Merging local Applications with ARL

[MrPotato]

In reference to >this topic< as it is already closed.

We often have very detailed local, unrecognized evidence, e.g.:

Altiris Inventory Solution - 8.5.4273.0

Now what we do is:

- if there's an application in the ARL: Altiris Inventory Solution 8.5 we assign it to it

- if there isn't - we create a local Application

However we're fully aware that whenever Flexera publishes an ARL version containing this specific Application this evidence will not be considered overlapping because of the format of evidence Flexera will but into ARL It is going to be:

Altiris Inventory Solution - 8.5.%

Effectively this means that we will have to go over our local applications once there's a new ARL version, and manually reassign evidence to the officially published ones. Wasting time of the same, trivial, tasks twice or deal with a cluttered Applications list, potential miscalculations of consumption, etc.

Is there any mechanism in place that could make our life simpler? We often times find creating local Apps pointless* and treat it as a last resort and one of the most hated tasks because we fully recognize the uselessness of the activity in the long run, instead we take the risks and say we will wait a month or two only so that we don't have to go through this process...

*depends on the potential licensing impact, sometimes you have to swallow the pride, grit the teeth and do it anyway.

[jlvalen]

I submitted this issue to Natalie Lias at Flexera yesterday following the User Group meeting. 

I see it as two issues:

1. If you create a local ARL, when the Flexera ARL comes out, it often accurately reports the number of devices, BUT evidence used in the local ARL is left as unrecognized when you delete the duplicate local ARL. Only solution is to manually add this making the Flexera ARL a Flexera (Extended) ARL This makes extra work and makes it appear that you have messed with the ARL even though the evidence should be encompassed by the published evidence rule, i.e.,  version 8.5.% as noted below.

2. There would be no need to create a local ARL if Flexera published an ARL for new releases with in days or even proactively rather than making customers wait a few months for it to be recognized.