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Asset Intelligence is not one all-or-nothing feature: HTMD’s deprecation analysis says the catalog synchronization point and Microsoft Volume License import/reconciliation were deprecated, while several inventory and reporting capabilities remained. In particular, treat license reports as discovery aids—not proof of legal compliance. Report names and availability can vary by Configuration Manager release and site configuration.
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What Asset Intelligence reports show
These are predefined SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports that present Configuration Manager inventory and related asset-management data. Their value depends on what clients report, how the site recognizes and categorizes products, whether data has been processed, and which report definitions are installed.
- Inventory data is what managed clients report, such as hardware attributes, installed software, and usage-related details.
- Asset Intelligence categorization associates recognized software with product families, categories, labels, and lifecycle information. Recognition and metadata affect what appears in categorized or lifecycle views.
- License-related data can help with investigation, but it is not a complete record of contractual entitlements or licensing rights.
- SSRS reports are presentations of the available site data, not live device queries. A report cannot compensate for missing, stale, or misidentified inventory.
The report guide published by HTMD on August 16, 2024, groups the reports into Hardware, License, Lifecycle, and Software. Its list reflects a long-standing report catalog; it is not a guarantee that every current branch has precisely the same reports. HTMD’s Asset Intelligence report guide
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“Asset Intelligence is deprecated” is too broad. HTMD’s deprecation coverage says specific catalog, synchronization, and Microsoft Volume License functions were deprecated or out of support from the November 2021 release, while other inventory-related capabilities remained. Confirm behavior against the Configuration Manager build and report catalog in your environment.
| Capability | How to interpret it |
|---|---|
| Hardware and software inventory reporting | Client inventory remains useful for device and software discovery; results depend on enabled classes, client reporting, and processing. |
| Inventoried software titles and product lifecycle dashboard | HTMD lists these among the retained capabilities. Validate important lifecycle decisions against the vendor’s current support policy. |
| Custom software titles, categories, families, and labels | HTMD lists these among retained capabilities; availability and workflow should be checked in the target build. |
| Asset Intelligence catalog and synchronization point | HTMD says these were deprecated and out of support from the November 2021 release. The synchronization point connected to System Center Online for catalog information and uncategorized-title submissions. |
| Microsoft Volume License import and reconciliation | HTMD identifies this as deprecated. Do not assume old reconciliation workflows provide supported or complete entitlement accounting. |
| General License Statement import and reconciliation | HTMD lists this separately among retained capabilities; it is not the same as Microsoft Volume License import/reconciliation. |
See HTMD’s Asset Intelligence deprecation and synchronization-point coverage for the component distinction.
How to open a report
- Open the Configuration Manager console connected to the intended site.
- Select Monitoring.
- Expand Reporting, then open the Asset Intelligence folder.
- Select a report and supply its prompts, such as a collection, computer, product, or time range.
- Run the report; use the available SSRS export options if you need a file copy.
The folder path is documented in HTMD’s report guide. If it is missing, check the Reporting Services Point and report deployment, your report permissions, the connected site and reporting server, and whether the catalog was customized. Menu labels and installed reports can differ by release.
Hardware reports: device, user, USB, and change views
Hardware reports are useful for collection summaries, device lookups, user-association investigation, peripheral visibility, and inventory-change questions. Representative reports in the HTMD catalog include:
| Report | What it helps answer | Interpretation note |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware 01A – Summary of computers in a specific collection | What computers and hardware attributes are represented in a collection? | A high-level inventory view; the collection and client inventory determine coverage. |
| Hardware 03A – Primary computer users; 03B – Computers for a specific primary console user | Which users are associated with computers, or which computers are associated with a user? | Calculated inventory association is not necessarily HR ownership or formal asset assignment. |
| Hardware 04A – Computers with multiple users; 05A – Console users on a specific computer; 06A – Computers for which console users could not be determined | How are console users associated with devices, and where is that association unavailable? | Use as an administrative clue, not an authoritative identity or ownership record. |
| Hardware 07A–07D – USB devices | Which USB devices have been inventoried? | Offline devices, stale inventory, or a disabled hardware class can leave devices out of view. |
| Hardware 08A – Hardware that is not ready for a software upgrade | Which inventoried hardware may not meet the report’s upgrade-readiness criteria? | Check the report definition and target release before treating the result as a complete compatibility assessment. |
| Hardware 09A – Search for computers | Which devices match hardware or system criteria? | Useful for searching fields such as computer name, site, domain, operating system, manufacturer, or model, subject to the available report prompts. |
| Hardware 10A/10B – Hardware changes over a specified timeframe | What changes were recorded in the chosen period? | Inventory-change investigation is not necessarily a complete configuration-management audit trail. |
The guide also calls out serial number and SMSBIOS asset tag attributes. Firmware may supply blanks, duplicates, or inconsistent values, so verify identifiers before using them as a definitive asset register. The report names and descriptions above are from HTMD’s report list.
License reports: use for discovery, not compliance sign-off
The catalog includes reports for Microsoft Volume License ledgers and computer details, licenses nearing expiration, license status, Software Licensing Service products, computers providing Key Management Service, processor counts, products supporting per-processor licensing, and license reconciliation. Examples include License 01A–01D, 02A–02C, 03A–03B, 04A–04B, 05A, 06A–06B, 14A–14B, and 15A–15B.
Do not use these reports alone to establish legal software-license compliance. Installation inventory is not the same as proof of entitlement. A simple installation count may not account for edition and upgrade rights, virtualization, downgrade rights, user-based licensing, subscriptions, or mobility rights. Product identities can also differ across discovery mechanisms, and duplicate or stale records can distort totals. HTMD’s report guide itself warns that license quantities and installation counts may be inaccurate; its deprecation coverage also identifies Microsoft Volume License import and reconciliation as deprecated. Reconcile discovery results with procurement, contract, and entitlement records, or use a dedicated SAM/ITAM process for defensible compliance work. Report guide · Deprecation coverage
The guide lists these license channel codes:
| Code | Channel label in the guide |
|---|---|
| 0 | Full Packaged Product |
| 1 | Compliance Checked Product |
| 2 | OEM |
| 3 | Volume |
| 6 | MSDN |
Use the channel as a clue for investigating an inventory record, not as a conclusion about an organization’s rights. The labels and report families are documented in HTMD’s report guide.
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Lifecycle reports: find products to review
Lifecycle reports help identify recognized products and machines that may need a support review. The catalog includes:
- Lifecycle 01A – Computers with a specific software product
- Lifecycle 02A – List of machines with expired products
- Lifecycle 03A – List of expired products
- Lifecycle 04A – General product lifecycle overview
- Lifecycle 05A – Product lifecycle dashboard
Use these views to prioritize upgrade or removal work, identify products needing an owner or remediation plan, and support modernization projects. “Expired” is an administrative signal, not by itself proof that a device is vulnerable or noncompliant. Results depend on product recognition and available lifecycle metadata; unrecognized products may not receive lifecycle treatment. Validate consequential decisions against the software vendor’s current support policy. HTMD lists the product lifecycle dashboard among retained Asset Intelligence capabilities. Lifecycle report list · Retained/deprecated capability discussion
Software reports: choose by the question
Software reports cover installed-software summaries, product families and categories, computers with a product, software on a specific computer, uncategorized products, automatically running software, Browser Helper Objects, searches by product name, recently or infrequently used executable programs, custom labels, and software identification-tag-enabled products. This task map helps narrow the catalog:
| Business question | Report family | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| How many devices have an application? | Software 02D or 06B | Confirm product identity and inventory freshness before comparing counts. |
| What software is installed on one device? | Software 02E | Check whether the relevant inventory collection is enabled. |
| Which products are uncategorized? | Software 03A | Uncategorized does not mean absent; it may indicate recognition or metadata limits. |
| Which software appears rarely used? | Software 09A/09B | Usage evidence depends on the report’s inventory inputs and observation period. |
| Which devices run a specified executable? | Software 07B/07C | Executable discovery is not necessarily equivalent to a complete installed-product record. |
| Which users recently used an executable? | Software 08B/08C | Interpret as reported usage, not proof of current ownership or need. |
| Which software has a custom label? | Software 10A–12A | Results rely on the site’s custom metadata and labels. |
| What software is configured to start automatically? | Software 04B/04C | Review the report definition and returned inventory fields for the specific startup view. |
HTMD’s list repeats the Software 04C identifier with two descriptions. Check the installed report’s title and definition in your own catalog rather than assuming the duplicated label identifies one unambiguous view. The software report families and this duplicate-label issue are from HTMD’s report guide.
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Prepare inventory before relying on results
Asset Intelligence reports do not make inventory happen by themselves. Before interpreting an empty or incomplete result, verify this chain:
- Clients: Confirm the devices are managed, active, assigned to the expected site, and healthy enough to receive policy.
- Inventory settings: In the applicable client settings, enable hardware inventory and/or software inventory as the report requires, and select the relevant inventory classes. HTMD’s guide points administrators to Asset Intelligence and client settings, but exact controls vary by build.
- Policy and collection: Confirm target clients received the intended settings and that the report’s selected collection contains the expected resources.
- Inventory cycle: Allow clients to complete a relevant inventory cycle and return data; an installation made after the last cycle will not necessarily appear yet.
- Site processing: Check that the site has processed the submitted inventory successfully.
- Reporting: Verify the Reporting Services Point, SSRS connectivity, report deployment, and your permissions to run the report and view its device or collection scope.
- Prompts: Recheck collection, product, device, and date parameters; overly restrictive prompts can produce an empty result from healthy data.
The inventory and report prerequisites are summarized in HTMD’s report guide; exact troubleshooting controls should be checked against the target Configuration Manager release.
Troubleshoot missing, stale, or implausible results
The Asset Intelligence folder is missing
- Check whether the Reporting Services Point is installed and functioning and whether reports were deployed successfully.
- Confirm your report permissions and that the console is connected to the intended site and reporting server.
- Inspect the site’s actual SSRS catalog: its release, customizations, deleted folders, or renamed reports may differ from an older list.
A report runs but returns no rows
- Check client assignment and activity, the relevant inventory setting and classes, policy receipt, and completion of an inventory cycle.
- Confirm site processing succeeded and that the selected collection has current resources.
- Broaden report prompts temporarily to rule out an overly narrow date, product, device, or collection filter.
Installed software is missing or counts look duplicated
Possible causes include software inventory being disabled or restricted to selected files, a client that has not reported since installation, per-user installation, differing product names or versions, MSI versus executable discovery, 32-bit and 64-bit registration differences, multiple installations on one device, or stale records. Investigate the relevant discovery method and inventory age before treating counts as unique licensed installations.
Hardware identifiers or USB devices are absent
Check whether the corresponding hardware inventory class is enabled and whether the client has reported since the device or attribute was present. Serial numbers and SMSBIOS asset tags can be blank, duplicated, or incorrectly supplied by firmware.
License figures look implausible
Review product identity and edition, channel code, inventory age, and the origin of any imported license data. Determine whether the workflow depends on deprecated Microsoft Volume License import/reconciliation, then compare the result with entitlement records outside Configuration Manager. These reports are not a standalone compliance determination.
The synchronization point is still configured
HTMD documents removal through Administration → Site Configuration → Servers and Site System Roles: select the site-system server, select Asset Intelligence Synchronization Point in the role details, choose Remove Role from the ribbon, and confirm. Removing it stops further System Center Online communication, including catalog updates and categorization requests described by HTMD.
HTMD also shows these PowerShell examples. Replace the sample server and site-code values with your own, and validate that the cmdlet is available in the Configuration Manager PowerShell module installed in your environment before running them:
Remove-CMAssetIntelligenceSynchronizationPoint `
-SiteSystemServerName "CMMEMCM.memcm.COM" `
-SiteCode "MEM"Object-based example:
$AIsync = Get-CMAssetIntelligenceSynchronizationPoint `
-SiteSystemServerName "CMMEMCM.memcm.com" `
-SiteCode "MEM"
Remove-CMAssetIntelligenceSynchronizationPoint `
-InputObject $AIsyncFor synchronization troubleshooting, HTMD names AIUpdateSvc.log for catalog synchronization activity and AIUSSetup.log and AIUSMSI.log for synchronization-point removal. It also describes an environment-specific SQL Server message 15401 scenario involving Windows identities and hierarchy-manager processing; do not assume that error is necessarily caused by Asset Intelligence. See HTMD’s removal and troubleshooting coverage.
When built-in reports are not enough
| Approach | Best fit | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in SSRS reports | Quick collection- or device-level questions about client-reported inventory in an existing ConfigMgr and SSRS environment. | Limited to the installed report definitions and available inventory; results are not real time. |
| Custom SSRS, SQL, or Power BI reporting | Required attributes are missing, or analysis needs historical trends or joins with ownership, procurement, HR, or vulnerability data. | Requires design and maintenance, plus careful treatment of data freshness and identity matching. |
| Dedicated SAM/ITAM process or platform | Contractual entitlement, purchase, renewal, true-up, or complex user, cloud, virtualization, subscription, and mobility rights must be reconciled. | Requires entitlement and contract data beyond ConfigMgr inventory; assess the process and evidence requirements separately. |
A broader HTMD catalog describes 483 reports across 59 categories, including 62 Asset Intelligence reports, in an SCCM 2012 R2 report catalog. Those are catalog- and version-specific figures, not a current universal count. For the reports actually available to your site, inspect its SSRS catalog. HTMD’s default-report catalog context
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