Patent Document ID: 7529645
Application ID: 11558618
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for performing a computing system assessment to determine at least one performance characteristic of the computing system, comprising: storing policy data, the policy data specifying information as to when to perform the computing system assessment or a method to perform the computing system assessment, the computing system assessment comprising a computing system attribute, a computing system capability or a computing system feature; receiving a request to perform the computing system assessment on the computing system; if the request is a direct command: performing the computing system assessment in accordance with at least one parameter specified in the direct command to generate computing system assessment data; if the request is not a direct command: performing the computing system assessment in accordance with the policy data to generate computing system assessment data; storing the computing system assessment data; copying the computing system assessment data to at least one identical computing system when the request indicates a pre-population operation; and upon an event requiring at least one of a computing system attribute, computing system capability or computing system feature, if the at least one computing system attribute, computing system capability or computing system feature is not supported as determined by the computing system assessment data, providing a warning that the at least one computing system attribute, computing system capability or computing system feature is not supported.