Chapter 3. Working with Inventory, Asset Intelligence, and Software Metering

Probably one of the biggest uses for Configuration Manager is the collection of both hardware and software inventory from your clients. For most customers, this feature is turned on by default and left with the default settings.

The same can be said for software metering. It is a part of Configuration Manager that is well-known, but people do not always utilize it properly or to its full potential. This can be due to restrictions in your country or because you need the permission of your human resources department. We can say exactly the same for asset intelligence as well.

In this chapter, we will explore the use of all three functions and look at the following sections in more detail to gain a better understanding of how to make inventory, asset intelligence, and software metering work for you.

• Configuring software and hardware inventory
• Using inventory data to your advantage
• Making use of software metering
• Real-world use of asset intelligence
• Controlling applications with inventory data