System for linking financial asset records with networked assets

Abstract

A computer system to reconcile hard assets carried on the financial data reporting computer systems of a corporation or government entity with actual inventory assets discovered on the networks of said entity. Automatic discovery of inventory assets is performed by executing scripts specified in fingerprints of the types of machines the system can recognize. When a machine is found at a live P address, the fingerprint scripts determine the operating system type and extract data from the operating system regarding the attributes of the machine. Hard assets are then imported from the financial data reporting computer system, and automatic reconciliation rules are drafted by a user and run on the asset data to find inventory assets which match hard assets. Linking or pointer data is established to record each match. Then unmatched inventory and hard assets are displayed and manual matching occurs where in the user points to and selects inventory assets which match particular hard assets. Linking or pointer data is then generated for each manual match.

1 . A process comprising the steps: 
 A) gathering asset information from one or more financial asset computer systems that carry assets for purposes of creating the financial books of a corporation or other entity and importing this asset information into an asset reconciliation system;    B) defining automatic asset reconciliation rules that function to match assets imported from said financial asset computer system(s) with assets in inventory found by an automated asset discovery process;    C) using said asset reconcilation rules to match as many assets as possible imported from said one or more financial asset computer systems to assets in inventory found on one or more networks by an automated asset discovery process;    D) for every match made, creating a data structure or linkage which links the asset from said one or more financial asset computer systems to the matching asset in inventory such that when said asset from inventory is found again on subsequent scans of said one or more networks, said asset will be recognized as a particular asset carried in said financial asset computer systems;    E) manually examining the records of said hard assets imported from said one or more financial asset computer systems and said assets in inventory discovered on said one or more networks and manually matching assets based upon attributes of said assets and creating a data structure of data linkage for each said match.    
   
   
       2 . The process of  claim 1  wherein step A comprises logging onto said financial asset computer system using a user ID and password and giving commands to invoke application programmatic interface functions calls which cause retrieval of and return of hard asset information from said financial asset computer system and recording said returned hard asset information in said asset reconciliation system.  
   
   
       3 . The process of  claim 1  wherein step A is accomplished by exporting to a file the assets maintained in said financial asset computer system and importing the data in said file into said asset reconciliation system.  
   
   
       4 . The process of  claim 1  further comprising the step of automatically discovering the assets on one or more networks and automatically discovering the attributes of each said asset, and importing said assets and attribute information into said asset reconciliation system.  
   
   
       5 . The process of  claim 1  further comprising an asset discovery process process for automatically discovering the assets on one or more networks and automatically discovering the attributes of each said asset, said automatically discovered assets and their attributes being the assets in inventory which are matched to assets imported into said asset reconciliation system from said one or more financial asset computer systems, said asset discovery process comprising the following steps: 
 A) a step for initializing a fingerprint search index to a point where a discovery process to discover assets is to begin;    B) a step for reading the fingerprint indicated by said fingerprint search index and reading the fingerprint entry in an element tree at that index and locating the element ID;    C) a step for finding an element in an element table having the element ID obtained from the element tree and determining attribute IDs for that element using a mapping table;    D) a step for finding all attributes having IDs located using said mapping table and which are mapped to the element having the element ID located in step B;    E) a step for determining one or more collection instruction IDs for each attribute located in step D;    F) a step for locating a collection instruction for each collection instruction ID located in step E;    G) a step for determining one or more protocols to use for executing each said collection instruction, and accessing a protocol library and using a protocol specified by each said collection instruction to execute a command or operation specified in said collection instruction to retrieve attribute data about an element;    H) a step for processing the attribute data collected in accordance with a collection instruction using one or more fingerprint logical rules specified in said collection instruction or fingerprint mapped to an element ID corresponding to an element to which said attribute data pertains;    I) a step for drawing a conclusion regarding the existence or nonexistence of the element to which said fingerprint corresponds whose collection instruction(s) resulted in collection of said attribute data;    J) a step for making an entry in a data table indicating the existence or nonexistence and weight or probability of correctness of said existence/nonexistence conclusion; and    K) a step for incrementing said fingerprint search index and repeating steps B through K until all fingerprints at all levels have been processed.    
   
   
       6 . The process of  claim 1  further comprising a step for creating an identification code or “signature” for every inventory asset found on a network using attributes discovered about each said inventory asset, said identification code being such as to still be operable to positively identify said inventory asset even after changes to said asset because said identification code is characterized by uniqueness and persistence or stability, wherein uniqueness is defined as two different elements with different attributes cannot generate matching identification codes, and wherein persistence or stability is defined as the characteristic that identification codes generated at two different times will still match even if the element is upgraded or altered somewhat over time.  
   
   
       7 . The process of  claim 6  wherein said step of creating an identification code or signature creates an identification code which is “independent” in that the attribute data that goes into generating said signature is un-correlated information. 
 creating an identification code for every inventory asset found on a network using attributes discovered about each said inventory asset, said identification code being such as to still be operable to positively identify said inventory asset even after changes to said asset.    
   
   
       8 . An asset reconciliation computer system comprising: 
 a display;    a keyboard;    a pointing device;    a data storage medium;    a central processing unit coupled to said display, said keyboard, said pointing device and said data storage medium, and programmed to display data on said display, accept user input from said keyboard and pointing device and to read data from and write data to said data storage medium, and further programmed to import hard asset data from a financial asset recording system and receive or generate data regarding inventory assets discovered on one or more networks and the attributes of said inventory assets, and receiving and recording as one or more reconciliation rules user input which defines one or more of said reconciliation rules to reconcile said inventory assets to assets imported from said financial asset recording system, and using said one or more reconciliation rules to match hard assets imported from said financial asset recording system to said inventory assets discovered on said one or more networks, and when a match is found, for creating linking data or a pointer which links each said hard asset for which a match was found to the inventory asset which matches said hard asset such that when discovery of said inventory assets on said one or more networks is performed again, the same hard asset will be matched with the same inventory asset again using said linking data or pointer, and for displaying on said display during a manual reconciliation process data regarding said hard assets and said inventory assets for which no match was found using said one or more reconciliation rules, and for receiving user input identifying hard assets which match particular inventory assets, and, when said user input is received establishing a manual match, creating linking data or a pointer which links each said hard asset for which a manual match was found to the inventory asset which is found to match for use in subsequent reconciliation processes.    
   
   
       9 . The computer system of  claim 8  wherein said central processing unit is further programmed to do an automatic inventory asset discovery process to develop data regarding the existence and attributes of said inventory assets by perfroming the following steps: 
 discovering the networks which are present which have inventory assets coupled thereto;    loading the Internet Protocol (IP) address range of said networks into said asset reconciliation computer system;    pinging every IP address on said one or more networks and examining the responses received thereto to determine which IP addresses are coupled to assets which are responding;    determining which kind of machine and/or operating system is present at each live IP address;    obtaining a login ID and password for each device controlled by an operating system which requires a login ID and password;    using an appropriate login ID and password, logging into each machine and executing one or more scripts from a fingerprint file to invoke function calls of one or more application programmatic interfaces to extract attribute data regarding the attributes of each said machine; and    using said attribute data gathered, generating a unique identification code for each said machine.    
   
   
       10 . A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer readable instructions which, when loaded into a computer control said computer to carry out the following process: 
 A) gathering asset information from one or more financial asset computer systems that carry assets for purposes of creating the financial books of a corporation or other entity and importing this asset information into an asset reconciliation system;    B) defining automatic asset reconciliation rules that function to match assets imported from said financial asset computer system(s) with assets in inventory found by an automated asset discovery process;    C) using said asset reconcilation rules to match as many assets as possible imported from said one or more financial asset computer systems to assets in inventory found on one or more networks by an automated asset discovery process;    D) for every match made, creating a data structure or linkage which links the asset from said one or more financial asset computer systems to the matching asset in inventory such that when said asset from inventory is found again on subsequent scans of said one or more networks, said asset will be recognized as a particular asset carried in said financial asset computer systems;    E) manually examining the records of said hard assets imported from said one or more financial asset computer systems and said assets in inventory discovered on said one or more networks and manually matching assets based upon attributes of said assets and creating a data structure of data linkage for each said match.    
   
   
       11 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 10  wherein said computer-readable instructions further comprise computer-readable instructions which control a computer to, in addition to performing steps A through E above, further control said computer to perform the following steps: 
 A) a step for initializing a fingerprint search index to a point where a discovery process to discover assets is to begin;    B) a step for reading the fingerprint indicated by said fingerprint search index and reading the fingerprint entry in an element tree at that index and locating the element ID;    C) a step for finding an element in an element table having the element ID obtained from the element tree and determining attribute IDs for that element using a mapping table;    D) a step for finding all attributes having IDs located using said mapping table and which are mapped to the element having the element ID located in step B;    E) a step for determining one or more collection instruction IDs for each attribute located in step D;    F) a step for locating a collection instruction for each collection instruction ID located in step E;    G) a step for determining one or more protocols to use for executing each said collection instruction, and accessing a protocol library and using a protocol specified by each said collection instruction to execute a command or operation specified in said collection instruction to retrieve attribute data about an element;    H) a step for processing the attribute data collected in accordance with a collection instruction using one or more fingerprint logical rules specified in said collection instruction or fingerprint mapped to an element ID corresponding to an element to which said attribute data pertains;    I) a step for drawing a conclusion regarding the existence or nonexistence of the element to which said fingerprint corresponds whose collection instruction(s) resulted in collection of said attribute data;    J) a step for making an entry in a data table indicating the existence or nonexistence and weight or probability of correctness of said existence/nonexistence conclusion; and    K) a step for incrementing said fingerprint search index and repeating steps B through K until all fingerprints at all levels have been processed.