Issuetrak provides multiple ways to gather reporting information regarding the Asset Management module. This article will provide some detail for each of the places where reporting information is available, along with typical uses for each of them.
Asset Information
Sources of Asset Information
Asset information will typically be added/updated in your Issuetrak site in one of two ways:
- Manual Data Input
- This will include any data manually entered into an asset record. Refer to Managing Assets and Managing Software for more detail.
- Asset Audits
- Data uploaded via asset audits using our auditing software will be added to the appropriate asset record once the audit has been applied. This method can save a lot of time by reducing the need for manual data input. Refer to Asset Audits for more detail.
Considerations for Software Information from Audits
TrakAsset, ScanPC, TrakPC, ScanPC (Legacy), and TrakMac are auditing programs that are run on a computer. They send back hardware and software information to your Issuetrak site. For the software, it reads the software name/title that is reported by the computer's operating system.
Software Registry Name Examples:
Adobe Acrobat X
Citrix ICA Client
Amazon Cloud Player
7-Zip 19.00 (x64)
7-Zip 18.05 (x64)
The first three examples above are fairly straightforward. You can easily use those Software Registry Names to assist you with tracking licensing compliance. However, you can see that the last two examples listed are just two different versions of the same software. Linking those two Software Registry Names to a single "7-Zip" Software Title would allow you to track licensing compliance without regard for the version number.
There are two software tables involved with Asset Management, the Software Titles and the Software Registry. Each record in the Software Registry table can be linked back to a record in the Software Title table using the steps in the Managing Software article.
When you enter a software purchase, you indicate a software title. You might record two purchases of 7-Zip, one purchase for twenty-five licenses, and another for ten. Suppose you install eight copies, and they show up in the registry as “7-Zip 16.04 (x64)”. Then you install three more copies, and they show up as “7-Zip 19.00 (x64)”. By linking the two different registry descriptions back to the Software Title “7-Zip”, your license compliance report would show something like:
| Software Title | Licenses | Installed | Licenses Remaining |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7-Zip | 35 | 11 | 24 |
When searching for asset items, you can search by the registry description or the software title. In the above example, searching on the software title “7-Zip” would produce a list of eleven PCs. Searching on the registry description “7-Zip 16.04 (x64)” would show eight.
Methods to Generate Reports
Pre-built Asset Reports
Several predefined reports are available for reporting asset information. These reports can be used to quickly gather either summary data regarding specific asset attributes (such as Manufacturer, Vendor, or Lease Expiration) or a list of assets based on specific criteria (such as PCs audited in a specific timeframe). To access these reports, please follow the steps below.
Steps:
- Click the
gear icon in the upper right > Click on Asset Reports beneath Asset Management. - Select the report you would like to run.
- Click Run Report.
- Enter a date range or select criteria for the report, if prompted.
- If you were prompted to enter criteria, click Show Report once that has been entered.
The report will be displayed. These pre-built reports cannot be exported or scheduled to run automatically. You can print the report results by clicking the printer icon in the top right corner.
Custom Reports
The Report Writer can be used to create custom reports using one of the asset-related data sets (such as Assets, Asset Audits, Software Purchases, etc...). You would create a report to select and format the data that you need. Custom reports created using Report Writer can then be exported in various formats and/or scheduled to run automatically on a specified frequency. You can refer to our About Report Writer article for details and guidance on setting up custom reports.
Issue Search by Asset
You may also use Search Issues to locate specific issue information related to an asset. This screen will allow you to filter and sort among all issues related to an asset. A full list of any issue related to a specific asset is also available from the “view issue history” link displayed at the top right of any View Asset screen. This list may also be accessed using the “history” link next to the selected asset in most issue screens (Submit, View, Edit, Assign, etc.). Please refer to Searching Issues for more detail.
