Summary

If the display name of installer evidence gathered by the FlexNet inventory agent in both inventory and usage data ends with a version number, usage data associated with that evidence may not be imported by the inventory import process. This will result in recognized installations of the application not being identified as used, even if raw usage data (on the Raw Software Usage page) shows usage.

Details

This behavior occurs due to differences in the process of installer evidence received from managed devices in inventory data and usage data.

A version number that appears at the end of the display name property of installer evidence may (depending on various conditions) be removed when it is stored in the inventory database. This issue arises because the exact conditions when a version number is removed vary between usage data and inventory data.

When a version is removed for one type of data but not the other type of data, the usage and inventory data cannot be reconciled, leading to the usage data not being imported.

As an example, consider the following details that may appear in an inventory NDI file:

<Package Name="MindView 7.0" Version="7.0.18668.0" Evidence="MSI">

When this application is used, details such as the following appear in the usage MMI file:

<APPUSAGE
    NAME="MindView 7.0" VERSION="7.0.18668.0"
    FILENAME="MindView.exe" FILECOMPANY="MatchWare A/S" FILEDESCRIPTION="MatchWare MindView" 
    FILEPRODUCTNAME="MatchWare MindView" FILEPRODUCTVERSION="7.0.18668" FILEVERSION="7.0.18668" LONG_FILENAME="C:\Program Files (x86)\MatchWare\MindView 7.0\MindView.exe"
    TOTALRUNTIME="120" TOTALACTIVE="0" SESSIONS="1" DAYS="3"
/>

In this situation:

• Installer evidence associated with the inventory data will be transformed and stored with the name “MindView”.
• However, installer evidence associated with the usage data will be stored with the name “MindView 7.0”.

Because the names as stored do not match, the usage data does not get imported.

Workaround

An approach to workaround this issue is to ensure a file recognition rule that matches the executable file identified in the usage is associated with the relevant application in the application recognition library (ARL). Details required for the file recognition rule can be obtained from the Raw Software Usage page. A file recognition existence rule of “Not for recognition”, “At least one” or “Required” can be used (depending on if and how the file should be used to recognize installations of the application).

For example, to recognize usage for the MindView example shown above, a file evidence recognition rule with the following properties could be linked to the MindView 7 application:

• File name = MindView.exe
• Version = 7.%
• Company = MatchWare A/S
• Description = MatchWare MindView
• Existence rule = Not for recognition