Conversion variants

A conversion variant is a software catalog record designated as an alias of the currently displayed record on the Software tab of the Software Catalog application.

A conversion variant refers to a particular deployed software product by a name other than its preferred name. The preferred name is the product or signature name assigned by the software manufacturer, or alternatively, by a user. Variant names are converted to the preferred name, formally known as the target name, for purposes of tracking software inventory or license compliance.

For example, the software catalog might identify three separate records, one for “Word,” one for “MS Word,” and one for “Microsoft Word.” All three of these catalog records actually refer to one product, which the user might want to refer to consistently as “Word.” To do so, the user can add “MS Word” and “Microsoft Word” as variant of “Word” in the software catalog. Then, in other applications that refer to “MS Word” or “Microsoft Word,” the product will be displayed consistently as “Word.”