Software and data normalization

[Susan_A]

This page provides information about how Lansweeper normalizes hardware, software, and OS data, how it works, and where you can find the data in Lansweeper.

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The software normalization feature is currently in a preview phase. It's possible to quickly toggle between normalization and scanned software on individual asset pages and in the Software module.

When you link your local Lansweeper installation with your Cloud site, your asset data is sent up to the cloud. This includes your scanned software data.

Within Cloud, you can not only view your software data as it was scanned, but you can also opt to see a normalized software view. Using machine learning, Cloud normalizes software names, publishers and version numbers. For instance, where a Google software product may have its publisher listed as "Google LLC" or the older "Google Inc" in Add/Remove Programs, Cloud will normalize all of these publisher names to "Google".

This article explains how the feature can be enabled, and where a list of normalized software can be found in Cloud. 

Enable the normalized software feature

For Lansweeper installations earlier than 10.5, we recommend upgrading to the latest version to avoid any issues.

You can enable software normalization by going to Configuration > Site settings and toggling the Normalized software switch.

After enabling this feature, a progress bar will appear, indicating the progress of the normalization process for reports. All reports are sent to the running queue. Once this process is complete, all reports will return normalized software data.

Only the site owner can enable or disable this feature. For performance reasons, the feature can only be re-enabled once every 7 days.

View normalized software

Please note that the Release column has been deprecated. You can now find the relevant information in the Version and Architecture columns instead.

Normalized software views can be found in the following locations in Cloud.

Software menu and asset pages

When the normalized software feature is enabled, the default non-normalized list of scanned software will still be displayed in the All software view found in the Software module, and in the Installed software view found in individual asset pages. The normalized view can be activated even if the normalized software feature is disabled.

Reports and API

When the normalized software feature is first enabled, report results won't be updated immediately, as the reports are sent to the running queue. The progress of this normalization process is displayed in Configuration > Site settings. Once completed, reports in the Reports module will display a normalized list of software.
API data will contain normalized software immediately after enabling this feature.

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