Glossary

General Glossary

  • Agent - The technology used for gathering usage data in Asset Vision Optimize.
  • Aggregated Column - A column that can apply a calculation on an aggregate of records from a table.
  • Asset - The term used for a valuable commodity in a business environment.
  • Asset Vision - Asset Vision is a suite of products, built on a unified, Software as a Service (SaaS) platform. All modules in the suite look and feel identical. Data integration between the modules occurs transparently at the data base level.
  • Base Table - The table that the data view displays.
  • Chaklun - The cloud based server that stores normalization information.
  • Chart - A widget  used to show comparison between data. Bar, Line, Pie, and Zoom Line charts are available to the user.
  • Credentials - The information needed to access a device.
  • Criteria - Filter that will be applied to the data before aggregating.
  • Currency Conversion - The feature in Asset Vision that allows users to convert an amount in one currency to the amount in their default currency (selected when setting up the instance).
  • Custom Control - Configuration for columns to provide some visual aid or to allow for user navigation in the form of "drilling down" into other data. Any column can be configured to provide custom controls.
  • Dashboard - The component that acts as a container for widgets.
  • Data Grid - A widget that displays information as it appears in the data views.
  • Data View - A component that displays the records in one or more tables in a database.
  • Data View Actions - Action in Asset Vision that are able to be applied to data views.
  • Derived Script Column - A javascript column that can be added during the mapping portion of the import wizard that allows the user to modify the data as needed.
  • Discovery Data - Raw data discovered in the environment.
  • Drill Down - Displays as a link that that allows user to navigate to a related Data View.
  • Drill Down RAG - Same as Drill Down, but adds a Red-Amber-Green visual indicator based on configured thresholds.
  • Filter - A criteria applied to a data view so that it will display only the records that match that criteria will be displayed.
  • Form Factor - The type of device determined by data collected through discovery methods.
  • Gauge Set - A widget that is used to display single values resulting from user defined criteria on data views. The user can drill down into these numbers to display the underlying data.
  • KPI - A performance indicator that compares the results of gauge values using an easily modifiable KPI formula.
  • Link Field - Which column on the related Data View is the reference to the base table for this data view.
  • Linked Widgets - A feature that allows a user to drill down into a segment of one widget and have the other widgets will the drill down as well.
  • Local Normalization - Normalization of information done in the local user instance.
  • Local Software Cache - Distinct software package records that contains normalized information if available.
  • Menu - A container for components and allows the user to navigate through the system easily.
  • Normalization - The method used to standardize data so that it reflects the most correct information and is able to be processed in calculations.
  • Normalization Data - Data used for the process of normalization. For software signatures, this includes the name, version, and manufacturer.
  • Operational (for software) - Operational means that the software is currently installed based on the latest scan data.
  • Personalization - Settings applied to a data view that affect the way that the data is displayed. Personalizations can be saved and cleared on a data view.
  • Probe - A Probe is responsible for doing something in the environment, e.g. discovering IP numbers or manipulating a file. The output from a Probe is processed by a Processor. Probes are useful in gathering inventory data from servers and workstations.
  • Processor - A Processor is responsible for processing the output of the Probe, e.g. formatting some data, writing to the DB or even starting a secondary Probe (as with Inventory).
  • PAD (Proxy Adapter Discovery) Server - The PAD (Proxy, Adapter and Discovery) is a Windows Service which resides within the customer’s network. It is responsible for carrying out all on-site tasks, under control of the Asset Vision server. It performs agentless tasks such as Discovery, Inventory, Integration, etc., and communicates discovered information securely via SSL to the customer's specific Asset Vision instance.
  • RAG Gauge - A gauge set that acts as a type of performance measurement. The numbers will reflect RAG (red, amber, green) status based on user defined ranges.
  • Reference - When one entity references another entity, it requires the use of a "Reference" field. This "Reference" field is a pointer from one record to a specific record in another table.
  • Referrer - When one table is referenced by other tables, Asset Vision labels those as "referrers" to the table in question.
  • Related Data - Data that is related to the base table. This data can be displayed as a related tab when viewing one of the records of the data view.
  • Relation Type - The type of relationship between tables. Direct is when the data being aggregated is present on a table that directly references the base table for the Data View. Custom is when the data may not be directly related to the base table, but contains the same reference to another table.
  • ReNormalize - A feature in Asset Vision that allows the user to make a call to Chaklun and update normalized records in their local instance.
  • Scopes - A reporting feature that extends the data view filters as well as the aggregated columns reporting features to allow the user greater reporting flexibility using the data view grids.
  • Software Packages - An individual detection of software located on a specific device which includes detected data elements relevant to that software such as software name, publisher, version, installation device, GUID, and virtually everything else that goes along with that detection on that specific device in that specific environment.  This data is then de-duplicated and enter into a software cache for potential normalization.
  • Software Signatures - 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 Tagging - A way of accompanying installed software with more SAM relevant data about that software via an additional (XML) file that is installed on the device at the same time as software installation.  This tag is created using a set of industry standards to ensure uniformity.  Vendors may use these tags but so can consumers and other third parties who wish to include tags post purchase alongside software to better track their software within an environment.
  • Summarization (for columns) - This feature adds a row to the bottom of a Data View Grid that provides summary data for each column. Summarization is often applied to numeric columns (sum, average, maximum, etc.), but are available for other data types as well. Once a Data View is rendered on the grid, each column that is configured for summarization will have a value displayed in the footer row.
  • System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) - An acronym for "System Center Configuration Manager" as well as it's older identification as "Systems Management Server".
  • Table - Data is stored in multiple tables in a database.
  • Unique Lookup Key - During the mapping phase of the import wizard, the importer will identify a unique record based on the specified key fields. Those key fields make up the unique lookup key.
  • Widget - The individual components that graphically display a set of data.

Registry Glossary

  • Acquisition Data - Data acquired for assets such as purchase orders, invoices, and advanced shipping notices.
  • Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) - A document that provides detailed information about a pending delivery.
  • Agentless Discovery/Scanning - A method of scanning that has the profound benefit of being non-disruptive to the configuration of target systems.
  • Allocation - Assigning one item to its matching related item.
  • Barcode - A combination of lines and numbers that (when read by a machine) provides information for an item.
  • Digital Product IDs (DPIDs) - An identifier that microsoft uses as a placeholder for a legitimate catalog part number.
  • Discovery - The term used to describe the process of identifying live devices on a network, typically by finding a live IP number.
  • Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) - A unique identifier for a software product.
  • Import Mapping - A mapping which matches source data fields to their corresponding fields in the local database table during the import wizard.
  • Import Plan - A plan that is associated with a data view and file type and contains the mapping from the source data (the file/database connection) to the table in the local database.
  • Inventory - The term used to describe the process of classifying what each device found during Discovery actually is and collecting details on the device, e.g. a computer, a serial number, the installed software, the hardware details, etc.
  • Invoice - A list of the items bought, along with their price.
  • ISO 19770-2 Software Tags - Software tags that follow the ISO 19770-2 standard which provides basic information about the software product.
  • Licensable Inventory - Inventory that has been processed in the local environment from the licensable inventory calculation and determined to be licensable.
  • Purchase Orders (PO) - A document given to a buyer from a seller that provides detail for the purchase such as quantity and type.
  • Registry - Asset Vision Registry enables agentless discovery of devices and endpoints whether they are on- or off-network, on-premise or in the Cloud, virtualized or clustered.
  • Status Manager - A semi-automated process for maintaining the status of a device and tracking its life cycle.
  • Status Manager Change Log - A log that contains a record for each change to a device.
  • Status Override - The highest priority data source for determining a new status for a device.
  • Vulnerability - The calculated level of risk for an asset.
  • Warranty - A guarantee given to a buyer from a manufacturer that states it will provide some level of repair for the item if it is damaged.

Optimize Glossary

  • Certificate Revocation Check (CRL) - Windows security feature to check the validity of a web sites SSL certificate.
  • Optimize - Asset Vision Optimize is a cost management application that provides detailed, comprehensive true usage information for the software and hardware in an organization.
  • Optimize Agent - The agent used for the Optimize application to track usage of software programs and web applications
  • Program Inventory - List of executables/applications that have been found by Optimize agents on a computer.  For example, Windows machines host executables, which are the actual programs that are executed when you double-click an icon.  Our agent looks through the entire file system to find these .exe files.  This is the program inventory.
    Side note: Whether or not a program is used depends on whether or not it is responsible for rendering some sort of window for a user.  It is that active (in-focus) windowed usage that we track.
  • Software as a Service (SaaS) Application - A software application that is used in conjunction with services provided with a company.
  • URL Pattern - The pattern indicated by regex that will be used to match with a URL to define a web application in Asset Vision.
  • Usage - Interaction with software as determined by minutes of use and keystrokes.
  • Web Application - A user defined application that is accessed on the web through a browser.
  • Web Hit Count - The number of times a web URL is accessed from a web browser.

Client Manager Glossary

  • Application Set - A policy that links applications with devices.
  • Client Manager - Asset Vision Client Manager is an Asset Vision module that enables proactive management of various client devices.
  • Compliance Level of Warning - Occurs if there is any deviation in devices from the policy.
  • Dynamic Proxy Group - A proxy group applied to group of devices that meet a criteria.
  • Mobile Device Management (MDM) Profile - Profiles that are used to specify certain configurations. On Asset Vision, configuration profiles work with the same data.
  • Policy - A set of rules for a device(s) to follow.
  • Profile Set - A policy that links profiles with devices.
  • Push Notification Service - A style of technological communication where the request for a transaction is initiated by the publisher or central server.
  • Redemption Code - A code that a user can enter to receive goods or services from a manufacturer
  • Static Proxy Group - A proxy group applied to a fixed set of devices.
  • UDID - The UDID is a unique alphanumeric number attached to an iOS device.
  • UUID - A universally unique identifier (UUID) is an identifier standard applied in software production.
  • VPP Redemption Code Spreadsheet - A spreadsheet containing redemption codes from a volume purchase program.

Self-Audit Glossary

  • Adobe Licensing Statement (ALS) - A licensing statement that displays the Adobe software that the buyer is entitled to use. The ALS follows a standard format.
  • Agreement - Structured data that provides evidence of the entitlements it contains. Example include invoices, product schedules, license agreements, receipts etc.
  • Calculated Data - Data that results from Asset Vision processing source data.
  • Downgrade Rights - The right to a lower version of a software product. Downgrade rights can be applied to an ELP report.
  • DPID Failure - A failure that occurs when a part number in a software package does not find its matching catalog record in Chaklun.
  • Effective License Position (ELP) Report - A report that displays the processed entitlements and licensable inventory in an easy-to-read format.
  • ERP System - A system that specializes in managing data relating to information systems and is able to generate purchase history information.
  • Expenditure - The amount of money that was spent.
  • Inventory Calculation - The calculation that Asset Vision employs to process inventory records and determine which ones are licensable.
  • Inventory Inclusion List - Group of computers whose software will be included in the inventory calculation. This group is generated by a filter on the computers data view.
  • Inventory Processing - A process that turns raw data into a format than can be used by an ELP, in the case of Microsoft inventory.
  • Invoice Item Number - Unique identifying number for an invoice.
  • LAR Mapping Scratchpad - The scratchpad that the user imports the entitlement records into.
  • LAR Procurement History - History of the purchase from a large account reseller. LAR procurement documents can include invoices and purchase orders.
  • Large Account Reseller (LAR) - A label used by Microsoft to identify its largest value-added resellers (VARs).
  • Microsoft Licensing Statement (MLS) - A licensing statement that displays the Microsoft software that the buyer is entitled to use. The MLS follows a standard format.
  • Part Number - A part number (often abbreviated PN, part no., or part #) is an identifier of a particular part design used in a particular industry. Its purpose is to simplify reference that part.
  • Self-Audit - Asset Vision Self-Audit is a product module built into the Asset Vision environment that requires the base Asset Vision facilities to be available and relies on the information from Asset Vision discovery features. Asset Vision Self Audit is designed to enable you to perform a software audit on your own estate without worrying about the software vendor seeing the audit reports.
  • SKU/Product Catalog - The software catalog that contains information for software including part number and product type.
  • Source Data - Data provided by the user of Asset Vision so that it can be processed.
  • Usage Country - The country that the software is allowed to be used in.

License Manager Glossary

  • Active Coverage - Coverage that has not expired.
  • Active Subscription - Subscription that has not expired.
  • Adaptive Cache - Feature in Asset Vision that allows LED qualification data to be stored in a central location and shared across other instances of Asset Vision.
  • Assign - The act Assigning a license to a licensable inventory. For example, assigning a license of Microsoft Visio to cover a detected installation of Microsoft Visio. This can be performed automatically or manually allow for exception management and full control of license usage.
  • Assignment Gap - The difference between Liability and Licenses Assigned.
  • Capacity Model - The range of the application of the license. Full-Capacity means that the if the license applied to a physical machine, then each virtual machine on that physical machine will also have that license applied. Sub-Capacity means that the license will only be applied to one virtual machine.
  • Client Access License (CAL) - Certain server products require either a Device or User CAL that for every device or user that has access to a server were that product is detected. Asset Vision cannot detect CALs yet, but we do allow users to enter the CAL entitlements into the LED table and summarize them to add to their license position.
  • Coverage - If a license entitlement has coverage it means that it is under an agreement to provide software assurance or maintenance for the product from the coverage start date to the coverage end date.
  • De-Duplication - The process of removing duplicate records.
  • Detection Method - Specifies how the software is detected in an environment for licensing purposes.
  • Device - Specifically in License Manager, a computer or server.
  • Edition - Different editions of software normally have different capabilities or functionality for example Standard, Professional or Premium. In terms of licensing, you are normally required to install the specific Edition for which you are licensed.
  • Edition Upgrade - An upgrade to a base license that changes the edition of the software product covered by the license. The version may also change depending on the coverage end date.
  • Entitled License Version - The software product version that the user is entitled to use.
  • Entitlement - A formal record showing the right to use an acquired software product version.
  • License - A base perpetual license for a software product; Entitlement or rights to use a software product.
  • Licensable inventory - Identified software installations that require licenses.
  • License Allocation - The process of associating a software product with a user or device.
  • License Calculation Engine (LCE) - The LCE processes license entitlement detail records and their quantity and creates a License Position.
  • License Entitlement Details (LED) - Details used to determine whether or not an entitlement is fully qualified.
  • License Liability - Licensable software SKU/License and Unit counts as well as expenses for all SPVs with Device Based License Rules .
  • License Manager (LM) - A product module of Asset Vision which provides entitlement management and generation of License reports and positions. It relies on the information from Asset Vision discovery features as well as user-imported entitlement information.
  • License Metric - Determines how to measure the licensability of a software product. For workstation products you use a "Seat" metric as in you need a license be each device where a user can take a seat and use the software. For a Server it may be simply a Server metric, meaning one license per server usually with restrictions on the maximum number of processors and cores, or a by processor or by core metric. Software can we licensed in many different ways and is up to the discretion of the software manufacturer or publisher for how they license and sell the software. (NOTE: The "Microsoft Core" metric is different than the "Core" metric. Microsoft has certain core factors based on the processor type that affect the required core count so the "Microsoft Core" metric takes this into account while "Core" is simply a core count without core factors included.)
  • License Position (LLP) - A statement of the number of software product version licenses owned by a company. It is a summarization of all licensable software purchases over time rolled up into one distinct summary. The License Position lists the name of the Licensable Software Product Version, the number of Licenses Owned, the License Metric, whether there is active software maintenance or coverage and if so when that coverage expires.
  • License Reconciliation - Reviewing licenses owned and assigned to identify license gaps.
  • License Rule - Assignment of a software product version to a metric rule.
  • Licensed Software Product Version (LPV) - The software product version as it appears on the software license.
  • Licensing Gap - Difference between Licenses Assigned and Licenses Owned.
  • Manual Entitlement Wizard - The process in Asset Vision License Manager that allows the user to add an entitlement manually.
  • Metric Rule - Rule template for defining combinations of rule attributes.
  • Microsoft Licensing Statement (MLS) - Pre-defined, proprietary spreadsheet, provided by Microsoft, that provides current and/or historical license entitlement information related to Microsoft products purchased by an organization.
  • MSRP - The MSRP for a Software Product means the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price for the purchase of a certain License SKU/Product. These prices are advertised by Software Manufacturers, but are generally higher than what a company will pay via software agreements and volume purchases. LM uses this price to estimate the cost of a License SKU.
  • Normalized Product Type - Product information that follows a standard format. This information is located in Chaklun.
  • Normalized Software Signatures - Software signatures and files recognized as a software program with a friendly standardised name, version and manufacturer.
  • One-time Purchase Expense - The one time cost that a company is required to pay for a software license. So the cost you would incur if you purchased a license to use a piece of software. This cost does not include any potential costs associated for software maintenance coverage since these are usually sold on a continuing basis such as monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
  • Product Type - The type listed on the entitlement that specifies license information. Types include edition upgrade, version upgrade, and subscription.
  • Product type/License type - This is the type of transaction that a software purchase represents. It could be a perpetual software license, a license with maintenance coverage, a renewal of maintenance coverage, a software version upgrade, or a software subscription.
  • Qualification - The process of determining whether a license entitlement has enough information to be associated with a qualified product and product type data. The required data is the coverage start and end date, the licensed product, license version, entitlement quantity, product type and country of usage.
  • Qualified License Entitlement - An entitlement that has a 100% qualification rating because it contains all of the information necessary to be processed in the license entitlement calculations.
  • Reconcile - Reviewing licenses owned and assigned to identify license gaps.
  • Renewal - See Version Upgrade.
  • Renewal purchase expense - This is the continual cost that a company has to pay for extending software maintenance coverage for a software license. This is referred to as a Software Maintenance Purchase, which may be paid as a continual cost on a Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly/Annual basis.
  • Secondary Use Rights - The right to use multiple versions or editions of a software product.
  • SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) - A SKU or Part Number represents a software product license. When you purchase a license SKU that represents a transaction for a certain Licensable Product Version, License Metric, and Product Type.
  • Software Asset Expense - Pricing data for a software asset.
  • Software Assurance - Allows the user to upgrade to the latest version of the software product the assurance is applied to within the coverage dates.
  • Software License - A record that is used in for  managing the use or redistribution of software.
  • Software License Liability (SLL) - The identified software product version and its license requirements.
  • Software License Rule (SLR) - The rules surrounding the license including coverage of versions.
  • Software Product - Normalized software product as defined by the software's manufacturer.
  • Software Product Version (SPV) - Version of the software that is most commonly referred to by the manufacturer.
  • Subscription - A term license. The right to use the software expires on the coverage end date.
  • Unresolved Upgrade - Additional right or restriction that determines coverage or license restrictions when making a license assignment.
  • Usage Country - The country that the user is entitled to use the software product in.
  • Use Right - Rights granted that allow for the use of a software product.
  • Use Right Limit - Additional right or restriction that determines coverage or license restrictions when making a license assignment.
  • Version - A release of software often based on a numeric or data scheme. i.e. version 7 or 2016. In licence terms you may be entitled to installed a lower or older version.
  • Version Upgrade - A version upgrade that can only be applied to a license with a coverage end date that is within the renewal tolerance of this upgrade start date. For example, software assurance renewed onto a Microsoft licence with active software assurance.