Best Practices for Documenting Software Licensing Compliance

Presented By

Mike Ludwig and Peggy Fish

Software Licensing Compliance

• Assigning and Defining Responsibility

• Collecting and Maintaining Documentation

• Surveying Departmental PC’s

• Reconciling Survey Results to Authorized Use Records

• GASP Software

Assigning and Defining Responsibility

Assigning Responsibility

• The Department or Unit Head is responsible for assuring the proper use and documentation of all software within their respective area.

• He or she may choose to accomplish this by appointing a Compliance Coordinator.

Defining the Responsibility:Communicate

Communicate to all staff:

• The importance of authorized use of software.

• The procedures for collecting current documentation and reporting their future software acquisitions.

Defining the Responsibility:Document

• Collect and maintain documentation supporting the authorized use of software to the appropriate person(s) or network.

Defining the Responsibility:Survey

• Survey all PC’s at least annually and reconcile the results to the documentation supporting authorized use of software.

Collecting and Maintaining Documentation

Collect and Maintain Documentation

• Collecting and maintaining data supporting the authorized use of software is the most difficult, yet most important aspect of software compliance.

Establish Procedures

• Each department or unit needs to establish procedures for gathering and maintaining software documentation.

• Procedures may vary for downloaded software.

Tracking Software

• The Department/Unit Head and the Compliance Coordinator should decide whether software will be tracked by individual PC or in total across the department.

• We are recommending that you track the data elements listed on the document entitled, “Software Compliance Information Tracking.”

Tracking Software on a LAN

• In areas where most of the department PC’s are connected through a LAN, we suggest that the tracking of software be done on a departmental basis.

Tracking Software on a LAN

• Tracking software across the entire department makes the maintenance of the documentation easier because one need not be concerned with the software location.

Tracking Software

• In areas where most of the department PC’s are not connected through a LAN, it will be necessary to track the software by individual PC’s.

Tracking Software

• Tracking software by individual PC requires more data to be collected such as the location and inventory number of each PC. However, it does make the reconciliation process easier, especially if the majority of the PC’s within the department are not connected to the LAN.

Purchase of Software

• Any transaction involving the purchase of software (including software bundled on hardware) should be reported to the Compliance Coordinator. Internal processes will need to be established to facilitate this information exchange.

Software Acquired from Other Sources

• Internal processes would need to be established regarding the communication of software acquired through the Internet, personal funds, site licenses, etc. If individuals are maintaining a file, it is not necessary to collect the same data in a central location within the department.

Surveying Departmental PC’s

Surveying Departmental PC’s

• A survey of all PC’s within the department should be completed at least annually. The Department/Unit Head and the Compliance Coordinator should decide on the timing of the survey.

Reconciling Survey Results to Authorized Use Records

• The process for reconciling will depend on whether the department chooses to track software by individual PC or across the department.

• Documentation of the reconciliation should be maintained for six years.

Departmental Compliance

• Reconcile the total number of each software package identified to the total number of authorized uses in the database.

Individual PC Compliance

• Reconcile the software identified on each individual PC to the software records for each PC.

GASP Software

• The University has entered into a license agreement for the use of a product called GASP. This product is both a surveying and a tracking tool.

Using GASP as a Tool

• The GASP software has the capability to survey workstations over a LAN or independently.

• GASP recognizes over 9,000 software applications.

Using GASP to Collect and Maintain Documentation

• The GASP software includes a database function for collecting and maintaining data about software usage.

• By utilizing user-defined fields, all of the data elements identified in the document entitled “Software Compliance Information Tracking” can be recorded.

Using GASP to Survey

• The GASP software includes a tool for surveying PC’s. It is especially effective for surveying PC’s through a LAN so that individual workstations are not disturbed.

• This tool surveys and identifies software but cannot access file content.

Using GASP to Reconcile

• GASP can do the reconciliation if you are using it to keep the records and perform the survey. However, GASP does not identify 100% of software through the surveying process. Since most of what GASP does not identify would present little risk to the department, it is at the department’s discretion how much effort to expend to try and reconcile the “unknown software.”

Use of GASP

• While it is the responsibility of each school, department or division to ensure that all PC software is adequately documented for legal use, the use of GASP to achieve this objective is optional.

Questions!