Understanding Software Reclaim

Software Reclaim relies on accurate, normalized software inventory and usage data to correctly identify which products are installed. To enable this, two platform components must be configured; Catalog and Inventory Insights. They are vital for ensuring accurate data in Software Reclaim and this section describes their roles and importance.

Catalog overview

Catalog provides a standardized definition of software products, versions, editions, suites, and match rules. Software Reclaim uses the Catalog to accurately identify installed applications and ensure usage data is attributed to the correct software title.

Why Catalog matters for Software Reclaim

• Normalizes raw inventory data from endpoints.

• Ensures Software Usage records map to the correct software product.

• Enables reclaim rules to target specific products and versions reliably.

• Prevents misclassification of applications when different installers or naming conventions exist across the environment.

Refer to Catalog mapping for full details on ensuring your mapping is configured correctly. Or refer to Catalog for full details on the Catalog product.

Inventory Insights overview

Inventory Insights is responsible for collecting, aggregating, and presenting detailed software installation and usage information from endpoints. Software Reclaim uses this data to evaluate reclaim policies and determine whether software is unused or under-used.

Why Inventory Insights matters for Software Reclaim

• Provides normalized inventory data enriched by the Catalog.

• Supplies historical Software Usage data required for reclaim decisions.

• Enables dashboards that help administrators identify reclaim candidates.

Refer to Inventory Insights for full details.

A high number of unreported software titles indicates that software installations are present, but usage data is not being captured. This can affect Software Reclaim accuracy, hide potential savings, and make it difficult to assess true software usage. This section explains the common causes of unreported titles and how to resolve them.

The most common reasons for this high unreported software titles number are the following:

• No device usage: A device is not reporting software usage, meaning there is an issue with the client.

  • Refer to Verifying - 1E Client to ensure that the client is correctly installed and communicating.
  • Them, ensure that the 1E Client service is running, the config file is correct, and the network connectivity to the DEX Platform is intact.

• No product usage: Catalog mapping for the .exe file (from which usage from the client is reported) and normalized inventory is missing or incorrect.

  • You need to normalize the software using the 1E Catalog. This normalization step ensures that all software entries are standardized and accurately represented, which can help resolve discrepancies and improve overall software management.

  • For step-by-step instructions on normalizing the source inventory by using Catalog, refer to Managing match rules.

• No usage reported: No product activity has been detected on the device since Software Reclaim was enabled.

  • This commonly occurs when the end user installs software on their device before the 1E Client was ever installed.

  • After the 1E Client was installed, the end user never used the software, so no usage could be reported.

  • The best way to troubleshoot this is to reach out to a group of your impacted users and to ask them to open and interact with the relevant software. Then, check back the next day, after the data is refreshed to see if the software still appears as unreported. If it's not, it is likely a client installation issue.

Relevant software refers to applications that are meaningful from a reclaim- or usage-visibility perspective. These are the titles customers typically want to track because they can impact licensing costs, compliance, or optimization decisions.

Relevant software may include the following:

• Relevant licensable software: Where reclaiming unused installations can save costs.

• Relevant non-licensable software: That customers still want visibility into, such as applications important for usage tracking or governance. By default, software will be marked as non-licensable software.

By marking software as relevant, the dashboard focuses only on titles that matter to you, removing unnecessary noise and avoiding clutter from system components or low-value applications. This ensures you see a clear, accurate view of the software that is important for reclaim and optimization purposes.

Configuring the relevant software list

1. Navigate to Software Reclaim.

2. Click the Solution Settings icon from the menu on the left.

3. Click Configure Relevant Software List.

   

4. Click the Non-Licensable Software and Licensable Software icons on the top right to show a list of the non-licensable and licensable software, respectively.

   

5. Select the Is Relevant checkbox next to the Vendor or Title you want to enable creation of Reclaim Rules for.

6. Click Save Changes on the top right.

Your software titles are now marked as Is Relevant and the changes will be reflected in the next daily data refresh cycle.

If you navigate to the Software Centric view and select a Software Vendor or Software Title, you should normally see installation counts across multiple categories.

However, if a software title consistently shows zero installations in every category except Unreported Installations, this usually indicates a catalog mapping issue. In this situation, the raw inventory data is not mapping correctly to the normalized software entry in the 1E Catalog, causing the system to treat all installations as unreported.

How to verify and fix catalog mapping for a software title

Follow the steps below to confirm whether a software title is affected by a catalog mapping issue and how to resolve it.

Viewing catalog mapping for a software title

1. Verify the software exists in Inventory Insights.

   1. Go to Inventory Insights.

   2. Select Software from the menu on the left.

   3. Select Normalized.

   4. Search for the software vendor or software title.

      

   5. Confirm if the software does or does not appear in the search results. If it does not appear, the software has not been mapped or discovered correctly and you must follow the next steps.

2. Filter for the vendor.

   1. Go to the Catalog.

   2. Click Filtering.

      

   3. Enter the software vendor’s name into the Vendor field.

   4. Review the search results.

3. Inspect mapped files.

   1. Click Files under the Actions section on the right.

   2. Check whether any .exe files are listed.

At this point, there are two common scenarios:

1. There is no .exe file mapped to your software title. In this case, you will need to add a .exe file to the software title.

2. The .exe file is not mapped to the correct vendor title. In this case, you will need to edit the .exe file mapped to the software title.

Follow the steps below to address the scenario that applies.

Adding an .exe file to a software title

If no files appear, this means no executable is mapped to the software’s catalog signature. The 1E Client is likely reporting usage for an .exe that is not mapped to this software title.

You will need to add the .exe file that is being monitored on devices by following the steps below.

1. Click Add a new Product File on the top left.

2. On the Product File screen, enter the file name.

   

3. Click Create.

Your .exe file has now been added to the software title.

Editing the name of the .exe file mapped to a software title

In many cases, the .exe file isn’t mapped to the correct vendor title. Sometimes the vendor name is correct but the product title is wrong, and other times the product title is correct but the vendor name is incorrect.

A common example of an unreported installation is Google Chrome. Depending on the version, the vendor name might appear as Google in some cases, and Google LLC in others. When the title shows up as Google LLC, the .exe file is mapped to Google LLC, while normalization may still map it to Google. Likewise, the product title can vary; sometimes it appears as Chrome and other times as Google Chrome.

To edit the name of the .exe file mapped to a software title, follow the steps below.

1. On the Product page, find the item you want to modify.

2. Under the Actions column, click Files.

3. From the list of files, locate the one you want and click Edit.

   

4. In the Product File screen, update the file name.

5. Click Save.

Waiting for the next aggregation

After the .exe file is added or the mapping is updated, the next data aggregation cycle will incorporate the fix. Once the daily aggregation completes, usage for that .exe will begin to appear correctly in Software Reclaim.