Asset Intelligence is a feature in Configuration Manager that allows you to identify and manage the inventoried software of your environment. It’s populated each time there’s a hardware inventory scan on the device.

The catalog contains data about inventoried software and 5 labels can be defined to standardize product names or any useful information in your catalogue. Software developers are not always following a standard name for their own products. Consequently, the data quality for software reports will be better.

In this post, we will show how you can maximize the use of custom labels in Asset Intelligence. We will use Office Visio as an example for this post.

If Asset Intelligence is not enabled in your infrastructure, you can enable the component by following Technet post.

Asset Intelligence node in the SCCM/MECM Console

  • From the Configuration Manager console, click on Asset and Compliance in the left panel
  • Expand Overview / Asset Intelligence and click on Inventoried Software

sccm 2012 asset intelligence custom labels

All inventoried software on devices will be listed at that location.

On the left side, it’s the information from the original software source from the device and on the right side, the custom labels. There are 2 labels that are configured by default named Category and Family. We don’t see any advantage of using them as is.

sccm 2012 asset intelligence custom labels

The Custom Tagging Structure in Asset Intelligence

We will use 2 default and 3 custom labels.

  • Category column as Publisher is for Microsoft
  • Family column as Family is for Office Visio
  • Label 1 column as Type is for Professional and Standard
  • Label 2 column as Version is for 2007, 2010 and 2013
  • Label 3 column as Tag is for Licensing

sccm 2012 asset intelligence custom labels

In some situations, Type will not be automatically used like Adobe Photoshop CS6.

How to create custom tags in Asset Intelligence

Follow the below steps to customize Office Visio in Asset Intelligence.

  • In the console, from the left panel, click on Asset and Compliance
  • Expand Overview / Asset Intelligence and right-click on Catalog
  • Select Create Software Category to create a Publisher
  • Select Create Software Family to create a Family
  • Select Create Software Label to create a Type, Version or Tag
  • Enter the category, family or label name in the selected field (Below screenshot)
  • Enter a description if needed (Below screenshot)

sccm 2012 asset intelligence custom labels

  • Click Next
  • Confirm your addition, click Next and Close

Repeat for each label that needs to be created. You can verify your new label by clicking on Catalog under Asset Intelligence. Once you complete, it will be time to tag all Office Visio products.

Assign your custom tags to your software

  • From the Asset Intelligence node, click on Inventoried Software
  • Click on the search field, type Visio and click Search. This action will list software with Visio
  • Right-click on the selected products and choose Properties. You can also select more than one software at a time

sccm 2012 asset intelligence custom labels

  • Select specific Category and Family
  • Click on the Custom Labels tab

sccm 2012 asset intelligence custom labels

  • Select specific Type, Version and Tag

Do this exercise with all Office Visio products present in the catalog.

Verify the custom tags configuration in Asset Intelligence

If you change more than one product at the same time, please refresh the list to obtain a new modification. Once everything is finished for Visio products, sort the list by Label 3 and you should see something like this.

sccm 2012 asset intelligence custom labels

As you can see, it is the clearest result and it’s easier to standardize your products. You can use the same structure for every product. There’s an operational cost attached with the usage of Asset Intelligence to maintain new entries but it’s definitely worth it.

In the next blog post, we will show you how to create reports based on custom labels.

SCCM/MECM Asset Intelligence Blog Series

sccm 2012 asset intelligence custom labels

Comments (7)

Adrian

07.29.2019 AT 08:54 AM
Does anybody knows about a script that adds labels on the inventoried software based on a CSV file?

Leon

03.28.2017 AT 01:43 AM
Hi Nick, Would i be able to use the same process for Operating systems? if so what would you suggest for the Category, Family, Label 1, Label 2 and Label 3 so that one can distinguish between server and workstation as well. One of our clients would like to know. Thank you Leon

Brock Graham

05.10.2016 AT 10:18 PM
It's fantastic to see such a useful post. I was searching for the same form some time ago and found a great service with a huge forms library. Just look at the service code>http://goo.gl/7SF1uG. Its pretty easy to use. I think you can get a free trial if you ask for it.

haritha

03.16.2015 AT 11:37 PM
Excellent post, Thank you

Jim LaRosa

12.29.2014 AT 10:20 AM
Thank you for the "How to maximize the use of Asset Intelligence with Labels" post. My SCCM 2012 is setup for labels. I am looking forward to your post on creating reports with custom labels. I am trying to create a software inventory report that shows all software installed in add/remove with no label, unapproved label or not known label. Thanks, Jim LaRosa

Nicolas Pilon

01.05.2015 AT 04:00 PM
Hi Jim, I'm happy that you configure your labels without any assist. The part 3 is in progress. 🙂 You can refer to this Installed Software Report mostly from Add Remove Program. I'll let you know when the post is ready. Thanks Nick

Nicolas Pilon

01.23.2015 AT 12:52 PM
Hi Jim, We publish the blog post where you will be able to create a custom report based on your labels. https://www.systemcenterdudes.com/create-custom-reports-labels-asset-intelligence/ Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks Nick