Organizing and Analyzing Inventory Data

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

After gathering your inventory data into a single database, you can analyze the applications currently installed in your organization. You can begin to determine which applications are compatible with the new operating system and which are not compatible or require special considerations, and you can make decisions about consolidating the application base in your organization.

Checking Application Compatibility

Using the Application Compatibility Analyzer, you can connect to the application compatibility database at Microsoft to determine whether the applications in your organization are compatible with Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003. When the Application Compatibility Analyzer tool generates a compatibility report, it automatically accesses the application compatibility database and updates your software inventory with compatibility information. If you use a different tool to generate an inventory, or if you want to check the compatibility of an application that you have not yet deployed, you can use the Windows Catalog instead.

You can use an application’s compatibility rating to assess the level of testing that application requires. If your organization uses an application listed as compatible or as designed for Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003 without customization, you need only minimally test the product. However, if you customize applications with macros, templates, or custom tools, you need to thoroughly test those applications.

Checking application compatibility using the Application Compatibility Analyzer

When you use the Application Compatibility Analyzer tool to request compatibility information for an application from the application compatibility database, one of four levels of compatibility is returned:

  • Compatible. The application has no known issues.

  • Compatible with Issues. The application has one or more minor functionality issues.

  • Incompatible. The application’s general functionality fails.

  • Unknown. The application’s compatibility is unknown.

The compatibility levels returned by the application compatibility database are combined with the information in your inventory to create a local application compatibility database for your organization. The local compatibility database provides details about the operating systems and scenarios under which the applications were tested. It also contains other useful information, such as the number of computers on which each application is installed and which departments are using which applications. You can use this information to categorize your applications and prioritize them for testing.

For more information about checking application compatibility with the Application Compatibility Analyzer tool, see "Connecting to the Compatibility Database" in Application Compatibility Analyzer Help.

As you find out more about an application, either through your own testing or from the application vendor, you can update its compatibility information in your local compatibility database.

Checking application compatibility using the Windows Catalog

If you gathered your inventory using SMS or a third-party inventory tool, or if you have not yet deployed the application whose compatibility you want to check, you can use the Windows Catalog to check compatibility. In Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003, you can open the Windows Catalog by clicking Start, clicking All Programs, and then clicking Windows Catalog. Alternatively, you can use the Windows Catalog link on the Web Resources page at https://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources.

If an application is listed as Compatible in the Windows Catalog, either Microsoft or its manufacturer has tested it for compatibility with Windows XP Professional, and it meets specific compatibility criteria. The Windows Catalog also highlights products that are part of the Designed for Windows Logo Program for Windows XP Professional. Products with the Designed for Windows XP logo are specifically created to take advantage of the features of Windows XP Professional, which reduces the number of problems that you might otherwise have in using these applications.

Gathering Additional Application Information

Regardless of which tool you use to generate your inventory, you need to manually collect information that is organization-specific or group-specific for each application. This type of information cannot be collected by an inventory tool, but it is important for creating your test plan.

Talk with representatives from the groups that use each application to document:

  • A description of the application’s function.

  • The name of the application vendor (if applicable).

  • The version number of the application.

  • The importance of the application to your organization.

  • The current status of the application (in production, under development, no longer used).

  • The development platform for the application (if the application was developed internally).

  • Contact names and phone numbers for internal contacts and vendors.

  • Other information that pertains to the organization or group’s unique use of the application.

  • Additional certification or testing that might be necessary to meet government regulations. For example, certain applications used in the development and production of pharmaceuticals must meet certification requirements set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In some cases, if you change the operating system on which the application runs, you might also have to recertify the application.

You can use this information to help prioritize your testing, especially if you have limited resources and are unable to fully test each application.

Consolidating Your Application Base

Review the inventory to see if you can consolidate your organization’s application base. Limiting the applications used in your organization can minimize your testing effort, decrease configuration variability during deployment, and increase the likelihood of a successful deployment.

Look for the following in your inventory:

  • Several versions of the same application. Consider updating older applications to newer versions or moving all users to a full-featured version of a particular application. For example, if some of your users use Microsoft® Office 2000 and others use Microsoft® Office XP, you might decide to support only Office XP in the future.

  • Redundant applications. If groups in your organization are using different applications to accomplish the same tasks, consider moving everyone to the same application.

  • Obsolete applications. Review your inventory for applications that are rarely or never used in your organization, and consider retiring them.