In the last post of this series, I gave an overview of the scanning and inventory features of Total Network Inventory (TNI). In this last part, I will outline how you can generate reports and manage software licenses with TNI.
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Latest posts by Michael Pietroforte (see all)

Reports

Whereas the inventory View Details tab, which I described last time, allows you to retrieve detailed information about a particular computer, the Table Report tab gives you an overview about a configurable set of inventory data fields. TNI is delivered with a few predefined report templates, such as installed software, hard disk drives, removable drives, printers, and user accounts.

Total Network Inventory - Table Report - Software

Total Network Inventory - Table Report

For instance, the software report generates a table with installed programs and their version number, publisher, installation date, and so on. You can create your own report templates easily with the Report Constructor. You have to first select a particular object type—for example, the processor. TNI will then display the available fields for this object, such as clock speed, manufacturer, or number of cores. A simple click on a field adds it to your custom report.

Total Network Inventory - Report Constructor

Total Network Inventory - Report Constructor

Reports can be copied as text or CSV to the Windows clipboard. You can also export reports as text, CSV, or HTML files, and you can print them.

Software accounting

The Software Accounting tab in TNI is for the task that most admins love: managing software licenses. If you counted licenses with a simple Excel sheet, you will most likely be surprised at how faulty your calculation was.

TNI groups all programs and shows you how many copies of each application have been installed in your network. If you expand a row, you can view the computers on which a certain application has been installed.

Total Network Inventory - Software Accounting

Total Network Inventory - Software Accounting

In the Licenses column, you can enter the number of copies you have purchased. The Balance column shows how many licenses you have left or how many licenses you have to buy in addition. You can also add your license keys with the corresponding number of copies.

Since every Windows machine runs many programs that don’t require licenses, TNI offers several features that allow you to focus only on those programs that interest you when it comes to software accounting.

You can assign stars and tags to applications, and then use TNI's filter to only display these selected programs. TNI also enables you to track the presence and the absence of software. The purpose is to find computers that lack must-have software or have forbidden software installed.

The deadline of this contest is October 26, 2011.

Articles in seriesTotal Network Inventory 2
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