Product: Inventory Management
One of six modules available within PC-Duo Enterprise
Solution: Centralised Desktop Management
Developer: Vector
Release: v4.01

Overview

PC-Duo Enterprise Inventory Management enables you to centrally audit and manage software and hardware inventory information for all PCs in the enterprise.

>> NEW Web Portal click here for more information <<

Key benefits:

• Save up to 90% of the time staff spend auditing PCs
• Find out if your PCs are licensed for the software installed on them
• Automatically collect and maintain hardware/software inventory data
• Identify unexpected configuration changes
• Generate asset history to support planned renewal
• Improve the quality and response level given to your users
• Improve end user productivity by cutting downtime of users' PCs

features:

1. Web Reporting Portal
2. Comprehensive Inventory Database
3. Flexible Reporting
4. Package Policy Manager
5. Assets Database
6. Change History Reports
7. Multiple Audit Modes
8. User Promting

Web Reporting Module
PC-Duo’s reporting portal is a powerful web-based solution that gives users click-through access to IT asset management reports from anywhere. Users can access information and reports on current and historical system configurations, software utilisation, license compliance, and the site information needed to plan for software deployments and migrations.

View Live Demo - click here to view web-based IT asset management portal.

Comprehensive Inventory Database
Using multiple interrogation techniques to ensure unrivaled accuracy, PC-Duo Inventory collects over 600 items of hardware and system configuration information from today's desktop and server systems - and still supports DOS and Windows 3 for those hidden away legacy systems! This rich and reliable data is highly structured and easily accessed from PC-Duo's database tables.

Assets other than PCs can be stored in customisable tables with the Asset Database extension module. Over 50 types of IT asset are offered - but you can also customize your own as well.

The Software Inventory component is equally sophisticated. The Application Library recognizes many common applications, while proprietary discovery utilities make provisional identifications on other software using data extracted from application files. Recognition rules for in-house and specialized applications can be defined simply and quickly using the Software Identification Wizard.

Flexible Reporting
PC-Duo Inventory uses Crystal Runtime to provide over 30 reports covering key aspects of PC configuration and installed software. All reports are exportable into Word, Excel, HTML, CSV and several other formats.

Using PC-Duo's Database Viewer, custom selections of data items can also be combined into convenient tabular views. Scheduled HTML output from Database Viewer provides easy updates to your company's intranet site, giving browser-based access to PC management information for non-technical staff.

The Enterprise Portal gives access to drill-down reports to any authorized user anywhere on the Internet.

Package Policy Manager™
Package Policy Manager™ (PPM) is a powerful tool that allows you to define your users' software requirements as Package Policies. PPM Compliance Views compare your policies with actual inventory data. The result is instantly accessible management information that highlights unauthorised software, unused software, incorrect versions and missing mandatory packages. PC Groups are created from inside Compliance Views for subsequent corrective action.

Recognizing the pressures that system and asset managers work under, PC-Duo's Package Policy method allows you to introduce your policies incrementally, but with immediate benefit. Key applications can be quickly brought under control, generating immediate Return-on-Investment.

Assets Database
Assets other than PCs can be stored in customizable tables with the Asset Database extension module. Over 50 types of IT asset are offered - but you can also customize your own as well. PC-Duo Inventory's software recognition is equally tailorable to your needs. Using RuleMaker™, recognition rules for in- house or specialized applications can be defined simply and quickly.

Change History
PC-Duo Inventory provides a further 20+ Crystal-driven Change History reports. These focus on aspects of configuration change such as new disks, memory upgrades/downgrades, change of ownership, change of applications software, including version changes and de-installs, and many other key events. Per-PC Change Histories are also provided at summary and detail levels.

Multiple Audit Modes
For complete flexibility, PC-Duo Inventory gives you several methods of collecting inventory information from networked PCs.

• Regular scheduled updates automatically keep information up-to-date.
• Real-time interactive audits enable you to respond to ad-hoc demands for instant fresh information.
• One-shot Audit and diskette audits enable you to include stand-alone PCs or computers where it is not appropriate to install the Enterprise Client.

The complex task of analysis is performed by the Console and Scheduler components of Enterprise making regular, frequent audits easy to administer while having zero impact on end users.

Hardware and software scans can be performed as scheduled jobs that can be run at any specified interval. From the PC-Duo Enterprise Console you can also perform interactive real-time audits enabling you to respond to ad-hoc demands for 'instant' fresh information. Floppy disk mode is also available for auditing standalone PCs.

Inventory operations can be combined with PC-Duo's support for Wake-on-LAN and Wake-on-WAN to ensure total coverage of your networked PCs.

Except for floppy disk audit of standalone PCs, PC-Duo Inventory provides the additional benefit of zero end user downtime or impact. The complex task of software analysis is offloaded to PC-Duo Console and Scheduler components. This makes regular, frequent audits easy to administer and acceptable to the user.

User Prompting
With PC-Duo Inventory you can collect additional user-related information such as location, department and telephone number. In addition to the default set of user prompts, you can define any other items of required information. Data is requested through fully customisable user prompts, including sample response and pick-lists.

A safety-net of validation checks, such as alphanumeric type checking, and string length checking maximises the value of the data you collect.

Of course in any organisation there will be departmental differences to take into account. With PC-Duo Inventory it is simple to target different sets of prompts to any subset of your managed PCs, giving you ultimate flexibility.

PC-Duo Enterprise is available as a 30-day trial. Click here to download latest version.