Best Practices
The documents below present best practices for ZENworks Asset Management and software asset management.
Managing Discovered Products in ZENworks Asset Management
This document presents a procedure and suggested best practices for performing this cleanup and for managing Discovered Products with ZENworks Asset Management.
Version 2.1 - posted 11 November 2015
This document presents a procedure and suggested best practices for performing this cleanup and for managing Discovered Products with ZENworks Asset Management.
Version 2.1 - posted 11 November 2015

Managing Discovered Products v. 2.1 | |
File Size: | 668 kb |
File Type: |
Master Software Exclusion List
This spreadsheet is the companion to the "Managing Discovered Products in ZENworks Asset Management" best practices document above.
Anyone working with software asset management - and ZENworks Asset Management in particular - is welcome to download and use this list. I ask two things in return:
Version 2.1 - posted 11 November 2015
This spreadsheet is the companion to the "Managing Discovered Products in ZENworks Asset Management" best practices document above.
Anyone working with software asset management - and ZENworks Asset Management in particular - is welcome to download and use this list. I ask two things in return:
- Once you use the list to cleanup your list of products, and then move on to the next step to research the remaining software in your inventory and identify other products that can be added to the Master Software Exclusion List, please create and run a report that shows your exclusions. I’ll merge your results into the master file and publish an update for others to use.
- “Like” the McDowell Consulting LLC Facebook page. This is where I will announce updates to the Master Software Exclusion List and process document.
Version 2.1 - posted 11 November 2015

Master SW Exclusion List v. 2.1 (xlsx) | |
File Size: | 282 kb |
File Type: | xlsx |
Maintenance Plans for MS SQL Database Servers in a ZENworks Environment
Novell recommends a regular maintenance program for the ZENworks database. This plan will vary by database platform, but generally will include regular backups, index maintenance and database reorganization / shrink tasks. This document suggests a best practice based on the Novell recommendations, implemented through the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
Novell recommends a regular maintenance program for the ZENworks database. This plan will vary by database platform, but generally will include regular backups, index maintenance and database reorganization / shrink tasks. This document suggests a best practice based on the Novell recommendations, implemented through the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.

MS SQL Database Maintenance v. 1.0 | |
File Size: | 343 kb |
File Type: |
ZENworks Asset Management Purchase Record Import Template
The original ZENworks Asset Management purchase record import template dates to 2005 and the Novell acquisition of Tally Systems, the originator of the asset management technology. It has not been modified since; even the original name has not been updated, referring to ZENworks Asset Management version 7 and TS.Census 3.3, software versions that have been obsolete nearly 10 years. In addition, the file is buried so well on the ZENworks download site that it can be quite challenging to find.
The file provided here is the same as that available from Novell, with the exception that the first tab containing a description and instructions has been updated and improved.
Watch this space for version 2 of the template. I'm working on a version that includes built-in error checking that can validate the length of strings in your purchasing data and pre-flight the data before loading into ZENworks Asset Management.
Version 1.0 - posted 28 February 2014
The original ZENworks Asset Management purchase record import template dates to 2005 and the Novell acquisition of Tally Systems, the originator of the asset management technology. It has not been modified since; even the original name has not been updated, referring to ZENworks Asset Management version 7 and TS.Census 3.3, software versions that have been obsolete nearly 10 years. In addition, the file is buried so well on the ZENworks download site that it can be quite challenging to find.
The file provided here is the same as that available from Novell, with the exception that the first tab containing a description and instructions has been updated and improved.
Watch this space for version 2 of the template. I'm working on a version that includes built-in error checking that can validate the length of strings in your purchasing data and pre-flight the data before loading into ZENworks Asset Management.
Version 1.0 - posted 28 February 2014

ZAM Purchase Record Import Template v. 1.0 (xlsx) | |
File Size: | 39 kb |
File Type: | xls |
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