The Wise Software Manager

The Software Manager lets you import packages and their resources into its Software Manager database, which provides you with a centralized point for managing all applications at any stage of deployment. Once a package is in the Software Manager database, you can view its resources, either on-screen or by running any of the Software Manager reports.

From Software Manager, you set the package's status, which determines whether the package is still in development, available for deployment, or retired. When you set a package as “available” it also moves a copy to an “Available Packages” folder in your Wise Share Point. This is another process related step that can help you when working with others- if the package is not in “Available Packages” you can tell people to leave it alone! Additionally, when a package is available for deployment, you can use the Package Distribution tool from within Software Manager to distribute the package to end users through a distribution system. Wise has partnered with several distribution vendors (not just Altiris) to provide a nice handoff between the package creation and package deployment steps in your process.

For one thing, you can now move an installation directly into a Group Policy Object in Active Directory. Then you can set Active Directory to distribute the installation.

Wise Package Studio - Package Distribution (AD)

Package Studio support distribution to Software Delivery Solution (Altiris), Tivoli (IBM), LANDesk Management suite (more details below), Active Directory, Microsoft SMS (more details below), Radia (Novadigm), ZENworks (Novell), and ON Command MSI Package Wizard. Additionally you may distribute the package to a network share, FTP server or perform an Administrative Installation to a location of your choosing.

Wise Package Studio now supports Microsoft SMS 2003 the same way it currently supports SMS 1.2 and 2.0:

• Using Package Distribution to prepare a package for SMS deployment
• Converting an SMS installation (.IPF) in Legacy Setup Conversion
• Creating an installation for SMS in Windows Installer Editor (Installation Expert > Microsoft SMS page)
• Creating an installation for SMS in WiseScript Editor (Installation Expert > Microsoft SMS page)
• When you change a package's status to Available, and the package has an associated package definition file (.PDF or .SMS) for use in a SMS environment, the .PDF or .SMS file is created in the Available Packages directory along with the final .MSI.

Wise Package Studio also provides special integration capabilities when installed on the same computer as LANDesk Management Suite. You can use the Package Distribution tool to copy the package to a directory accessible by the LANDesk Desktop Manager. After the package is copied, you can create a Distribution Package Script using the LANDesk Desktop Manager console, and then use LANDesk Management Suite to distribute the package to end user computers. Keep an eye out for my upcoming review of LANDesk here at AppDeploy.

Package Meta Data Support

Available in the Professional and Enterprise editions, you can now add package Meta Data to store additional package information that is not otherwise recorded by Wise Package Studio. For example, you can specify the type of license model the software uses or point of contact for the application. You can specify the name and type of value to be a text string, an external link, true/false or yes/no value. You already have a database and central location for managing packages, why not work in as much documentation as possible? There are no “default” meta data types included, you need to create any Meta data fields on your own. Some information will make more sense to your environment than others, but here are some ideas to get you thinking:

• Text such as: Application description, in-house or COTS software, license model and number of licenses, hardware requirements, comments about the package, or internal point of contact for the application.
• Links such as: to installation instructions, repackaging requirements, hardware requirements, original source location and other package related notes or documentation. 

You may define meta data fields in Software Manager (select Setup > Meta Data Fields). This determines the fields that are available for entry and stored in the Software Manager database. They may then be edited for each package in the Package Attributes dialog. This is available in both Software Manager and ConflictManager. Finally, you can view the data in Software Manager in the Package pane or by using its Package Attributes dialog. In ConflictManager, you can view meta data in the Package Attributes dialog. You can even filter the package display by a meta data field.

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