions.

Figure 2: Identifying Most Recent Version in Superseded Column

New User and Machine Reports Available from Application Listings

On the Analyze Application page and the Select Actions to Rationalize Applications panel of the Rationalization Wizard, a count is listed in the following columns for each application:

• Users in All Data

• Machine Usage in All Data

The Select Actions to Rationalize Applications panel also includes a Users in Scope and Machine Usage in Scope column.

In AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization 2015 SP1, you can now click on the counts listed in these columns to open new reports that list the individual users or machines that comprise the count.


Machine Report

When you click on the Machine Usage in All Data or Machine Usage in Scope link for an application, the Machine Report opens, listing the machines where that application is installed.

Figure 3: Machine Report for an Application

User Report

When you click on the Users in All Data or Users in Scope link for an application, the User Report opens, listing the users that have that application installed on a machine.

Figure 4: User Report for an Application


Direct Link to Targeted Unrecognized EvidenceSome enterprise applications are not recognized by the Application Recognition Service, perhaps because the application's properties do not match properties in the database, or because it is a custom application written for your company. In these instances, Unrecognized App will be listed in the Product column in Rationalization Manager.

Figure 5: Unrecognized App Link on the Analyze Applications Page

You need to click on the Unrecognized App link to open Application Recognition Service and manually add evidence to the local Application Recognition Library so that ARS can recognize the application.

Previously when you clicked this link, the Unrecognized Evidence page Application Recognition Service that would open would list all unrecognized evidence that was discovered in your enterprise. You would then have to filter the list to find the product that you are trying to add.

Figure 6: Unrecognized Evidence / All


In AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization SP1, when you click on the Unrecognized App link in the product, only evidence regarding the product you clicked on is listed; there is no need to filter or search through the list to find it. The list is already filtered by Name, Version, and Publisher.

Figure 7: Unrecognized Evidence / Targeted

Ability to Manually Set Project Status to CompleteIn AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization, you complete a rationalization project by completing all of the project’s associated workflow requests. However, you may want to override the current status of a project and mark it complete, even though not all of the workflow requests have been completed.

In AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization 2015 SP1, you can manually set a project’s status to completed by selecting Completed from the drop down list in the new Update Status column on the Rationalization Project Administration page.

Figure 8: Manually Setting a Rationalization Project’s Status to Completed


Ability to Quickly Filter List of Applications When Creating an Exclusion List

When you are creating an exclusion list and you click the Add Applications button on the Exclusion List Details page, the Add Applications to Exclusion List area opens and prompts you to select applications to add to the exclusion list. This list can be filtered by Corporate Units, Machine Names, Users, or Applications.

Figure 9: Add Applications to Exclusion List Area / Filtering By Corporate Units

Because your enterprise may have a very large number of machines and users, when this list is filtered by Machine Names or Users, the list of applications may be very long and may take a while to load.

Therefore, in AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization 2015 SP1, when Machine Names or Users is selected from the Filter by list, before the list is populated, you need to enter at least the first three characters for the filter type in the box and then click Search. A targeted list of applications by user or machine name then quickly appears.


Figure 10: Add Applications to Exclusion List Area / Filtering By Users

New Settings in Configuration FileIn AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization 2015 SP1, several new settings have been added to the AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization configuration file (web.config):

• Setting the Default Database Connection Timeout Value

• Specifying Automatic Filtering in Lists

Setting the Default Database Connection Timeout ValueYou can now use the DBCommandTimeOut setting to change the default database connection timeout setting. The default value is 300 seconds (5 minutes), the number of seconds a database connection can be inactive before AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization generates a time out error.

By setting this value to a larger number, you can prevent timeouts from occurring when connecting to a large database.

<add key="DBCommandTimeOut" value="300"/>


Specifying Automatic Filtering in ListsWhen viewing information in any of AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization’s lists—such as on the Analyze Application or Rationalization Project Administration pages—you can click the filter button and filter any list by matching text.

Figure -1: Filtering List by Text Entered in Publisher Column

By default, when you enter text in the filter box, the filter is not applied until you press Enter. However, you can specify that you want the list to be automatically filtered as soon as you type a few characters in the filter box. This setting is controlled by the GridViewFilterRowMode setting in web.config.

<add key="GridViewFilterRowMode" value="1"/>

The value specified for the GridViewFilterRowMode setting determines whether the list is automatically filtered:

• 1—(Default) Apply the filter to the list when the user presses Enter.

• 0—Automatically apply the filter to the list as soon as several characters are entered into the filter box.


System RequirementsThis section lists the system requirements for AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization.

• Web Server

• Database Server

• File Share Server

• End User Computers

• System Account Requirements

Web ServerThe following table lists the system requirements for the Web server that hosts the AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization Data Web service and the actual AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization Website.

Item Description

Processor 64-bit processor at 2 GHz or greater

Note • AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization runs in 32-bit mode on a 64-bit OS.

RAM 4 GB or greater (8 GB preferred)

Hard Disk Space 100 GB or greater

Operating System Windows Server 2008 R2 or later / English base language (Windows Server 2012 preferred)

IIS IIS 7.0 or later

.NET .NET Framework 4.5.1

MSXML MSXML 4.0


Database ServerThis following table lists the recommended system configuration for a AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization database server:

File Share ServerThis following table lists the system requirements for the machine that stores AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization’s uploaded files:

Item Description

Processor 64-bit processor at 2 GHz or greater

RAM 4 GB or greater (8 GB preferred)

Hard Disk Space 80 GB or greater

Operating System Windows Server 2008 R2 or later (Windows Server 2012 preferred)

Database Software SQL Server 2008 R2 or later databases, including SQL Server 2012 (latest version preferred)

• SQL Server must be installed with case-insensitive dictionary sort order and ISO-8859-1 character set. (Use sp_helpsort T-SQL command for more information.)

• SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS is the required collation setting for AdminStudio database server. It is the only supported collation.

Note • Before attempting to connect to an existing Microsoft SQL Server, open SQL Server Configuration Manager and make sure that the following three protocols are enabled:

• Shared Memory• Named Pipes• TCP/IP

Item Description

Processor 2 GHz or greater

RAM 2 GB or greater

Hard Disk Space 1 TB or greater

Operating System Windows Server 2008 R2 or later


End User ComputersThis following table lists the recommended system configuration for a AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization end user machine:

System Account RequirementsThe AMS_SYSTEM account on the AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization server requires the following privileges:

• IIS_WPG group member—Must be a member of the local IIS_WPG group (or IIS_USRS) on the web server.

• Modify permissions on file share—Must have “modify” permissions on the AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization file share.

• Email permissions—Must have permission to send e-mail through the SMTP server.

• Active Directory query permission—Must have permission to query Active Directory.

• Local Administrators group member—If AdminStudio Inventory and Rationalization will be calling any of the AdminStudio Platform APls in the iPlugin DLL, the AMS_SYSTEM account must be a member of the local Administrators group.

Item Description

Browser • Microsoft Internet Explorer 11.0 or later

• Microsoft Edge

• Chrome for Windows 33.0 or later

• Firefox for Windows 25.0 or later

• Safari for Mac OS X and iOS


Legal InformationCopyright Notice

Copyright © 2016 Flexera Software LLC. All Rights Reserved.

This publication contains proprietary and confidential information and creative works owned by Flexera Software LLC and its licensors, if any. Any use, copying, publication, distribution, display, modification, or transmission of such publication in whole or in part in any form or by any means without the prior express written permission of Flexera Software LLC is strictly prohibited. Except where expressly provided by Flexera Software LLC in writing, possession of this publication shall not be construed to confer any license or rights under any Flexera Software LLC intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, implication, or otherwise.

All copies of the technology and related information, if allowed by Flexera Software LLC, must display this notice of copyright and ownership in full.

Intellectual Property

For a list of trademarks and patents that are owned by Flexera Software, see http://www.flexerasoftware.com/intellectual-property. All other brand and product names mentioned in Flexera Software products, product documentation, and marketing materials are the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Restricted Rights Legend

The Software is commercial computer software. If the user or licensee of the Software is an agency, department, or other entity of the United States Government, the use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure, or transfer of the Software, or any related documentation of any kind, including technical data and manuals, is restricted by a license agreement or by the terms of this Agreement in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 12.212 for civilian purposes and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 227.7202 for military purposes. The Software was developed fully at private expense. All other use is prohibited.


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