By Steve DuScheid and Steven Russman
Few organizations start software asset management (SAM) programs with a clean slate. There are likely to be existing asset repositories and discovery, help-desk and configuration management tools. In addition, financial and operating considerations often make it impractical to replace existing toolsets, even when newer technology promises quick payback and better functionality.
IT managers sometimes substitute configuration management (CM) tools for software asset management, a use for which they weren’t designed. Although they share similar functions (e.g., discovery, history tracking, reporting, data exchange with other applications) SAM and CM are distinct disciplines requiring tools, processes, features and capabilities suited to their respective end users. If you use a configuration management tool for software asset management you may end up with less-than-desirable operating results and may fail to realize a return on your investment.
Although each situation is different, a thorough assessment of your technical and business needs, as well as your computing infrastructure, is bound to pay off by allowing you to match the right tools and processes to your organization’s needs. IT managers should start with an understanding of CM and how it meshes with SAM.
What is Configuration Management?
Configuration management began in the 1960s as a defense-industry discipline for managing customer-deliverable data. Commercial industry developed its own version as a set of processes to track and manage software changes, releases and documents. Today configuration management encompasses process and software tools that identify and maintain the relationships between items in an information technology system, and they ensure that each item conforms to its “as-built” or “as-updated” requirements.
Configuration management makes it possible to process changes without losing track of the original configuration, and emphasizes secure, accessible and reliable information. Configuration management is also a key component of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®), a service-management framework published by Britain’s Office of Government Commerce. At its center are management processes for IT assets, configurations and changes. These processes identify and track changes in the relationships between IT configuration items (i.e., hardware, software and services).
Configuration management also helps to enforce compliance—whether software license agreements or data integrity as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley act—by controlling access to applications, server control programs and administrative rights to change data. Configuration managers focus on keeping desktop, server and network devices (among other device types) up to date with the latest application and operating-system software, patches, fixes and automated policies to control access to applications and data.
Configuration management is a technically focused discipline with many of the same inventory-data requirements as are found in business-management oriented software asset management. That’s where the similarity ends. IT managers would be wise to start with a clear understanding of their SAM objectives and to assess whether their configuration tools are suitable for managing the contractual and financial obligations of the software assets under their control.
What is Software Asset Management?
Software asset management, like hardware asset management (but unlike configuration management), addresses contractual, legal and financial matters, including software acquisition (records and contracts), distribution (authorized use), measurement (usage and installations) and monitoring (enforcement).
Configuration managers ask themselves if they have the technical information they need to make sure end users have the software they need, when they need it and that system-performance issues are kept to a minimum. Software asset managers look for data that supports business-focused decisions. Below are a few examples of the contrasting viewpoints:
Practical Application
Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS), a configuration management tool, is widely used for Windows platform software distribution and inventory. Many organizations acquire SMS by way of a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, and SAM managers often report they are required to make do with it because it’s “free.” SMS must be configured, as must all tools to varying degrees, to capture the information end users need.
Configuration managers are more interested in what is installed while SAM managers care more about how often it is used and by whom. The limiting factor with SMS or any configuration tool is whether the information—both data and presentation—are meaningful and relevant. This is why a configuration management tool may not be the right choice to support a SAM program. The output may not fit the end users’ needs because it doesn’t report software installations, usage and reconciliation with software contracts.
Organizations often have different SAM standards for different platforms—whether desktop, server, or mainframe. Consequently, their degrees of SAM maturity and requirements vary a great deal, further complicating the process of selecting a tool. For example, desktop SAM practices may be quite evolved while server SAM is almost nonexistent. The differences can be cultural (bias toward certain platforms), financial (bias toward managing the larger dollar expenses first), or technological (more-evolved systems for managing one platform rather than another). A practical implication is that it may be difficult to reconcile the interests of different groups, and finding a one-size-fits-all solution may not be possible. As a result, an installed configuration management tool, such as SMS, may win by default.
If you’re a SAM manager looking to extend a configuration management tool for software asset management tasks (e.g., license compliance, contract management, usage tracking and reporting) you’d be wise to first examine your underlying IT asset tracking, software, and configuration-management tools and processes. Next, assess technical and business needs and map the functions and process of the current infrastructure and tools to the desired state. This is sure to identify gaps in processes and tools, putting you in a better position to determine whether your configuration management tool is up to the task.
Steve DuScheid is lead product manager for Tally Systems. Steven Russman is the publisher of Technology Asset Manager.
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