Creating Asset Groups

The Asset Groups are logically grouped together set of Assets based on various factors, such as Tenant, Location, function, group, etc.

To create Asset Groups:

  1. Select Asset > Configuration > Patch Management > Asset Group.

  2. On the ASSET GROUP page, select the Tenant for which you want to view the list of Asset Groups.

Figure: ASSET GROUP - List

3. Click ADD NEW to create an Asset Group. Under the DETAILS tab, select the Tenant, provide the Asset Group Name, Description, select the Active check box to make it an active Asset Group, and select the days to schedule the Patches in the Scheduled Days field. Click NEXT.


Figure: ASSET GROUP page - Details tab

4. Under the Assets Assignment tab, click SELECT ASSET on the ACTIONS panel. In the ASSET ASSIGNMENT pop-up page, select the Assets that should be assigned to the Asset Group and click ASSIGN. You can also use the Filters icon to select the Assets for a Category based on Filters, such as IP Address, Location, and System. You can also export the page or export all the pages to a Microsoft Excel sheet.


Figure: ASSET ASSIGNMENT pop-up page

5. If you want to remove any Asset from the Asset Group, select the check box for the Asset and click UNASSIGN. Click SUBMIT to create the Asset Group.


Figure (Screen shot 1): ASSET GROUP page - Asset Assignment tab

Note:

  • An Unassigned Asset Group is created by default. The Assets that do not belong to any specific Asset Group belong to this Unassigned Asset Group.
  • After an Asset is added to an Asset Group, it cannot be added to any other Asset Group.

ACTIONS

This section explains all the icons displayed on the ACTIONS panel of the ASSET GROUP (GROUP NAME) page.

Filters

Click Filters to specify filter criteria to view specific Assets in the ASSET LIST section of the ASSET GROUP (GROUP NAME)  and ASSET ASSIGNMENT pop-up pages.


Figure: FILTERS pop-up page 

The following table describes the fields on the FILTERS  pop-up page.

Field

Description

Filters

Select a filter criteria from the drop-down list as per which you want to view the Assets. If All is selected, you can select from the following filter criteria:

  • IP Address: If selected, you can specify a range of IP Addresses in the IP From and IP To fields to view the Assets and the Patch status.
  • Location: If selected, you can specify the Location to view the store and floor-wise Assets and the Patch status.
  • System: If selected, specify the Serial Number or Host Name in the System field to view the Assets and the Patch status.
  • OS Caption: If selected, select the operating system in the OS Caption field to view the Assets as per the selected operating system.
  • Last Contacted: Last Contacted is when the Agent contacted the server for the last time. If selected, you can specify a range of Last Contacted dates in the From and To calendars to view the Assets as per the specified Last Contacted dates.
  • Pending Reboot: If selected, you can select Yes or No in the Pending Reboot drop-down list to view the Assets that are restarted/not restarted after the Patches are installed.
  • Entity: If selected, you can select a specific Entity or multiple Entities to view the Entity-wise grouped Assets.
  • Patch Status: If selected, you can select Installed, Missing, or Error in the Patch Status drop-down list to view the Assets as per the Patch Status.
  • Updated Date: If selected, you can specify a range of dates in From and To calendars and Status to view the status updates of assets added in the system.

Approved

Select the Approved type. The available options are All, Approved, and Not Approved. The asset list is displayed based on the selected approval status.

Update Type

This field lists the patches with respect to the update type. Select the required update type to view the list of assets on which the selected update type is installed.

SHOW LIST

Click SHOW LIST to display the LIST table showing all the Asset Groups created for the selected Tenant.


Figure:  ASSET GROUPS page: List of ASSET GROUPS 

The following table describes the fields on the ASSET GROUPS page:

Field

Description

Sl. No.

Displays the serial number of the Asset Group in the list.

Group

Displays the Asset Group name.

Installed

Displays the number of Assets on which all the up-to-date Patches are installed.

Not Installed

Displays the number of Assets that have missing Patches. It is applicable even if one Patch is missing from the applicable list of Patches.

Not Scanned

Displays the number of Assets that are part of the Asset inventory and where the Asset Patch scan has not happened. It shows calculated percentage with respect to the total Assets. The reason behind the Assets not getting scanned can be either there is no cab file found from scanning the missing Patches or due to incomplete configuration.

Not ApplicableDisplays the number of Assets that are not applicable for Patch compliance. For example, a Patch may be applicable for desktops with Windows 7 but not applicable for desktops with Windows 10.
Compliance %Age

Displays the percentage of Not Applicable Assets and Installed Assets against the Total number of Assets available in an Asset Group.

Formula: Installed + Not Applicable/Total * 100%

Total

Displays the total number of Assets available in an Asset Group.

Description

Displays the description of the Asset Group.

Modified By

Displays the name of the user who last modified the Asset Group.

Modified On

Displays the date and time when the Asset Group is last modified.

Active

A True value indicates that the Asset Group is active.

Scan for Missing Patches

 Automatically Scans for the Patches that are missed.  

Deployment Schedule

 Displays the desired day and time to download Patches.

  • To edit an Asset Group, click the Group name. Make appropriate changes and click SUBMIT.
  • To display the inactive Asset Groups, click the Include Inactive check box.
  • To export the records displayed on this page, click Export this page. To export all the Asset details, click Export All.

ACTIONS

When the Asset Groups are displayed under the LIST table, the following buttons are displayed on the ACTIONS panel:

  • ADD NEW: Click ADD NEW to create a new Asset Group.
  • Filters: Click Filters to set filter criteria to view specific Asset Groups on the ASSET GROUP pages.

Figure: FILTERS pop-up page

  • EXPORT TO EXCEL: Select the Asset Groups and click Export to Excel  to export the Asset group details to Excel.
  • AUTO GROUP: Auto Group functionality is beneficial if new Assets added in the inventory needs to be added in the Patch group without following numerous steps.

You can quickly browse the following YouTube link to get a glimpse of Auto Group feature.

        Benefits

  • Minimizes time when new assets are included in the inventory and these assets are required to be added directly to existing groups or new groups. 
  • Eliminates manual activity of adding Assets to Patch groups.

       User Persona: Administrator

The high level steps to create a Patch group is summarized in the following infographic.

           Figure: Steps to create Patch group

Prerequisites

  1. Select Admin > Basic > Infrastructure > Form Builder.
  2. On the FORM BUILDER page, select Asset Management from the Module list. Navigate to specific category. Example: Desktop.
  3. Under the FORM DETAILS tab, create a drop-down category attribute. Add the drop-down values and click SAVE.

To create Patch group, perform the following steps:

Steps:

  1. Navigate to Asset > Asset Masters > Key Field Mapping.
  2. Navigate to the category attribute created earlier that is Patch Entity.
  3. Map this Patch Entity to Asset Entity and SUBMIT.
  4. Navigate to Asset > Manage Assets > Asset Inventory. Select the Asset type as
  5. Select the required Asset from the list.
  6. In the Filters section on the right panel click UPDATE.

Note

You can also perform Bulk update. Navigate to Asset > Manage Assets > Import > Bulk Asset Allocation.

      7. In the UPDATE FIXED ASSET page, Navigate to Patch Entity and select Location then click

      8. Navigate to Asset > Patch Management > Asset Group.

      9. Click AUTO GROUP.

The new groups will be created based on the drop-down values that are mentioned on the Patch Entity attribute. With AUTO GROUP create a new Group for an Entity where all the unassigned Assets can be grouped together.