Can License Metrics Help Your Team?

Brien Posey recently published an article about “5 Reasons Software License Tracking Hardens Your Organization” for IT Pro Today. Our team could not agree more.

We previously talked about license tracking and how crucial it is for compliance (see here). When new licenses are purchased or renewals negotiated, it is incumbent on the manager to have good historical and forecast data. If the manager is new, they may have no data, may not have access to the previous negotiation history of contractual entitlements.

Without contractual documents, discount agreements, PO’s, payment schedules, geographic entitlements can all sit-in different IT document systems making it difficult to build a complete picture, or worse, be locked/lost when a manager leaves the company.

Therefore, you must centralize and share all Vendor and usage data, but with ability to set access permissions. With this, a new manage can pick up where the old manager left off.

Brien talks about who has ownership of the software running on networked devices (See more about solutions by job function).

He also talks about the importance of innovation. We have recently had many discussions at TeamEDA about the need for innovation and that companies must adapt and think about the best ways to innovate to survive and flourish in this challenging time. How can engineering teams innovate and optimize their processes?

We previously talked about license tracking and how crucial it is for compliance (see here). When new licenses are purchased or renewals negotiated, it is incumbent on the manager to have good historical and forecast data. If the manager is new, they may have no data, may not have access to the previous negotiation history of contractual entitlements.

Without contractual documents, discount agreements, PO’s, payment schedules, geographic entitlements can all sit-in different IT document systems making it difficult to build a complete picture, or worse, be locked/lost when a manager leaves the company.

Therefore, you must centralize and share all Vendor and usage data, but with ability to set access permissions. With this, a new manage can pick up where the old manager left off.

Brien talks about who has ownership of the software running on networked devices (See more about solutions by job function).

He also talks about the importance of innovation. We have recently had many discussions at TeamEDA about the need for innovation and that companies must adapt and think about the best ways to innovate to survive and flourish in this challenging time. How can engineering teams innovate and optimize their processes? See more.

License asset and usage monitoring also make employees more productive and we have seen that with companies we have worked with.

Overall, Brien has many tips and great overview. Make sure to check it out!

Can You Improve Planning with Better Engineering License Management?

Companies use progressively more engineering software for their work. Does your company uses multiple products with overlapping features? As we have talked in our blog before, look at all the various engineering software assets your team is using. An engineering license management tool helps companies with better future planning. It is crucial for engineering teams to understand the actual engineering software and feature usage.

Knowing more about how engineering teams are using expensive software allows companies to:

  • Actionable data for better, data-driven decisions
    • Better budget planning
    • Better return on software investment (ROI)
    • Increased productivity and efficiency and keeping teams on the right track
  • Compliance management
  • Entitlement management
  • Collecting software asset information:
    • Who uses and is responsible?
    • How are FlexLM licenses and engineering software used?
    • Associated costs
    • Software license terms, conditions, renewals
  • Gain intelligence through:
    • Analyzing trends based on combined historic usage
    • Usage tracking as your team’s needs and usage change.
    • Right license types
    • Reducing duplicate subscriptions. Avoid multiple departments registering separately; or if an employee forgot to cancel a previous subscription. It can also be helpful to break expenses down by team, branch or department and automatically generate charge-back reports.
    • Having a clear and up-to-date inventory is crucial.

Engineering License Management for Atlassian

Looking for a license optimization tool for growth and monitoring Atlassian license servers? Looking to control access to high-cost, advanced features licenses offered by one of the Atlassian license servers?

Atlassian Corporation Plc develops products for software developers, project managers and other software development teams.

Tracking usage across the organization (location, team, etc.) is critical for optimizing license selection and expenditures. Optimize Atlassian licenses that your team uses by taking a look at patterns of historical usage:

  • Groups and Projects
  • License Denials
  • License Efficiency
  • License Harvesting
  • License Pool – Total number of Atlassian licenses and Users
  • Real-Time / Actual usage
  • Checkout times – Times and frequency
Product Suites
  • Fisheye/Crucible
  • Bamboo
  • Bitbucket
  • Crowd
Alerts

Set up alerts to stay informed about the status of Atlassian licenses (See here).

Generate Reports

We have a full suite of reports available (more here).

Our reports can also help you to look at license usage statistics according to organizational units.

Effectively optimize your Atlassian licenses and ensure all Atlassian resource requirements are met.

3 Ways to Bring More Visibility to Engineering Applications

Many companies are challenged with having a better understanding of how employees are making the most of expensive company resources. Shadow IT is not a new concept (has been here before COVID) and companies have been trying to figure out ways to have more control of the software being used by teams including engineering.

License Asset and Usage Monitoring and reporting tools can help companies have a better understanding of how the teams are using known engineering applications. Tools like ours can help companies with awareness.

Here are 3 ways to gain greater visibility of engineering applications:

  1. Understand what engineering software is being used by your team. The easiest way to do this is in an Excel spreadsheet. Ask users to share what tools they need to be successful.
  2. Create a long-term plan to address the number of licenses required.
  3. Educate your teams on the need and importance of the transparency.

Are You Ready for the “Great Rehiring”?

Understand your idle license counts to hire more engineers!

We have recently noticed many companies talking about the “great rehiring“. This year, many organizations had to think about their engineering staff counts and making sure they use their engineering software to the fullest. Make sure to take a look at our Guide for Right-sizing Engineering Software.

Are you thinking about hiring more people? Make sure you understand engineering software license utilization across your team. Determining what you have for idle licenses can help you determine number of new hires you can bring in. It can also help with a greater understanding of checkouts and check ins. Ask our experts how LAMUM can help you better track utilization.

How many total licenses do you have? Imagine tracking 600 licenses. How much time does it take for you to look at all your license servers and review licenses?

Our reports help you get information you need in just a few seconds (in report or graph format). LAMUM has some of the best reporting and graphs.

It takes less than 5 minutes to add the license asset and establish the link to port@host for the license server to start collecting data.

Know what you have to increase license count with headcount. As you prepare to potentially upsize or hire in 2022, do you have a full understanding of engineering software.

As you journey onto the hiring expedition in 2022, make sure you have the information you need to make informed decisions.

Learn more about LAMUM.

Engineering License Management for Dassault Systèmes

Looking for a license optimization tool for growth and monitoring Dassault Systèmes license servers? Looking to control access to high-cost, advanced features licenses offered by one of the Dassault Systèmes license servers?

Dassault Systèmes is a world leader in 3D Design & Engineering Software, Dassault Systèmes provides PLM & 3D Modeling Software, Simulation Apps and Industry Solutions.

Tracking usage across the organization (location, team, etc.) is critical for optimizing license selection and expenditures. Optimize Dassault Systèmes licenses that your team uses by taking a look at patterns of historical usage:

  • Groups and Projects
  • License Denials
  • License Efficiency
  • License Harvesting
  • License Pool – Total number of Dassault Systèmes licenses and Users
  • Real-Time / Actual usage
  • Checkout times – Times and frequency
Product Categories
  • Enovia
  • 3Dexcite
  • Simulia
  • Delmia
  • No Magic
  • DraftSight
  • Solidworks
  • Catia
  • And more
Alerts

Set up alerts to stay informed about the status of Dassault Systèmes licenses (See here).

Generate Reports

We have a full suite of reports available (more here).

Our reports can also help you to look at license usage statistics according to organizational units.

Effectively optimize your Dassault Systèmes licenses and ensure all Dassault Systèmes resource requirements are met.

Semiconductors, Chip Design, Innovation & Efficiencies

Semiconductor Engineering recently released an article on the topic of “Analog Chip Layout: Creativity Vs. Deadlines.” It talked about the balance of high-end layouts and deadlines. We previously talked about this topic in our previous blog post “Managing Applications throughout the Engineering Product Life-cycle”.

There are also many iterations that may be required. Iterations in design may include:

  • Specification and validation
  • Architecture
  • IP design or IP integration
  • Circuit design (topology, sizing, area and quality requirements)
  • Specific design requirements
  • Customization parameters for designs, scripts and design flows

How can experts in design and electronic design automation (EDA) work on their specialties and allocate their time in their wisest ways? A tool like LAMUM can help engineers better understand their engineering utilization rates.

Ask us how your organization can save 15-25% on your engineering software spend.

6 Benefits of an Effective Engineering License Management System

Here are 6 benefits of an effective engineering license management system:

  1. Effectively and efficiently manage all CAD / CAM / CAE / EDA / PLM software license information and keys.
  2. Bird’s eye view of software license information, current / historical utilization, trends, license optimization.
  3. Reduce maintenance or migration from one license type to another.
  4. Customize weekly / monthly / quarterly on-demand and batch reports.
  5. Track true denials vs. denial claims exaggeration; save time and money.
  6. Save 15-25% of annual CAD / CAM / CAE / EDA / PLM software license costs – Huge payback ROI!

And here are 6 questions to ask when trying to save costs:

  1. What engineering tools are currently being used? (Look at the utilization reports.)
  2. How is your team managing expensive engineering assets?
  3. What’s being automatically renewed?
  4. Could expenses be cut by reducing number of licenses?
  5. What would you like to manage?
  6. Where would you like to start to get organized?

Don’t hesitate to contact our team to schedule a demo and learn more.

Engineering License Management for PTC Creo

Looking for a license optimization tool for growth and monitoring PTC Creo license servers? Looking to control access to high-cost, advanced features licenses offered by one of the PTC Creo license servers?

PTC Creo includes a suite of Computer-aided design apps supporting product design for discrete manufacturers. Creo is the 3D CAD solution that helps companies accelerate product innovation so they can build better products faster.

Tracking usage across the organization (location, team, etc.) is critical for optimizing license selection and expenditures. Optimize PTC Creo licenses that your team uses by taking a look at patterns of historical usage:

  • Groups and Projects
  • License Denials
  • License Efficiency
  • License Harvesting
  • License Pool – Total number of PTC Creo licenses and Users
  • Real-Time / Actual usage
  • Checkout times – Times and frequency
Product Suites
  • Creo
  • Windchill
  • Mathcad
  • Arbortext
Alerts

Set up alerts to stay informed about the status of PTC Creo licenses (See here).

Generate Reports

We have a full suite of reports available (more here).

Our reports can also help you to look at license usage statistics according to organizational units.

Effectively optimize your PTC Creo licenses and ensure all PTC Creo resource requirements are met.

Engineering License Management for Autodesk

Are your Autodesk licenses running out of availability? Are there Autodesk licenses that have been checked out for excessive periods of time?

Autodesk makes software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries.

Tracking usage across the organization (location, team, etc.) is critical for optimizing license selection and expenditures. Optimize Autodesk licenses that your team uses by taking a look at patterns of historical usage:

  • Groups and Projects
  • License Denials
  • License Efficiency
  • License Harvesting
  • License Pool – Total number of Autodesk licenses and Users
  • Real-Time / Actual usage
  • Checkout times – Times and frequency
Product Suites
  • AutoCAD
  • Revit
  • Maya
  • Inventor
  • Navisworks
  • Fusion
  • MoldFlow
  • Power
Alerts

Set up alerts to stay informed about the status of Autodesk licenses (See here).

Generate Reports

We have a full suite of reports available (more here). Our reports can also help you to look at license usage statistics according to organizational units.

Effectively optimize your Autodesk licenses and ensure all Autodesk resource requirements are met.