Software Asset Management
This is a guide on software asset management.
Assets
An asset is a resource with economic value that an individual, corporatrion, or country owns or controls, with the expectation that it will provide a future benefit. IT assets are laptops, tablets, network equipment, and servers. Software assets are licenses for running the software.
IT Assets
An IT asset is a piece of software or hardware within an information security environment. Defined simply, an IT asset includes hardware, software systems, or information. IT assets are of two types, hardware and software. Hardware assets are the ones that are tangible in nature. Software assets include the assets that are non-tangible. ITAM managers ensure value and use of IT assets.
Terms
Asset Management - Asset management is a process whereby a large organization collects, and maintains a comprehensive list of the items that it owns, such as hardware and software. This data is used in conjunction with the financial and contractual aspects of ownership such, as calculating the total cost of ownership, depreciation, licensing, maintenance, and insurance.
Audits - an audit is a review of assets, a process by which a candidate, or its delegates, automatically discover, detail, and document all copyrighted products present on computer systems, and other electronic media, such as stored hard drives.
Baseline - Baseline is a measurement, a calculation, or a location used as a basis for comparison. It answers the question, where do we start? what is our present inventory to which we can compare the findings of an audit, for example.
Business Software Alliance - BSA is a trade group established in 1988, and representing a number of the worl'd largest software makers. Its principal activity is trying to stop copyright infriengement of software produced by its members.
Compliance - Compliance is the degree to which a consumer adheres to the terms and conditions of the license agreement. In general, compliance or regulatory compliance is a term used across the industry to describe rules and policies, that prohibit or regulate the use of specific products, services, or processes. Often legally binding and enforced by government agencies, compliance standards are federal, state, and municipal regulations that restrict the way organizations conduct business.
Compliance audit - A detailed and automated audit that reconciles software discovered on electronic media, against documents or records of ownership. In case of software compliance audits, it means to compare the software installations against the proof of purchase of the software licenses.
Copyright - Copyright protects an author's work and stops others from using it without the author's permission. It is a type of intellectual property that provides exclusive publication, distribution, and usage rights for the author. Copyright stands for the legislative process protecting the intellectual property, and forms the foundation for all software licenses. A copyright is a collection of rights that automatically vest someone who creates an original work of authorship like a literary work, song, movie, or software. These rights include the right to produce the work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies, and to perform and display the work publicly.
License Management - License management is a process which is established by an enterprise, to control and manage license agreements.
Lifecycle Management - Lifecycle management is the process of managing assets, from the moment they are considered, until their disposal. There are different stages of an asset life cycle such as planning, procurement, installation, maintenance, and disposal.
Piracy - Software piracy is the unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted software. This can be done by copying, downloading, sharing, selling, or installing multiple copies onto personal or work computers. When you purchase the software, you are actually purchasing a license to use it, not the actual software. The license is what tells you how many times you can install the software.
Proof of Purchase - Proof of Purchase refers to the documentation confirming legal acquisition, and payment for copyrighted products. Proof of purchases can include paid invoices, credit card receipts, and vendor records proving that the candidate has purchased and paid for the product.
Reconciliation - Reconciliation is the comparison between software licenses owned by corporation, and the software used in its computing environment. A automated license reconciliation keeps license positions accurate and up to date without manual calculations. When reconciliation runs, a list of reconciliation results is created, that shows the compliance status of software products concerning discovery of entitlements.
Lifecycle of Software Asset
Plan--Acquire--Deploy--manage--Dispose
Plan - This is the first step in the lifecycle of the software asset, which deals with the planning for what software licenses are needed for the organization to run smoothly.
Acquire - In this phase, the procurement for the software licenses is done based on the planning.
Deploy - This stage deals with the actual allocation of the software licenses which have been purchased. A software license may be allocated to a device, or a user - depending upon the license metric of the software.
Manage - This is one of the most inmportant stages as the software license is already deployed and the software asset management team has to ensure it is managed and well maintained, for efficient functioning of the organization. IT asset management comes into acxtion in the manage stage of the lifecycle.
This is the last stage of the software asset lifecycle, where the software needs to be uninstalled or disposed, as per protocol, so that the software is not used in an incorrect way.
Software Asset ManagementWhen you do not know which assets are available for your employees, it can impact the workflow of your company. Obsolete assets which are not useful
A software application, application program, or application software is a computer program designed to help people perform an activity.
A software license is a contract between the entity that created and supplied an application, underlying source code, or related product and its end user. Software license gives the end user rights to use the software application.
Editions
Editions are variations of a product. Each offers a different collection of product features or use rights and is sold at various price points. When a new version of a product ships, all associated editions are usually released at the same time.
Publisher is a company or person that develops and issues software for sale.
A vendor is a company or person that offers software for sale.
SAM tools are used for managing software entitlement, in lieu of using spreadsheets, due to the rising complexity of software licensing schemes. SAM tools automate many of the tasks required to maintain compliance with software licenses. Decode software license entitlements, automate the collection of software consumption data, establish effective license position.
Operational Aspects of SAM
IT asset management is the management and reconciliation of the physical, financial, and contractual lifecycle attributes of IT assets.
Planning
Forecasting, budget administration, charge backs, tracking and managing costs, disaster recover, minimizing tax, enabling accurate reporting
Management
Is it still under maintenance? What are the SLA's? Can we negotiate? Are we insured?
Procurement
What should we own? Standards and support? Should we buy or lease? Which is the most cost effective configuration? Vendor management. Volume purchase agreements. Stock optimization.
Inventory
What we own? Who has it? Where is it? How do we keep this up to date?
Hardware and Software Management
Are we compliant? Have we over purchased?
Managing Change
Should we upgrade? Redeployment strategies? Retirement time? Cascade? Theft problem? Minimizing risk?
SAM
Both hardware asset management and software asset management are disciplines of IT asset management. SAM and ITAM are used interchangeably. SAM is management of software throughout its lifecycle and HAM is management of hardware throughout its lifecycle. Within ITAM, HAM is overlapping with SAM. You typically cannot do SAM properly unless you are also doing HAM.
Benefits of SAM
There are five business benefits of doing software asset management: saving money, avoiding risk, increase operational efficiency, improve information security, and sustainability.
Software Asset Management In Other Departments
IT - Managing the hardware and software lifecycle, providing financial, contractual, and inventory functions to support lifecycle management and strategic decisions making for the IT environment.
Finance - Financial planning allows you to plan well in advance for future asset needs, and maximizing existing asset utilization and eliminate unnecessary expenditure.
Legal - Take care of the security risks related to the ownership and use of computer software.
Contracts - Contract and lease management assists in making budgetary forecasts based on the stock of assets and business requirement.
Procurement - Plans and manages what all assets have been procured and keeps a track of the same.
Vendor - It includes the researching and sourcing of vendors, obtaining quotes with pricing, capabilities, turnaround times, and quality of work, negotiating contracts, managing relationships, assigning jobs, evaluating performance, and ensuring payments are made.
Asset - A general asset is any item of value that is owned by an individual or company. In terms of IT asset management, an asset is any data, device, or other component of the environment that supports information related activities. Assets generally include hardware, software, and confidential information.
License - basically a license is an official document which gives you permission to use, own, or do something. Software licenses typically provide end users with the right to use one or more copies of the software, without violating copyrights. The license also defines the responsibilities of the parties entering into the license agreement, and may impose restrictions on how the software can be used.
Software License Agreement - It is the legal contract between the licensor and the author of a piece of software, which establishes the purchaser's rights. The agreement details how and when the software can be used and provides any restrictions that are imposed on the software. A software license agreement also defines and protects the rights of the parties involved, in a clear and concise manner.
Product use Rights - It means the usable rights, restrictions and terms, specific to the software title and applicable versions.