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How to Develop a Baseline for Software Licensing

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How to Develop a Baseline for Software Licensing

December 19, 2014
By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

When it comes to software licensing, it’s all about the base…lining. Yes, the play on the Meghan Trainor has been done almost to death, but the reality is we all get it. There has to be a foundation. Meghan tells girls where to find theirs and your IT team needs to do the same. If you’re looking at software compliance, you have to have a baseline.


A recent Flexera blog post stressed the point, highlighting the importance of establishing your place to start. The challenge, of course, is that baselines can vary when you’re working with multiple vendors. Likewise, customers are sometimes struggling with missing information, including descriptions, contracts and stock keeping units (SKUs).

To combat this challenge when creating a baseline, Flexera offers a few tips on working with three top software vendors. Let’s take a look at this list and their tips for getting back to that base.

Microsoft (News - Alert) – the best place to start with Microsoft is a Customer Price Sheet (CPS) within the Enterprise Agreement (EA) and the Microsoft License Statement (MLS). With an MLS, you can get great detail on previous purchases. The downside is this document does not validate whether or not you have the backend purchase order history to match. This step needs to be done through the Volume License Service Center (VLSC) site. The key is to avoid using old purchase orders to determine software licensing entitlements as items could be missing and you may end up with a false positive.

Adobe (News - Alert) – when working with this brand, it’s best to start with requesting a License Intelligence Report (LIR). It’s key to start with a baseline on Adobe products. The company in the past allowed customers to use purchase orders for upgrades without underlying entitlements. If you do this without validating against the LIR, you could expose yourself and your company to errors as you apply for software licensing entitlements you may not have. Compare your LIR against information in your Adobe Licensing Website (LWS) account.

Symantec (News - Alert) – the best information used to create the baseline starts with the Install Base Report (IBR). Use this information along with the My Symantec website to gain access to your complete entitlement history.

Overall, developing your software licensing baseline has to start with your proof of purchase on entitlements, transfer documentation and contracts. If you know what you need and where to look, you’ll have the base foundation. After all, as Trainor proclaims – it’s all about the base! 




Edited by Alisen Downey

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