Software inventory

Keep a searchable register of the applications and components your organisation runs — each with its vendor, version, status and licence type — inside the Aegis CMDB.

The CMDB (Configuration Management Database — the record of the technology you operate) holds several separate registers. This one is for software: every application, package or component you want compliance and audit work to see. When an auditor asks which version of your finance system was running last March, the answer should come from this page rather than from a spreadsheet on someone's laptop.

It is a register you build yourself. Aegis does not scan your network and does not discover software: each entry is typed into a short form, and each correction is made in the same form.

Who uses it

Reading the register and changing it are separate permissions.

• Viewer — opens the page, searches, filters and reads every entry. Neither Add Software nor the Actions column is drawn, so a Viewer sees a seven-column table and no buttons.
• Contributor — everything a Viewer can do, plus adding software and editing any existing entry.
• Manager and Admin — the same add and edit access. They also hold the delete permission, but no delete control is drawn on this page, so nothing can be removed from the screen.

The page also sits behind the CMDB module, which your operator switches on; if it is off, the register does not load. The screenshot below was captured as Test Contributor 1, so the add action and the per-row Edit buttons are visible in it.

What's on this screen

The page opens straight onto the full register — there is no dashboard in front of it. The heading reads Software Inventory, with the line "Track and manage software assets, applications, components and versions in your CMDB." beneath it and the primary action Add Software at the far right of that same row. Under the heading sits a two-control filter bar: a Search software... box and an All Statuses dropdown. That is the whole of it — no date range, owner picker or tag filter.

Below that is the table, sorted by name. In the captured screen it holds two rows, apaya and SAP test, both Active. The columns are Name (with the description in small grey type beneath it), Vendor, Version, Status as a coloured badge, License, Owner, End of Life, and — only for roles that can edit — Actions, holding one Edit button per row. Rows are not clickable: software has no detail page and no side panel, so Edit is the only way into a record.

Under the table, "Showing 1 to 2 of 2 software assets" sits opposite Previous, the page numbers and Next; twenty rows fit on a page. Around it is the standard Aegis frame, with ASSETS (CMDB) open in the sidebar and Software highlighted. The numbered steps below match the callouts on the figure.

1. Open the ASSETS (CMDB) group in the sidebar to reach this register. Software is highlighted because you are on it; CMDB, Information Assets, CMDB Services, External Services and SBOM are separate registers.
2. Select the help icon in the top bar to open this user guide at the chapter for the page you are on.
3. Your account name sits at the top right. If Add Software and the Edit buttons are missing for you, check your role here — a Viewer gets the read-only table.
4. Select Edit at the right-hand end of the first row. A dialog titled Edit Software Asset opens over the list with the stored values filled in.
5. Every row carries its own Edit button — the second opens SAP test version 27.1.2. Clicking the row does nothing; the button is the way in.

Add a software asset

Recording a piece of software takes one short form. Three fields identify the entry and are required; the rest is optional context you can add later. The steps below run through the fields in the order they appear on the form.

1. Select Add Software at the top right. A dialog titled Add New Software Asset opens over the list, its fields in two columns.
2. Enter the Name of the application or component — the placeholder reads "e.g., Acme CRM". Required, and capped at 255 characters.
3. Enter the Vendor / Publisher — who supplies it. Required, also capped at 255 characters, and free text: it is not linked to Vendors.
4. Enter the Version in use, such as 4.2.1. Required, up to 100 characters. Name and version together identify the entry.
5. Set Status from the dropdown. It starts on Active; the other choices are Inactive, Deprecated, Retired and Unknown.
6. Optionally add a License Type (the placeholder suggests "Perpetual, Subscription, Open Source"), comma-separated Tags, and a Description in the wide box below.
7. Select Add Software inside the dialog to save. A blank required field is flagged beneath itself and nothing is sent; on success the dialog closes and the table redraws with the new row in its alphabetical place.

Correct an existing entry

Versions change and licences get renegotiated, so entries are meant to be revised. The edit dialog shows the same seven fields, pre-filled with what is stored.

1. Find the row and select Edit in the Actions column. A dialog titled Edit Software Asset opens with the stored values already in place.
2. Change what you need. Name, Vendor / Publisher and Version must still hold a value, or the dialog flags the empty field and refuses to save.
3. Select Edit inside the dialog to save. The dialog closes and the row redraws with the new values; the change is written to the audit log as a CMDB software update, recording who made it and when.

Find something in the register

Two controls narrow the table, and they apply together.

1. Type into Search software.... The list refreshes shortly after you stop typing and matches on name, vendor or version, ignoring capitalisation — not on the description or the tags.
2. Open the All Statuses dropdown and pick one value to show only software in that state. Choosing All Statuses again clears it and the full list returns.
3. Use Previous, the page numbers and Next beneath the table for registers longer than twenty rows. Changing either filter returns you to page one.
4. If a filter matches nothing, the table is replaced by "No software assets match your search criteria." Clear the search box or reset the status to bring the rows back.

What the status values mean

The Status column shows a coloured badge recording where a piece of software sits in its life. Agree with your team what each value means before filling the register in — Aegis never moves software between these states on its own.

Starting from an empty register

On a new organisation the table is replaced by "No software assets registered. Add your first software asset to get started." That first-run wording differs from the filtered one, so the screen tells you which situation you are in.

A workable way to fill it is to start with the software inside your compliance scope: anything holding personal data, anything an auditor has asked about, and anything from a supplier you assess in Vendors. A short, accurate register beats a long, stale one and can grow as questions arrive.

Tips and limits

• Manual only, one row at a time. No discovery or connector sits behind this page, and — unlike the machine inventory in CMDB — there is no CSV import or export control.
• Name plus version must be unique. A second entry with the same pair is refused with a conflict message; record the genuinely different version instead.
• The order is fixed. Rows always come back sorted by name; the column headings are plain labels, not sort controls, so you cannot reorder by vendor or status on screen.
• Nothing can be deleted from the screen, even by an Admin. Set software you no longer run to Retired so its history stays in the register.
• Vendor is free text, not tied to your Vendors records, so keep the spelling consistent if you want to group by supplier later.
• The End of Life column stays empty in practice: it renders a date when one is stored, but neither form has an end-of-life field, so entries made here show an em dash.
• Owner is set for you — a new entry belongs to whoever created it, and neither form has an owner picker, so ownership cannot be transferred here.
• Tags are stored but not shown. The table has no tag column and the filter bar no tag filter, so recorded tags stay out of sight here.

Where this connects

• CMDB — the machine inventory and the wider configuration database this register belongs to.
• SBOM — component-level detail for the applications listed here. It is a separate register: entries are not linked to software rows.
• CMDB services and External services — the services your software supports, and the third-party ones you depend on.
• Vendors — the suppliers behind your software and the due diligence you hold on them.
• Risks — where to raise a risk when something here is out of support or carries a known vulnerability.
• Audit log — who added or changed an entry, and when.
• The screen layout — the sidebar groups and top bar around this page, and Getting help if it does not behave as described.