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Apps Monitor - Features & Functionality | 8.8+

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This article provides an overview of the capabilities of the Application Monitoring (AppsMon) module of Certero for Enterprise ITAM.

AppsMon helps you to report on software usage and to identify unused or underutilized software.

Certero Client Agents on Windows computers scan for the existence of executable files (EXE) on computers and monitor the launching of the files by currently logged on users. This is referred to as File based metering.

File based metering maintains a "last used" date along with the associations between computers and users. It will also obtain other properties of the executable such as description, vendor, product name and path facilitate the understanding of file and application relationships. Note these are not always made available by the publisher but AppsMon will retrieve what is available.

Definitions

File (EXE) Based Metering

This feature is for Windows based computers only and is broken down into two parts:

  1. Files scans to detect resident executable files on a computer and their paths. This will provide a comprehensive list of all software on a machine than can potentially be run. There are defined exceptions to files scans, as detailed below.

  2. File metering to capture as and when the software is actually run on a machine. There are defined exceptions to file metering, as detailed below.

This means that item 2 above will always be a sub-set of item 1 (unless every detected resident executable file has actually been run) and assuming no new software has been installed within the 7 day period between file scans. Where this has occurred, the software run will be captured regardless of whether it appears in the file scan list of potential software that could be run.

Data Grids

Application usage reporting is via the Apps Monitor menu which contains these data grids:

Computers

  • This is a computer-centric view of File usage.

  • Each record in this grid is a unique unarchived computer system for which application usage data has been received in the last 90 days via the installed Certero Client Agent.

  • Clicking on the Files Used column for a computer record in this grid will pivot to a detailed usage report of file usage found on that computer, files include version and path information.

Files

  • This is a summary list of all files found on unarchived Windows based computers in the last 90 days.

  • Each row in this grid is a file, unique by file name only, and so each row could encapsulate several versions, descriptions, product names, etc. found across all instances of that file name. This is why you'll see, for some rows, that there are multiple entries in a single row for description, product name, etc.

  • Where you see the column Original Filename , this refers to a property of the file that's built into the file by the software vendor, where they have populated it. This attribute can help you understand when files have been renamed after arriving on the Windows file system, and is typically of no concern.

Tags

Allows you to create custom tags that can be aligned to Files to help you organize identified items.

Users

  • This is a list of unique users who have File usage associated with them.

  • Clicking on the Files Used column for a user record in this grid will pivot to a detailed usage report of file usage found for that user, files include version and path information.

Remote Use

If you have the Certero Client Agent installed and App Monitor enabled on a Terminal Server or Remote Desktop Server, you'll see the File usage local to the server by users connecting from remote devices. You will see a Device Name column in various places which is the name of the computer, that the user associated with the file usage, is directly logged onto.

Reporting

Most customers will want to report on the usage of a particular software title.  To do this use the Files data grid. In this example, we will look at usage of Microsoft Visio:

Files:

Find the filename using filtering (1). You can also filter on the Original Filename , Description , Company (vendor/publisher) and Product Name columns to refine your results. Then click (2) on the dropdown arrow.

With your file expanded, you can access the utilization data for a computer or user by clicking on View Details .

Customers can use the grid view to apply filters against Last Run , Last Inventory or % Used to further refine their results.

% Used is calculated based on the first instance of when Certero detected a File up to a maximum period of the last 90 days. For example, Certero discovers a file 30 days ago, the % Used is worked out over that 30 day period.

Expanding a line item will give you further details for the file including the Version , Path and Description .

Note that, as per the common Certero reporting capability, usage criteria can be utilized in Data Groups, Governance Filters and Reports as well as being able to create dashboard items.

Dynamic Groups, Filters & Reports: "Raw" versus "Summary"

With the improvements made in AppsMon, new tables and fields for usage data have also been exposed in criteria builders, meaning they can be used in Dynamic Groups, Reports and Filters used in Governance.

When accessing these areas, you will notice the following criteria available:

  • File Usage (RAW)

  • File Usage (Summary)

Usage data is presented in two methods which are described below:

  • Raw: This area contains the entire dataset of usage data points over 90 days, i.e. an instance on a particular day in that time period of a file that is present on a computer and run by a user.

  • Summary: This area contains summary information of the usage of a file for a computer or user, i.e. when it was last used and the overall percentage usage over the measured time period.