Issue with Last Inventory Date

[ImIronMan]

Hello,

Can some one please help me understand about last Inventory date, Last created date, Last created by, last updated date and last updated by. 

Going by the names and also as I read on help, it looked simple, however I found lots of different information in these fields for a particular inventory device record.

For example :

1. When the source is SCCM : I've a record which has last inventory date is 05-march-2018 and I thought to ignore it, however when I checked the history tab - the

last created date is 08-sep-2019 and last created by : None

last updated date is 18-Sep-2019 and last updated by : None. 

Also, history tab says all applications linked this device very recently.

Example 2. When the source is FNMS agent :  Last inventory date is 15-May-2019

last created date is 08-sep-2019 and last created by : None

last updated date : 11-sep-2019.

Also, history tab says all applications linked this device very recently.

1. why the last created by is none ? while we have particular source bringing info already

2. if we assume last inventory date is the reliable date which confirms the last succesfull scan date, can we expect the application to device link happens recently ?

[rclark0]

We found that the last inventory date is linked to the "Hardware" scan from SCCM. We have had issues where the Hardware scan is not working so the inventory date is in the past but that software changes are updating in the present. 

[ChrisG]

I expect the "Last created by" field showing as "None" will typically indicate that the inventory device record was created by the inventory import process. This is the normal way that inventory device records get created most of the time (although you can create them manually).

Applications being linked/unlinked to the inventory device record can occur in a variety of situations not directly related to when inventory is gathered. For example:

• When recognition rules for applications are updated in the ARL, the applications recognized as installed may change, resulting in link/unlink events.
• As noted by @rclark0, the "Last inventory date" field will typically indicate the date that hardware inventory was last gathered. Software inventory can be gathered and updated at different times.
• If you have access-based inventory (such as data from Citrix or AppV) coming in then that can change application recognition results independently of when inventory for a device is updated.
• If your FlexNet system is configured to import inventory from multiple sources and a single computer is represented in more than 1 source then the software details will be effectively merged from all the sources while the hardware properties (including "Last inventory date") will be taken from one source - this can result in changes in software being recorded which appear somewhat independently from changes in hardware properties.

[srikanth_m]

If Last Inventoried date is the Hardware scan then what is the parameter to check for last Software inventory scan? What parameter is Out-Of-Date inventory using to say it is Out of date? If FNMS is used only for Software Asset management, which parameter should we rely on to identify the last inventoried date like getting inventory from the device lastly.

[JohnSorensenDK]

@srikanth_m 

I think this thread already provided the answers to your questions. As @ChrisG pointed out software inventory details can be merged from multiple sources while the hardware properties (including "Last inventory date") will be taken from one source - this can result in changes in software inventory being recorded which appear somewhat independently from changes in hardware properties. You would as such have to go back to each individual source to check for when the last software inventory for that specific source software inventory was dated, e.g. inside SCCM.

"Out-Of-Date inventory" would refer to the hardware inventory property "Last inventory date".

FNMS will rely on collecting both hardware and software inventory (and more) to facilitate proper Software Asset Management use cases, e.g. calculating compliance positions, license optimization, etc.

Thanks,