Why SCCM and Snow creates successful SAM

Transcription

1 Why SCCM and Snow creates successful SAM How to address the real-world challenges of managing software assets on today s networks EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Often made available to Microsoft volume licensing customer either free or at discounted rates, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (commonly known as SCCM) is the most popular Deployment & Configuration Management tool for Windows environments in the world. It is an effective solution for tracking the deployment of hardware running Windows and has the ability to find and report on the soft ware files installed on them. For those organizations that have spent time and money deploying SCCM, there is a temptation to think that they have Software Asset Management (SAM) covered. And indeed, SCCM can play a vital role in the successful management of the software assets across the organization. SCCM 2012 R3 and SCCM 2016 expanded into the mobile and virtual space, as well as improving Asset Intelligence (a type of software recognition) and making small improvements to the way license entitlements are recorded in the repository. At first glance, SCCM looks like a credible multiplatform SAM solution but real value comes from using its abilities to configure, deploy and remove software and security updates onto the network, facilitate remote PC diagnostic repair and manage user rights. However, it was not conceived as a SAM solution and SAM is not a core function, therefore, not surprisingly, SCCM falls short in a number of key SAM areas. This paper highlights how organizations can combine the power of SCCM with specialist SAM capabilities from Snow Software to create a highly effective and affordable integrated SAM solution that maximizes an organization s existing investments.

2 INTRODUCTION SCCM 2012 is the most popular tool for Deployment and Configuration Management on Windows and the 2016 version improves the Configuration Management of these devices, while extending management to Mobiles as well. However, no improvements were made to address the wider context of Software Asset Management. SCCM is effective for tracking the deployment of hardware running Windows and has the ability to find and audit the software files installed on them. As such, Microsoft SCCM is adding basic multi-platform inventory capabilities. SCCM s real value comes from using its abilities to configure and deploy software out onto the network, facilitate remote PC diagnostic repair and manage user rights. Where it is already in place, SCCM can and should be an integral part of the overall SAM solution. However, Software Asset Managers should be aware that SCCM requires complementary solutions to fully manage the effective reconciliation of installed software against the license entitlements owned by the organization. In addition, procurement teams and other business stakeholders often need to know the high level costs as well as the detail of where software is installed and the asset ownership information. SCCM is clearly a technical console (see below) designed exclusively for SCCM Administrators. To extract reports the user must have access to the SCCM console. Building a compliance position, or investigating whether software requires a license at all, is a complex task within SCCM. As it hasn t been designed with SAM in mind, this becomes laborious and relies on the knowledge and skill of the investigator. It will not contain key information (listed in the next section) that is essential. Often the outcome is a new purchase (or renewal) of software as no conclusive evidence to the contrary can be found. Contrast it with a SAM solution that has been designed for SAM managers and other business stakeholders, and it becomes obvious why so many organizations, who already have SCCM deployed, choose to also install Snow s SAM platform for Software Asset Management.

3 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF MICROSOFT SCCM So let s look at where SCCM excels and where it falls short. While SCCM is reasonably good at some tasks such as Windows hardware inventory and software file auditing, it is by no means a complete Software Asset Management (SAM) solution. That s not to say SCCM is redundant or should be replaced. For those organizations that have already taken the trouble to deploy and configure SCCM (and who are happy with the results it is providing), it can make an important contribution towards overall SAM by providing audit information from the Windows portion of the estate. But it is important to accept at best is only a component of a full SAM solution. To be truly effective, SCCM needs to be paired with other technologies that enable organizations to manage the assets and entitlements across the organization. The following sections offer some advice on how to address SCCM SAM weaknesses. INVENTORY OF NON-WINDOWS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE Despite adding support for Mac and Linux (introduced with SCCM 2012), SCCM is still limited in its ability to audit and identify software installed on non-windows devices (due the differences in how software is installed and indexed) and the SCCM agents can only provide extremely limited information, so they are rarely deployed. SCCM has no UNIX or Thin Client information (essential for compliance around Oracle, Citrix or Remote Desktop Services) and VDI. Note too that using SCCM in large organizations uses a lot of bandwidth, as traffic from the local clients back to the server is not compressed. When configured for full software scans, it can severely impact the device being scanned for several minutes, and generate upwards of 800 Kb of audit data per device. Organizations with a mixed-platform network should consider additional technologies that can provide better visibility of non- Windows hardware and software. Using a solution like Snow, both SCCM and other third-party inventory audit data (there s no limit on the number of different inventory sources) can be collated into a single repository, giving complete visibility of all platforms. Snow also compresses all data sent from clients to the servers, minimizing network overhead - the Snow agent uses proprietary techniques to scan a desktop or server in around 20 seconds, producing around 50Kb of data. The Snow agent and the SCCM agent together will consume less resources then the SCCM agent alone configured for software scans. INVENTORY OF NON-MICROSOFT HYPERVISORS A growing number of organizations are deploying multiple virtualization technologies not only Microsoft s Hyper-V, but also VMware and Citrix. With software licensing, it is increasingly important to understand not only the configuration of the virtual device, but also the physical host. With SCCM, the configuration of hosts running VMware or Citrix hypervisors cannot be identified, which means that the licenses consumed by physical and virtual machines based on those virtualization technologies cannot be accurately managed. View visualizing the consumption of the product in virtual environments Comparison of physical and virtual resources for assessment of optimal licensing If an organization currently uses, or plans to deploy, non-microsoft hypervisor technologies, SCCM will not provide the required host configuration data. SAM platforms like Snow have the ability to integrate with all major hypervisors and give license administrators access to the information they need, eliminating the risk of non-compliance on virtual estates.

4 AUTOMATIC RECOGNITION OF COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS AND SUITES Microsoft SCCM attempts to do software recognition (the transformation of raw software file audit data into recognizable commercially-licensable applications) in-product. Put bluntly, it often doesn t work well even for Microsoft s own products, let alone applications from other vendors. For example, knowing that excel.exe has been found on the hard drive is only of limited value to a SAM or licensing manager. Indeed when counting the number of.exe files it can lead to huge discrepancies to reality and could result in double or triple counting for instance a copy of the distribution package that was not an MSI just folders and files would get stored in the SCCM cache, as well as being installed as an application. SCCM inventory has limitations in identifying software bundles and suites. In particular SQL Editions, Quest products (e.g. Toad), Adobe and Autodesk products all have basic or incorrect identification if the primary inventory source is SCCM. What a SAM manager needs to know, for example, is whether Excel has actually been installed, whether it was installed standalone or as part of a suite (and if a suite, what edition). So while SCCM does a good job of collecting the raw data, all too often it fails to deliver the added intelligence required for the SAM process. Shows when application is part of a bundle Taking the raw feed from SCCM (and a growing number of other inventory solutions), Snow Software s unique Software Recognition Service (SRS) transforms raw data into actionable intelligence letting SAM managers know exactly what is installed, how it is installed and what the licensing obligations are. The Snow SAM platform uses proprietary techniques to correctly group identified software into bundles and commercial suites. Snow SRS automatically recognizes over 387,000 applications from more than 65,000 vendors out-of-the-box (Snow s global software recognition database grows by around 10,000 applications and 2000 software publishers every month) as well as ISO software tags (as used by Adobe, Symantec and certain other vendors), to produce the most accurate inventory available. Where an application is not immediately recognized, it is automatically sent to the Snow SRS team for further investigation and the recognized application details are returned in just a few days. IDENTIFICATION OF PRODUCT VERSIONS AND EDITIONS When identifying certain types of software especially expensive server products such as SQL SCCM can only recognize the product name, not the edition. Also, SCCM is unable to show virtual servers covered by a Physical License again making producing a What SQL has a valid license? report very manual and time consuming. With huge differences in costs and licensing obligations between standard and enterprise versions of applications, this shortfall can create both compliance and cost management issues across the network.

5 Snow Software uses a more intelligent software recognition engine (also see Software Recognition Service above) to accurately identify the product, version and edition of server products. This ensures that asset managers have an accurate view of what is actually deployed on the network and therefore what their license obligations are. The application family feature in Snow License Manager enables the organization to see all instances of a software product (such as Windows Server) in one screen. All deployment information for each and every version and edition is clearly displayed enabling decisions to be made on how a business can license their products in the most optimized way. Overview of deployment and compliance for the whole product family It also displays the compliance position for each and every version and edition as well as giving an overall cost for the product along with the overall compliance (together with risk or underspend figure), and finally delivers information on whether there are unused licenses with a potential optimization cost. Total investment, compliance risk and overspend for the whole product family Snow License Manager automatically calculates the compliance position for processor and processor core based software based on both virtual and physical resources. Full details on each application can be displayed to the SAM Manager including details on how the compliance position was calculated together with demonstrating which use rights were applied to optimize the entitlement coverage from the available licenses. VISIBILITY OF ADDITIONAL ENTITLEMENTS AND BENEFITS When used as a license repository, SCCM does not have the ability to automatically handle license benefits scenarios such as upgrade or downgrade rights, multiple uses rights, cross-platform rights, or secondary use rights. Therefore, when producing an Effective License Position the information needed before any true-up or agreement renegotiation it will overestimate the deployed position. This means organizations could pay twice for a portion of the estate, as there is no information to the contrary. Insight into links between licenses (D-part) and maintenance (E-part) and current entitlements IBM entitlement management based on SKU When entering licenses into Snow, it can use SKUs (unique vendor codes) to correctly identify the license and determine exactly which software the license applies to, including any additional entitlements or benefits. SAM managers need to see when additional benefits that come with certain licenses or agreements have been applied. For many customers, just this functionality alone can yield considerable budget savings.

6 TRACKING OF CLOUD-BASED APPLICATION USAGE Over half of organizations now use one or more business application hosted in a cloud. Traditional inventory solutions like SCCM can t track applications accessed through the web, which leaves a growing hole in the asset and usage information available to the SAM managers. This can easily lead to over-spend, as organizations fail to identify where licenses have been purchased but are not used regularly. Snow offers organizations the ability to track the use of cloud-based applications, so that SAM managers can ensure they are getting value for money from suppliers and not over-paying for unused licenses. All results are shown in the main Snow interface alongside the organization s on-premise software. AUTOMATION APPLICATION FOR CORE FACTORS RELATING TO MICROSOFT & ORACLE Another area of complexity when managing products from Microsoft and Oracle is the core factors that need to be applied to each asset to assess the number of required licenses. SCCM is unable to apply core factors or minimum license requirements as needed for Windows Server and SQL licenses. With Snow License Manager the calculation of core factors relating to Microsoft and Oracle is automatically applied with the appropriate core factor. This is a huge time saving as it removes the need for the time-consuming calculations to be applied manually and of course should anything change with the way in which the software is used (such as different Virtual Machine or moving a VM from one server to another). It also enables the SAM Manager to identify machines with lower core factors to optimize the product location and look at what if scenarios to help with future planning. Detailed view on how the compliance position is calculated saves time during vendor audits Shows which use rights were applied to optimize entitlement coverage MANAGEMENT REPORTING OPTIONS SCCM is a tool typically used by a small number of skilled technicians, whose reporting requirements are very technical and detailed. Other stakeholders involved in SAM across the organization typically cannot access SCCM or generate their own meaningful management reports and so have to ask the SCCM administrators to prepare this information, which can be a slow and tedious task. Snow not only cleanses SCCM data, it also provides a multi-user role-based web interface that enables authorized stakeholders across the business to create their own management reports which deliver a real business focus, rather than purely technical detail. Authorized users can create vendor-specific compliance and licensing reports in a matter of minutes. These reports can be delivered to recipients via and can be scheduled to run automatically. Contractual cost management and reporting for maintenance and support

7 USAGE TRACKING SCCM can be configured to track the use of individual applications on the Windows network. This has to be done manually per application and the tracking is limited to reporting on whether the application is used on a daily basis, weekly, monthly and so on. The main issue with this approach is that it lacks any kind of user-based tracking you can t see who is accessing applications on each device. As the data returned by clients to the server is not compressed, some organizations can be reluctant to enable usage tracking due to the heavy increase in bandwidth consumption. SCCM has to be configured by an administrator to meter usage for individual applications with expert technical knowledge of what executable is relevant for each application; for the SAM manager this is a frustrating and slow process. Indeed, for a large number of applications, metering data becomes untenable and unmanageable. Solutions like Snow s SAM Platform make tracking application usage easier and more effective, with both less administration and more data. In the case of Snow s SAM platform, all applications are constantly tracked automatically by default and the usage information includes details on individual users. Because the usage data is compressed before transmission to the server, the bandwidth requirement is dramatically reduced when compared to SCCM and there s no visible impact to the user or to the network. CREATING EFFECTIVE LICENSING POSITION (ELP) AND COMPLIANCE REPORTS SCCM has a powerful reporting engine, but it is difficult to use and often not available to more than a handful of power users. SCCM reports are based on SQL Server reporting services. As such they are extremely technical and difficult to modify. In addition, it is difficult to share SSRS reports with other stakeholders. This means any new or modified reports have to be configured by technical SCCM experts. This creates a real bottle-neck in the creation of reports as multiple stakeholders from various non-it departments have to rely on these SCCM administrators to define, execute and forward reports based on the SCCM data. Snow s SAM platform has been designed from the ground up to give organizations the information they need to accurately assess and report on their compliance status. Snow features a full suite of management reports that can be generated by multiple authorized stakeholders across the organization with no specialist training. Further, Snow also highlights unused entitlements, where an organization isn t utilizing the latest licenses or its full allocation. This helps turn SAM into a business value for the wider organization. REPORT ON COSTS AND COST SAVINGS SCCM does not have an ability to store license costs, or different currencies, and therefore compare usage to license costs to generate Cost savings opportunities. In addition, organizational data such as cost centers, organizational units or departments are not catered for with SCCM meaning sharing licenses within a department, but not outside of the department is extremely difficult to manage. Snow License Manager can store license costs and can work with different currencies. It displays the compliance position for each and every version and edition as well as giving an overall cost for the product along with the overall compliance (together with risk or underspend figure), and finally delivers information on whether there are unused licenses with a potential optimization cost. This full insight of what is driving software cost within the organization as well as financial risk in terms of non-compliance and non-optimized assets along with its functionality of existing trends and usage patterns gives organizations powerful support to forecast future costs or renegotiate existing contracts. Showing the potential optimization if unused software were to be reharvested

8 SCCM + SNOW = SUCCESSFUL SAM To be clear, despite the shortcomings outlined above, we re not advocating an SCCM or Snow debate. Rather, we strongly believe that together SCCM and Snow deliver a far more effective and valuable SAM solution. SCCM is a capable solution and using the SCCM agent as an inventory source has merit, since the data it gathers can be imported into Snow very quickly to gain visibility of much of the deployed, licensed software and hardware in the estate. Snow SAM Platform s automated import system uses a pre-defined schedule to collect the source data from SCCM, which is then automatically processed through the Software Recognition Service (SRS) with no need for manual intervention (unlike other license management tools that claim SCCM integration, that actually require you to manually import and oversee the cleansing process). Snow s Software Recognition service cleanses the millions of executables into a straightforward list of software titles, and reports whether they require a license or not. This essentially makes SCCM an integral part of the SAM process without having to spend time managing two systems at the same time. Together SCCM and Snow provide a complete license management and SAM solution that drives real value to the organization. SNOW - TAKE THE OPTIONS YOU NEED, LEAVE THE ONES YOU DON T The Snow SAM platform is designed to allow organizations to easily take advantage of the features they require, without having to pay for those they don t. For example, organizations that have already deployed SCCM may not want to duplicate the audit of Wintel machines with Snow Inventory solution. However, Snow Inventory may give the same organization an effective mechanism to audit the non-windows devices, Citrix servers, Mobile Inventory or Cloud applications not currently covered by SCCM. Similarly, for organizations that have Oracle databases or SAP deployed, Snow Oracle Management Option and Snow Optimizer for SAP Software are invaluable additions to the SAM platform enabling organizations to identify and track the configuration and usage of Oracle databases or SAP users across multiple platforms. Snow s modular pricing model means customers only pay for the components they need. Where organizations already have multiple inventory tools deployed - or have multiple sources of audit data (perhaps Active Directory or even an ERP system populated with user details) Snow again adds value by bringing these disparate data sets together in a centralized view (which, by the way, is also cleansed and normalized as part of the import process). CONCLUSION When it comes to building an effective SAM solution, organizations that have already deployed (or are considering deploying) Microsoft SCCM should not view the purchase of Snow s SAM platform as an either/ or decision. SCCM and Snow are complementary solutions that work well together - SCCM is great at feeding Snow with Windows inventory information. Without Snow, SCCM is still a great solution for configuring and deploying Windows software and tracking the deployment of Windows-based assets. But it is not a Software Asset Management solution. Understanding the software audit information and compliance reports in SCCM is a difficult task and is restricted to a small number of gurus in the organization. With multiple stakeholders from across the organization requiring tailored access to the SAM solution (e.g. input licensing information, review the licensing position, create management reports and understand the financial liabilities of the organization), Snow opens up the world of asset information and ensures that SAM is no longer a silo responsibility but a true cross-organizational activity. Gartner 1 asserts SAM is a discipline that should sit horizontally across these (IT) silos, providing oversight of the software asset lifecycle as different people and processes in IT and the business interact with it, Using an intuitive, friendly, purpose-built solution is essential to the success of any SAM program, and vital for the communication that inevitably comes out of a more comprehensive understanding of the software assets in your business. Ultimately, adding Snow to your SAM platform will drive down the cost of implementing and managing a SAM program, increase the availability of licenses and assets, reduce the risks associated with vendor software audits and deliver real-world cost-savings in new license expenditure. With Snow and SCCM working together, it s a win-win situation. 1 Software Asset Management Is Now a C-Level Imperative. 03 March Analyst(s): Victoria Barber Dawn Hubbard Hank Marquis Stephen White

9 SNOW SAM PLATFORM Snow license manager With millions of licenses sold, Snow License Manager is the world s leading SAM solution. Snow inventory The true multi-platform audit solution designed to find devices, audit software installs and track usage. Software recognition service Recognize commercially-licensable applications across the network. Snow integration connectors Integrate Snow s SAM platform with existing Inventory, ITAM and Service Management solutions. Oracle management option Cut the costs of managing complex Oracle licenses. Virtualization management Identify and manage virtual assets across the network. Snow optimizer for SAP software Manage SAP licensing to optimize one of the enterprise s largest software costs. Snow automation platform Define and implement automated process to support software optimization. Snow device manager A complete enterprise mobility management solution that handles the full lifecycle of mobile devices. ABOUT SNOW SOFTWARE Snow Software s Mission: To stop organizations paying too much for the software they consume. Whether it s through lack of control, lack of understanding or lack of compliance, Snow Software believes that most organizations today end up paying too high a price for their software. To address this, Snow Software provides Software Asset Management (SAM) solutions designed to ensure that the $326 billion spent every year on enterprise software is money well spent ensuring organizations have the appropriate licenses for the software they use not too many, not too few. Today, more than 6,000 organizations around the world rely on Snow Software s on-premise and cloud-based SAM platforms to manage software licensing across more than eleven million devices, from mobile to desktop, datacenter to the cloud. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Snow Software is the largest dedicated developer of Software Asset Management solutions, with more local offices and regional support centers than any other vendor. info@snowsoftware.com Copyright 2016 Snow Software AB, All Rights Reserved (2) SNOWSOFTWARE.COM