Actual usage
Assess license usage efficiency. How do you know whether the engineer who pulled the license is actually using it?
The Actual usage feature allows administrators to learn more about user behavior’s. Not all users who checked out a license are actually using it. Maybe they pulled out a licenses, but they are doing something else – take a coffee break, take part in a meeting or the like.
Modern organizations need to have a clear, big-picture view of how their software licenses are being used at the company level, using best practices and software tools designed for that purpose.
License Administrators need to know whether licenses are actively being used to their maximum capacity. The OpenLM Actual Usage feature provides this information.
Benefits
Eliminate unnecessary license denials
These bad user habits stop other users from checking out licenses that they really need and may lead to unnecessary denials.
Optimized license allocation
Based on the data OpenLM collects, administrators can assign licenses and features to engineers who are actually utilizing the software
See usage trends
Monitoring actual software utilization can show how usage has changed over time, which can be used to predict how usage will change in the near future.
Get access to the information you need
Accurate license utilization reports give you the information you need about how license is being used, so managers and executives can make business decisions based on facts.
Identify bad user habits
Software usage monitoring show bad habits that users have picked up, like license hogging, which is when a user checks out multiple licenses at the same time, and license camping, which is when a user keeps a license checked out but doesn't use it.
Benefits of knowing the actual software usage:
Get indications of license utilization efficiency.
This information may serve to:
- Make informed decisions on license maintenance and procurement.
- Optimize license allocation within the organization.
- Improve license consumption habits: minimize license ‘hogging’
- Cost savings: reduce the number of licenses the organization doesn’t need.
How do we do that?
- You need to install the OpenLM Workstation Agent on the end user’s computer.
- Configure the process you want to monitor.
- The OpenLM Workstation Agent will then report usage information to the OpenLM Server.
- You get real-time and historical application utilization data displayed in the charts and graphs in the OpenLM EasyAdmin user interface.
Which tool should I use?
OpenLM provides you with a variety of options when it comes to selecting the right tool to monitor any application, including engineering and specialty software.
Workstation Agent
A tiny piece of software able to track operating system processes and any browser activity
OpenLM for Matlab
Designed specifically for MathWorks applications. Alongside monitoring, OpenLM provides system admins with the ability to safely harvest idle licenses. If license harvesting is configured, the Workstation Agent will save the engineer’s work on the workstation, closes the application and releases the license back to the license pool.
OpenLM for Autodesk
Designed specifically for Autodesk applications. Alongside monitoring, OpenLM provides system admins with the ability to safely harvest idle licenses. If license harvesting is configured, the Workstation Agent will save the engineer’s work on the workstation, closes the application and releases the license back to the license pool.
OpenLM for ESRI
Designed specifically for ArcGIS. Alongside monitoring, OpenLM provides system admins with the ability to safely harvest idle licenses. If license harvesting is configured, the Workstation Agent will save the engineer’s work on the workstation, closes the application and releases the license back to the license pool.
OpenLM for Solidworks
Designed specifically for Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation’s Solidworks application. Alongside monitoring, OpenLM provides system admins with the ability to safely harvest idle licenses. If license harvesting is configured, the Workstation Agent will save the engineer’s work on the workstation, closes the application and releases the license back to the license pool.
AutoCAD plugin
Simple, light and powerful plugin designed to be a part of Autodesk’s AutoCAD software.
Prerequisites & System Requirements
The OpenLM Actual usages extension requires the OpenLM Agent to be installed on the end-user’s workstations and the OpenLM Server on a dedicated machine. Download these components here.