Taking Inventory
Posted on April 7, 2005
I have been on a quest for awhile to find a tool to give me critical software and hardware data which will save me extensive manual effort. Up to this point, I have gone to each PC in the church, wrote down the Windows product key and the Dell build number, then enter this info into a database. That’s fine, but it’s alot of effort and there is chance of error. By the way, each PC and monitor and laptop in the church is inventoried with an inventory sticker. Each sticker has a unique number and my database tracks who has what hardware.
The reason for tracking the build number is in the event we need to call Dell for support on a PC, then it tells them exactly what is inside the PC to help with troubleshooting. It would be nice to have more detail on each PC, such as specific software installed etc. but I have not taken the time to gather much more than these 2 items up to this point.
I built a database that tracks each users PC, operating system, purchase date, build# and Windows product key. At this point, in a general sense, most of the PC’s have basically the same software installed, there are some variations, of course. I need to know what is on each PC, since users have been known to install their own software and if it’s not licensed appropriately, the burden falls to the church, since the church owns the PC’s.
I have tried a couple of different utilities to give me these details but the results were less than impressive. Also, not wanting to spend alot ($0), I have been sticking to free utilities, hopeful that I would find a useful tool.
Has anyone else found a utility such as this?
I have found a product called Aida32, which is technically freeware. The developer of the software went to work for Lavalys and this software has been renamed Everest. Consequently, Everest is not freeware, but Aida32 is still available for download, it is just not supported anymore or being updated. It was originally freeware to individuals and licensed to organizations, however, the link to license it is bad. It appears that it can no longer be licensed, but I am researching this to ensure I’m not breaching any licensing on the software. I am more likely to play it safe and not use it than to assume everything is good. I might need to actually purchase a license for each PC, maybe Everest, if I want to use something like this.
Another benefit of tracking software to this level is I will be able to ensure that we have licenses for all software on all PC’s. There is alot of work yet to do to get a handle on all the software and clarify procedures for users installing new software, but this is definitely a good start.
Are other churches going to this extent? Do you think it’s worth it? It would be interesting to hear.”
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