Software Update - Distribution Status; How is this reported back to SMS?

We have a situation in which we installed Office2003 SP2 to all
machines. We did not use SMS2003 to do this however, it was done using
a login script w/ the maintenance wizard.

When going to the "Software Update - Distribution" page of the SMS
Reports, then "Software update distribution status by software update
ID", entering "Office 2003 Service Pack 2 (English version) " in the
Update Identifier, and selecting the appropriate collection, I see that
most machines have reported back that SP2 is indeed installed, but
there are a number of machines that are reporting that it is not
installed; under "Last status message name" they show "No messages have
been received". Of course the machines that show it as being installed
have under "Last status message name" the statement "Status has changed
to installed".

What is the mechanism that reports back to the site database whether or
not this program is installed (in this case, Office2003 SP2)?

What's strange is that someone these machines do indeed have Office2003
SP2 installed, but when pushing out an update, say, for Powerpoint2003
SP2, these machines do not pull down the update, because even though
they have Office2003 SP2, it hasn't been reported back to the SMS site
as being installed.

How can I ensure that these machines report back to the database that
they do indeed have Office2003 SP2 installed so that they can then pull
down the appropriate update for Powerpoint2003 SP2?

Since it was not distributed via a package & advertisement, I'm not
sure where to look for these messages, and I'm not sure what it is that
the advanced client uses to report back and generate the "Status has
changed to installed" information as seen in the report. Is it the
software inventory agent that generates messages back to the site
database about whether a particular machine has (in this case)
Office2003 SP2 installed?

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Software Update - Distribution Status; How is this reported back to SMS?
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  • Re: Software Update - Distribution Status; How is this reported back to SMS?
    ... For all new machines that are added to the network, ... office2003 sp2 pre-installed with SP2 before the advanced client is ... installed via Client Push Installation. ... The compliance reports indicate ...
    (microsoft.public.sms.admin)
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