User Guide

How to classify software

This guide shows you how to assign a Software group classification — Required, Regular, or Forbidden — to a product in your site's software catalog so it can be tracked for license compliance and policy enforcement.

Prerequisites

  • You sign in to AlloyScan with the Administrator role on the current site. Users with the User role can browse the catalog but cannot change classifications.
  • At least one device has been audited so that the catalog is populated.
  • To capture each classification change as a historical record, Change tracking is enabled at the site level, and the General category has the software sub-attributes turned on.

Steps

  1. Open Software from the left navigation.

  2. Choose the view that matches your goal.

    • Use By name & version when the classification depends on the specific build or version of the product.
    • Use By name when the policy applies regardless of version.
    • Locate the product to classify. Use the column filters (for example, Manufacturer or Platform) or the search controls to narrow the list. If the 1000-row cap banner appears and the product is not visible, click Load all.

  3. Set the Software group value on the product row to one of the following:

    • Required — the product must be present in your environment. Use this for mandated tools such as a corporate endpoint-protection client or a baseline IT utility.
    • Regular — the default classification. The product is allowed but neither required nor banned.
    • Forbidden — the product must not be present. Use this for unlicensed software, decommissioned tools, or shadow-IT applications.
    • Repeat for each product whose classification needs to change.

Note: Details of the classification edit control may vary by deployment.

Verify

After you change a classification, you should see:

  • The new value in the Software group column on the product row in Inventory > Software.
  • A new entry on the Change history tab of the Software page (when Change tracking is enabled with the relevant General sub-attributes).
  • A matching entry in the global Change log under Admin Center > Site Settings > Logs.

To confirm the install map you are governing, click the product name to open its detail view and review the list of devices that have the product installed.

Choose which Software groups are imported into Alloy Navigator

If your AlloyScan deployment is connected to Alloy Navigator through AlloyScan Sync, you can pick which Software groups are included in the Sync import. The control is per-group and lives in the Classify software into groups modal.

  1. On the Software page, open the Actions menu in the toolbar and choose Manage groups.

  2. In the Classify software into groups modal, find the group whose import behaviour you want to change: Required, Forbidden, or Regular.

  3. Set the Track software from this groups in Alloy Navigator checkbox for that group.

    • On — products classified in that group are included in the next AlloyScan Sync run.
    • Off — products classified in that group are excluded from the Alloy Navigator import.

Each of the three groups has its own checkbox; set them independently. 4. Save the modal.

The change takes effect on the next AlloyScan Sync run. The Alloy Navigator-side configuration of the sync job itself is described in Set up Alloy Navigator Sync.

Note: Details of the Manage groups modal and the save path may vary by deployment.