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SoftwareAuditTable of ContentsSoftware and Hardware AuditingIntroductionFrom time to a software audit is required to list the:
Corporate LevelAn effective IT Asset Management policy is invaluable for any organisation wishing to more effectively manage increasing IT costs and stay software license legal. By employing an asset management solution you can track and control your IT departments' expenditure, have detailed and current software and hardware inventories as well as being able to automatically track assets across the entire enterprise. With the use of IT ever increasing in today’s office and teleworking environment, it's absolutely essential that asset tracking and software license monitoring is done on a regular basis as a part of your contingency plan. Should an unforeseen disaster happen, your insurance company would need a detailed inventory to make a loss-adjustment assessment, unless you can provide the vital data - you could lose out financially. Most departments acquire new devices and add/upgrade software (both legal and illegal) to their systems on a frequent basis, which can make keeping manual asset inventory and maintaining license compliance a logistical nightmare. Support teams can also take advantage of accurate hardware and software inventory data to help speed up the resolution of technical problems. An accurate inventory linked with usage data can also help cap spiralling IT costs by ensuring unnecessary expenditure, on unused items or assets that can be effectively recycled within the enterprise. [1] Software Assessment ManagementHow To Build and Effective Software Assessment Management StrategyStep 1: Use a Comprehensive Network Discovery Solution. The first step of any SAM strategy is to perform an inventory audit using a network discovery solution. IT managers need to know what programs the organization has and where they are located before they can be managed. Regardless of the network discovery solution chosen, auditors need to ensure the product provides 100 percent network visibility on all computers, servers, hardware devices using Internet protocol addresses, and individual files. Step 2: Analyze the Audit Report. Once the audit is conducted, IT managers need to process and analyze the audit information by entering, updating, and normalizing all inventories. To normalize data, organizations can classify inventory entries by software class, licensing categories, or according to the software's name, version, quantity, or purchasing information. For example:
Step 3: Apply the Necessary Requirements. Apply all Business Security Alliance (BSA) and Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) requirements to ensure ongoing compliance. (See next section for more information on BSA and SIIA.) For example, an organization can validate proof of ownership with an invoice, completed registration documents, or transaction records from a software distributor. In addition, organizations need to identify which applications are not currently compliant and which require updated license agreements, or remove the applications in question. This task usually is conducted by the IT manager or network administrator, depending on the company. Step 4: Review License Agreements. Analyze the application's use against license agreements, including cost variances with other applications to further streamline software spending. For example, if a business is paying for 50 licenses, but only uses 10, it would be in the organization’s best interest to renegotiate the contract. Some network discovery solutions enable businesses to analyze software use. Step 5: Audit Regularly. Organizations should conduct network audits regularly. This ensures software licensing compliance and corporate efficiency of IT resources. [2] Quick and Dirty MethodA very quick and dirty way of doing this is to use some of the utilities that are available on the net. Some of the forums I belong to have listed the utilities cited below, so I would imagine that this would indicate these are probably the most used and most reliable:
ConclusionWhatever method used is chosen based on the size of the network and how accurate the audit is needed. The main focus is on accuracy which is why a working Policy is required for larger networks References 1. ^ IT Asset Management - Retrieved on 15 September 2007 All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |