Software License Optimization Managed Services from Flexera Software

1. WHITEPAPER
Software License Optimization
Managed Services

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Software License Optimization
Managed Services
“The zero dollar true-up cost, in sharp contrast to the millions
of dollars paid each year previously, erased all doubts
about the program and showed how powerful it is to have
accurate asset information at your fingertips.”
Luis Peluffo Johansen, Global Head of IT Purchases & Assets,
A.P. Møller-Mærsk
Gain and Maintain Control of your IT Estate
Software license and maintenance fees are a major expense
for organizations, typically representing 20-30% of total IT
spend. While many enterprises understand that effective
management of their software estate can result in significant
benefits, most don’t have the internal resources or expertise
to effectively manage the processes. As a result, enterprises
often end up overpaying for software and risk unbudgeted
true-up expenses during vendor license audits.
The management of an IT estate is getting significantly
more complex with multiple devices (BYOD), cloud based
computing, and ever changing and increasingly complex
licensing rules created by software vendors to keep pace
with technology and safeguard licensing income. Many
organizations are now looking to engage outside resources
and expertise at a more strategic level as a trusted partner
and advisor to help them avoid the pitfalls around software
license compliance, better utilize their IT assets and reduce
ongoing costs for software.
Managed Services Objectives
Flexera Software License Optimization Managed Services
are provided at three different levels depending on the
needs of the organization. These Managed Services have
the following primary objectives, based on the service level
being delivered:
• Inventory Service – this is an entry-level basic managed
service that provides organizations with visibility and
control of hardware assets and software installs across the
customer’s IT environment.
• Compliance Service – includes the Inventory Service
component plus the general management of commercial
software products with more than 10 installs. The objective
is a License Compliance Position based on ‘purchased
versus installed’ license reconciliation.
• Optimization Service – includes Inventory Service and
Compliance Service components plus software license
optimization for key vendors such as Microsoft, Adobe,
IBM, Oracle, SAP and Symantec. The objective is an
Optimized License Position for specified vendors taking
into account software product use rights to minimize license
consumption and reduce ongoing costs for software.
Managed Services Delivery Approach
Flexera Software and its partners offer Managed Services
based on our market leading Software License Optimization
technology—FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises. The
Suite can be deployed via ‘on-premises’, ‘hosted’ or ‘on-
demand’—Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery models.
Benefits to Your Organization
• Facilitate successful implementation and increase longer term Software Asset Management (SAM) program
value realization
• Leverage Flexera Software license management expertise; reduce requirement for employing and training
personnel to maintain this expertise in-house
• Reduce the ongoing cost of software; avoid over-buying software
• Reduce the cost and risk of software vendor audits
Figure 1: Flexera Software Managed Services leverage FlexNet
Manager Suite to generate an optimized license position

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The foundation of FlexNet Manager Suite is FlexNet Manager Platform which provides extensive hardware and software
asset management (HAM and SAM) capabilities for managing desktop, laptop and server hardware, and software from
more than 14,000 vendors.
FlexNet Manager Suite license optimization solutions—FlexNet Manager for Adobe, FlexNet Manager for IBM, FlexNet
Manager for Microsoft, FlexNet Manager for Oracle, FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications, FlexNet Manager for
Symantec, and FlexNet Manager for Engineering Applications— enable multiple software license management and
contract optimization strategies that save time, help ensure continuous license compliance and reduce costs for software.
Service Components Inventory Compliance Optimization
1 Discovery and Inventory   
Deployment of Flexera Inventory Agent (where required) -
where existing inventory data is not in place, or additional
inventory is required to augment/validate existing inventory
data
  
Connection to External Inventory Sources - includes the
creation of up to four new adaptors, if an existing out-of-the-
box adaptor is not available to connect to the third party
inventory tool.
  
Inventory Collection of Laptops, Desktops and Servers -
includes Windows, UNIX, Linux, HP-UX, and Mac devices
  
Discovery of Oracle Servers and Databases - requires
Flexera Software discovery and inventory technology (no
LMS reporting or license management will be included)
  
Discovery of VMware Virtual Environments - uses Flexera
Software discovery and inventory technology to collect
inventory in VMware virtual environments
  
2 Hardware Asset Management
Management of Hardware Assets at a Global Level*   
Asset Lifecycle Management* - proactively manage IT assets
throughout lifecycle (Installed, retired, in storage, etc..)
 
Management of Hardware Assets to a Group Level*- tracking
of IT assets to a localized (group) level. May include
geographies, departments or legal entities
 
3 Technical Infrastructure Management
Inventory Data Validation   
4 Software Asset Management & License Optimization
Ability to View Software Evidence Discovered via Inventory   
Ability to View Applications Recognized within ARL
(including freeware).
  

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Identification of Application ‘Type’ for ARL Apps (i.e.
commercial, freeware, component)
  
Review of Non Recognized Software Evidence*   
Application Recognition Library Service for Commercial
Applications with > 25 installs not already in ARL*
  
Application Recognition Library Service for Key Custom
Applications* - provide a service to create applications for
bespoke products where those products/titles have been
identified in advance
 
Discovery of Virtualized Software Consumption - covers the
management of software products used within VMware
  
Creation of Adaptors to Import Business Data* - up to six
‘business importers’ will be created to import purchase,
contract, user, enterprise data into FlexNet Manager
Platform*
 
Creation of Licenses with Appropriate Metric - license record
will include a metric such as device, user, processor, etc.
appropriate for the software product and associated license
agreement
 
Linking of Purchase Orders to Licenses - If SKUs are not
available, the quality of the purchase order will be assessed
and linked to a license where a minimum set of data fields
exist
 
Validation of Purchase Data - purchase orders will be
validated for data anomalies and any non-software
purchases such as disk kits and document kits will be filtered
out.
 
Management of Licenses at a ‘Global Level’ - all software
and license data (where applicable) will be tracked at an
enterprise level and will not take into account any scoping to
specific departments or locations
 
Management of Licenses to a ‘Group’ Level 
Linking of Product Use Rights to Licenses - the appropriate
use rights will be associated with the license; includes: multi-
use rights, upgrade and downgrade rights, and portable use
rights as well as smart license allocation

Linking of Contracts to Licenses* - any product use rights that
apply as part of the contracted vendors will be mapped to
appropriate licenses. Contract end date as will be monitored

Management of Development Environments - such
environments will be ring-fenced to ensure optimal license
mapping is applied to avoid unnecessary license liabilities
and optimal mapping of developer entitlements


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License Advisory Services - general advisory services or up
to 5 days per year per vendor (up to 2 vendors), includes
assistance with audits, contract negotiations, or general
advice on licensing best practices

Management of Software in Citrix Env. - provides optimized
license positions taking both local and Citrix usage into
account

Management of Virtualized Software Licenses -provides
optimized license positions taking both standard and virtual
use rights into account

Managed Services Deliverables
Hardware Asset Reporting
Registration of ‘New’ Hardware Assets - new inventory will
be validated and registered as a desktop, laptop or server.
A weekly report to show all new hardware inventory
  
Monthly ‘Missing Computers’ Report - enables the
organization to investigate and request ‘retirement’ of the
computers if they are no longer in circulation
  
Software Asset Reporting
Monthly Report of all ‘Commercial’ Software Discovered via
ARL with more than 10 installs
  
Monthly License Consumption and Compliance Reports -
monthly report showing all licenses, relevant consumption
counts and license compliance position
 
Monthly Report of Unlicensed Applications - monthly list of
applications that have an install count, but have not had a
license created
 
Monthly Optimization Reporting - This will include a
general consumption count, entitlement, savings made via
optimization, and an optimized consumption count

Other
Daily System Monitoring   
Daily Technical Incident Notifications   
Monthly Health Check - a detailed set of monitoring
activities will review the current installation and
configuration and identify areas where system performance
may be improved
  

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Adaptor Maintenance and Updates   
Annual FNMP System Upgrade - system upgrade performed
following the annual major product release
  
* Requires On-Premises or Hosted delivery model for FlexNet Manager Suite.
Managed Services Timeline
Managed services will be provided for the term of the contract, which usually will run concurrently with the license
subscription for the FlexNet Manager Suite On-Demand technology platform. Those subscriptions can be 1, 3 or 5 year
terms.
About Flexera Software
Flexera Software is the leading provider of strategic solutions for Application Usage Management; solutions delivering
continuous license compliance, optimized usage and maximized value to application producers and enterprises. Flexera
Software is trusted by more than 80,000 customers that depend on our comprehensive solutions — from installation and
licensing, entitlement and compliance management to application readiness and software license optimization — to
strategically manage application usage and achieve breakthrough results realized only through the systems-level approach
we provide. For more information, please go to: www.flexerasoftware.com

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8. Flexera Software LLC
1000 East Woodfield Road,
Suite 400
Schaumburg, IL 60173 USA
Schaumburg
(Global Headquarters):
+1 800-809-5659
United Kingdom (Europe,
Middle East Headquarters):
+44 870-871-1111
+44 870-873-6300
Australia (Asia,
Pacific Headquarters):
+61 3-9895-2000
For more office locations visit:
www.flexerasoftware.com
Copyright © 2013 Flexera Software LLC. All other brand and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners.
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