Near clones for a set of targeted computing systems are provided by evaluating different configurations of the targeted computing systems including lists of installed hardware components and installed software components; determining a subset of components in common among the different configurations; determining an initial pseudo-clone configuration including the subset of components and excluding components which are not in common among the different target hardware configurations; for each of the targeted computing systems, producing a finish-out workflow of installation steps and components to be installed into an incompletely configured computer system according to the pseudo-clone configuration to produce an operational clone system; and outputting the pseudo-clone configuration and the workflow to a provisioning management system for subsequent realization of a pseudo-clone backup computing system and further subsequent realization of one or more operational clone systems.