Software PC AUDIT & Inventory Solutions for use by AUDITORS!

Do your audit results look like this after 30 seconds?  (scripted version running time)

AUDIT Baseline v7

Where else can you buy Audit Software for $US 1 per PC or less?

ask us about our capped license deal!

ORDER FORM

   Proof Of Purchase
www.pcprofile.com/Proof_Of_Purchase_Really_Means.pdf
 

Fast Server based "scripted" audit software can help with "proof of purchase" requirements

There are NO signature file updates required, Capped Perpetual License fees, & NO annual maintenance with a proven >90& detection ratio on Win 2000, NT4 (sp4, sp5, sp6) and XPPro based systems, with NO false positives!

AUDIT Baseline version 7 (previously known as AUDIT-Server it's been around since 1995 and was used extensively during Year 2000 remediation work for software inventory) is a very fast software compliance audit tool that is targeted at the government and private sector population with server connected PC's.  

TRY OUT THE Windows based evaluation version 1st www.pcprofile.com/Audit_Baseline.zip 

Our bold claim is that, in the time that it takes you to read this page, you could have audited the entire server connected PC population in your organization with the script approach to AUDIT Baseline and gathered enough data to allow you to commence the next stage of the audit (data matching to proof of purchase records).  

Included with AUDIT Baseline version 7 software is;
  • Enterprise wide licensing agreement (perpetual license applies)

  • OUTLOOK task template containing a scripted text from the CEO outlining software compliance rules

USER MANUAL (1 page!)

BE SURPRISED AT HOW FAST IT CREATES ACCURATE SOFTWARE INVENTORY DATA RECORDS!

Some sites have used this software to TEST the accuracy of their existing audit solutions to ensure they reduce their risk!

NOTE: The electronic data inventory a very small portion of the overall task needed to prove compliance as you need to match installed versions to license ownership!  THE SOONER YOU HAVE THE ELECTRONIC RECORD OF WHAT IS INSTALLED THE SOONER YOU CAN START THE REAL TASK!

If you an AUDITOR tasked with performing a Software Inventory and Compliance Audit, one of the key hurdles most organisations face is the bandwidth degradation that occurs when auditing their PCs to establish what is installed. 

Another hurdle they face relates to the number of “false positives” that can occur when using library or software recognition files to match inventory data collected. 

For these reasons many audit tools are turned off or the audits are never completed, introducing un-acceptable risk. This is NOT the way to protect your organisation from being caught with illegal software!  

To run the tool its as simple as using Start > Run as shown here

The resultant report looks like this (for every PC) (less than a minute in most cases)

and then all that is needed is creation of a consolidated list in your own database, to make sure you are 100% in the clear when it comes to Software Compliance. All inventory data gathered needs to be MATCHED to the audit results with proof of purchase data to reduce risk.

In terms of Audit Baseline v7 it is based on a license fee per customer so the license fee is for one site, and there is no limit on the number of PCs for that end use customer.  No annual maintenance fee apples.
 
The audit files can be collected to a USB or to any server output area so desired. We offer the tool with command line switches that allow you to poke and point the output files anywhere you choose, so its not server intensive or a bandwidth hog.
 
The audit software does NOT run on Vista at present but does run on NT/ Win2000 and XP based systems.
 
We have seen sites use the tool in many different manners, to suit their needs. Its really a question of what method best suits the client. The software file is very small and can sit on the server and when executed from a call by a batch file or an Outlook Task request (see attached OFT file) (you write your own batch/script file) from the client it executes at the client side and leaves the files at the c:\drive (or n: or h:) of the client. It can be switched to point the data files back to the server or a USB if required so it really is very flexible.
 
The user manual isn't big at all, its one page see http://www.pcprofile.com/Simple_Instructions_for_the_SCRIPTED_VERSION.pdf !
 
Current audit file set for Audit Baseline v7 provides one set of 4 results files for each PC as follows.
 
Nodename_B is the full Baseline audit file containing details on ALL exe files on the system.
Nodename_H is limited hardware details
Nodename_S is a Snapshot count of all files of "Interest" (music/movies, fonts etc)
Nodename_RU is details of software listed in the Registry area.
 
We include the Registry Uninstall information as a means to have a 1st pass look, BUT be careful here as many sites know how to hide files from an audit that's why we go for a full exe file audit as well as we have seen many instances where "clever little end users" know how to beat the audit cycle! Audit tools that rely solely on the Registry area missing this issue and don't deal with it hence this can expose the end customer to risk!
 
We opted for designing a very fast, small footprint (<220kb in size) , data gathering tool that did not require any software identification library, for auditors who needed a "hit and run" result that they could consolidate and slice and dice at their leisure "back at base or offsite" using larger tools such as Crystal Reports, SQL server, Oracle, ACL etc 
 
Where the audit results file says "no data" that isn't the fault of our audit tool but the OEM software vendor ala Microsoft etc who failed to include any tagging details in their own file when compiling. It's not the failure of our audit tool, one day the OEM vendors will wake up!
 
The audit tool requires no user manual, no installation and no training to use.

It can audit the entire PC population before you read any other audit tool user manual or download the 80mb + files and install and configure them!

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

The software will run on Win 98 (Fat 32); Win NT (NTFS/FAT 32); Windows 2000 (NTFS/FAT 32) and Win XP/ Win XPPro machines (NTFS/FAT 32) Older Windows 95/98  FAT 16 systems are unsupported and will not work with this software. Allow 700K for the un-encrypted 2 audit files (CSV/.RTF) for each node. At this stage it DOES NOT run on any Vista PC.

 “This software audit tool provides a value for money approach to server based auditing of PCs without the penalty of bandwidth choke and server degradation or delivering false positive results that require detailed manual investigation. “- Rob Harmer General Manager, PCProfile.  

“As an Australian designed and developed software audit and compliance tool, it competes more than favourably with a price point around 1/20th to 1/50th of the price of other server based auditing tools, many of which are switched off anyway due to consumption of server resources” - Rob Harmer General Manager, PCProfile.  

The executable file “AuditBaseline.exe” (72k in size) is the “engine room audit tool” that will very rapidly identify, node by node, the executable files located on ALL hard drives on the node (server connected drives are ignored) and create only 2 un-encrypted audit files per PC (node) that can be saved in a number of locations depending on default mode auditing or command line switch settings.  It does NOT require any inbuilt database or library of file names to identify what is installed.

AUDIT METHOD

The audit can be run OPEN (ie; visible to the user as a Windows dialog, or; “SILENT” as an “unannounced’ task using command line scripts from a DOS prompt or server prompt. In this case the Windows dialog screen WILL NOT appear at the PC level.

The audit will take approximately between 30 seconds and 1 minute per PC (node) depending on the number of executable files encountered. For around 2,000 executables, on a Windows XPPro PC it will take around 15 to 30 seconds. (Total RAM on this XPPro PC was 1MB with 644MB available memory. Lower sized RAM structures make take a little longer.

The audit results files (CSV and TXT) can be saved in a number of locations depending on the switch settings used.

The server based  "command line arguments" from Start/Run or a Windows DOS prompt are included in the download file at this page.

The software will also work from floppy for those PCs' not networked!

In terms of bandwidth consumption the task is low as the audit runs using local RAM and then sends the CSV/TXT files back to the server so there is no intense auditing over the network by our software.

The Australian based AUDIT–Baseline software audit tool is being marketed by PCProfile worldwide and has been developed by Secrett Systems.

PCProfile have been designing and developing audit, compliance and utility software in Australia since 1991 with customers across Australia, PNG and NZ , USA, England and Europe using fast and effective software compliance audit modules. PCProfile won the following awards; - COMTEC SA Information Technology Product of the Year 1994 and SA MicroBusiness of the Year IT Sector 1999.

BENEFITS FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION

The value this audit method gives your organisation is that -

  • the audit method used is very, very fast, consuming no server based resources;

  • the audit method does NOT consume any bandwidth as it runs using the local PC CPU and saves the data locally, until needed centrally for consolidation;

  • the audit software needs no training or special skills to run;

  • the method used means that you NO LONGER need expensive audit team’s to visit every PC;

  • the audit technique means that more energy can be spent on other core activities when you see the savings in the approach we offer;

  • the audit software licence requires no annual maintenance or upgrade fees (typically 18% to 25% per annum);

  • there is no need to budget annually for software upgrades and maintenance fees (unless you change operating system platforms)

The audit results files contain “no false positive results”. The "naming to detection ratio" on a range of XPPro machines is ~ 91%. The ~ 9% unnamed are purely due to the vendors NOT including sufficient (or any) details within their software build details, yet most are identifiable by their folder names so this ought not be an issue. They are generally accessory type files associated with the main application package. The fault with being unable to detect these names lies directly with the vendors and not with our software!

Audit Baseline software is available for shipping via e-mail TODAY and can allow you to conduct a total enterprise audit before you leave the building TODAY of all connected PCs on your system, without any degradation in service, or bandwidth consumption hogging that other tools offer.  

In the time that it has taken you to read this page you could have audited the entire server connected PC population in your organisation with the script approach to AUDIT Baseline!  

WHAT YOU GET FOR YOUR MONEY

The file that we include with the software license is zipped and is to be manually copied to a new folder that you create called c:\Programs\Audit_Baseline or p:\Programs\Audit_Baseline if server based where p” is the application server.   The software will also run from a floppy disk should you wish to audit PCs that are NOT connected to a server and the license permits this method of use also.   There is no maintenance required as it works on your existing Windows XP, NT and Win 2000 operating systems and doesn't require any signature files or database libraries like anti-virus software etc. 

Our audit software won’t blow your budget we can assure you!  

If you aren’t yet convinced, compare the results files that we deliver (in unencrypted format so you can use them as you please) with the results files from your existing audit tools and then contact us further.

It might also make the difference in satisfying a software compliance audit when you can clearly demonstrate that ALL audits have been conducted with accurate results across the whole organisation!

BE SURPRISED AT HOW FAST IT AUDITS,
& HOW ACCURATE THE RESULTS ARE,
 FOR MINIMUM COST!
 
 
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This page last updated November 2007
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