Answer
When you create an inventory forwarding rule, a scheduled task is created on the source notification server which forwards resource data classes to the destination (reporting) server. In addition, a replication task - NS.Replication.Resources <ServerName> - is created on the destination server which pulls resource association data from the source server.
Both of these tasks are collection based. Normally, collections do not contain resources that have a status other than active. However, between collection update intervals, collection membership can become outdated. For example, if you retire a resource, the status will change in the database, but its collection membership stays the same until the next time the 'NS.Always Refresh Collection Update Schedule' runs.
Some customers want all non-Active statuses to replicate to their reporting server, and some do not. This article will show how to ensure consistency with either approach.
To illustrate, in the sequence below non-Active statuses on the source server will overwrite statuses on the destination server for resources that had been forwarded:
Because of timing issues, it is possible that some resources' non-Active statuses may be replicated, and not others. (If a computer is set back to Active on the source server, this status will always overwrite the status on the destination server.*)
*NOTE: The 'Active' status has two behaviors related to this topic. If no status has been specifically set for a resource on the source NS, it is listed as 'Active' throughout its NS and no status association will be present in the ResourceAssociation table. In this case, any status set on the destination server once the resource has been forwarded will always take precedence.
In order for 'Active' to override another status on the destination server, you must actually set the resource's status to 'Active'. For example, right-click the computer, go to Set Asset Status and pick 'Active'. The resource will appear the same as before throughout the NS, but will now have a status association record in the ResourceAssociation table.