Network Printers (SP) application

You use the Network Printers (SP) application to view information about network printers deployed throughout your enterprise. Data displayed in this application is deployed asset data.

The system maintains two distinct sets of information technology (IT) asset data in two different modules, the Assets module and the Deployed Assets module.

• Assets Module - Asset records for purchased or leased IT assets are maintained in the Assets (SP) application. You create these records in the Assets (SP) application or when you use the Receive Rotating Items action in the Receiving application. An IT asset is an asset that has a class structure identifier that belongs to the top-level IT classification used in your enterprise.

• Deployed Assets Module - In addition to asset information in the Assets (SP) applications, the Deployed Assets module applications maintain data collected directly from assets actually installed in your enterprise. To gather this data, discovery tools (such as IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager or Microsoft SMS) scan computers, network devices, and network printers deployed in your enterprise and record information about the hardware and software installed on those assets. An integration tool, such as Integration Composer, imports the collected data into the database. You view this data in the Deployed Assets module applications.

Note: In this online help, the term IT asset refers to information technology assets maintained in the Assets (SP) application. The term deployed asset refers to asset data maintained in the Deployed Assets module applications.

The Network Printers (SP) application displays data collected from network printers. You can use this application to view information about deployed network printers, but you cannot use it to create network printer records. Records displayed in the Network Printers (SP) application are read-only; you cannot edit them. You can use this application to delete network printer records from the database.

Note: Only network-based printers are included in this application; for information about printers installed locally on specific computers, refer to the Computers (SP) application.  On the Image Devices tab in the Computers (SP) application, you can view information about locally-installed printers.

The customer authorization settings in the Security Groups (SP) application restrict access to information in the Network Printers (SP) application. The customer authorization settings ensure that, in systems with multiple customers, users can only view network printers belonging to the customers that they can access. For example, if Provider ABC manages IT assets for several customers, a service desk agent who works for Provider ABC can see the network printers belonging to all of the customers, but an employee of one of the customers can only view the network printers that that customer owns.

Data displayed in this application varies depending on the discovery tool used to collect the data. Some data fields in the Network Printers (SP) application might be empty. An empty field indicates that the discovery tool did not collect the data or that administrators did not map the data for import into the database. Parameters your administrator defines in administrative applications determine how to display the names of printer manufacturers.

Service Providers can discover deployed assets in multiple customer networks. In IBM Tivoli Integration Composer, the customer can be set to a common value for all deployed assets discovered in one session. Setting a value for the customer can to help filter the deployed asset records during reconciliation.

There is no validation on the Customer field. If you set an invalid customer during a discovery session, you might not be able to see the discovered asset records in the deployed assets applications because security limits access to these records based on the value in the Customer field.

You use the Network Printers (SP) application to perform the following actions:

• View data collected by a discovery tool about network printers deployed in your enterprise.

• Delete network printer records.

The Network Printers (SP) application has the following tabs:

List: to search for network printer records.

Network Printer: to view and delete network printer records.