General discussion
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August 4, 2006 at 8:14 am #2257416
How do you manage software licenses?
Lockedby jdclyde · about 16 years, 10 months ago
What do you guys do to manage software licenses?
Is there documentation you give your employees explaining the company policy?
We’re doing a software audit for the site right now and I need to put something together to “educate” the staff on why we’re doing this and the ramifications of this not being done.
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August 8, 2006 at 6:28 am #3213106
unmanageable management
by jdclyde · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
FINE! If no one wants to play I will take my ball and go home! :p
Thanks to edwinr for peer mailing me some ideas!
So much for serious topics, huh? Guess I will go back to the TROLLS discussion “WHO TO HIRE?” and hijack it again! 😀
It really amazes me that people even rise to a discussion like that anymore. How many times do the certified and the uncertified and the certifiable all have to go on and on about the way they did it so it must be the best?
If you see this and decide to post in that “discussion”, please please please just post something off-topic! B-) The boobie prize to the most off-topic thread started! 😀
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August 8, 2006 at 6:58 am #3213087
JD, the reason I haven’t posted
by old guy · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to unmanageable management
in this discussion is because I didn’t want to be embarrassed by my lack of keeping up with the software licensing like it should be and letting everyone know it. Oh, well, it’s out now. :8} I was really hoping to get some ideas of how to start from the posts I thought you would get. Sorry.
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August 8, 2006 at 7:31 am #3214067
That is fine
by jdclyde · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to JD, the reason I haven’t posted
I actually figured most people just didn’t see the discussion, and by posting in it would raise a flag to get peoples attentions! B-)
I don’t take any shame for out state of affairs because it is someone elses job to do, not mine. But if I have some good ideas on how people are handling this, it would give me a leg up for the next time this comes up and I can step up and save the day again! 😀
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August 8, 2006 at 7:38 am #3214059
Uh-huh,
by old guy · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to That is fine
always working an angle to “save the day”. Cool. 🙂
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August 9, 2006 at 8:31 am #3231863
Oooh
by cuteelf · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to unmanageable management
You said Boobie!!!!!!
😛
CuteElf
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August 9, 2006 at 8:54 am #3231854
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August 8, 2006 at 7:15 am #3213076
hey!!
by jaqui · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
I wasn’t here over the weekend, I was working.
hmm, lets see.. yup, GNU-GPL is the license for 99.95% of the software used here.
but the policy is:
if the company didn’t purchase the software, it better not be installed on company systems, unless you have given the company every disk, manual and copies thereof you got from it.-
August 8, 2006 at 7:35 am #3214064
working? ewwww!
by jdclyde · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to hey!!
I really am pushing to get to that kind of a shop though.
From everything i have read about migrating people to a linux desktop, if you start with putting the office product on the windows box and ease them into that, changing the OS underneith is the easy part. ;\
I have NO intention of having the next version of windows on my network, no matter what the name is when it finally becomes more than MS vaporware. The specs are completely nuts, with absolutely no payoff for what we do. Yes, we would have to replace 95% of our PCs to even install it.
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August 9, 2006 at 4:19 am #3231973
You raise a good point
by jaqui · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to working? ewwww!
with the next version of msware, most companies will find themselves in the same position, replace the majority of their hardware to run it.
This is actually a good thing for open source, since for less than the software costs for ms products, they can have every system upgraded to an open source os, with far fewer security risks and licensing issues.
[ buying RHEL desktop is about 250 from RH, buying the server is about 1000.
buying 100 copies of windows next gen and 10 copies of server version…what, around 23,000 or more?
then buing 95 new workstations and 9 new servers at 1,00 and 3,000 each respectively.. really makes going open source far more attractive.take a copy of Xandros live or Ubuntu/Kubuntu live and toss it into a system to show the board exactly how minimal the training requirements wil be. if they choose to spend a fortune going MS ware, then you can prove they are screwing the shareholders over at the next AGM. ]:)
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August 9, 2006 at 7:24 am #3231888
The big fear
by jdclyde · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to You raise a good point
is to have to remain on whatever the current version of OS is until the systems no longer run, regardless of if you can get support (updates/drivers) or not.
Our big move right now is to get rid of the last of the Win98 systems, and anything that is under a pII400. (about 20 systems)
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August 8, 2006 at 10:09 am #3213953
Okay JD
by tig2 · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
Sorry dear, I was busy with other things when you started this. It must have fallen off my Contacts board before I got back to it.
I use an Access database to manage both software licenses and assets when the location is small. Where I have had a tool like Tivoli available, I use it.
Educating your staff is the thornier side of the problem. What is the knowledge level of the staff you are educating? Is this audit being driven by SOX? Are you validating back to a vendor? Does this staff have technical knowledge or are thy more business end users? Those things will impact how you want to educate.
I can give you an example of the database structure I have used in the past. I will warn you- I am a “third normal form” kind of girl.
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August 8, 2006 at 10:33 am #3213939
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August 10, 2006 at 7:06 am #3276860
AuditWiz
by prendergasta · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to Okay JD
AuditWiz makes a very nice collecting and reporting tool. The unlimited version is about $1000.
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August 8, 2006 at 10:15 am #3213950
Nasty, awful, hope it’s good enough…
by wallowamichael · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
The software comes in.
The software gets copied and logged. Original requestor, how many licenses, serial numbers, etc.
After that, I just hope it doesn’t get installed in more locations than were originally purchased.
We do have policies stating nothing can be installed without prior approval and proper licensing, etc, but we don’t have in place any type of monitoring to see how many copies of a particular software are actually running/installed.
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August 8, 2006 at 10:36 am #3213938
good enough
by jdclyde · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to Nasty, awful, hope it’s good enough…
until it’s not? 😀
Sounds like a lot of wishing and hoping going on in more places than I though. Here I thought we were some kind of freaks for not having this down better! ;\
Thanks to everyone that has posted, I realize that it isn’t our organizational skill that is making us freaks! Must be something else. Maybe something in the water? B-)
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August 8, 2006 at 11:25 am #3213918
And the topic was …
by tesvencorp · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to good enough
The originating question seemed to be about how to monitor or inventory the licenses of programs being used on your IT system, which is an issue we have (probably as do many people). So, is there any comment re that? Like, is there a program I can run from the server that will go out and “inventory” all the connected stations to tell me what programs each station has on it and what license info each has? I’ve heard there is, even shareware, and would appreciate an insight into how to make this successful (without indicting everyone for some sort of license crime).
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August 9, 2006 at 6:50 am #3231907
That was the general idea
by jdclyde · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to And the topic was …
find out how other people are doing this, and take the best for yourself.
As for software, we currently use TrackIT, but it is horrible for doing any sorting on the data, and it is currently unusable because my co-worker followed tech supports advice and ended up corrputing the whole database. Oh yeah, it takes them about two days to get back to us for support, so a week later, we still can not get into the database. Not sure exactly what it is we are paying them for afterall……
I am recommending to the PTB that we move to something different. Don’t know WHAT yet.
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August 14, 2006 at 10:09 am #3231478
GASP
by aborders · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to That was the general idea
For purly software audits you could use GASP from attest software (http://www.attest.com/public/common/index.aspx). They seem to be a small shop but the product is not that expensive and is easy to setup. I found them by researching vendors the the old BSA used in there audits.
It seems to work well for us.
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August 9, 2006 at 7:21 am #3231892
Altiris is supposed to do exactly that
by tig2 · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to And the topic was …
I haven’t used it in some time so don’t know all of the bells and whistles it currently has.
The best system I have seen was using Tivoli and a barcode. The new asset was read into the system, the serial associated with a location/user, load defined- could be one of three. Box locked down and all approved requests for software were entered into the system to reflect the change and then implemented.
A report from the system told you what was out there. Random audits were done periodically. If your system wasn’t what we thought it should be, it was investigated. Didn’t happen often.
Maintaining a good system is better than having to start from scratch. Unfortunately, there is a cost asosciated to it and many companies don’t want to pay it.
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August 10, 2006 at 4:32 pm #3209620
SiteKeeper is a great solution to automate licensing compliance
by gdh19701 · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to And the topic was …
I use a program at work called SiteKeeper (the same company
that makes DiskKeeper [automatic scheduled defrags]) to track
all workstations, software, and versions installed. It’s also a
good tool to use for patch management when you want to make
sure everybody is using the same version and don’t want to use
a patch management Group Policy. Sitekeeper is run from a
server that connect to a SQL database, but I’m sure it can be
configured to use MSDE if you do not have a SQL server.They have a trial version available, and licensing isn’t TERRIBLY
expensive. We started out with 54 client licenses, added 17 last
year, and now I need to purchase about another 30 licenses
because of growth this year due to expansion in our HQ and the
addition of a new office.Note for XP SP2: There are some special considerations to make
for computers that are using XP Pro SP2, due to the “advanced”
firewall differences compare to SP1, but that can be fixed using
Group Policy to make sure everyone’s SP2 firewall allows the
correct ports to be open for Sitekeeper to recognize the
computer.Reporting in SiteKeeper is pretty straightforward; you can print
out reports by machine, by software on each machine, and
named software vendors or products which will list all the
machines a specific software title is installed on.All in all, it is worth the money, especially if you use a lot of
high-risk license software packages (like Office and AutoCAD,
for example – where you know you could get busted if you are
not in relative compliance). It’s also a good tool to use to make
sure “unauthorized” software (like the many versions if IM
programs and file-sharing programs out there) gets noticed,
allowing help desk/support people to UNINSTALL the software
from those specific machines. I’ve done this countless times,
and employees are normally willing to let it be removed, or
claim ignorance saying they didn’t know it was against company
policy {yeah right!}.I know it sounds anal, but I send out our Internet / Email /
Acceptable Use policy about 2-3 times per year, reminding
everybody that they agreed to comply when they signed the
paperwork during their entrance interview, by NOT installing
unauthorized software. This is a good way to let management
know that I really am “just doing my job,” and they enjoy the
reduced exposure and financial risk by my doing this.I normally do my Audits 2-4 times per year, just to make sure
that I am up-to-date on software installed relative to the
number of active machines on our network. However, I normally
bring the company licensing in to compliance once or twice per
year, mostly during renewals, to make up the difference in
licensing shortfalls.Hope this helps!
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August 12, 2006 at 8:25 am #3230166
How about MvPCinfo & MvPCbase
by brad mankoff · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to And the topic was …
MvPCinfo will inventory everything on the computer including internet sites visited, serial numbers for all software. I bought the personal edition for $49 and it can be installed on a server and runs silently in the background when users log on. It runs on Windows 95 and newer, also can be run from a floppy, memory stick, thumb drive, floppy disk and accross the network.
MvPCbase is the data base management for MvPCinfo. It imports the saved text files and allows you to manage all of the data to include exporting to Excel or a txt file. I have been using it for years and it is excellent. I paid $129 for the personal version.
An added benefit is you have two years of free updates when purchased.
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August 29, 2006 at 11:56 am #3282327
freaks
by cwm · about 16 years, 9 months ago
In reply to good enough
I’m in a nightmare at the moment. Just started at a new job and I have so many problems. The company is going through an audit by the software police. Well I am the poor sucker that gets to find licenses. Its been fun to say the least. At one time the it manager thought that Microsoft action packs counted as legal licensing to use on a daily basis. That has been fixed but still a mess to finish cleaning up trying to find everything along the way along with digging through years of invoices, purveyors and such. Next time I?m turning around and running.
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August 29, 2006 at 2:36 pm #3282283
Unfortunate
by software guy · about 16 years, 9 months ago
In reply to freaks
Ouch! Too bad! I guess I am lucky that I deal primarily with software resellers. They track all of our licenses for us (I still track them myself, but I can go back to them for reporting).
Once you are all complient, it might be worth a look into. It doesn’t cost any more – we actually get a much better deal than we would purchasing it directly from the vendor, for the most part.
I deal with Softchoice, but there are other software resellers out there as well. The important thing to do is stick with one vendor so that the tracking is consistant.
Good luck!
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August 8, 2006 at 5:37 pm #3213769
If were talking about Windows Licenses on an MS domain
by mjwx · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
A good tool to use is MS SMS (system management service I think), or the commercial version of belarc advisor. I haven?t actually used either of these tools but I’ve seen the commercial version of belarc (I’ve forgotten it’s name) in action and it looks good and gives a pretty good list of what?s installed on the machine, what?s in it and all MS license keys. I’ve been told SMS it similar (and cheaper with an MSDN or similar agreement)
The client can be silently installed without the users even needing to know about it, say using the login script.
As for telling the users, reinforce the impression that the IT dept is god 🙂 . More seriously it depends on the user?s level of understanding. If they know a lot about business or IT then all you need to tell them is you need to keep track of what software is installed they will understand the business motivations of an audit. If they are not then I find scare tactics work well (I’m sure you’re creative enough to fill the rest in), if you talk to idiots you better speak idiotese.
BTW JD, terribly sorry to drag this discussion [b]on topic[/b] 🙂 but in my defence I’ll happily waffle on about atheism, Islam, Israel, gun laws and oil prices.
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August 9, 2006 at 7:21 am #3231893
Well, I sometimes
by jdclyde · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to If were talking about Windows Licenses on an MS domain
get silly and actually do discuss tech related topics. I just try to keep it to a minimum, don’tchaknow? 😀
I have used the Belarc stand-alone free version, but not the commercial version. Will have to see what they have to offer!
Right now the only waffles I want will have syrup on them! :p
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August 9, 2006 at 5:48 am #3231936
Here is some of the software i have looked at …
by iklm · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
I am in the beginning phase of an assessment of the hardware and software for my company and have done a lot of looking. Money is a issue, so i have probably focused on the cheaper end of the market.
http://www.itsolutions.intuit.com/default.asp
Looks very good but a little too expensive for me. However, it uses WMI which i have had no end of trouble with.http://www.auditwizard.com/pages/auditwizard.asp
I used this with my previous employer. It was quite good. Installs a small client on workstations to do the scan.http://www.lansweeper.com/ls/default.aspx
I use a logon script to run a small exe that scans workstation and reports results to a management station running a service and MS SQL Express. There is a basic web-based front end for browsing the results. If you want to run queries you will need to design yourself. I think there is also a commercial version with more bells and whistles. You will need to add your own stuff to track licenses and compare to installed software.http://manageengine.adventnet.com/products/service-desk/index.html
Free for max 25 workstations. Annual subscription for more than this. Uses WMI to scan workstations. I had all sorts of problems with this until i gave up.http://www.ilient.com/
There is a free version for 100 workstations, i think. Interface needs a lot of improvement. I am still considering this but am really finding it hard to get past the interface. Commercial version offers more features. But would you pay for the interface!http://winventory.sourceforge.net/ will soon be replaced by …
http://www.open-audit.org/If you search sourceforge.net for ‘inventory’ you will find a number of tools.
There are also numerous commercial applications out there. Some will even report how often an application is used etc. It just depends on how much money you are willing to spend.
I will probably settle with lansweeper for the moment and roll my own queries to compare licenses to installed software.
Hope that helps.
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August 9, 2006 at 7:14 am #3231898
Thanks for the post!
by jdclyde · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to Here is some of the software i have looked at …
but for the record, the first one, Trackit by intuit is what we currently have, and I can’t get off of it soon enough.
Product is poor, and support is worse.
Will look into the rest. Thanks again.
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August 10, 2006 at 4:44 pm #3209615
TrackIT – good for newbies
by gdh19701 · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to Thanks for the post!
I looked in to TrackIT, and found that it wasn’t customizable,
even for their module that lets you actual “TRACK” support
requests. I agree with the other poster who indicated that it was
too expensive for what solution it was supposed to offer. But
for smaller companies or for newbie IT folk, it’s a good start.
Again, tho’, too expensive for what its supposed to do.Then there’s alway the route of an ASP, who can code what you
want in to the help desk, provide email alerts, etc., but now you
are talking development requirements and costs – about the
same price as TrackIT Pro/Enterprise, but requiring an annual
maintenance contract.If it doesn’t cover everything you need or want, or at least 80% of
that, “out of the box”, it probably isn’t worth investing the
money to acquire it, and is likely better for you to keep looking
for something that does.
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August 9, 2006 at 6:09 am #3231925
DRAFT Software Compliance Policy and other free whitepapers
by sentrywatch · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
PCProfile at pcprofile@internode.on.net offers the following free whitepapers that might be helpful as a 1.4MB zipped file of the feature articles as listed below, free of charge!
– Who is liable for software piracy?
– DRAFT Software Compliance Policy
– Governance Issues
– We Dont_Care_How_Much_They_Lose_Due_to_Piracy!
– Licensing FAQ
– Software Compliance Audit Task Template
– Copyright Code of Practice
– What is an Anton Pillar order?
– Why Do Staff Install Software To Your Systems Without Authorization?
– A simple model for an anti-piracy action at 80percent compliance level
– Management Dilemma of Software Compliance Auditing
– HOW STUPID IS THIS?
– Risks of being caught with illegal software
– What steps are necessary when looking at the big picture?
– Stolen_is_a_strong_word_for_piracy
– 1st Principles
– Audit tools viewpoint
– Court orders and injunctionsGiven that the fines being announced $US2M so far in USA and GBP 1.4M) are increasing in line with the reward schemes it might be very useful for organizations that have no idea what is going on, then this is a very timely reminder worthy of announcement to your managemnt to wake them up to their complacency!
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August 9, 2006 at 3:07 pm #3232081
Other products
by razz2 · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
I have tested so many trying to find one I liked and they all have
some but not other features. I have tried Centennial Discovery
and Alloy Asset Navigator and enjoyed them in their demo
mode, but has anyone used them for real? Altiris is so much
more then I wanted and the alloy has integrated Help Desk.http://www.alloy-software.com/a5/index.html
Is anyone using a full Asset and License Complience Package?
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August 10, 2006 at 1:07 am #3276971
another optional inventory tool
by lasersteel · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to Other products
we have used for our inventory gathering AuditBaseline/AuditServer and it was fast and very low cost, under $US 300 for over 5,000 PCs when we bought a licence over 2 years ago. Downside was it only works on Windows boxes and not Unix/Linux and didn’t have any reporting embedded (it captures all executables and identifies as many as it can using WMI without any degradation of systems). The output files were CSV/RTF and this allowed us to use Crystal Reports to summarize and slice and dice the data by node/department/application. The good part was we could build our own SQL database that allowed us to tailor what we wanted to match our asset management records. Its worth a look but its not for those who want an out of the box solution.
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August 10, 2006 at 7:09 am #3276859
The BSA software?
by gshollingsworth · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
Didn’t the BSA (Business Software Alliance, not the Boy Scouts or the motorcycle company) have a free inventory tool? I thought it was basically the same as what they would use during one of their audits.
If I were tasked with the software inventory, I would run that in addition to any other tool(s) I would prefer to use. My reasoning is that I would not want to be thinking everything is in order, but have a report from the BSA tool say otherwise during a BSA audit. I know some of the alternatives are recognized by the BSA and they will use reports from those if you have one.
Two other related items I would like to mention. First, how are all the valid/invalid uses from the licenses reconciled with the inventory? Some licenses permit one install per machine and no transfer to another. There are many variations on licensing even for the same piece of software. What about offline machines? I have seen some reports claim a piece of software was still installed after it had been uninstalled.
Second. Another good reason to know what you have installed is managing vulnerability patching. It doesn’t matter if the software is free or not, vulerabilities come with no extra charge except managing the patching.
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August 10, 2006 at 10:31 am #3276748
No Licenses
by thumper1 · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
When I started a new position as a Network Admin, one of the fist things I did was to look at the software licenses. When I asked the guy who I was replacing, he got a little vague, saying “Well, you know, you have to fudge a little.” Upon investigation, I learned that the reason I couldn’t find the licenses was because there were none. They had four copies of Windows 2000, a couple of copies of office, (Not ’03). I did an immediate audit of all software installed on the 50 pc’s, figured up what we needed to purchase and presented these findings to management. When they realized how far hung out we were, they were shocked and appaled. To management’s credit, the planned network upgrade was put on hold until software licenses were acquired.
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August 13, 2006 at 3:28 pm #3230067
Past experience
by tcon999 · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to No Licenses
Was neck deep in compliance at a company several years ago after a sister company had a full blown audit by Microsoft. They got dinged a bit (about $20K), but not too bad considering. Problem was a lot of man hours were spent finding proof for all the licenses, and I mean a lot of hours. We were worried we would be audited due to association so we did the following with full management approval. Keep in mind that the company did not promote illegal copies, but was growing fast and did not put emphasis on keeping track. The sister company was just moving too fast and techs were just loading standard ghost copies and not keeping accurate track of what was being loaded.
Since the majority of the issue was MS licenses we had one team scrounge for every software certificate (including non-MS) they could find. Licenses of like kind were bundled into packages of 25, tape wrapped for easy counting and stored. Less than 25 copies were put in manila folders and filed. A running inventory count was kept for each license type.
We then did three separate inventory control audits on PC’s over three months using software that I can’t remember, but it did take a while to export the data in Access. Once in Access we ran summary reports and matched to physical inventory. Additional copies were purchased where necessary to cover installed copies. If it was an older version that was no longer available, we bought something of like kind, but newer to cover it. We also learned that non-transferable licenses are much more difficult to track. Transferable licenses make tracking much easier and are worth it in the long run since there is lot less to prove in the event of an audit.
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August 14, 2006 at 9:51 am #3231496
A good start
by mwitthaus · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to No Licenses
Understanding the number of installs is a good first step, but before purchasing licenses to get legal, be sure to conduct a thorough usage audit and uninstall unused applications.
There are good tools available; the best is Novell’s ZENworks Asset Management 7.0, which rolls up this information very quickly in tabular format showing installed, used and unused license information. Altiris and CA also offer solutions.
This approach is essential for almost all applications, especially suites. Don’t upgrade a professional suite, for example, if usage patterns show that only the Standard components are actively used. Replace suites with standalone versions where appropriate.
The cost savings (strange how rarely that subject gets play on the various industry sites like BSA and SIIA) are potentially enormous.
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August 14, 2006 at 6:16 am #3231674
A few suggestions
by diego.dias · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
Hi JD!
At my company we took some action that i’ll like tio share with you
– When the users logon, we put a text box (via Active Directory policy) the text of our policy;
_ When he open his browser, again we show our software licensing e internet access policy;HTH
Diego Dias, Brazil
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August 14, 2006 at 7:01 am #3231641
A tough one
by software guy · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
Hi JD. I am the “Software Licensing Analyst” in my organization. We have close to 6000 computers that we have to ensure are compliant. The firs thing we did was lock all the networked computers down so that only administrators could install software.
Next, I created a policy that only “authorized” software would be installed on a computer. Requests go to me and I create a task for the “Field Techs” to install the software once a license is purchased.
Luckily, we were just about to convert all of our PC’s over to WinXP, so each one of them were going to be reimaged. The Field Techs only install the software that has a corresponding task.
If an end user wanted some other software installed, the Field Tech told them to fill in a software request form. I would then ask if the user had a license. If they couldn’t supply one, they would have to purchase an “upgraded” version of the software to run on XP.
I create each task in a program called Task+ (for use in a medical environment – not the best program, but it does what I need it to). It is a database of sorts used by our Help Desk to track problems. The title of task includes the PC name and the software title. The task title can be searched.
In each task, I include the PO number of the software and any serial numbers. As only a limited number of people have access to this database, serial numbers are fairly secure.
If the software is no longer required on a user’s PC, the title changes from the original PC name to “Spare” and then I can re-issue it.
We are about 98% compliant, I would guess, but we need something to replace the Task+ system. Help Desk is moving to a different system.
By the way, it has taken me about 5 years to get the Field Techs and other people with administrator access to get on board with this process. Now that all most all the PC’s have converted, I am confident that we have a handle on all the software.
The added benifit to this “Nazi” control of software is that I control what is purchased and can often get much better deals through bulk purchasing than the individuals can get by all buying the software themselves. Site licenses are the way to go with our organization.
We install most of the common software using Altiris.
As for Documentation on company policy, we pirated information from http://www.caast.com. It is the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft. It’s a great source of information and even has sample letters.
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August 14, 2006 at 10:41 am #3231449
Part CYA, part tracking
by kdoyle · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
We keep a database of licenses and have a notebook with license certificates.
I also put out a bulletin to remind our users what is allowed. In short —
? No software brought from home or downloaded without IT authorization
? Don?t copy software from the network to your hard drive
? IT must participate in the installation of ANY software
? IT Manager must approve all software purchases
? IT is the custodian of all software mediaEach bullet point is explained further in the bulletin and it is re-issued each year with minor tweaking.
We also randomly run audits, but it?s manual. If we find something that shouldn?t be there I let the department head know what it is and who had it. I also try to point out the fines that could be levied, and the possibility of jail time. We then keep an ?eye? on the user to see that it doesn?t happen again.
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August 14, 2006 at 4:29 pm #3212578
Managing the Upper Echelon
by lasersteel · about 16 years, 9 months ago
In reply to Part CYA, part tracking
So how did the upper echelon (senior management) take the pain? In sites I’ve worked at some of the problems “come from above” due to senior execs wanting to cut corners, not pay for enough (buy the right #) licenses or just plain stupid (blatant copying) in their installations on their notebooks and desktops. My work experience has been these can be areas that cause a lot of grief….. at 2 sites (one was a government agency) I quit due to management refusing to acknowledge the issues involved and being pressured to follow their lead. Be intersting to hear if others have similar experiences.
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August 14, 2006 at 12:31 pm #3212685
Access works for us
by bbarnes3 · about 16 years, 10 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
We have an MDB file with several tables; one for computers (with serial numbers), another for installed hardware, another for installed software (with license numbers), another with network switch assignments, and still another with the physical wiring. It all is related via a form and a bunch of queries and reports.
It’s a thing of beauty.
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August 15, 2006 at 7:27 am #3231307
So can you share it?
by tesvencorp · about 16 years, 9 months ago
In reply to Access works for us
Can you share the file? A thing of beauty is a joy forever; share the joy.
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August 15, 2006 at 10:47 am #3231181
You bet
by bbarnes3 · about 16 years, 9 months ago
In reply to So can you share it?
I emptied out the data. Populate the tables. Hardware and Software are a many to one relationship. ComputerID is the key field.
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August 16, 2006 at 8:32 am #3199493
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August 16, 2006 at 8:06 pm #3199290
Thanks
by tesvencorp · about 16 years, 9 months ago
In reply to You bet
Thanks. I’ll let you know how it works for us (once I get it open; couldn’t open it from home, so I emailed to my work).
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August 17, 2006 at 7:34 am #3277237
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August 17, 2006 at 5:21 pm #3277000
Thank you
by brad mankoff · about 16 years, 9 months ago
In reply to Access works for us
This is better than the one we use, considering ours was put together for a BSA audit. BSA tried to charge the company I worked for for each install of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Access until I informed the lawyers that we installed Office from a suite instead of individually so this saved quite a few bucks.
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August 16, 2006 at 10:07 am #3199425
Sorry JD, Didn’t know till Now AUG 16th :(
by aaron a baker · about 16 years, 9 months ago
In reply to How do you manage software licenses?
I’m sorry about that,i’ve been laid up for a couple of weeks and didn’t know about your post.
I’ll come back, promise.
Regards and apologies 🙁
Aaron
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