Leveraging Discovery Tools
This post is one of several which aim to investigate ways in which we can leverage asset management processes to assist in the management of the IT department as a whole.
A discovery tool is an application which interrogates machines in order to find out what software is installed, the hardware configuration of machines, as well as other information such as the machine name, the serial number etc.
Most of us understand the use of discovery tools in the context of software asset management, but because of the range of data they discover, they are capable of assisting service management in a variety of ways. Many discovery tools are part of a larger suite of applications which perform other tasks such as patch management, software deployment, etc. which use the discovered data to support their operation.
However even small organisations who aren’t ready to invest in a large suite of service management applications can benefit from leveraging their discovery tool as suggested below.
Change Management
Why do we do this? Change management is concerned with ensuring that change in IT happens smoothly and efficiently while minimising business impact. The information gathered by discovery tools can be very helpful when planning both hardware and software changes. For instance, if we want to upgrade all instances of the oldest laptop model in the environment, our discovery tool can tell us how many devices are in use so that we can budget for replacements. As laptops are upgraded, the discovery tool can also tell us which laptops have been missed and need to be followed up on.
An example of where discovery tools can help with software changes is if the decision has been taken to move to a particular piece of software which has minimum memory requirements. The discovery tool can help us identify which machines do not have sufficient memory and help us determine whether it would be most efficient to purchase replacement machines (if they are old and due for replacement anyway) or merely upgrade the memory (if the machines are newer and still have several years to go on their lifespan).
Release management – patch management, software release and deployment
Why do we do this? All types of software are updated on a regular basis. The updates fall into two broad categories – ad hoc ‘patches’ which are released to secure an identified vulnerability or fix a problem in the software, and regularly released ‘upgrades’ which are a newer version of the application, generally with enhanced functionality. IT departments must frequently deploy patches and upgrades to all or some of their machines.
In addition to telling you what software you have installed on your machines, your discovery tool will also tell you the version of the software, what operating system the machine is running, and what patches have been installed. Used properly, your discovery tool can help you plan patches and the deployment of new software and upgrades, as well as help you identify machines where deployment still needs to be completed. It is a simple matter to write reports which identify all XP machines without a particular patch, for instance, or all machines with Adobe Acrobat Reader v8 installed so you can upgrade to version 9 in a controlled manner.
Incident Management
Why do we do this? Incident management aims to identify and resolve unplanned interruptions or reduction in the quality of an IT service (an incident) as quickly as possible, while minimising the adverse impact of the incident.
A discovery tool can be helpful for incident management if there is some way of quickly identifing the machine that is being used by the person experiencing the incident. Companies often find using a machine naming convention that includes asset tag numbers (which can then be read out by the user), or including a script on the standard desktop that tells the user the machine name is helpful in quickly identifying the machine.
Once the machine name is known, a discovery tool can help service desk personnel identify potential causes of the incident – for instance they may see the person is using an old machine, or does not have sufficient memory to run the applications they are trying to use. Service desk personnel can also use the discovery tool to identify potential software problems, for instance that the machine is missing a patch, has a piece of unapproved software installed, or has a problematic registry entry.
Problem Management
Why do we do this? The aim of problem management is to identify the root cause of any incidents, and either prevent them from happening again or minimise the effect of incidents which can’t be prevented by establishing workarounds. Problem management can also be proactive, identifying problems which may cause incidents in the future in an effort to prevent them from occuring.
Your discovery tool can greatly assist problem management by making it much easier to compare machines that have experienced an incident with those that haven’t. Without a discovery tool, a problem manager could find they had to take several machines out of use in order to try and work out what caused the incident, dramatically increasing the cost and impact involved in resolving the problem. Once the root cause of a problem has been identified, a discovery tool may help identify other machines with the same configuration that have not yet experienced an incident, so that they can pro-actively fixed before any impact is experienced.
As you can see, there are many ways to leverage your discovery tool beyond the standard IT Asset Management uses. Although it can be difficult to quantify the benefits of leveraging your tool in terms of costs savings, the impact of making use of discovered information in this way is far reaching and the benefits will be felt beyond IT as the business begins to experience improved levels of service.
Kylie – another great article, thanks. One thing that sprang to mind as I read it is another often over-looked benefit of good discovery tools – and that’s to find out about things you didn’t already know about!
A good Discovery tool has the ability to find new assets as they are added to (or even perhaps moved around, or removed from) the network – ensuring that even if IT didn’t know in advance the assets were being deployed, they are kept up-to-date with the current view of the network.
Even organizations that do invest in Discovery tools often have an outdated view of the network, partly because they aren’t able to audit with sufficient frequency (some tools can be real bandwidth hogs) or because the tool they are using doesn’t have the ability to autonomously detect new hardware and software being added to the network.
So rather than just accpeting the ‘bundled’ Discovery tool that might come with your SAM or ITAM solution, it’s sometimes worth looking for something that will give you piece of mind that you really do have 100% visibility of the network.
Hi Matt, Thanks
You’re absolutely spot on – discovery tools can be full of surprises – pleasant and unpleasant. But I would also comment that they need to be managed and monitored in the same way that we should manage and monitor any tool to ensure it’s working properly. They need a lot of tlc, and I would also recommend doing regular reconciliations between the data your tool sends back and your purchasing information in order to identify any discrepancies that might indicate a process isn’t working as well as it could be.