Overview

When ManagementStudio is used with data connectors, applications are typically created with the Rationalisation Status set to Pending. This provides a way for the team to review the newly discovered applications without them adding unnecessary "noise" to the in-scope applications list (Accepted applications), and make decisions about them such as mark them as in-scope or out-of-scope. 

Video Tutorial (2m 10s)

Accepting Applications 

If an application in the Pending state is in-scope for the project, you can simply Accept that application. This will change that application's status from Pending to Accepted.

To Accept applications following this process:

• select the application or applications to be accepted in the Grid
• right-click those applications and chose Rationalise -> Accept selected Application(s)
• the application's status will change from Pending to Accepted
• note: accepting an application will consume a universal license

Rationalising Applications

When a Pending application is to be replaced with a different version or different product altogether, follow this process:

• Change to the Applications module 
• Click on Pending in the Rationalisation Status Section of the Ribbon
• Turn off Accepted applications in the Rationalisation Status Section of the Ribbon
• Select applications to rationalise (multi-select is supported via CTRL and SHIFT clicking the rows in the grid)
• Right-click -> Rationalise
  • Choose To new Application to create a new application as the target application for rationalisation
  • Choose To existing Application to choose an existing application to rationalise the selected applications to

This function will:

• Set the selected applications' status to Rationalised
• Forward-path the users of the selected applications to the new or existing application which was selected as the "replacement" application
• Create a "rationalised to" rule from the selected "legacy" applications to the "replacement" application so that any new users of the legacy applications will automatically be forward-pathed to the replacement application

Note: Where an accepted application is going to be replaced with another application, the same process can be used.

Rejecting Applications

There may be a number of Pending applications which are "out-of-scope" for the project. To mark these as out-of-scope:

• select the application or applications to be rejected
• right-click those applications and chose New Note, then add a comment as to why these are out-of-scope (optional step)
• right-click those applications and chose Rationalise -> Reject selected Application(s)
• the application's status will change from Pending to Rejected

Reject Usage Links from Specific Machines

Sometimes it may be necessary to reject applications for specific Devices. This is usually on an exception basis, but may be due to, for example, the user no longer accesses the device, or the application was used on a one off basis on a particular machine. Rather than having the readiness for a particular device based upon an application that is no longer used, it is possible to reject the application for a specific set of devices. 

• double-click the Application in question to see the applications details. 
• click on the Devices tab
• select the devices to be Rejected or Removed
• right-click to get the context menu and chose either Reject or Remove

Undoing Mistakes

If a mistake has been made in rationalising applications, you can undo the rationalisation:

• Change to the Applications module
• Click on Rationalised in the Rationalisation Status Section of the Ribbon to view the Rationalised applications
• Select the applications which have been incorrectly rationalised
• Right-click -> Rationalise -> Clear Rationalisation
• This will preform two actions:
  • Rollback the usage links which were previously forwarded to the "Accepted" application
  • Set the Application status back to Pending

• if any links on the accepted application have been rejected (eg. by an admin or by a user during the survey), these might need "un-rejecting" depending on the project requirements. Please raise a support ticket for instructions on how to achieve this
• click on Accepted in the Rationalisation Status Section of the Ribbon to view the Accepted applications
• Locate the Accepted application (this is the "future state" application which the older applications were rationalised to)
• Select the application
• If this was an existing application:
  • Right-click -> Rationalise -> Return to Pending

• If this was a newly created application:
  • Right-click -> Delete -> Delete

Manually Adding/Removing Links to Applications

Applications can be linked to Devices, Users, Mailboxes or Bespoke items. This means that it's possible to specify that an application is used by a specific person or installed on a machine. 

The usual route to Link applications would be through the connectors. For example when a someone clicks an application, SCCM will create a link between the application and the person who used it. This will be imported into ManagementStudio through the connector.

To manually do this:

• Select an application or set of applications
• Right click to display the context menu and chose Links
• Choose Add Links to 

Note: if you chose to Remove Links using this context menu it will remove links for this application to all Devices/Users/Mailboxes or Bespoke Items

Further Support

If you require further support, please visit ManagementStudio's Service Desk to search the knowledge base or create a new support ticket.