March 2024

Flexera One introduced the following new features and enhancements this month.

Automation

Automation added the following new features in March 2024.

User activity tracking and page-performance optimizations added for Applied Policies pages

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This feature is available with Automation.

The Applied Policies pages now leverage a new API to support user activity tracking for policy changes as well as faster page loading and overall performance. User activity on these pages, such as deleting a policy, editing a policy, or applying a policy are now logged. These activities will be trackable via the API Event endpoint in the Identity and Access Management API. Example API GET:

https://api.flexera.com/iam/v1/orgs/{orgId}/api-events?filter=(timestamp ge ‘2024-03-11 T14:00:00Z' and timestamp le '2024-03-01T16:00:00Z') 

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For more information about the API Event endpoint, see the API documentation on developer.flexera.com: Identity and Access Management API: API Event.

Performance optimizations allow the Applied Policies pages in the Flexera One UI to render more efficiently at scale. Users will also notice some user experience changes for the Applied Policies page as a result of the performance optimizations:

• Pagination—Policy lists are paginated with 50 policies per page. This change makes Applied Policies pages load more efficiently. It also changes the output of exports from these pages.

• Export—Previously, exports from the Applied Policies page would export all policies that matched the current filter settings. Now, exports from Applied Policies only export the policies shown on the current page.

• Filters—Small changes to the operation of filters on the Applied Policies page: Filters are not applied until you click Apply. Contains operator is case sensitive. Equals operator must be an exact match.

Exceptions: The Applied Policies page changes for this release have not been implemented for the Organization Summary view of Applied Policies nor for the Policy Templates and Policy Catalog pages. When applying policies from the catalog, user activity will not be logged.

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The legacy API for Applied Policies remains active.

Budget vs. Actual Spend Report policy

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This feature is available with Automation.

The Budget vs. Actual Spend Report policy has been introduced, which emails you a report with a line chart comparing the budgeted values with the actual spend. Using this feature, the FinOps teams can track their spending against the allocated budget and can stay informed about their spending without the need to log in to Flexera One.

This feature enables you to access the budget report directly from your email in a timely manner.

For more information about the policy, see Budget vs. Actual Spend Report.

Policy alert recipient list now built dynamically

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This feature is available with Automation.

With this release, the complete details of the incident can now be sent to a list of recipients built dynamically during the policy evaluation process. This feature enables the policy designers to notify only the relevant stakeholders about the incident by using a datasource as the source containing the email list. However, it is important to be aware of the following potential risks:

• Data accuracy —Errors in dynamically generated email lists, stemming from outdated or incorrect contact information, may result in emails failing to reach their intended recipients.

• Data security —Sensitive information can be inadvertently sent to unintended recipients, compromising data security.

• Spam and compliance issues —Adding unauthorized or inaccurate email address to the list could lead to spam complaints and compliance violations.

• Email overload —Poorly built dynamic email lists may lead to excessive email notifications.

Previously, notifications were sent only to a predefined, static list of email addresses specified in the policy template or passed as a policy parameter.

For information about sending escalation emails, see Email in the Flexera One Help.

Cloud Cost Optimization

Cloud Cost Optimization added the following new feature and enhancement in March 2024.

Filter spend and use recently added Data Grouping dimensions in the Budget Wizard

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These enhancements are available with Cloud Cost Optimization.

This month, Cloud Cost Optimization customers will see enhancements in the second step of the Budget Wizard.

• An optional budget spend Filter has been added to the Budget Wizard. You can use the new filter to include or exclude spend in your budget.

• Additional Data Grouping dimensions are supported in the Budget Wizard. (See the Flexera One Help Library for a full list of supported dimensions.)

For more information about using the budget Filter and specifying dimensions for Data Grouping in the Budget Wizard, see Creating a New Budget in the Flexera One Help Library.

Export Tabular View data to Excel (XLSX)

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This feature is available with Cloud Cost Optimization.

You can now export to either CSV or Excel (XLSX) in the Tabular View. The new XLSX option provides the opportunity to retain the data table’s column formatting in Excel or other supported applications.

For details about exporting data from the Tabular View, see Tabular View in the Flexera One Help Library.

Expand and collapse rows in the Tabular View

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This enhancement is available with Cloud Cost Optimization.

Expand or collapse rows Group By in the column. New Expand All and Collapse All options in the column menu of the Group By column allow you to expand all rows (default state) or collapse all rows down to the top-level Group By criteria. This enhancement enables you to quickly collapse or expand all the rows for the criteria you have set in the Group By column rather than hiding or showing each row individually.

For details about expanding/collapsing rows in the Tabular View, see Tabular View in the Flexera One Help Library.

Showing savings for Azure

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This enhancement is available with Cloud Cost Optimization.

Cloud Cost Optimization introduced the new metrics List Price, Savings, and Savings Percent in September 2023 to show details on the savings and savings percentage for commitment purchases such as Savings Plans and Reserved Instances. However, the new metrics were only available for AWS.

Now, these metrics are also available for Azure, which means you are able to show your Azure savings in the Rate Reduction Savings dashboard.

For more information, see Tabular View in the Flexera One Help.

Ingestion of OpenCost billing data now available in Cloud Cost Optimization

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This feature is available with Cloud Cost Optimization.

OpenCost is an open-source cost monitoring tool for measuring and allocating cloud infrastructure and container costs. Cloud Cost Optimization now ingests the OpenCost billing data, providing flexibility to customers who do not use Kubecost for analyzing their spend within a Kubernetes environment. With this feature, you now have transparency into Kubernetes cloud spend.

For more information, see OpenCost in the Flexera One Help.

Flexera One Platform

Flexera One released the following feature in March 2024.

Power BI endpoints added

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This feature is listed as part of the Flexera One Safelist URLs and Endpoints.

The Power BI endpoints are now added in the Power BI endpoints to safelist row of the Safelist URLs and Endpoints topic in the Flexera One Help. These endpoints enable you to use the Power BI service that provides interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities.

Administrators should allow access to the Power BI endpoints to the trusted sites of the browsers their organizations are using to access Flexera One.

IT Asset Management

IT Asset Management released the following feature and enhancements in March 2024.

Changes to supported operating systems and compatibility with other products

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This enhancement is available with IT Asset Management.

The following product versions have been added to the compatibility list of IT Asset Management with other products:

• IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) 9.2.34 on IBM DB2

• IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) 9.2.34 on Microsoft SQL Server

• HCL BigFix Inventory 9.2.34 on IBM DB2

• HCL BigFix Inventory 9.2.34 on Microsoft SQL Server

• Citrix Virtual Apps server (previously XenApp server) 7.2311

• Citrix Virtual Desktops (previously Citrix XenDesktop) 7.2311

• EdgeSight for Citrix Virtual Apps (previously XenApp EdgeSight) 7.2311

For the full lists, see Prerequisite Software and Compatibility with Other Products in System Requirements and Compatibility.

New fields added to the Purchase Order Upload Standard template

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This enhancement is available with IT Asset Management.

Five new fields have been added to the Purchase Order Upload Standard template to provide additional information for tracking purchase data. This new information will help identify who authorized the purchase order, processed it, requested it, the requested date and associated request number.

Customers are recommended to re-download the standard template to their local machine from IT Asset Management. However, as the new fields are all optional, the change is backwards compatible with the previously released standard template. If purchase orders are uploaded using the previously released standard template, the new fields are treated as empty fields in the purchase order.

The following fields have been added:

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Value are recorded on the Ownership Tabin Purchase Properties.

• Authorized by Email —Matches an existing user in the system by email address and sets the Authorized by value for a purchase to this user if a match is found.

• Processed by Email —Matches an existing user in the system by email address and sets the Processed by value for a purchase to this user if a match is found.

• Request Date —Sets the Request Date for a purchase.

• Requestor Email —Matches an existing user in the system by email address and sets the Requestor value for a purchase to this user if a match is found.

• Request Number —Sets the Request Number for a purchase.

For more details on uploading purchase orders, see Purchase Order Upload in the Flexera One Help.

IT Asset Management Data API enhancement

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This enhancement is available with IT Asset Management.

The IT Asset Management Data REST API has been enhanced to include readability improvements for reporting and additional properties for devices. Summary of changes is listed below.

Report Executor API

The following enhancements have been made to the Report Executor API (reportsExecute) to improve readability of report data:

• The data retrieval limit has been increased from one million to ten million records.

• CSV or JSON line delimited format can be specified when making a request.

Now when making a request, all reporting data is returned in an understandable format, without any limitations on the number of records shown per page. For customers, this helps reduce the level of effort required when reading reporting data returned by the API.

Installed Software API

The Installed Software API has been extended (devicesCreateV2) to provide important inventory device and installed software properties, giving you better visibility of devices and software in your organization. Prior to this update, the data exposed by the Installed Software API was limited. Enhancements are listed below.

• Additional inventory device properties have been added:

  • Inventory device type

  • Inventory device role

  • Inventory date

  • Last inventory source

  • Hosted in

  • HostName for the VM

  • Manufacturer

  • Model

  • Number of processors

  • Number of cores

  • Processor type

  • Total memory

  • Assigned user

  • Last logged in user.

• Additional installed software properties have been added:

  • Status

  • Product name

  • Classification

  • Category

  • Discovery date

  • Name for the VM

  • Last used date

  • Access mode (important for targeted action to identify local and remote).

  • CSV or JSON line delimited format can be specified when making a request.

For API documentation, see IT Asset Management Data API on docs.flexera.com.

Fix for the flxfsscan process reporting every file found during the file system scan to the flxfsscan_report file

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This enhancement is available with IT Asset Management.

Previously, for FlexNet Inventory Agent versions 19.4.0 and later, the flxfsscan process would report every file found during the file system scan to the flxfsscan_report file (/var/opt/managesoft/cache/flxfsscan_report).

As per normal procedure, the flxfsscan_report file would normally be removed once processed by the ndtrack (FlexNet Inventory Agent). However, due to the flxfsscan_report file growing too large, the /var directory would run out of space and the ndtrack would subsequently fail, resulting in sizable amounts of disk space being consumed.

As part of this fix, a new FlexNet Inventory Agent preference setting called MaxFSScanReportFileSizeInMB has been added. MaxFSScanReportFileSizeInMB specifies the maximum allowed size the /var/opt/managesoft/cache/flxfsscan_report file can grow to in Megabytes (MB).

This release further resolves the issue by including file filtering into the flxfsscan process, ensuring that only files relevant to the ndtrack are processed and reported to the flxfsscan_report file, reducing the file size significantly.

For more information on the new setting, see MaxFSScanReportFileSizeInMB under Preferences in the Gather FlexNet Inventory user guide.

Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) verification data can now be added to the Oracle GLAS evidence archive

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This feature is available with IT Asset Management.

The FlexNet Inventory Agent capabilities have been extended to allow for importing Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) data into the Oracle GLAS evidence archive. For EBS verification, Oracle requires that your report includes key information pertaining to the installation, configuration, and usage of Oracle EBS products, their components, and features. Imported EBS data can be used to verify that your Oracle EBS implementation, whether you have created custom features, and the like, is compliant in an Oracle audit conducted by Oracle Global Licensing and Advisory Services (GLAS).

One new control has been added in [ProductName] to manage this data flow:

• Access the Inventory tab in the IT Asset Management Settings General page (Administration > IT Asset Management Settings > General). When the new Include Oracle E-Business Suite check box is enabled, additional EBS verification data is added to the OracleGLASEvidence.zip archive, ready for submission to be audited when required.

When using InventorySettings.xml version 73 or 74 (v73 and later contains the updated Oracle GLAS scripts), there is no specific FlexNet Inventory Agent version required in order to collect Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) data. However, it is recommended to deploy FlexNet Inventory Agent version 21.1.0 and later to take advantage of defect fixes and other improvements. The version number of the InventorySettings.xml file is included in its first line, and the file is updated as part of the regular download of the Application Recognition Library (ARL).

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It is planned that the upcoming InventorySettings.xml version 75 will include changes that require the FlexNet Inventory Agent version 22.0.0 and later in order to continue collecting Oracle E-Business Suite data. Earlier version agents prior to version 22.0.0 will need to be upgraded to continue gathering Oracle E-Business Suite data once InventorySettings.xml version 75 is deployed. Furthermore, you will need to enable the EBS data collection by using the Enable collection of Oracle EBS audit data checkbox on the Data Collection > IT Asset Inventory Tasks > Inventory Settings page. This option is disabled by default.

If it is required by your organization’s security standards to mask user names and IP addresses prior to submitting Oracle GLAS evidence, ensure to check the Mask user names and IP addresses except for database evidence (passwords are always masked) check box on the Inventory tab of the IT Asset Management Settings General page. Enabling this check box will replace all user names and IP addresses that appear in your EBS verification data with the value text_removed.

For information on how to download the Oracle GLAS evidence archive, see Oracle Instances in the Help.

For information on what kinds of information can be included in the nightly generation of the Oracle GLAS evidence archive, see IT Asset Management Settings: Inventory Tab in the Help.

FlexNet Inventory Agent version 21.3.0 changes

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This feature is available with IT Asset Management.

See FlexNet Inventory Agent version 21.3.0 changes

Inventory Beacon 21.3.0 changes

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This feature is available with IT Asset Management.

See Inventory Beacon 21.3.0 changes

IT Visibility

IT Visibility added the following new features in March 2024.

New and improved inventory dashboards highlight vulnerabilities, virtual environments, and sustainability

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This feature is available with IT Visibility.

This release delivers improvements to existing dashboards as well as a number of new dashboards. These new dashboards provide tremendous insight for customers who are navigating, understanding, and managing risk in an era of increasing complexity, alongside a number of other improvements.

Key additions and improvements to IT Visibility’s built-in dashboards appear in the table below.

Folder	Dashboard	Notes
*Portfolio Overview*	Software Vulnerability Summary	Shows the vulnerabilities (CVEs) and Secunia advisories for the software assets in your IT estate. Software vulnerability dashboards require a separate entitlement for enriched vulnerability data.
*Portfolio Overview*	Sustainability Baseline	Provides insights into the impact your IT environment has on your organization’s carbon footprint. This dashboard is currently beta functionality.
*Portfolio Overview*	Virtual Environments	Provides a high level summary of your virtual environments.
*Portfolio Overview*	Business Services Summary	Shows hardware and software assets organized by the business services those assets are supporting.
Drilldown	Vulnerable Software	Shows software vulnerability information for particular selected assets. Software vulnerability dashboards require a separate entitlement for enriched vulnerability data.
Drilldown	Vulnerable Software Detail	Shows software vulnerability details (Secunia advisories) for particular selected assets. Software vulnerability dashboards require a separate entitlement for enriched vulnerability data.
Search	Device Search	Provides tools and filters dedicated to finding devices in your environment.

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On the IT Visibility Dashboard page, click Change Dashboard to see a list of built-in inventory dashboards.

For more information about IT Visibility dashboards, see IT Visibility Dashboards and Accessing Dashboards and Data Explorer in Managing IT Visibility Dashboards in the Flexera One Help.

Business Services attributes now in Data Explorer

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This feature is available with IT Visibility.

In Data Explorer (IT Visibility > Dashboard > Data Explorer), you can customize the datasets for your visualizations by dragging attributes from the Data Catalog into the active drop zone on the canvas. The Data Catalog now includes the following categories of Business Services attributes for creating reports and dashboards:

• Business Services Applications

• Business Services Assets

• Business Services Dependent Applications

For descriptions of these Business Services attributes, see Data Catalog Attribute Descriptions in the Flexera One Help.

New support for Microsoft Intune as an out-of-the-box data source

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This feature is available with IT Visibility.

IT Visibility now integrates with Microsoft Intune as an out-of-the box data source. The Microsoft Intune adapter, provided by Flexera, collects inventory data from Microsoft Intune and seamlessly imports it into IT Visibility. The data collected gives you comprehensive visibility into managed devices, user data, and managed and unmanaged applications installed on corporate-owned devices in your Microsoft Intune estate.

You can configure your Microsoft Intune connection on the External Inventory Connections page (Data Collection > IT Visibility Inventory Tasks > External Inventory Connections). For more information, see Managing External Inventory Connections in the Flexera One Help.

Reasons for device disparity between IT Visibility and IT Asset Management now added in Flexera One Help

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This feature is available with IT Visibility.

You can now identify the reasons for device disparity between IT Visibility and IT Asset Management. For more information, see Identifying Reasons for Device Disparity Between IT Visibility and IT Asset Management.

SaaS Management

SaaS Management added the following new features and enhancement in March 2024.

New SaaS integration for Confluence

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This new feature is available with SaaS Management.

SaaS Management now offers a direct integration with Atlassian’s Confluence for content collaboration. You can now track and analyze your organization’s user activity. Within SaaS Management, you have visibility into Confluence cost optimization opportunities.

For more information, see the following Flexera One Help topics:

• Confluence Integration Instructions

• Application Task Tracking—Lists the available integration tasks for Confluence.

New SaaS integration for Jira

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This new feature is available with SaaS Management.

SaaS Management now offers a direct integration with Atlassian’s Jira Software for project and issue tracking. You can now track, analyze, and optimize your organization’s Jira licenses. Within SaaS Management, you have visibility into Jira license usage patterns, compliance status, and cost optimization opportunities.

For more information, see the following Flexera One Help topics:

• Jira Integration Instructions

• Application Task Tracking—Lists the available integration tasks for Jira.

Users tab now includes all organizational attributes

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This enhancement is available with SaaS Management.

The Users tab (SaaS > Managed SaaS Applications > Users) now displays all of your organizational attributes from the All SaaS Users page (Organization > All SaaS Users). You can now more accurately analyze and report SaaS user activity based on your organizational structure. The available organizational attributes are based on the SaaS application’s API integration with SaaS Management. Some examples of these attributes include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Department

• Location

• Cost Center

• Branch Name.

For further details, see Users Tab in the Flexera One Help.