AdminStudio

General Information

Technologies must be operated and maintained in accordance with Federal and Department security and privacy policies and guidelines. More information on the proper use of the TRM can be found on the TRM Proper Use Tab/Section.

Website:	Go to site
Description:	Flexera AdminStudio automates application preparation to enable the creation of Microsoft Installer (MSI) packages that can be deployed utilizing current deployment tools. The AdminStudio software includes a catalog that forms a central repository for storing applications and allows for testing to eliminate application conflicts. This entry covers the Desktop Edition of this technology and not any mobile versions. Please note that the implementation of mobile technology applications that operate on Mobile Operating Systems must be reviewed and approved by the Mobile Technology and Endpoint Security Engineering Team: https://dvagov.sharepoint.com/sites/OITMT/SitePages/MTHome.aspx This technology is available in two editions, AdminStudio Professional and AdminStudio Enterprise. This entry covers both editions.
Technology/Standard Usage Requirements:	Users must ensure their use of this technology/standard is consistent with VA policies and standards, including, but not limited to, VA Handbooks 6102 and 6500; VA Directives 6004, 6513, and 6517; and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, including Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). Users must ensure sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. Prior to use of this technology, users should check with their supervisor, Information Security Officer (ISO), Facility Chief Information Officer (CIO), or local Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) representative to ensure that all actions are consistent with current VA policies and procedures prior to implementation.
Section 508 Information:	This technology has not been assessed by the Section 508 Office. The Implementer of this technology has the responsibility to ensure the version deployed is 508-compliant. Section 508 compliance may be reviewed by the Section 508 Office and appropriate remedial action required if necessary. For additional information or assistance regarding Section 508, please contact the Section 508 Office at Section508@va.gov.
Decision:	View Decisions

Decision Source:	TRM Mgmt Group
Decision Process:	One-VA TRM v24.5
Decision Date:	05/23/2024 at 16:18:51 UTC
Aliases:	Flexera InstallShield
Introduced By:	TRM Request
Vendor Name:	Flexera Software

Vendor Release Information

The Vendor Release table provides the known releases for the TRM Technology, obtained from the vendor (or from the release source).

Version	Release Date	Vendor End of Life Date
11.0.x	01/26/2012	01/31/2015
11.5.x	07/16/2012	07/31/2015
2013.x	07/16/2013	07/31/2016
2014.x	07/24/2014	07/31/2017
2015.x	07/28/2015	07/28/2018
2016.SP1	10/06/2016	06/23/2020
2018.x	04/26/2018	04/27/2022
2019	05/01/2019	04/25/2023
2021 R2	10/01/2021	10/05/2025
2022	05/01/2022
2023	06/14/2023

Current Decision Matrix (05/16/2024)

Users must ensure their use of this technology/standard is consistent with VA policies and standards, including, but not limited to, VA Handbooks 6102 and 6500; VA Directives 6004, 6513, and 6517; and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards, including Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS). Users must ensure sensitive data is properly protected in compliance with all VA regulations. Prior to use of this technology, users should check with their supervisor, Information Security Officer (ISO), Facility Chief Information Officer (CIO), or local Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) representative to ensure that all actions are consistent with current VA policies and procedures prior to implementation.

The VA Decision Matrix displays the current and future VA IT position regarding different releases of a TRM entry. These decisions are based upon the best information available as of the most current date. The consumer of this information has the responsibility to consult the organizations responsible for the desktop, testing, and/or production environments to ensure that the target version of the technology will be supported. Any major.minor version that is not listed in the VA Decision Matrix is considered unapproved for use.

Legend:

White	Approved: The technology/standard has been approved for use.
Yellow	Approved w/Constraints: The technology/standard can be used within the specified constraints located below the decision matrix in the footnote[1] and on the General tab.
Gray	Unapproved: This technology or standard can be used only if a POA&M review is conducted and signed by the Authorizing Official Designated Representative (AODR) as designated by the Authorizing Official (AO) or designee and based upon a recommendation from the POA&M Compliance Enforcement, has been granted to the project team or organization that wishes to use the technology.
Orange	Divest: VA has decided to divest itself on the use of the technology/standard. As a result, all projects currently utilizing the technology/standard must plan to eliminate their use of the technology/standard. Additional information on when the entry is projected to become unapproved may be found on the Decision tab for the specific entry.
Black	Prohibited: The technology/standard is not (currently) permitted to be used under any circumstances.
Blue	Planning/Evaluation Constraint:The period of time this technology is currently being evaluated, reviewed, and tested in controlled environments. Use of this technology is strictly controlled and not available for use within the general population. If a customer would like to use this technology, please work with your local or Regional OI&T office and contact the appropriate evaluation office displayed in the notes below the decision matrix. The Local or Regional OI&T office should submit an inquiry to the TRM if they require further assistance or if the evaluating office is not listed in the notes below.

Release/Version Information:

VA decisions for specific versions may include a ‘.x’ wildcard, which denotes a decision that pertains to a range of multiple versions.

For example, a technology approved with a decision for 7.x would cover any version of 7.(Anything) - 7.(Anything). However, a 7.4.x decision would cover any version of 7.4.(Anything), but would not cover any version of 7.5.x or 7.6.x on the TRM.

VA decisions for specific versions may include ‘+’ symbols; which denotes that the decision for the version specified also includes versions greater than what is specified but is not to exceed or affect previous decimal places.

For example, a technology approved with a decision for 12.6.4+ would cover any version that is greater than 12.6.4, but would not exceed the .6 decimal ie: 12.6.401 is ok, 12.6.5 is ok, 12.6.9 is ok, however 12.7.0 or 13.0 is not.

<Past

CY2016

CY2017

CY2018

Future>

Release

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

11.0.x

Divest
[1]

Unapproved

11.5.x

Approved w/Constraints
[1]

Divest
[1]

Unapproved

2013.x

Approved w/Constraints
[1]

Divest
[1]

Unapproved

2014.x

Approved w/Constraints
[1]

Divest
[1]

Unapproved

2015.x

Unapproved

Approved w/Constraints
[1]

Divest
[1]

2016.SP1

Unapproved

Approved w/Constraints
[1]

Divest
[1]

2018.x

Unapproved

Approved w/Constraints
[1]

2019

Unapproved

2021 R2

Unapproved

2022

Unapproved

2023

Unapproved

Decision Constraints


[1]	Technology must remain patched and operated in accordance with Federal and Department security policies and guidelines in order to mitigate known and future security vulnerabilities.

Note:

At the time of writing, version 2023 R2 was the most current version, released 10/19/2023.

References

The following reference(s) are associated with this entry:
Type	Name	Source	Description
*NOTE: Vendor provided information is subject to the accuracy of the manufacturer.

Technology Components

Note: This list may not be complete. No component, listed or unlisted, may be used outside of the technology in which it is released. The usage decision for a component is found in the Decision and Decision Constraints.
Name	Description
AdminStudio Application Isolation Wizard	Application isolation is one solution to component versioning conflicts. Isolation reduces versioning conflicts by modifying an application so it always loads the versions of components—such as DLLs—with which it was originally developed and tested.
AdminStudio Application Management	AdminStudio Application Management can implement a unified application management workflow.
AdminStudio Application Virtualization and Repackaging	AdminStudio Application Virtualization and Repackaging can be used to: Examine a group of selected setups, perform automated virtualization of setups that can be cleanly virtualized, perform automated repackaging of those setups that cannot be cleanly virtualized (due to custom actions, etc.), and then perform automated virtualization of those repackaged MSIs.
AdminStudio Microsoft Installer Exchange (MSIX) Editor	Microsoft Installer Exchange (MSIX) Editor is a tool that enables you to edit Microsoft Installer Exchange (MSIX) packages, create modification packages and perform various other tasks on Microsoft Installer Exchange (MSIX) packages.
AdminStudio Process Template Editor	AdminStudio Process Template Editor creates and modifies workflows which are the basis for all projects in AdminStudio.
AdminStudio Quality Monitor	Quality Monitor allows you to run a series of built-in tests to installed Windows Installer-based products, helping to ensure they run correctly.
AdminStudio Tuner	AdminStudio is a product from Flexera Software that is a complete, end-to-end application management system. It allows administrators to create and modify installers to fit their environments.

VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

Domain Area	Category	Customer Guidance	Category Locked By ELT Date
Application Technology Development Tools	Build and Deployment Tools

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

macOS - Approved w/Constraints
Windows Client - Approved w/Constraints
Windows Server - Approved w/Constraints

Technologies/Standards Relationships

Runtime Dependencies:

Microsoft Edge. - (required for some configurations)
Microsoft Extensible Markup Language (XML) Core Services (MSXML)
Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) - (required for some configurations)
Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)
Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server
Safari - (required for some configurations)

Comparable Technologies:

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

General Analysis

Adoption Benefits

This technology may increase productivity for VA staff responsible for application automation for the creation of Microsoft Installer (MSI) packages that can be deployed utilizing current deployment tools.
The AdminStudio software includes a catalog that forms a central repository for storing applications and allows for testing to eliminate application conflicts.
At the time of writing, no National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) vulnerabilities had been reported and no VA Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC) bulletins had been issued for the latest versions of this technology.

Adoption Risks

There are other approved solutions that provide similar functionality available on the TRM. The use of several similar solutions may increase organization requirements for support and maintenance.
The technology requires the purchase of licenses from vendor, which could potentially lead to vendor lock-in.
The potential exists to store Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI) and/or VA Sensitive data and proper security standards must be followed in these cases.
This technology has a free trial period, which carries the potential for the disruption of service delivery and inaccurate financial planning.
Microsoft Internet Explorer, a potential dependency of this technology, is in End of Life status and must no longer be used.
Although this vendor utilizes Federal Information Processing (FIPS) 140-2 encryption, there is no indication based on the vendor documentation or the Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) that this technology is Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 certified.
Due to the rapid release schedule of this technology, the VA may be unable to update to the most recent patch and may require a deployment model requiring the use of specific versions.

Architectural Benefits

This technology is portable as it runs on multiple TRM-approved operating systems.
The solution is compatible with virtual machines, therefore consistent with the enterprise Server Virtualize First Policy (VAIQ 7266972 08-27-2012).
This technology can use a VA-preferred database.

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VA Technical Reference Model v 24.7

General Information

Vendor Release Information

Current Decision Matrix (05/16/2024)

Decision Constraints

References

Technology Components

VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

Technologies/Standards Relationships

Runtime Dependencies:

Comparable Technologies:

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

General Analysis

Adoption Benefits

Adoption Risks

Architectural Benefits

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VA Technical Reference Model v 24.7

General Information

Vendor Release Information

Current Decision Matrix (05/16/2024)

Decision Constraints

References

Technology Components

VA Categories View the VA Categorization Framework

Operating Systems Supported by the Technology

Technologies/Standards Relationships

Runtime Dependencies:

Comparable Technologies:

Companion Technologies/Supported Standards:

General Analysis

Adoption Benefits

Adoption Risks

Architectural Benefits

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