OpenLM License Manager Test Case

OpenLM License Manager Test Case - Forestry Service

Discussion

The 10 users with node locked licenses use a license that costs about a 1/3 of the cost of a floating license but it can only be used on a specific workstation. The usage profile of these users can be described by the following chart:

The horizontal axes describe the hour and the vertical represent different users.

Since the users employ node locked software they do not have any reason to exit the software and most of them just stay engaged at all times.

Two parameters affect license availability:

A. Worker absence - Days when the worker is not in the office, for example: vacation, illness, training etc.

B. Worker inactivity - Times when user is at the office but is not actively using the software (i.e. ArcView). Examples: reading the mail, taking coffee break, meetings, writing reports etc.

We will use these two parameters in order to find out how many licenses are actually needed:

There are 365 days per year, from this number we need to subtract 52 Saturdays and 52 Sundays which leaves us with 261 potential working days per year. In every country there are holidays, short days, etc. We will use an average number of 9 holidays (full day without work) and 5 short days in which work is only half a day. It leaves us with a total of about 249 working days.

Assuming also that employees will miss work due to (by conservative measures):

Vacation - 20 days

Illness - 5 days

Training - 5 days

Total - 30

30 days per employee X 10 employees = 300 days out. To begin with, and based on the fact that we calculated only 249 working days, at average we will have more then 1 free license (1.2 to be more exact) in every day of the year. This is due only to worker's days of absence!

Now let's try and evaluate the time an average worker DOES NOT use her ESRI ArcView while she is at work.

Lunch Break - 1 hour

Coffee Breaks - 1/2 hour

Mail - 1 hour

Meetings - 1 hour

Forest Work - 1 hour (You can replace the figures with any number that fits your organization)

Total - 4 1/2 Hours

If we assume a working day of 8 1/2 hours then we need to supply 4 hours of ESRI ArcView license for each worker. If we have, as shown above, 8.8 workers every day at work then we need to supply about 35 hours of ESRI ArcView license for the group of 10 users. Based on this calculation, the demand can be fulfilled by 4 ESRI ArcView floating licenses that will give about 34 hours.

Yes, we understand that it sounds quite difficult and "technical" to count hours this way but from our long experience in different organizations that deal in various fields related to GIS, this kind of calculation can give you a very good starting point, for estimation purposes at the initial purchasing process.

Before we continue to the pricing we would like to describe the assumptions which are built into this calculation:

The absent days of the workers are distributed in a coincidental way over the year.
The hours when workers are not using the software are distributed randomly throughout the day.
The hours when each worker is using the ESRI ArcView are also distributed randomly throughout the day.

While some of these assumptions may not all be true in every organization, as a rule the results are perfectly valid since there are many other factors that were not included or taken into account. As you will find in your own experience, time spent by users on activities that are not strictly related to professional work production, are in many cases longer than taken in consideration for the purpose of this article.

Based on this calculation we will recommend the Forestry Service to replace the 10 node locked licenses with 4 floating licenses that will allow the 10 professional users to do their work without feeling shortage of licenses. This proposed solution will only work with the combination of OpenLM for ArcGIS since the basic license manager ESRI supply with it's products does not handle floating licenses effectively.

What would it cost the Forest Bureau?

4 Floating ESRI ArcView licenses - priced at about $14,000 ($3,500 for each copy).
4 seats of OpenLM for ESRI ArcGIS - priced at $320 ($80 a copy for up to 10 seats).
The total is $14,160.

The cost of the 10 node locked licenses is about $15,000 - more then the floating license option.

There are many other benefits to floating licenses over node locked licenses (In some countries ArcGIS is distributed with hardware plug and the last two points of this article refer to that):

In many cases more then the 10 original users will benefit from the software licenses. This will be possible during after hours and even throughout the working day, by applying the priority functionality of OpenLM.
A hardware plug can get lost, stolen, or damaged without a refund from the software company.
A hardware plug inventory is very hard to manage - especially in organizations with many locations, users and workstations.

Exceptions?

It is important to note that we do not state that node locked licenses are not usable in general. Node locked licenses have many benefits for mobile work and other specific situations. For example, an organization that uses ESRI ArcView for data entry, node locked license is the ideal solution. In this case the worker is using the software as a primary tool and in many cases - the only software tool.

Our example calculation of worker absence and worker inactivity, could be wrong in extreme situations when an a company is specializing in data entry and the ESRI ArcGIS family of products (ArcView, ArcEditor, ArcInfo) is being used all day long. Another example is an organization with working mentality that dictates no breaks during working hours. Additionally, our assumption that inactivity hours are equally distributed is slightly lenient but yet it is statistically valid in most cases. We confidently recommend companies to apply the same calculation exercised above to purchase a minimum number of licenses. In majority of cases, we urge clients to use a choice of Floating Licenses combined with the OpenLM advance solution, instead of buying node locked licenses. Following a test period, the organization is likely to rethink the results and invest in additional licenses if they are still needed.

Conclusion

The combination of a floating license together with OpenLM software is a great new choice. It is allowing organizations that use floating license servers like Macrovision FLEXnet Publisher Licensing (globetrotter flexlm) to minimize their budget for software purchasing and better utilize their licenses simultaneously.
Our specific forestry client was recommended to upgrade 4 of the node locked licenses to floating, remove the hardware plugs entirely and test the availability of licenses to users for several weeks. So far our recommendation seems to be working fine.

Are you currently using software managed by a floating license manager? If you do, you can also benefit from OpenLM! Read the article about OpenLM Principles, download the software and try it freely for 30 days. Need support? use our support forums and we will be happy to assist you.