Software Rules

In the service-based industry, there are predefined regulations for all management software that are defined during installation. In Asset Management, assets are broadly divided into three divisions: Hardware, Software, and Non-IT.

Software as an asset plays a key role because managing software assets can be a tedious job. Thus, various predefined rules allow you to identify and address fewer violations if they occur.

To view the Software Rules page, navigate to Admin > Asset Management > Software Rules.

Below is the list of pre-defined software rules:

Software Type Settings

This allows you to set the 'Default Software Type' to any of the predefined types. Thus, if any asset is added or discovered, the Software type would by default be the one selected here.

Prohibited Software Rules

This tab allows you to create rules to prohibit (blacklist) certain software in the organization's assets, enabling precise management of software usage. Additionally, it helps in safeguarding against security threats, ensuring compliance, and streamlining the IT environment. For example, torrent clients are prohibited at most workplaces.

Motadata has a default Prohibited Type called 'Prohibited' to flag certain Software Assets. The process of flagging can be done both manually and through automation by adding a rule.

Flagging a Software as Prohibited has the following behavior:

When prohibited software is discovered during discovery, a notification is sent to the user of the Installed Asset (Used by) and the Admins. Prohibited software is displayed in the "All Prohibited Software" filter. Any asset can be manually changed to prohibited by changing the 'Software type'. If all prohibited types are to be listed down, they can be done as below:

Flagging software as prohibited is done by adding a software rule with a condition.

Here, you can perform the following actions:

1. Computer Exclusion: Add assets that you want to ignore for prohibited software.
2. Scan Existing Softwares: Scan all existing software, and accordingly prohibit, and send them to the Auto Uninstallation Policy.
3. Add Software Rule: Add rules to prohibit or allow software.
4. Bulk Actions: Select multiple rules and enable, disable, or delete them in one operation.
5. Enabled: Enable or disable the prohibited/allowed software rule.
6. Edit: Edit the rule.
7. Delete: Delete the rule if it is no longer required. A confirmation message will appear. Click Yes to continue or Cancel to stop the process.
8. Grid: View a list of rules along with their description.

Computer Exclusion

The Computer Exclusion feature allows you to exempt specific hardware assets from being flagged under the Prohibited Software rule. In scenarios where certain systems require otherwise restricted software for valid operational or administrative reasons, this feature provides flexibility and control. By configuring Computer Exclusion, you can:

• Allow specific computers to run the prohibited software without triggering alerts or violations.
• Maintain compliance across the organization.
• Prevent false alarms

To exclude computers, follow these steps:

1. Click on Computer Exclusion. A popup will appear displaying the list of excluded computers.
2. To add more computers to the list, click the Add to Exclusion List button. A list of hardware assets will then appear.
3. Select the assets to exclude.
4. Click Add.
5. Lastly, click Done. The prohibited software rules will now ignore these computers and allow them to run the software.

Add Software Rule

To create a software rule, follow these steps:

1. Click the Add Software Rule button. A popup window will then appear.
2. Enter the Name and Description of the rule.
3. Add Conditions based on which the software will be marked as prohibited. You can add multiple conditions using the Add Condition Group button. To delete conditions, you can use the Remove All Conditions.

4. Once completed, click Add. The rule will be enabled by default. Whenever the configured conditions match a software, the rule will automatically trigger and uninstall the software based on the auto-uninstallation policy.

Mandatory Software

This provides an option to select a mandatory list of software that must be installed on all computers. After each scan, the list of software is checked against the mandatory list. If there are missing software installations, an email alert similar to that for prohibited software installations is sent.

The page displays a list of mandatory software along with its details as shown below.

Here, you have the following options:

• Computer Exclusion: You can add assets that you want to ignore for prohibited software. For more details, refer to the section Prohibited Software Rules.
• Add Mandatory Software: Add software that must be installed on the computers.
• Enable/Disable: Enable or disable the rule.
• Delete: Delete the rule if it is no longer required.

Add Mandatory Software

To add software to the mandatory list, follow these steps:

1. Click the Add Mandatory Software button. A popup window will then appear.
2. Select the desired software from the list.
3. Click Done.

Software Normalization Rules

Software Normalization is a rule-based automation that:

• Makes changes in Software Asset Details when specific condition(s) are triggered.
• Adds consolidating software that fulfills the predefined conditions.
• Manages a controlled software installation type by putting software either in a whitelist or blacklist (Prohibited Software).

Software Normalization can be useful in cases where managing every discovered Software Asset is not possible, and there is a need to manage a small set of Software Assets for compliance management. Thus, Software Normalization can be used to change the type of software satisfying some predefined conditions.

Also, where users want to control the kind of software that can be installed or uninstalled on their computers and expect notifications of an unauthorized instance of an installation, one can mark all unauthorized software as Prohibited (blacklist). Thus, whenever prohibited software is discovered, a notification is sent to the user and admin.

Setting Software Normalization

A user can create Normalization rules that can have two kinds of actions:

1. Upon trigger, Normalization sets certain field values of a Software Asset. For example: Change the type of software asset to Software.
2. Upon trigger, Normalization consolidates all software, satisfying the Normalization rules, into a single suite.

Create a Normalization Rule for Field Assignment

To create a normalization rule, follow these steps:

1. Click on Add Software Normalization Rule. A popup window will then appear.
2. Enter the following details:
   • Name: Change Asset Type
   • Description Statement: It will change the asset type.
   • Condition Statement 1: When the Name= Equals = Google Chrome.
   • Action for Condition Statement 1: Set Asset type To = Software

• Here, the rule type is Field Assignment.
• Set the condition as Name Equals to Google Chrome; this means that the rule is applicable on Software Assets with Name as Google Chrome.
• Add an action: Set Asset Type to Software. The set action will be performed when the rule is triggered.
• Turn on Include Normalized Softwares in Next Run. Turning on this option allows software that has been normalized by this rule or any other rule to be included if conditions are satisfied during its next run.
• When you are done creating a rule, click on Add. When the rule is triggered, in Next Run or immediately using the Run Now option, the asset type will be converted to Software as shown below.

Create a Normalization Rule for Suite To create a normalization rule, follow these steps:

1. Click on Add Software Normalization Rule. A popup window will then appear.
2. Enter the following details:
   • Name: Microsoft Office Suite
   • Description Statement: It will contain all Office software.
   • Rule Type: Software Suite
   • Condition Statement 1: When the Name = Visual, and
   • Condition Statement 2: When the Name = Microsoft
   • Action for Condition Statement 1 and 2: Add to Suite = Microsoft Visual Studio Installer

• Here, the rule type is Software Suite.
• Set the condition as Name Equals to Microsoft or Visual; this means that the rule is applicable on Software assets with Product as Microsoft Visual Studio.
• Add an action: Add to Suite. The set action will be performed when the rule is triggered.
• Turn on Include Normalized Softwares in Next Run. Turning on this option allows software that has been normalized by this rule or any other rule to be included if conditions are satisfied during its next run.
• When you are done creating a rule, click on Add.

Auto Uninstallation Policy

This tab allows you to create a policy using which software can be uninstalled from all computers automatically. You can also add an uninstallation command.

The page displays a list of prohibited software that you can uninstall using the auto-uninstallation policy. You can also click on the ID to view the asset details.

Uninstallation Command Configuration

To add a command to uninstall software, follow these steps:

1. Click the Edit icon next to the desired software. A popup window will then appear.
2. Select the option to Generate Uninstall String as Pre-fill Uninstall Command and I will Specify myself.
3. In the Uninstall Command with Silent Switch field, enter the command. This is used for silent uninstallation of software, particularly for .exe files.
4. Once the command is entered, click Update.

Add Auto Uninstallation Policy

1. Automatic Uninstallation: Enable this option if you want to apply the policy to uninstall software automatically.
2. Uninstall Software After: Specify the number of days/hours/minutes after which the software should be uninstalled automatically.
3. Once configured, click Update.