Patent ID: 7617210

Claim:
A processor implemented method of building a global inventory of hardware, software, and telecommunications assets distributed throughout an organization, comprising: receiving via a processor data from multiple source systems, the data identifying hardware, software, and telecommunications assets distributed throughout the organization and specifying physical locations within the organization of the hardware, software, and telecommunications assets; and storing the data identifying and specifying the physical locations of the hardware, software, and telecommunications assets in one or more databases responsive to the receiving of the data, the storing comprising: converting a plurality of raw data records into a plurality of source data records; providing the plurality of source data records to a plurality of staging tables for creating a plurality of staging data records, the plurality of staging data records providing for generation of customized reports; and configuring a refresher to initiate a process to update the plurality of staging data records, the process comprising: comparing the plurality of staging data records to the corresponding plurality of source data records to determine a percentage of the plurality of staging data records that need to be updated; responsive to determining that the percentage is less than a pre-determined threshold value, proceeding with the updating of the plurality of staging data records; responsive to determining that the percentage is greater than the pre-determined threshold value, aborting the updating of the plurality of staging data records; receiving a query from a reporting tool for specific information pertaining to an identified software asset deployed within the organization; and providing the specific information to the reporting tool responsive to the query so as to facilitate generation of a report containing the specific information by the reporting tool.