Surviving a software audit: three steps to prepare well – JDN

It is not recommended to wait until the audit to prepare. Here are three steps to anticipate a software audit.

According to a study by IDG Research Service only 10% of companies feel well prepared for an audit software against 47% who say they are “somewhat prepared” or not ready at all. ” Here are three steps to prepare well (and even make money) for an audit to come: discovery software – use evaluation software – collection of unused software licenses.

These
 three steps will not work if it is decided to implement the
 last moment. It is not recommended to wait until the audit to prepare.
 The tips below should be implemented well in advance for
 optimal results.
 
 

1. Discovery
 Software

 discovery of installed software does not simply scan
 machines and from what is installed on each PC. Data
 discoveries can indicate different versions on all
 machines, due to regular updates of software applications.
 Therefore, the discovered software must be standardized.

 standardization of software is to group all securities and
 Software versions from the database of goods with
 licenses as defined in the License Agreement
 end-user (EULA).
 For example, Adobe Acrobat X Standard and Acrobat X 10.1.12
 Standard 10.1.3 are grouped under the same license. Standardization of
 data to map these two versions of Adobe Acrobat X
 Standard 10.
The standardization of software for aligning with the EULA simplifies reporting; records are clear and concise for a software audit. Based on the above example, the standardization of software can also be extended to other tables, including “Editor” and “Software name”, to simplify the reporting on software licenses. Care must be taken in choosing software monitoring tools that provide this type of service.

2. Use Evaluation
 Software

 software asset management tools (SAM) are useful to get a view
 clear software licenses installed on the network. However, tools
 SAM do not make savings if we exceeded the number of licenses
 permitted, although they may in some way, correct the problem.

According
 one of the Reports Gartner:
 “Officials SAM (software asset management) seeking
 tools that provide data on the rights granted by their
 software licenses, and analyze in detail the risks and exposure
 these licenses, while automating data collection. They evaluate the
 optimization tools and rights management software licenses (SLOE,
 Software License Optimization and Entitlement). “

The Gartner
 listed the various key functions that users expect from a
 SLOE tool. One of the key features is the following:

Function
 native of monitoring the use of software (generally used on
 client computers, not servers)

If
 we have a tool capable of monitoring (monitoring) the use of
 software, we made a big step towards substantial savings in case
 audit software or a maintenance license renewal
 Software is announced.

 
 

In this example, the Using software
 shows the date of last use Acrobat Professional XI, the
 number of launches Acrobat and duration in minutes of opening Acrobat. If
 it is known that about Adobe software audit will take place and we
 uses three licenses more than the number allowed by the EULA two
 Possible solutions: pay these three licenses to Adobe or uninstall these
 three instances of Adobe.

If you do not have
 tool of this type, the duty of finding money to Adobe for these licenses
 will only be done when the audit is completed. The problem in practice
 is that we do not just three licenses, but hundreds or
 of thousands of licenses, which is a lot of money.

 
 

 SLOE tools can apply a cost to show your license
 how much you can save by getting unused licenses on your
 client devices. For example, if you are notified that
 Visio 1000 installations have not been used for
 120 days, it may be interesting to uninstall Visio on these
 devices. If the license costs you $ 20 a device is
 a potential saving of 20 thousand dollars on your next
 software maintenance renewal.

3. License Recovery
 Software

When
 software asset management tool is able to show that one software
 has purchased and not used, it may be time to recover these
 software and save money. There are several ways to remove
 software on client devices:

– Send e-mail to users Target asking them to uninstall the software, then check that well they performed the operation by re-analyzing their machines.
– Automated recovery software approach to delete the software client devices. Track preferable in my opinion.

 
 

 recovery software can be configured in the same way that the
 software distribution. We must seek tools that can automate
 the process of identification of unused software, targeting
 devices automatically when the software is installed, and then
 automatically uninstall these software on affected devices. A
 After this process, the software asset management tool (SAM)
 must update the SAM database to reflect the software
 that have been deleted.

 
  Conclusion
 
 

 Recovery software license requires proper discovery
 software installations, the evaluation of the use of the software, then the
 Recovery software licenses. Asset management tools
 software (SAM) that can monitor software usage
 generate a quick return on investment. Choose tools
 able to identify client devices where the software can be
 uninstalled. If possible, choose tools that control the
 software or which are associated with a third party product to uninstall
 automatically the software. Asset management tools with
 monitoring software usage are not content to do
 savings in case of audit: they make you also make savings
 when you need to renew your maintenance contract with your
 software vendors.