Sooner or later, any organization faces with necessity of creating computer inventory reports on hardware and software installed. Using the professional program for this purpose allows the system administrator make this process automatic, easier and not so time consuming. But nowadays, the market is overfilled with programs of different price tiers and functionality. Often, the head managers get into difficulties trying to choose the best one among the dozens of tools. We hope that this article will help you to make the right choice.
Above all, the computer inventory tool has to be able to answer three main questions: what, where, and when? In other words, the system administrator needs to know the configuration of every PC on the network, every computers' location and their history.
1. "What": the program must be able to get the information on the amount of computers and their parts automatically. Also, the program has to define all hardware serial numbers and license of every software tool that is installed on remote PCs.
2. "Where": the computer inventory software has to give the system administrator the opportunity to divide the computer's list into groups, depending on their location, for example. This function is exceedingly important and useful for large companies with complex networks and great number of offices and branches.
3. "When": the computer inventory software has to be able to record the history of every computer's part or program into log. It does not matter, whether one RAM has been replaced with another one, or two monitors have been rearranged, or the antivirus has been updated in time – all changes should be fixed in inventory program's log.
Hardware is frequently replaced, that is why this function is greatly important for companies of any size.
These are three main aspects on which you should pay the great attention while choosing a network inventory program. Aside from them, there are a few more functions that would be useful for any company.
Firstly, it is an opportunity to form quick reports of any format (.doc, html, xls, pdf, csv, xml, txt…). Report is the main IT manager's instrument. If there is no possibility to sort the collected date independently and form quick and convenient reports, it can destroy all other program's advantages.
Secondly, the interface plays an important role. You should understand that it is you, who is going to use this program. That is why the software has to be understandable and ease-to-use for you. It has to provide you with quick and easy access to necessary information on devices' parameters.
Thirdly, the system administrator's duty is not only to be aware of what software is installed on remote users' computers, but audit the software licenses on every computer in the company. That allows killing two birds with one stone: to update the purchased licenses in time and prevent users from using cracked or unlicensed software, which is against the Copyright Law. It is worth to mention, that every point in the software list has to be confirmed by appropriate documents, which verify that you have rights on using these programs.
It is extremely important to choose the computer inventory software carefully and advisedly comparing all its pros and cons. Only in this case you will get the program that can solve all your problems.
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