Using the Software Categories node located under the Customize Catalog Asset Intelligence Configuration Manager console node, administrators can view available software category information stored in the Asset Intelligence catalog.

Asset Intelligence software categories are used to broadly categorize inventoried software titles and are also used as high-level groupings of more specific software families. For example, a software category could be energy companies, and a software family within that software category could be oil and gas or hydroelectric.

Many software categories are predefined in the Asset Intelligence catalog, and additional user-defined categories can be created to further define inventoried software. The validation state for all predefined software categories is always validated, while custom software category information added to the Asset Intelligence catalog is user-defined.

Note
Predefined software category information is read-only and cannot be modified. User-defined software categories can be added, modified, or deleted by administrators. For more information about managing software categories, see How to Manage Software Categories.

Using the Software Families node located under the Customize Catalog Asset Intelligence Configuration Manager console node, administrators can view available software family information stored in the Asset Intelligence catalog.

Asset Intelligence software families are used to further define inventoried software titles within software categories. The validation state for all predefined software families is always validated, while custom software family information added to the Asset Intelligence catalog is user-defined.

Note
Predefined software family information is read-only and cannot be modified. User-defined software families can be added, modified, or deleted by administrators. For more information about managing software families, see How to Manage Software Families.

Using the Custom Labels node located under the Customize Catalog Asset Intelligence Configuration Manager console node, administrators can view all custom labels that have been defined by an administrator.

Custom labels can be used to further categorize inventoried software titles stored in the Asset Intelligence catalog. Administrators can use custom labels to create user-defined groups of software titles that share a common attribute. For example, a custom label could be created called shareware, that custom label could be associated with inventoried shareware titles, and a report could be run to display all software titles that have the custom label shareware associated with them.

Custom labels have no validation state because they are always created locally.

Note
For more information about managing custom labels, see How to Manage Custom Labels.

Using the Inventoried Software Titles node located under the Asset Intelligence Configuration Manager console node, administrators can view inventoried software title information collected from Configuration Manager 2007 clients by the hardware inventory client agent that is stored in the Asset Intelligence catalog.

Inventoried software titles can also have up to three custom labels associated with them to enable further user-defined categorization.

The following information is displayed for each inventoried software title:

• The name of the inventoried software title.
  
  
• The name of the vendor that developed the inventoried software title.
  
  
• The product version of the inventoried software title.
  
  
• The currently assigned software category for the inventoried software title.
  
  
• The currently assigned software family for the inventoried software title.
  
  

Note
Because inventoried software title information is obtained through Configuration Manager 2007 client hardware inventory reports, all information except for software category and software family information is read only and cannot be modified.

Using the Processor Properties node located under the Asset Intelligence Configuration Manager console node, administrators can view processor property information about CPU types stored in the Asset Intelligence catalog.

Note
The processor properties displayed are retrieved from the Asset Intelligence catalog and are not based on inventoried CPU information from Configuration Manager 2007 clients.

The following information is displayed for each CPU listed:

• The name of the CPU.
  
  
• The date of manufacture for the CPU.
  
  
• The manufacturer of the CPU.
  
  
• The brand ID of the CPU.
  
  
• The processing speed of the CPU (in MHz).
  
  
• Whether or not the CPU is designed for mobile devices.
  
  
• The amount of cache memory available for the CPU.
  
  

Note
Processor property information is read only and cannot be modified. Additional CPU information will become available via download from System Center Online during future catalog updates.

Using the Hardware Requirements node located under the Asset Intelligence Configuration Manager console node, administrators can manage software title hardware requirement information stored in the Asset Intelligence catalog. In addition to the default hardware requirements listed, administrators can add new software title hardware requirement information to meet custom requirements.

When the Hardware Requirements node is selected, the hardware requirements for software titles stored in the Asset Intelligence catalog are displayed. Hardware requirements can be used to verify that computers meet the hardware requirements for software titles before they are targeted for software deployments.

Note
The hardware requirements displayed are retrieved from the Asset Intelligence catalog and are not based on inventoried software title information from Configuration Manager 2007 clients.

The following information is displayed for each hardware requirement listed:

• The software title name that the hardware requirement is associated with.
  
  
• The validation state for the hardware requirement.
  
  

  Note
  The validation state for hardware requirements obtained through System Center Online is always validated. The validation state for all custom hardware requirements is always user-defined.

• The minimum processor speed, in MHz, that the software title requires.
  
  
• The minimum RAM, in KB, that the software title requires.
  
  
• The minimum free disk space, in KB, that the software title requires.
  
  
• The minimum hard disk size, in KB, that the software title requires.
  
  

Custom hardware requirements for software titles not stored in the Asset Intelligence catalog can be added, modified, or deleted. However, existing, noncustom hardware requirement information stored in the Asset Intelligence catalog is read only and cannot be deleted.

Concepts