http://www.windowsitpro.com/authors/author/author/5777398/rsscomment/5777398en-USSun, 27 May 2012 07:23:54 GMTSun, 27 May 2012 07:23:54 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/systems-administrator/systems-management-server-customization-and-integration#commentsAnchorSun, 28 Mar 2004 03:01:03 GMT
how much does this cost?]]>KyleSun, 28 Mar 2004 03:01:03 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/systems-administrator/systems-management-server-customization-and-integration#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/systems-administrator/systems-management-server-customization-and-integration#commentsAnchorWed, 11 Aug 1999 09:56:33 GMT
I enjoy reading your magazine, and I have picked up useful information in every issue. When I looked at Mark Eddins and Greg Sternig’s “Systems Management Server Customization and Integration” (March), I was surprised to find an apparent conflict in the article. Paragraph 6 explains that users can be unwilling to fill out or inaccurately fill out a Management Information Format (MIF) Entry Form. I agree. In the proposed solution in paragraph 12, the authors recommend using an MIF Entry Form for users to enter the information. Although I understand the scenario, I don’t understand the about-face.
--John Hammond

Well John, you are correct. We do think that asking users to fill out MIF Entry Forms is unreliable and often inaccurate. In addition, MIFs (or the information they contain) do not follow users. If a user changes offices or departments, gets a new phone extension, or changes names, the information in the Systems Management Server (SMS) database is not updated. For our database merge to work, we needed to find a common object in the SMS database and the human resources (HR) database. Having an employee enter an employee number might not be the best solution for creating this common object. However, we felt that because the MIF Entry Form asks for only one piece of information, controlling the accuracy is easy. In addition, existing employees enter the information only once because the link with the HR database keeps the information up to date. A trained IS person enters new employee information. If your setup procedure for machines lets you hardcode an inventory value that’s also in the HR database, the employee doesn’t have to enter anything locally. One client can link the machine name to a logon ID, which would establish the necessary relationship between the SMS inventory database and the HR database. We realize the employee ID can still be entered incorrectly. However, you will catch the mistake immediately when your program queries the HR database for a matching record, can’t find a match or finds duplicates, and writes those errors to a log (step 3 of the “How to Build the Database” section). You can then call those employees and ask them to enter the information correctly. This misinformation would not have been caught by using the MIF Entry Form alone without the HR database merge.
--Mark Eddins and Greg Sternig]]>John Hammond Wed, 11 Aug 1999 09:56:33 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/systems-administrator/systems-management-server-customization-and-integration#commentsAnchor