Date Inconsistency - Inventory Date/Updated Date - FNMS 2020 R1

[davidle]

Hello,

We have discovered over 100+ Inventory Records that have a different 'Last Inventory Date' (General Tab) and the 'Last Updated Date' (History Tab).

For example:

Last Inventory Date - 11/20/20 (See attached file InventoryDeviceProperties-Sample.png)
Last Updated Date - 11/03/20 (See attached file HistoryProperties-RMODMS02.png)

Is this by design, or should both dates match?

Thanks!

- David

[kclausen]

Last Inventory Date reflects the last update made to the inventory device as a result of a Compliance Import, and new inventory from the source (SCCM, BigFix, FlexNet Agent, etc.)

Last Update Date reflects the last update made to the inventory device from anything that can update the inventory device data, in addition to inventory.  For example:

1) From a manual data entry change made in the user interface

2) From a BUsiness Adapter that has changed the Role of the device from "production" to "development"

3) From a feed from VMware vCenter as the virtual machine has moved from one ESX Host to a different ESX Host

[davidle]

Thanks for the reply @kclausen !

"Last Update Date reflects the last update made to the inventory device from anything that can update the inventory device data, in addition to inventory."

So shouldn't both dates have a consistent match or would the Updated Date only change based on your examples and if the Inventory Scans (.ndi file) has something completely different?

- David

[kclausen · Accepted solution]

Sorry, perhaps this description will help.

The Last Inventory Date comes from the inventory source.  For example, if you are importing from SCCM, then this field simply reflects the Last Inventory Date that is recorded by SCCM.  Or if the inventory source is the FlexNet Agent, it would reflect the data that the FlexNet Agent last ran the inventory.  This date does not reflect any activity made within the FlexNet Manager application.

The Last Update Date reflects the last data change made to this device by the FlexNet Manager Application.  While it could be a result of updated inventory that is received, it could be from any type of data change, such as opening a device and manually change the Device Role. 

But even changes made as a result of updated inventory, the two dates may not be the same.  Consider the following scenario.

The SCCM Agent runs on a device on Tuesday, so the Last Inventory Date will reflect that.  But the nightly compliance import in FlexNet does not run until Wednesday.  So when you look at that device in FlexNet, the Last Inventory Date will report Tuesday, but the Last Update Date will reflect a date of Wednesday.