Microsoft’s software asset management tools
Microsoft has a range of tools to help trusts find out what hardware and software they have deployed on their networks, and to help them to manage it better. To pick between them, IT managers need to look at what they have and what they want to do better.
Asset management is rising up the agenda for NHS organisations and for the health service as a whole. At this year’s Healthcare Computing conference, Mark Ferrar, NHS Connecting for Health’s head of infrastructure, told delegates trusts had to know what IT assets they had if they were to manage them effectively.
He also stressed that proper asset management was vital if his agency was to negotiate the best-value enterprise licensing deals from vendors such as Microsoft.
Software asset management is a core element of NHS CFH’s National Infrastructure Maturity Model (and Microsoft’s own Infrastructure Optimisation tool) – and trusts are being asked to demonstrate effective SAM to gain access to elements of the Enterprise Agreement the NHS has signed with the company.
However, Dr Ferrar said some trusts could not even produce a spreadsheet with a complete list of their assets on it. So what tools are available for generating an asset register and then for managing assets effectively? “Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager [means that] if you can see it over the Internet, you can manage it.”
Richard Lane, a Microsoft technology strategist who works in the UK healthcare team, says: “Microsoft has a number of solutions in this area, at different levels. Depending on where an organisation is, there will be a solution to suit them.”
Microsoft Software Inventory Analyser (MSIA)
At the most basic level, Microsoft has a tool called Microsoft Software Inventory Analyser (MSIA) that can be used to generate an inventory of the core Microsoft products installed on a computer or network.
This can be downloaded free, but it does have a number of limitations. It will only locate Microsoft products and it is only designed to work with networks of 250 computers or less. Also, collating the results is a manual process.
Nevertheless, Mr Lane suggests MSIA might be useful for smaller NHS organisations, such as GP practices, “who do not have a solution currently, and want to know what Microsoft products they have got quickly.”
Microsoft Asset Inventory Service (MAIS)
The next step up is Microsoft Asset Inventory Service (MAIS). This is an online, hosted tool that provides a more comprehensive view of an organisation’s desktop software environment. "“It makes sense to get as many benefits as possible in one package.”
Mr Lane says the benefit of MAIS is that it generates more information than the inventory analyser, without requiring an infrastructure to support it. “You push MAIS out using a low footprint agent and it collects information about both Microsoft and non-Microsoft products. Then it delivers that to a centrally hosted system that an administrator can query,” he says.
MAIS is a core component of the Desktop Optimisation Pack for Software Assurance that is part of the NHS’ Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft. Work is being done on exactly how MAIS will be made available to trusts and Microsoft’s Common User Interface programme will provide help and guidance in due course.
Microsoft, AssetMetrix and its inventory
MAIS is able to do this because it uses an inventory that Microsoft acquired when it bought a company called AssetMetrix in April 2006. The inventory had more than 300,000 applications in it and went down to patch level.
“The inventory allows the MAIS agent to determine what it is looking at,” says Mr Lane. “So instead of just reporting that it has found a .exe application, it can determine what it is. This means it can deliver quite detailed information about what is out there [on a network].” “It also allows you to do things like set differential maintenance times - so that if you know that a clinic doesn’t run on a Thursday afternoon, you can arrange to maintain its machines during that time."
Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) and SP3
The next step up again is Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS). This will be familiar to many NHS IT managers, because many trusts use SMS 2003 to roll out updates and for remote control.
However, trusts may not be using the system manager for asset management, and may not have downloaded Service Pack 3 (SP3), which improves its ability to identify and track Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications on both PCs and mobiles.
“SMS 2003 SP3 came out in 2007 and it included the asset inventory from the AssetMetrix acquisition,” says Mr Lane. “That is important, because the whole point of asset management is to know what is out there - what those .exe applications are.”
Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager (SCCM)
Finally, there is Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager 2007. This suite of products is the successor to SMS 2003 and, as such, has far more to offer than just asset management.
“It not only manages servers and desktops but mobiles, and it not only manages physical applications but virtual ones,” says Mr Lane. “It also allows you to do things like set differential maintenance times - so that if you know that a clinic doesn’t run on a Thursday afternoon, you can arrange to maintain its machines during that time.
“And it comes with something called Internet Based Client Management. This gives trusts the ability to manage machines that are not part of their domain, such as PCs in GP surgeries or people’s homes. If you can see it over the Internet, you can manage it - which is not possible with SMS 2003.”
In terms of asset management, the key feature of SCCM is that it can not only tell IT managers what is deployed on their networks, but where it is, who is using it, and whether it is being used at all.
“It can tell you whether things like Microsoft Visio or Project Manager are actually being used, or whether they are licensed to people who have left or moved roles,” says Mr Lane. “That allows trusts to get more value from these assets.”
SCCM SP1
The first service pack is about to be released for SCCM and will further enhance its asset intelligence capabilities. SCCM SP1 will provide for online access to the AssetMetrix inventory, which has been considerably updated since Microsoft acquired it.
“Software never stands still; applications are being added all the time,” Mr Lane points out. “An online version of the inventory means that it will always be current.”
Start, then do it better
How do NHS IT managers pick between these options? “You need to look at where you are and what your gaps are,” says Mr Lane. “If you don’t have a solution at all, the first thing is to get one. But if you have a solution and it has some gaps – if it is giving you a lot of ‘not knowns’ for example – you may need to look at whether there is a better alternative.”
In addition, he says, it makes sense to get as many benefits as possible in one package. Both SMS 2003 and SCCM, for example, will help to put an end to “man in a van” deployments, make it easier to patch and upgrade machines and improve support for their users.
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Tags: Assetmetrix, common user interface, CUI, EA, enterprise agreement, GP, infrastructure optimisation, IO, MAIS, Mark Ferrar, NHS CFH, NIMM, SAM, SCCM, SCCM SP1, software asset management, system centre configuration manager, SystemCentre Configuration Manager