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September 2024

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

Automation​

Automation released the following features in September 2024.

New Automation Policy Template API​

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This feature is available for Automation using the Flexera One API.

Flexera One Automation uses policies to automate governance across your multi-cloud environment to increase agility and efficiency while managing security and risk for your organization. The policies are defined via policy templates that provide a blueprint for policy input parameters, conditions and actions. Automation Policy Template API enables management of policy templates, providing operations such as uploading, compiling, updating, and deleting templates. This new API replaces the legacy Policy Template API.

With the introduction of the new Automation Policy API, consider the following changes:

New API hostnames​

Depending on your zone, use the following hostnames when accessing the new API:

Auditable events​

All actions, including create, read, update, and delete operations, are now recorded. These events can be audited through the IAM Events Types API.

Policy Customization API​

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This feature is available for Automation using the Flexera One API.

A new Policy Customization API is available for Managed Service Provider (MSP) partners to enable the configuration of customization options for the Automation capability.

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The legacy Customization API will no longer receive updates. We recommend you migrate to the new Policy Customization API.

With the introduction of the new Policy Customization API, consider the following changes:

New API hostnames​

Depending on your zone, use the following hostnames when accessing the new API:

Auditable events​

All actions, including create, read, update, and delete operations, are now recorded. These events can be audited through the IAM Events Types API.

Cloud Cost Optimization​

Cloud Cost Optimization released the following enhancements in September 2024.

Ingestion of billing data now available in the FOCUS v1.0 format​

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This FinOps enhancement is available with Cloud Cost Optimization.

Cloud Cost Optimization now ingests billing data provided in the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS) v1.0 compliant format. The FOCUS specification defines a common format for billing data that enables your organization to better understand their cost and usage patterns across cloud providers. Using this format, your organization can easily exchange datasets between the FinOps tools to manage and optimize costs.

Previously, Cloud Cost Optimization ingested billing data in the FOCUS v1.0 preview format.

For more information, see FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS) in the Flexera One Help.

Rule-Based Dimensions in recommendations tables​

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This enhancement is available with Cloud Cost Optimization.

Rule-based dimensions are flexible, user-defined dimensions you can use to view your organization’s cost data categorized in groups that fit your business needs. In the Rate Reduction and Usage Reduction recommendations tables (Cloud > Cloud Optimization > Optimization and Cloud > Cost Optimization > Billing Centers), you can now filter and group recommendations by rule-based dimensions.

Using rule-based dimensions, you can view your organization’s cost data and optimization recommendations categorized in groups that align with your specific business needs. This enhancement enables you to analyze your costs and optimization recommendations from new, meaningful perspectives, helping you to understand and take action on the recommendations to optimize your cloud cost and usage.

For more information about rule-based dimensions, rate and usage reduction recommendations, see the following Flexera One Help topics:

Enhanced Manage billing centers role at the billing center level​

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This enhancement is available with Cloud Cost Optimization.

The organizational level Manage billing centers role that is managed from the Administration module does enable you to add new users to the billing center.

With this enhancement, a user with the Manage billing centers role at the billing center level can now add users to their billing center. This enhancement ensures that the billing center user does not have to rely on an administrator to add users, thereby saving time with this self-service capability. For information about adding users to a billing center and managing a billing center, see Adding Users to a Billing Center and Managing Billing Center Access in the Flexera One Help.

By allowing access, organizations can have better control over user management. For complete descriptions of each role available in Flexera One, see Flexera One Roles.

Flexera Integration app for ServiceNow​

Flexera has re-certified version 5.1.3 of the Flexera Integration app in the ServiceNow Store in September 2024.

Flexera Integration app version 5.1.3 re-certified to include support for the Xanadu release of ServiceNow​

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This app is available with IT Visibility.

Flexera helps you improve the value you derive from your ServiceNow investment from aggregation, normalization, and enrichment of hardware, software, SaaS, and cloud IT asset inventory data to IT service delivery. With Technopedia®, the most trusted source of IT product information in the world, Flexera enhances IT service management (ITSM), Configuration Management Systems, and Software Asset Management with a reliable foundation and accurate data.

The current version of the Flexera Integration app for ServiceNow now supports the ServiceNow Xanadu release.

Flexera One ServiceNow App​

Flexera has re-certified version 1.3 of the Flexera One App in the ServiceNow Store in September 2024.

Flexera One ServiceNow app version 1.3 re-certified to include support for the Xanadu release of ServiceNow​

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This app is available with IT Visibility.

Flexera helps you improve the value you derive from your ServiceNow investment from aggregation, normalization, and enrichment of hardware, software, SaaS, and cloud IT asset inventory data to IT service delivery. With Technopedia®, the most trusted source of IT product information in the world, Flexera enhances IT service management (ITSM), Configuration Management Systems, and Software Asset Management with a reliable foundation and accurate data.

The current version of the Flexera Integration app for ServiceNow now supports the ServiceNow Xanadu release.

IT Asset Management​

IT Asset Management released the following features and enhancements in September 2024.

Export report and view status of report export with two new APIs​

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This feature is available with IT Asset Management.

From this release, two new APIs have been added to the existing suite of Report Executor APIs to allow you to export saved reports and view the status of reports ready for exporting. The development of both APIs follow a request to retrieve report data in an asynchronous fashion and prevent possible time out issues due to idle sessions. Now when downloading report data, the status of the export is tracked and presented to the user.

Report Export API​

/fnms/v1/orgs/{orgId}/reports/{id}/export : Creates a file containing dynamic report data for the saved report. This API is capable of asynchronously generating report data which can be downloaded as a zip file by using the Report Export Status API.

Report Export Status API​

/fnms/v1/orgs/{orgId}/reports/export-status/{exportId} : Accepts the Export ID and returns the status of the report being generated for the export. Once a report export starts, the Report Export Status API uses Export ID for tracking the status of the report being generated for exporting.

In addition to the new APIs, general stability improvements have been made to other existing APIs to enhance user experience.

For API documentation, see IT Asset Management Data API.

All Kubernetes container information is now displayed in the All Containers page even if the image is not inventoried​

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This enhancement is available with IT Asset Management.

Previously, certain information related to Kubernetes containers would not display in the All Containers page if the image was not inventoried.

A Kubernetes image is a package of all the scripts, software, runtime, system tools, libraries, and configuration required to run an application, and is the master original from which containers can be instantiated.

From this release, all Kubernetes containers are now displayed in the All Containers page, even if the image is not inventoried.

In addition to resolving this limitation, a new column titled Image installed date which states when the image was installed on the device represented in that particular row, has been added to the All Containers page and displayed under Image properties.

For more information about container hosts, container images, and associated running containers, see All Containers in the Help.

Integration of third party licensing systems using the FlexNet Business Importer is now fully supported​

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This enhancement is available with IT Asset Management.

IT Asset Management now fully supports integration of third party licensing data through import of the Consumed entitlements field for custom metric licenses. This follows a fix for a long-standing FlexNet Business Importer issue.

Fixing this issue allows you to import consumption of license data, using any metric, from FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications and other third party solutions into IT Asset Management.

For more information on using FlexNet Business Adapters and the FlexNet Business Importer, see the Using FlexNet Business Adapters user guide.

Changes to supported operating systems and compatibility with other products​

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This enhancement is available with IT Asset Management.

The following operating system versions have been added to the list of supported operating systems on FlexNet Inventory Agent:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.10 and 9.4 (x86 64-bit only)

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

  • IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) or HCL BigFix Inventory on IBM DB2 9.2.36.1

  • IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) or HCL BigFix Inventory on Microsoft SQL Server 9.2.36.1

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

FlexNet Inventory Agent version 22.3.0 changes​

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This enhancement is available with IT Asset Management.

See FlexNet Inventory Agent version 22.3.0 changes

Inventory Beacon 22.3.0 changes​

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This enhancement is available with IT Asset Management.

See Inventory Beacon 22.3.0 changes

IT Visibility​

IT Visibility released the following features and enhancements in September 2024.

Introducing IT Visibility with Technology Intelligence Platform​

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This feature is available with IT Visibility and Technology Intelligence Platform.

IT Visibility with Technology Intelligence is the next generation data and analytics platform for IT Visibility that gives you comprehensive visibility of your hybrid IT estate. This new platform is a foundation that delivers the next step in our continuing work to support data-driven technology decisions. The Technology Intelligence Platform brings advanced analytics, extensibility, increased performance, and flexible access to your data through APIs.

IT Visibility customers will be the first to gain access to enhanced technology intelligence as part of their existing subscription.

IT Visibility with Technology Intelligence Platform delivers:

  • Complete picture of your technology estate with a unified view of technology assets and their relationships.

  • Advanced analytics with flexible, customizable reporting and advanced visualization using embedded Microsoft Power BI to support data-driven decisions.

  • Extensibility that enables you to add your own data across various types (Booleans, integers, decimals, date and time) as well as user-provided property names to contextualize your inventory; use new flexible APIs to feed the enriched inventory data you need to other business systems.

  • Faster processing and normalization of inventory data ensures reports have the freshest data and accelerate your data pipeline to ServiceNow; for customers that use the integration between Flexera and ServiceNow, it ensures your CMDB stays up-to-date.

For more information on IT Visibility with Technology Intelligence Platform, see the following Flexera One Help topics:

Robust custom report sharing in IT Visibility with Technology Intelligence Platform​

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This feature is available with IT Visibility.

IT Visibility customers who have been upgraded to Technology Intelligence Platform now have expanded abilities to share their custom reports. With the new sharing features, you can share your custom reports with other Flexera One users and, when doing so, decide whether the people you are sharing with will have view-only access or full-edit capabilities in the report you share.

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IT Visibility is being upgraded with the introduction of Technology Intelligence Platform beginning in September 2024. Flexera will contact you directly regarding the timeframe of your upgrade.

Custom report sharing features are available when you are viewing or editing a custom report as well as from the All Reports page (Dashboards > All Reports or IT Visibility > Reports). You click Add User to designate users or groups with whom you want to share the custom report and also set the recipients’ access level: View or Edit.

With this release, the former View custom reports role has been deprecated. It’s functionality is replaced by the View/Edit access-level setting applied when a custom report is shared. So, while some users will have visibility into custom reports at the organizational level, by virtue of the Manage custom reports role, users without this role will gain either View or Edit access to custom reports that are shared with them.

For more information about sharing custom reports, see Sharing a Custom Report in the Flexera One Help.

New support for multiple Jamf Pro connections​

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This enhancement is available with IT Visibility.

Previously, IT Visibility only supported a single Jamf Pro connection, limiting you to configure just one connection.

Now, you can create and manage multiple connections for Jamf Pro from the External Inventory Connections page (Data Collection > IT Visibility Inventory Tasks > External Inventory Connections). This enhancement offers greater flexibility and more streamlined workflows.

For more information, see Managing Jamf Pro Connections in the Flexera One Help.

New navigation option to access IT Visibility with Technology Intelligence Platform reports​

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This enhancement is available with IT Visibility.

With this enhancement, you can now access IT Visibility with Technology Intelligence Platform reports in the following two ways:

  • Dashboards > All Reports

  • IT Visibility > Reports

Previously, reports could only be accessed from the Dashboards menu.

For more information about reports, see IT Visibility With Technology Intelligence Platform Reports in the Flexera One Help.

Dates added to the IT Visibility with Technology Intelligence Platform out-of-the-box reports​

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This enhancement is available with IT Visibility.

With this enhancement, you can now view the following dates for an out-of-the-box report accessed from the All Reports page (Dashboards > All Reports or IT Visibility > Reports):

  • Data Last Updated —Displays the date and time when the data in the report was last refreshed.

  • Report Last Updated —Displays the date and time when new features were added or modifications were made to the report and it was last published.

For more information, see Viewing an Out-of-the-Box Report in the Flexera One Help.

SaaS Management​

SaaS Management released the following features and notification in September 2024.

Autodesk license optimization​

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This feature is available with SaaS Management.

Flexera One’s SaaS Management now offers a managed SaaS application for Autodesk. You can track user license entitlement and latest usage date for key Autodesk applications to optimize license spend.

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

Employee Central integration is no longer a direct integration with SaaS Management​

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This update is for SaaS Management.

Due to changes in SAP’s authentication method, Employee Central (SAP) is no longer offered as a direct integration with SaaS Management. If you wish to ingest your organization’s data into SaaS Management, you can use the indirect integration and have your HR roster manually uploaded into SaaS Management.

For more information, see the following resources:

New allocation rules for SaaS license purchases​

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This feature is available with SaaS Management.

SaaS license purchases can be allocated to a particular group of users assigned a license purchase to a single sign-on (SSO) application. Users can be tracked to a specific license purchase by a purchase order number and a unique purchase ID. This user information is displayed in the application's Users Tab. As a result, a purchase allocation impacts cost-related calculations and license usage calculations. For more information, see the Flexera One Help topic Creating a Purchase Allocation.

Track multiple purchases for the same SaaS license​

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This feature is available with SaaS Management.

SaaS Management now offers two views for tracking multiple purchases for the same SaaS license. Both views are in the SaaS Management Licenses tab. To access the Licenses tab, go to SaaS > Managed SaaS Applications. On the Managed SaaS Applications page, click the appropriate Application. The application’s Overview tab opens by default. Go to the Licenses tab.

The first view is the Licenses Details section of the Licenses tab. The Licenses Details table now includes a Purchases column that displays the number of purchases for the license listed in the License Name column.

The second view is the new Purchases section of the Licenses tab. The Purchases table tracks all of your organization’s SaaS license purchases. These purchases are either pulled in using an integration with SaaS Management or entered manually.

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

Technology Intelligence Platform​

Technology Intelligence Platform released the following feature in September 2024.

Flexera One launches Technology Intelligence Platform to bridge ITAM and FinOps, tackling emerging hybrid IT challenges with new system of insight​

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This feature is available with Technology Intelligence Platform and IT Visibility.

Flexera One’s Technology Intelligence Platform is the next-generation data and analytics platform for Flexera One. Technology Intelligence Platform is a “system of insight” built to solve the new challenges that IT leaders are facing as they seek to bridge the gap between ITAM and FinOps—including cloud license management and GreenOps—and will serve as Flexera’s foundation for additional innovation in artificial intelligence (AI).

Managing technology investments is more complicated and disjointed than ever, increasing organizations’ concern of wasted spending and potential security risks. Organizations often do not have complete visibility of their IT environments. This growing visibility gap is driven by disparate buying centers, changing vendor pricing and licensing models, inconsistent and incomplete data sets, increased purchases from cloud marketplaces and more.

Technology Intelligence Platform brings together curated, normalized, and contextualized data covering all aspects of the IT landscape. Data is enriched to provide actionable recommendations through comprehensive analytics, with the flexibility to slice and dice data based on business needs and existing processes. The Technology Intelligence Platform enables customers to take back control of their cost, risk profile and compliance position with trusted data, giving customers the peace of mind and confidence that they understand their entire IT landscape.

Unifying data across hybrid IT environments​

The new Technology Intelligence Platform is built on a unified, extensible data model for technology assets, an advanced analytics engine and a modern data lakehouse.

Customers with access to the Technology Intelligence Platform will be able to add their own data, create custom reports, and access their data via API. Technology Intelligence Platform currently supports Flexera One IT Visibility, with ongoing innovations to cultivate more ITAM, FinOps and SaaS management data that address advanced use cases like cloud license management and GreenOps.

Breaking down barriers across ITAM and FinOps data​

IT Visibility provides organizations with comprehensive visibility into their hybrid IT environment and allows you to surface details on end of life, end of support and software vulnerabilities to minimize risk, duplicate application usage to address wasted spend, monitor carbon emissions and report on compliance or regulatory standards to better meet corporate sustainability goals and more.

IT Visibility with Technology Intelligence Platform​

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IT Visibility customers will be the first to gain access to enhanced technology intelligence as part of their existing subscription.

IT Visibility with Technology Intelligence Platform delivers:

  • A unified data model for technology assets—Gain a comprehensive and consistent picture of your technology ecosystem, including relationships between technology assets.

  • An advanced analytics engine—Support data-driven decisions with scalable reporting and advanced visualization using Microsoft Power BI.

  • Enhanced extensibility—Ingest and transform your own data with flexible GraphQL APIs to feed clean, enriched inventory data to other business systems.

  • Accelerated data pipeline to ServiceNow—Deliver and send clean, normalized data to your ServiceNow CMDB or other IT ecosystem tools faster than ever before with new API integrations.

For more information, see the IT Visibility With Technology Intelligence Platform Overview Flexera One Help topic.