This lesson explains the information in the Software Signatures menu. Microsoft Digital Product IDs (DPID) and ISO 19770-2 Software ID tags are recovered from devices in the inventory.

Raw software data discovered on a device will now be referred to as Software Signatures, instead of Software Packages.  

What are Software Signatures?  

These are the fingerprints of installed software that consist of, among other items, the registration name, version, GUID and Software ID tag of a product that is registered with a machine.  For Windows, this data is retrieved from the Registry and other locations in the case of the Software ID tag.  For non-Windows, Asset Vision relies on whatever package manager system exists for the Operating System platform.   Software Signatures are diverse and subject to change by manufactures on a version by version basis.  Further, Software Signatures can be altered by custom application packaging and deployment, leading to even greater diversity.

How should Software Signatures be interpreted?  

Signatures are discoverable traces of software and serve as the foundation of a software inventory baseline.  However, to manage software inventory by signatures alone requires a significant amount of manual interpretation, including de-duplication.  Asset Vision alleviates a majority of that manual activity by using the Chaklun Software Normalization catalog that can map the various signature elements, found in the Software Signature to an easy-to-read software product name, product version, and additional product information.   It is this process of normalization that allows Asset Vision to assist in interpreting any discovered software inventory.  Instead of reporting on the diverse and sometimes volatile Software Signatures, software inventory can be analyzed by normalized software product information, which can address Software Signature duplication and more.