Integrating Inventory

Help desk integration with PC-Duo Enterprise Inventory makes a wealth of information about a user's PC immediately available to help desk staff. All a help desk analyst has to do is type the computer name, and all the software and hardware information stored in the PC-Duo Enterprise site database becomes available.

To ensure that help desk analysts always have accurate, up-to-date information, you should regularly publish the hardware and software inventory data in the PC-Duo Enterprise offline area to the PC-Duo Enterprise site database.

Software and Hardware Details

In a Web view, the Inventory tab displays a summary of the inventory information for the user’s computer, and includes a set of detailed reports.

Inventory Tab

Only the computer name is stored in the Enterprise HelpDesk database. Web views always get the inventory information from the PC-Duo Enterprise site database.

Site-Wide Inventory Reports

In addition to the Inventory tab, which provides computer-specific information, Web views include a set of general software and hardware inventory reports. These site-wide reports provide information for all computers.

Site-Wide Inventory Reports

Remote Control

By default, Enterprise HelpDesk adds Remote Control buttons to the fields (such as Computer Name) used to query the PC-Duo Enterprise site database for Inventory information.

Field with a Remote Control button

The Remote Control button (

) connects to the specified computer and starts a PC-Duo ActiveX Remote Control session. The remote control session runs in a browser window, and does not require the PC-Duo Control to be installed on the local computer.

How to Integrate Inventory

To integrate an Enterprise HelpDesk project with PC-Duo Enterprise Inventory:

Gather information about the PC-Duo Enterprise site database. You’ll need this information when you log on to HelpDesk Web Admin to set up the integration.

Connect the project to a PC-Duo Enterprise site database.

Define the query that retrieves software and hardware inventory information from the site database.

Add the Inventory tab to Web views.

Gathering Information about the Site Database

Before you can integrate PC-Duo Enterprise Inventory with Enterprise HelpDesk, you need to know a few things about the PC-Duo Enterprise site database:

What type of database is it? (Access or SQL Server?)

If it is a Microsoft Access database, what are the name and location of the Microsoft Access .mdb file?

If it is a SQL Server database, what are the names of 1) the SQL Server and 2) the SQL Server database?

Typically, the name of the SQL Server is the name of the computer on which SQL Server is installed.

Do you need a user account and password to log on to the site database?

If you have access to a PC-Duo Enterprise console, you can find this information yourself. If not, ask the person responsible for administering PC-Duo Enterprise.

To use the PC-Duo Enterprise console to check the database type, name, and location:

In the console tree (the left pane), expand the site, and then click Site Management.

In the Details area (right pane), click Database and Licensing.

The Database Location box specifies the type, name, and location of the database. For example:

ACCESS MySiteDB \\server\share\MySiteDB.mdb

-or-

SQL SERVER MySite MySQLServer MySiteDB

To use the PC-Duo Enterprise console to check the logon information:

In the console tree (the left pane), click Enterprise Management.

In the Details area (the right pane), click Logon Information.

Connecting to a Site Database

You can connect each Enterprise HelpDesk project to a different site database, or multiple projects to the same site database. You cannot connect a project to more than one site database.

To connect to a site database, you need to know the database type, name, and location, and whether you need a user account and password to log on to the site database. See Gathering Information about the Site Database.

To connect a project to a Microsoft Access site database:

Log on to HelpDesk Web Admin.

Click the Inventory tab.

In the Project list, click a project.

In the Type list, click Microsoft Access.

Click Browse and locate the database file (an .mdb file).

Look in the network, not the local computer, to locate the database. By default, site databases are located in the PC-Duo Enterprise installation folder (for example, C:\Program Files\PC-Duo Enterprise).

If you need to log on to the site database, type the user name in the User Name box, and the password in the Password and Confirm Password boxes.

Click Test to verify that Enterprise HelpDesk can connect to the database.

To connect a project to a Microsoft SQL Server site database:

Log on to HelpDesk Web Admin.

Click the Inventory tab.

In the Project list, click a project.

In the Type list, click SQL Server.

In the Name box, type the name of the SQL Server database.

In the SQL Server box, type the name of the SQL Server.

The name of the SQL Server is typically the computer name of the server.

If you need to log on to the site database, type the user name in the User Name box, and the password in the Password and Confirm Password boxes.

Click Test to verify that Enterprise HelpDesk can connect to the database.

Defining the Query

By default, Enterprise HelpDesk uses the Computer Name field to select inventory information from the site database. The default query looks like this:

Client Name is a field in the site database that stores the unique network name of a computer. Computer Name is a text field in the Enterprise HelpDesk project.

To use a different site database field, such as User Name (the user name for a Windows user account), you have to:

Add a new text field to the Enterprise HelpDesk project (such as Windows User Name) so help desk staff can enter the value that will be used in the query.

Change the query. For example:

User Name = Windows User Name

Inventory Fields

The list of Inventory fields that you can use in a query come from the NODES table in the site database.

The Inventory field should be a field that has unique values. Otherwise Enterprise HelpDesk may retrieve inventory data for more than one computer. In this case, Enterprise HelpDesk displays the inventory data for the first computer found, which may or may not be the right computer.

HelpDesk Fields

The list of HelpDesk fields includes all text and number fields that are not on the Contact tab.

Adding the Inventory Tab to Web Views

To add the Inventory tab:

Log on to the Web View Editor, and in the shortcut bar, click

Fields.

In the Tab list, click Overview. Add the Computer Name field to the Export To View list.

In the Tab list, click Inventory. Add all the Inventory fields to the Export To View list.

You have to export at least the Client Name field. To make sure all the Inventory reports work, export all the Inventory fields.

If you don't export all the fields, the System Summary report will either be incomplete or display the error message "The field name is not known".

Adding the Inventory tab also adds the Software and Hardware reports to the Web view. You can use group permissions to control access to these reports.