Digital Design: Management of licenses

The Digital Design company developed and presented in the fall of 2011 a new solution on management of licenses. It provides effective control of purchases, optimal use of program assets and respect for their license purity.

A system on management of licenses represents the integration solution based on the product Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager and the Service Desk system (the platform can be any: OMNITRACKER, HP or Microsoft). Five modules are its part. The module "Detection of the Set Software and Calculation of Intensity of Its Use" allows to receive the complete list of all installed programs of any versions and editions with information on the number of starts of each copy. It provides a possibility of calculation of real number of the used software. In the module "Identification of an Installed Software" creation of the reference book of the nomenclature including the trade name software is performed. Using this block belonging of each detected software copy to a specific position of the nomenclature is automatically distinguished. The module "Comparison of Quantity of an Installed Software to the Available Licenses" verifies quantity of the set and used software copies with quantity of the licensed copies of each product and detects discrepancies. The module "Management of License Agreements" automatically notifies on the termination of validity periods of license agreements and on the detected discrepancies of the set and licensed software. It helps to conclude and prolong timely license agreements and also to update the nomenclature and quantity of a licensed software according to real requirements of the organization. Besides, by means of this module the order and accounting rules and storages of paper copies of license agreements are developed. Their accomplishment allows at a request from regulatory authorities instantly to provide documentary confirmation of legality of use of the set software. The module "Management of Distribution of Software" provides automatic installation and removal of the software on personal computers of users and control of its distribution and use according to security policies of the organization and accounting of number of the available licenses.

Dmitry Tatarinov, the director of the department of infrastructure solutions, Digital Design, comments: "Now more and more companies include the software in structure of controlled IT assets. It is very important to provide legality of the used software. At emergence of suspicions of illegal use of programs inspection bodies can withdraw the equipment for indefinite time that will cause considerable losses for business. Not to allow it, the companies aim at control of a litsenzionnost of the used software. It, on the one hand, will allow to avoid legal risks, and with another allows to use the available licenses more rationally and finally reduces costs for IT".

The solution of Digital Design allows to implement three main objectives of management of IT assets. The first – accounting and inventory of the software. The second – contract management, connected with IT assets, timely prolongation of agreements on a subscription and support of a licensed software. The third task – optimal use of the available licensed software, reduction of purchase of unnecessary or excess licenses.