LANDesk White Paper LANDesk Data Analytics An innovative, comprehensive approach to managing software and hardware assets
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Contents Executive Summary...4 Acquisition Data...4 Total Asset Tracking and Visibility...5 Data Normalization and Customization...5 Reporting...6 www.landesk.com 3
Executive Summary LANDesk Data Analytics delivers an innovative, comprehensive approach to managing your organization s software and hardware assets. By giving you granular control and total visibility into your end-user inventory, LANDesk Data Analytics provides four core functionalities to ease the burden of managing your technology assets: 1. Supports beginning-of-life initiatives through the capturing and tracking of purchase history data from key resellers like CDW, HP, and Dell, plus integration with third-party USB barcoding devices for quick entry of asset delivery. 2. Asset lifecycle tracking through agentless, real-time collection of asset data from endpoints after deployment, which includes software and hardware usage, web-related and location mapping. 3. Manage end-of-life initiatives through the monitoring of warranty expiration dates and ultimate archiving of asset records to a central repository. 4. End-to-end software license compliance to ease the burden of software audits. LANDesk Data Analytics provides unparalleled asset management capabilities to IT. Through Data Analytics implementation, IT organizations can expect a 30 percent ROI in the first year of ownership. IT Challenge: My IT assets come from all over the place and each one has a different agreement attached to it. I just don t have the time to manage it all. Solution: Track all of your assets from the moment you purchase them to their retirement. Data Analytics looks at purchase records and tracks each asset s information through its entire life cycle. Example: One of the world s largest food processors uses barcodes and RFID tags to scan new inventory shipments. After the company learned that it could manage its printers and scanners using LANDesk, it implemented Data Analytics and now has complete control of all of its IT assets from procurement to retirement. Acquisition Data LANDesk Data Analytics captures purchase history data from receipt web pages and translates it into an inventory hyper record that allows you to track the asset from the point of purchase to delivery. Additionally, through the utilization of PocketPC and USB bar-coding devices, Data Analytics can record the delivery of assets directly into the central repository. Each specific asset is recorded in the repository along with all relevant information, including warranties, license lifespan, and purchase dates. In this way, IT assets can be purchased, shipped, delivered, and deployed efficiently, giving IT administrators complete control. When a device attaches to the network, Data Analytics communicates through industry-standard protocols such as SNMP and WMI to add data to the already existing central repository. The record is updated without an agent utilizing the Discovery Services Scheduling feature. Through the use of barcoding devices, Data Analytics can update the lifecycle data about any device that is already on the wire. Additionally, through the use of barcoding devices, Data Analytics can be used to mark an asset as Out of Service and the central repository will be updated so those devices can be easily tracked when they are in that state. The same process can be used to mark an asset as Back in Service if desired. IT Challenge: Managing and tracking all of my EULAs while keeping the data normalized requires hundreds of hours and takes me away from performing mission-critical tasks. Solution: Data Analytics allows administrators to view granular usage data of both software and hardware assets. EULA reports help administrators see what licenses they have, and what licenses they need. Assets can be mapped to physical locations, and licenses can be renewed or retired quickly and easily. Example: The largest Latin American bank leases printers for business operations and pays on a per-sheet basis. When an audit was approaching, the bank wanted to estimate its total costs of printing, and was able to use Data Analytics to approximate them. 4 www.landesk.com
Total Asset Tracking and Visibility LANDesk Data Analytics gives you rich insights into the current status of your applications. After deployment, the solution monitors how frequently each asset is being used, allowing you to identify any unnecessary software costs. This data can then be represented on a per-asset basis or as a holistic view of the IT asset environment. Configurable runtime definitions allow you to track specific executables, without experiencing interference from patches or version upgrades. In addition to software usage monitoring and compliance with license requirements, the administrator can determine the physical location of each asset from the console and receive customizable usage data of network hardware. IT is given complete visibility into printer use and toner levels; router, switch, and monitor locations; and usage of all IP-connected hardware. Administrators can also be alerted when printer toner levels are low or hardware errors have occurred. When licenses are near expiration, Data Analytics can help you renew or acquire the license quickly and easily. Because the solution tracks the reseller name, serial number, and expiration date, you can quickly know who to contact and what licenses to renew. IT Challenge: I need a way to normalize and customize all of my data and view it in a succinct, focused way. Solution: IT assets are normalized automatically through data translation rules. Customizable fields allow administrators to view specific asset data. Through executable configuration, assets are accurately monitored without interference from patching or upgrades. Example: By using Data Translation Services (DTS) and Executive Report Pack (ERP), a global marketing communications company was able to construct dynamic workstation and server compliance scorecards. DTS extracted data from various sources, assisting in completing the process. Data Normalization and Customization The Data Translation Services capability in LANDesk Data Analytics lets you customize your asset data in ways that would otherwise require you to hire a consultant or specialized programmer. You can structure your asset data how you want it by adding, removing, and reorganizing data fields that are related to each other. This includes utilizing many external data sources such as Active Directory, Service Desk, and Asset Applications with easy-to-use ODBC, LDAP, and business-tobusiness connectors. In addition, with Data Translation Services you can normalize inconsistent data such as variations of software vendor names and titles. You can also format and organize fields and groups of fields in ways that match your processes. For example, if a serial number is in the wrong place, you can easily move that field to anywhere in the record. Data can also be reformatted and validated so that when you run a report it will look the way you want it to. Data Translation Services provides a web-based barcoding forms engine that is simple yet very powerful. The same barcoding forms can be run on a stand-alone barcode reader or on a PC with a USB barcode device. With it, you can utilize existing LANDesk process templates or create your own. Since our barcode forms are web-based, they can be used on a wide range of devices. After the business-to-business connector creates a record based on your organization s system purchase information, additional data can be added from many other sources. For example, if your service desk team desires to know more about the user of a workstation or laptop, Data Translation Services can add Active Directory user data automatically to the inventory record of the device. If there are any enterprise applications such as SAP, PeopleSoft, Remedy, or others that require information about any of your assets, Data Translation Services can export data to these systems automatically. This serves to synchronize all systems that connect to LANDesk Data Analytics. With more than 20 types of data translation rules, the control capability in LANDesk Data Analytics has its own built-in tool kit that allows you to perform many tasks, including: Creating calculated fields such as total disk space across multiple drives Translating date fields into Days Since fields for easy time queries Translating arcane data such as Default gateway=10.3.23.1 to information such as Location = First floor or Preferred Server = FSLAX01. Converting Software Publisher data from Microsoft, Inc., Microsoft Corp., Microsoft/Visio to just Microsoft, normalizing any data. www.landesk.com 5
Reporting A key benefit of web-enhanced, enterprise-connected, and internally refined asset data is the confidence it brings when management wants to view an asset report you are responsible for. The Executive Reports capability in LANDesk Data Analytics is designed to offer up a powerful presentation of the asset data without individuals having to know a query language or even the underlying data structure. Data Analytics reporting is designed to address the challenges of three separate audiences: administrators, IT analysts, and end users. Administrator views allow report building within the console. Analysts can quickly slice data to find insights, and end users utilize web portals and scheduled email delivery to view any number of customized reports. Available to every report is the web-based Report Viewer that includes many time-saving features, such as Organizations, Include/Exclude, Dynamic Grid, and On Demand/Portal distribution. Additionally, the Executive Reports feature includes many pre-built templates that can be used to create hundreds of reports. Contact LANDesk Managing your organization s software and hardware assets from beginning of life to end of life and everything in between requires granular control and total visibility into your end-user inventory. For more on the advantages of LANDesk Data Analytics, visit www.landesk.com. Or, please call 1-800-982-2130 or email us at sales@landesk.com. 6 www.landesk.com