Solved: My Apps Reclamation questions

sara_b · ‎Sep 16, 2019

I have some questions that don't seem to be covered in the documentation for App Broker/App Portal. We're running App Portal 2016. I have my FNMS instance connected to App Portal.

I have set up reclamation on a target. Ensured that I have plenty of licenses to reclaim. Based on FNMS, there are 793 installations with only 463 being used. My understanding is that the usage is based on what we set up - 90 days unused means that it's NOT being "used". I'd like to get confirmation on that.

If that's the case, then that means I have appx 330 licenses that should be available for reclamation through App Portal. I ensured that I have the same ARL in the FNMS license as what I chose in App Portal - and I get a listing of 989 devices for that ARL. There IS an uninstall package for the reclamation. When I look at the Alerts, it looks like it's only run on 61 machines - and that it kicks off on Saturday/Sunday.

1) When does a reclamation campaign kick off?

2) Is there a way to change the day that it runs?

3) Why isn't it running on more devices?

4) What is the point of the Alerts if there's nothing I can do with them to force them to rerun?

jdempsey · ‎Sep 17, 2019

@sara_b wrote:

1) When does a reclamation campaign kick off?

The reclamation process is driven by two Windows scheduled tasks. The first task evaluates the enabled policies against the usage information for each machine that has the software installed. For any machine that has the software installed and has a Last Used Date (or Discovered Date, if not used) that's older than the current date minus the threshold set in the policy, an Alert will be generated for that device. This task will also trigger uninstall activity for any alerts that have expired if the policy is configured to automatically remove software when no response is received from the user (or if you're using a policy that doesn't notify the user first).

The second task is responsible for sending email notifications associated with the Alerts that are generated by the first task. You'll want to make sure that the second task is scheduled to run sufficiently after the first task to allow enough time for all alerts to be generated for all policies. Otherwise, they will not be picked up until the next time the email task runs.

@sara_b wrote:

2) Is there a way to change the day that it runs?

By default, when these scheduled tasks are created by Setup, the schedule is set to run weekly on Saturday night/Sunday morning (I believe midnight and 1am, IIRC). If you would like a different schedule, you can modify the schedule in the Windows Task Scheduler. You can also manually run these tasks within Windows Task Scheduler if you want them to kick off immediately.

@sara_b wrote:

3) Why isn't it running on more devices?

If you click the Devices link next to the policy, it should show you a list of all devices where the software is installed (this list is being queried from the FNMS database). You will see a Discovery Date for each device (this is the date FNMS first saw inventory for this application on this device). If there is usage data for that device, you'll also see Last Used Date, and if there is an associated user, you'll see the Assigned User for that device. Each time the scheduled task runs, it will evaluate the policy against this list of devices, and if the Last Used Date (or Discovery Date, if not used) is past the policy threshold, an alert will be generated for that device. If the threshold has not been met, or if other criteria preclude it from creating an alert (e.g. no assigned user and the policy is configured to not remove software from devices without an assigned user, or the device is not eligible for reclamation based on include/exclude rules that have been configured for the policy), then no alert will be generated.

@sara_b wrote:

4) What is the point of the Alerts if there's nothing I can do with them to force them to rerun?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "force them to rerun". If you're talking about forcing the re-evaluation of the policies, see the above answers regarding changing the schedules of the tasks or manually running them. If that's not what you're referring to, please elaborate.

Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera. If my reply answers a question you have raised, please click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION".

View solution in original post

jdempsey · ‎Sep 17, 2019

@sara_b wrote:

1) When does a reclamation campaign kick off?

The reclamation process is driven by two Windows scheduled tasks. The first task evaluates the enabled policies against the usage information for each machine that has the software installed. For any machine that has the software installed and has a Last Used Date (or Discovered Date, if not used) that's older than the current date minus the threshold set in the policy, an Alert will be generated for that device. This task will also trigger uninstall activity for any alerts that have expired if the policy is configured to automatically remove software when no response is received from the user (or if you're using a policy that doesn't notify the user first).

The second task is responsible for sending email notifications associated with the Alerts that are generated by the first task. You'll want to make sure that the second task is scheduled to run sufficiently after the first task to allow enough time for all alerts to be generated for all policies. Otherwise, they will not be picked up until the next time the email task runs.

@sara_b wrote:

2) Is there a way to change the day that it runs?

By default, when these scheduled tasks are created by Setup, the schedule is set to run weekly on Saturday night/Sunday morning (I believe midnight and 1am, IIRC). If you would like a different schedule, you can modify the schedule in the Windows Task Scheduler. You can also manually run these tasks within Windows Task Scheduler if you want them to kick off immediately.

@sara_b wrote:

3) Why isn't it running on more devices?

If you click the Devices link next to the policy, it should show you a list of all devices where the software is installed (this list is being queried from the FNMS database). You will see a Discovery Date for each device (this is the date FNMS first saw inventory for this application on this device). If there is usage data for that device, you'll also see Last Used Date, and if there is an associated user, you'll see the Assigned User for that device. Each time the scheduled task runs, it will evaluate the policy against this list of devices, and if the Last Used Date (or Discovery Date, if not used) is past the policy threshold, an alert will be generated for that device. If the threshold has not been met, or if other criteria preclude it from creating an alert (e.g. no assigned user and the policy is configured to not remove software from devices without an assigned user, or the device is not eligible for reclamation based on include/exclude rules that have been configured for the policy), then no alert will be generated.

@sara_b wrote:

4) What is the point of the Alerts if there's nothing I can do with them to force them to rerun?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "force them to rerun". If you're talking about forcing the re-evaluation of the policies, see the above answers regarding changing the schedules of the tasks or manually running them. If that's not what you're referring to, please elaborate.

Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera. If my reply answers a question you have raised, please click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION".

jdempsey · ‎Oct 01, 2019

Did this address all your questions?

Anything expressed here is my own view and not necessarily that of my employer, Flexera. If my reply answers a question you have raised, please click "ACCEPT AS SOLUTION".

sara_b · ‎Oct 08, 2019

Yeah - I ended up opening a case to address the issues we're having. Thanks.