Kick start soon, Tasked with Gathering User Application usage by Department

[Stubakka]

Hello guys!, exiting stuff happening here soon, were heading for the kick start in Feb -March, I have been tasked with Gathering application data and general information I'm assuming to build our App database for patching and pushing Apps ext I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for such a task to make it easier or some social engineering that i could use or sample document that you used to gather such information. At the moment my tools are limited to ARD and my hands. Would their be an easier way to do this after the kick start using recon for example ?

Also anyone heading to Mac World 2014? Ill be there for the 2nd for the Mac IT Conference.

[frozenarse]

Once you get your existing machines enrolled and reporting inventory you will have a nice massive list of Apps. What it WON'T tell you is if those apps are 'work related' or not.

This probably depends quite a bit on what kind of organization you are in and if users can install whatever the heck they want. I personally would use this opportunity to send something out to your end users asking for a list of the apps they need to do their job.

[mm2270]

I'd agree with @frozenarse][/url][/url that you're best off waiting until after all your Macs are enrolled in your JSS to gather application inventory . Building reports will be much easier than beforehand. It can be done in ARD, but unless there is some valid reason to do it beforehand, I don't personally see the point. Its not like you'd be generating some importable list by doing it with ARD.

Good luck with it. I assume you'll be setting up a JSS version 9.22 or whatever version is out by then. Have you been reviewing some of the known issues here on JAMFNation? While many defects have been worked out, some still remain to be fixed, so it might be a good idea to at least be aware of some of the known issues. You may want to ask your Sales rep at JAMF if you can get a copy of the latest release notes ahead of time to look over. Some of it may not make sense without a JSS in front of you, but it may help.

Also, very minor peeve, but its called the JumpStart, not Kick Start. Not that anyone here doesn't know exactly what you're referring to, but thought you might want to know that.

[JPDyson]

To what extent is your environment managed right now? Is IT imaging/setting up new Macs? Are you patching with ARD (ugh)? You probably have a good idea what's out there if that's the case, at least to the extent of what you'll be patching for your users. It won't help you that much before your JumpStart to know how many of your clients have the latest version of Flash, for example.

The amount of information about your environment that you'll gain once Macs are enrolled and managed by the JSS is pretty massive (and can be extended tremendously).

[Stubakka]

Thx for the replies, Yes pretty much we are barebones right now, ARD... bound to AD, some just using local accounts.

[Stubakka]

The jump start was today. Casper is active. The overview kind of made my head explode about 20 times. Lots of questions.

[mm2270]

@Gabriel.Duff - Congratulations! Now the fun begins! :)
Just curious, but what version did you get spun up on? I'm guessing 9.24, or close to that?

[Stubakka]

Pretty sure it's the newest. Not sure what was started will be the production environment. Pretty sure were going to mess with it more or make a group for testing ect. It's just a lot of information to try and take in all in two days but it was not totally horrible lol.