Auditing Software usage
Is it possible to find out how many times an installed software has been used in a period of time? I'm trying to audit software licensing and we have people who I know aren't using software that they 'require'. This would be really useful and I seem to remember hearing something about it somewhere in the KACE documentation.
Thank you!
Thank you!
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Posted by:
cblake
13 years ago
Metering has to be enabled as a tool on the CHOOSE ACTION -> CONFIGURE SETTINGS and ENABLE area. This is where you decide for which machines to meter; All processes listed as enabled would be metered on all targeted machines.
My recommendation is to use computer smart labels to group the machines with the software(s) in question and target metering at those machines only. Also only meter what you need information on- not "everything". Metering can have performance impact on machines with older specs, so ensure that you use this option somewhat sparingly (or at least test on your oldest/slowest targeted PC). For every process being metered, a matching metering process is always running. So 10 titles metered=10 metering processes using some resources at all times.
Note that metering is not the definitive answer to whether or not someone is "using" software- metering can only monitor how often and for how long a process runs; so if I open photoshop at 8am and don't use it all day, metering think I used it 8 hours when nary a pixel was edited. No technology solution can replace a conversation with your users- use metering to gather information over a long period of time (I suggest no less than 3 weeks) then use that information to make a list of folks to discuss their licenseing needs moving forward. Many users would release a license if they didn't need the title and felt comfortable that they could get it again if it became necessary; yet other will refuse- this is the situation where the usage report is golden of course.
Hope that helps.
My recommendation is to use computer smart labels to group the machines with the software(s) in question and target metering at those machines only. Also only meter what you need information on- not "everything". Metering can have performance impact on machines with older specs, so ensure that you use this option somewhat sparingly (or at least test on your oldest/slowest targeted PC). For every process being metered, a matching metering process is always running. So 10 titles metered=10 metering processes using some resources at all times.
Note that metering is not the definitive answer to whether or not someone is "using" software- metering can only monitor how often and for how long a process runs; so if I open photoshop at 8am and don't use it all day, metering think I used it 8 hours when nary a pixel was edited. No technology solution can replace a conversation with your users- use metering to gather information over a long period of time (I suggest no less than 3 weeks) then use that information to make a list of folks to discuss their licenseing needs moving forward. Many users would release a license if they didn't need the title and felt comfortable that they could get it again if it became necessary; yet other will refuse- this is the situation where the usage report is golden of course.
Hope that helps.
Posted by:
asouter
13 years ago
From the metering tab you can see usage over the last month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months. you can use this to work out usage inbetween or export into excel and do it from there.
Posted by:
kmacdonald
13 years ago
Ok I configured my processes I want to meter and have enabled them. My next question is do I have to go to CHOOSE ACTION -> CONFIGURE SETTINGS and ENABLE that as well? Do I have to check to Deploy to All Machines? Or is enabling the Meter process enough?
Thank you!
Thank you!
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