Some embodiments of the invention provide a system for tracking
utilization of resources of computers. This system includes several
client computers, where each computer has one or more resources that the
system tracks. The system also includes a client application for each
client computer. Each client application collects utilization duration
data relating to the utilization of the resources of its corresponding
client computer. The system further includes an application server that
receives the utilization duration data collected by the client
applications and stores the received data in a storage structure. In
certain embodiments, the collected duration data includes time periods
that the client applications measure. The application server then
aggregates and/or stores the collected time periods. One of ordinary
skill will realize that in other embodiments the client applications
might report raw duration data (such as start and end times) from which
the application server generates the appropriate time periods.