What does the term "Effectively Installed" mean?

Products

• IT Management Suite
• Client Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

While troubleshooting a Patch issue, we were investigating the "STPatchAssessment.xml" located at:

[Agent Install Directory]:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\SoftwareManagement\Software Delivery\{6D417916-467C-46A7-A870-6D86D9345B61}\cache\

We see the following:

"Item Status="Effectively Installed" Applicable="true" Severity="2" PatchUid="0004195f-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" PatchName="GoogleChromeStandaloneEnterprise.msi" Superseded="true" SQNumber="QGC12006099225" BulletinID="CHROME-XX" Class="Patch"/>"

What does the term "Effectively Installed" mean?

Environment

ITMS 8.x

Resolution

This term can mean that because an update has been superseded by a newer update, which is installed, the older update is marked as "Effectively Installed".  We notice that the bulletin above is Superseded='true', so there is a newer bulletin available.  With this older bulletin being 'Effectively Installed" we can assume that the newer bulletin has been installed, or this bulletin would be Applicable.

Another possible reason is that the update is applicable to the computer but the situation is such that the vulnerability or fixed issue is not present, such as when an update applies to a browser that is installed to fix or mitigate an issue with an extension. If the extension is not installed, the scan will mark the update as effectively installed. 

See the KB below for additional information.

Additional Information

Definitions for each main Software Update status in IT Management Suite