New version of software asset management tool adds extensive management of Enterprise Agreements and other volume licensing schemes to avoid over-licensing

York, England, 18 September 2012: License Dashboard, the leading developer of advanced license management solutions, today announced the launch of License Manager 5.5, its flagship software asset management (SAM) tool. Available immediately, License Manager 5.5 adds unrivalled support for the management of Microsoft Enterprise Agreements (EAs) and other volume licensing agreements, enhanced financial modelling to evaluate the cost and value of software installed on the network, and a flexible new management reporting engine.

With Microsoft having increased the prices of its volume licensing agreements in the UK from 1st July 2012 as part of a policy to align pricing across Europe, a significant number of organizations are facing sizeable increases in their annual software licensing spend. At the same time, many of these same organisations fail to fully capitalise on the entitlements included in such schemes – often negating the financial benefits of volume licensing.

“While many might view Enterprise Agreements as an ‘easy’ way to manage Microsoft licenses, these agreements can, in fact, be both complicated and expensive if the entitlements are not managed carefully.  Annual true-ups, for example, can be a major drain on resources,” comments Sean Robinson, director, License Dashboard. “This issue is further compounded during a period of price rises. We therefore focused on building comprehensive management of Enterprise Agreements a priority for License Manager 5.5.”

Enhancements in License Manager 5.5 that are specific to Microsoft Enterprise Agreements include:

    Creation of true-up reports

        Easily create reports within License Manager that form the basis of the annual submission to Microsoft

    New step-by-step true-up workflow

        License Manager 5.5 will semi-automate the process of calculating license true up requirements based on analysis of the Enterprise Agreement and calculated compliance shortfalls

    Track country of usage

        Track where software is being consumed and licenses are allocated (for compliance with Microsoft’s licensing requirements to align licenses to a specific country)

    EA-specific licensing metrics

        ‘Eligible User’ and ‘Eligible Device’ metrics now supported in License Manager 5.5 to ensure seamless parity with all metrics within an Enterprise Agreement

    Avoid over-counting

        Ensure that developer-only machines that are covered by an MSDN are not allocated licenses intended for production use

        SQL Server Active Passive clustering can lead to double counting of software usage, but this is now catered for License Manager 5.5

    Manage ‘superseded’ licenses

        Track existing licenses that are superseded by a subsequent Enterprise Agreement

In addition to adding comprehensive management of volume licensing agreements, License Manager 5.5 includes a number of enhancements to help organizations minimize the cost of all their software license agreements, with enhanced financial modelling and management reports among other additions.

Enhanced Financial Modelling introduces a new set of key financial reports to show an organization’s software usage cost, the cost of total software entitlement and risk value. Each of these reports can be generated on a global and business unit level, and broken down by manufacturer or product. There will be four main reports available in License Manager 5.5:

    Estimated value of software installed (by Business Unit, Manufacturer, Product, Environment, Country of Use)

    Estimated value of license entitlements held (by Business Unit, Manufacturer, Product, Environment, Country of Use)

    Estimated cost of compliance shortfall/overage (by Business Unit, Manufacturer, Product, Environment, Country of Use)

    Estimated cost of true up (by Business Unit, Manufacturer, Product)

Management reports in License Manager 5.5 are driven by a new reporting engine designed to create and filter management reports on software entitlements and usage. The existing reports have been enhanced and more powerful new reports have been added.   Report availability and selection in License Manager 5.5 will be XML-driven, giving partners and customers the ability to build and deliver custom reporting options, prioritizing on the information that is most valuable to the customer stakeholders.

License Manager 5.5 is available immediately and can be downloaded from the License Dashboard customer support website. Existing customers with a current contract can upgrade to License Manager 5.5 at no additional charge. Retail pricing for License Manager and Small Business Edition remains unchanged.

License Manager was recently confirmed as the first SAM tool to successfully complete the KPMG SAM Tools Assessment, confirming its status as a class-leading software license management solution.

License Dashboard will be hosting a series of Feature Previews for end users. To register for one of the events, follow the links below. Additional partner-specific previews will be scheduled in due course. Contact License Dashboard for details.

    Thursday 20th September 15:00 GMT - Register here

    Thursday 27th September 15:00 GMT - Register here

    Thursday 4th October 15:00 GMT - Register here