System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2012 allows you to publish your applications to a Web Portal so users can browse to it and select the applications they need --and are authorized to install. In this post I describe how to publish an application to the Web portal (formally called Application Catalog Website) and how the user installs the application. If you don't yet have a Web portal, you can follow these instructions to set it up:
SCCM 2012 Application Concepts
Application
An application is intelligent software that knows if a user is authorized to use it on a particular device, if that device can run it and how it should be made available to the user on that device. An application in SCCM 2012 is what a package and program(s) is in SCCM 2007. You can still use the old package-program in SCCM 2012 to deploy software but you won't take advantage of the intelligence in Applications.
Deployment
A deployment in SCCM 2012 is what an advertisement is in SCCM 2007. A deployment is used to deploy an application. You can indicate the purpose of a deployment as Required and Available. Think of Required as the purpose of a mandatory assignment in an SCCM 2007 advertisement. Think of Available as the purpose of an optional advertisement in SCCM 2007. You can configure two actions for a deployment: Install and Uninstall.
Deployment Type
A Deployment Type is part of an Application and provides information needed to install the software. It contains rules to determine if and how software should be installed on a particular device or delivered to a user. SCCM 2012 has the following deployment types: Windows Installer, Script Installer, Microsoft Application Virtualization, Windows Mobile Cabinet and Nokia SIS file.
Application Catalog
This is a user-friendly web portal for applications that are not forced on devices by making the purpose of a deployment Available and configuring the deployment to target users. Users can browse to the portal and install or use applications that are available to them (with the option to require approval for specific applications).
Software Center
This is an SCCM client application that replaces the "Run Advertised Programs" control panel applet present in the SCCM 2007 client. If a deployment targets a device instead of a user, the user can install the application by launching Software Center.
User-Centric Application Management
This is a framework of SCCM features and other technologies that allow the intelligent delivery of applications to users anywhere on any device and at any time. One example of this is making Microsoft Word available to a user. Per the administrator's intent, Word will be installed only on the user's primary device, and it will be streamed to the user via App-V on any other device.
User Device Affinity
This is one of the key features in SCCM 2012 that makes User-Centric Application Management possible. It allows a device to be configured as the primary device for a user. You can actually have multiple primary users for a device, and multiple primary devices for a user. For more information on this see
Creating an Application
In this example, we'll be deploying Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2. To create an application for it, go to the Software Library node in the SCCM console. Then right-click on Applications and select Create Application.
Next, specify the settings for the application. Because there's an MSI provided for the installation of Office Communicator, I select "Windows Installer (Native)". I also specify where the installation files are.
When you click on Next, application information will be imported from the MSI file. Clicking on Next again displays the wizard page where you can enter information for the application. The following information was automatically populated.
Click on Next to confirm the settings for the application and create it. The application is now listed under Applications.
Note that one deployment type was created by default. You can view it by clicking on the Deployment Types tab at the bottom of the Applications window.
You can look at the settings of the deployment type by right-clicking on it and selecting Properties.
There are many settings for a Deployment Type. Here are the Programs settings for our deployment type.
Because I want to perform the MSI installation only on a user's primary device, I added a requirement for this.
For more information on creating deployment types, see the the following Microsoft article.
I then right-clicked on the Application and selected Properties so I could customize a little how the application would appear in the Application Catalog. For example, I created a "Tools" category for it. I also entered keywords that users could use to find the application in the catalog.
Deploying an Application
In this example, we'll deploy Office Communicator 2007 R2. Right-click on the application and select Deploy.
In the first couple pages of the wizard, specify general information for the deployment such as the target collection (I targeted All Users) and the content destination (the distribution points that the software should be pushed to).
On the "Specify settings to control how this software is deployed" page, select Install for Action (the other option is Uninstall), and select Available for Purpose (the other option is Required). I also enabled "Require administrator approval if users request this application" because I want users to be authorized before they install the application.
On the next page of the wizard, I configure the user experience for the installation of the application by picking one of the User notifications options.
On the next wizard page you can configure Configuration Manager and Operations Manager alert options.
Confirm the wizard settings and finish creating the deployment. You can look at the deployment by clicking on the Deployments tab on the Applications node while having our Application selected.
Allowing users to set their Primary Device
I want users to be able to set their primary device(s) themselves. They do this by browsing to the Application Catalog and selecting My Devices. However, by default, they don't have the rights to do that. In the illustration below, the check-box to set the computer that the user is using to browse the catalog as the user's primary device is greyed-out.
So I created a custom Client User Settings to give this right to the users that I want. To do this, right-click on Client Settings under Administration and select Create Custom Client User Settings.
In the General page give your user settings a name and select User and Device Affinity. I called it "Lab User Settings".
In the User and Device Affinity page set Allow user to define their primary devices to True.
Now you can see your new user settings under Client Settings. To assign it to the appropriate users, right-click on it and select Deploy.
Then select the user collection that contains the appropriate users.
Note that when you assign the custom client settings, they overwrite the default client settings. Now the user is able to set her primary device when browsing the Application Catalog.
Installing an Application from the Application Catalog
When the user browses to the Application Catalog, the Application Catalog tab will list applications that are available to the user. Because I configured my deployment to have the user request approval before installing the application, the user sees a REQUEST button instead of an INSTALL button.
So the user clicks on REQUEST, enters a reason for the application request and clicks on SUBMIT.
The user gets an acknowledgment about the submission.
The user can click on My Application Requests to see the status of the request. Here, the status is Requested.
The administrator can approve --or deny-- the request by going to Approval Requests under Software Library >> Application Management, right-clicking on the request and selecting Approve.
The status in the console changes from Requested to Approved.
The user now sees a status of Approved in the My Application Requests tab of the Application Catalog.
And when the user clicks on the Application Catalog tab, there is now an INSTALL button.
The user can now click on INSTALL to install the Application.
See this Microsoft article for a comparison of the Application Catalog vs Software Center.
SCCM 2012 Application Concepts
Application
An application is intelligent software that knows if a user is authorized to use it on a particular device, if that device can run it and how it should be made available to the user on that device. An application in SCCM 2012 is what a package and program(s) is in SCCM 2007. You can still use the old package-program in SCCM 2012 to deploy software but you won't take advantage of the intelligence in Applications.
Deployment
A deployment in SCCM 2012 is what an advertisement is in SCCM 2007. A deployment is used to deploy an application. You can indicate the purpose of a deployment as Required and Available. Think of Required as the purpose of a mandatory assignment in an SCCM 2007 advertisement. Think of Available as the purpose of an optional advertisement in SCCM 2007. You can configure two actions for a deployment: Install and Uninstall.
Deployment Type
A Deployment Type is part of an Application and provides information needed to install the software. It contains rules to determine if and how software should be installed on a particular device or delivered to a user. SCCM 2012 has the following deployment types: Windows Installer, Script Installer, Microsoft Application Virtualization, Windows Mobile Cabinet and Nokia SIS file.
Application Catalog
This is a user-friendly web portal for applications that are not forced on devices by making the purpose of a deployment Available and configuring the deployment to target users. Users can browse to the portal and install or use applications that are available to them (with the option to require approval for specific applications).
Software Center
This is an SCCM client application that replaces the "Run Advertised Programs" control panel applet present in the SCCM 2007 client. If a deployment targets a device instead of a user, the user can install the application by launching Software Center.
User-Centric Application Management
This is a framework of SCCM features and other technologies that allow the intelligent delivery of applications to users anywhere on any device and at any time. One example of this is making Microsoft Word available to a user. Per the administrator's intent, Word will be installed only on the user's primary device, and it will be streamed to the user via App-V on any other device.
User Device Affinity
This is one of the key features in SCCM 2012 that makes User-Centric Application Management possible. It allows a device to be configured as the primary device for a user. You can actually have multiple primary users for a device, and multiple primary devices for a user. For more information on this see
Creating an Application
In this example, we'll be deploying Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2. To create an application for it, go to the Software Library node in the SCCM console. Then right-click on Applications and select Create Application.
Next, specify the settings for the application. Because there's an MSI provided for the installation of Office Communicator, I select "Windows Installer (Native)". I also specify where the installation files are.
When you click on Next, application information will be imported from the MSI file. Clicking on Next again displays the wizard page where you can enter information for the application. The following information was automatically populated.
Click on Next to confirm the settings for the application and create it. The application is now listed under Applications.
Note that one deployment type was created by default. You can view it by clicking on the Deployment Types tab at the bottom of the Applications window.
You can look at the settings of the deployment type by right-clicking on it and selecting Properties.
There are many settings for a Deployment Type. Here are the Programs settings for our deployment type.
Because I want to perform the MSI installation only on a user's primary device, I added a requirement for this.
For more information on creating deployment types, see the the following Microsoft article.
I then right-clicked on the Application and selected Properties so I could customize a little how the application would appear in the Application Catalog. For example, I created a "Tools" category for it. I also entered keywords that users could use to find the application in the catalog.
Deploying an Application
In this example, we'll deploy Office Communicator 2007 R2. Right-click on the application and select Deploy.
In the first couple pages of the wizard, specify general information for the deployment such as the target collection (I targeted All Users) and the content destination (the distribution points that the software should be pushed to).
On the "Specify settings to control how this software is deployed" page, select Install for Action (the other option is Uninstall), and select Available for Purpose (the other option is Required). I also enabled "Require administrator approval if users request this application" because I want users to be authorized before they install the application.
On the next page of the wizard, I configure the user experience for the installation of the application by picking one of the User notifications options.
On the next wizard page you can configure Configuration Manager and Operations Manager alert options.
Confirm the wizard settings and finish creating the deployment. You can look at the deployment by clicking on the Deployments tab on the Applications node while having our Application selected.
Allowing users to set their Primary Device
I want users to be able to set their primary device(s) themselves. They do this by browsing to the Application Catalog and selecting My Devices. However, by default, they don't have the rights to do that. In the illustration below, the check-box to set the computer that the user is using to browse the catalog as the user's primary device is greyed-out.
So I created a custom Client User Settings to give this right to the users that I want. To do this, right-click on Client Settings under Administration and select Create Custom Client User Settings.
In the General page give your user settings a name and select User and Device Affinity. I called it "Lab User Settings".
In the User and Device Affinity page set Allow user to define their primary devices to True.
Now you can see your new user settings under Client Settings. To assign it to the appropriate users, right-click on it and select Deploy.
Then select the user collection that contains the appropriate users.
Note that when you assign the custom client settings, they overwrite the default client settings. Now the user is able to set her primary device when browsing the Application Catalog.
Installing an Application from the Application Catalog
When the user browses to the Application Catalog, the Application Catalog tab will list applications that are available to the user. Because I configured my deployment to have the user request approval before installing the application, the user sees a REQUEST button instead of an INSTALL button.
The user gets an acknowledgment about the submission.
The user can click on My Application Requests to see the status of the request. Here, the status is Requested.
The administrator can approve --or deny-- the request by going to Approval Requests under Software Library >> Application Management, right-clicking on the request and selecting Approve.
The status in the console changes from Requested to Approved.
On the next policy refresh cycle on the user's computer, the user will see a notification indicating that the requested application has been approved.
The user now sees a status of Approved in the My Application Requests tab of the Application Catalog.
And when the user clicks on the Application Catalog tab, there is now an INSTALL button.
The user can now click on INSTALL to install the Application.
See this Microsoft article for a comparison of the Application Catalog vs Software Center.